36 HOUSES OF WORSHIP Production
FEEDING THE FAITHFUL How are two Christian churches using the latest broadcast tech to unite their congregations and extend their reach? Words by Philip Stevens
eligious organisations have long realised the opportunities
building to provide more space for small group meetings. Growth steadily continued, with further facilities added on a fairly regular basis. In 2005, the current Yonsei Central Baptist Church was completed and a dedication service held. Several other additions have been made to the building over the years, including a 53,400 square feet Education Centre and the World Vision Centre. TAKING TO THE AIRWAVES In 1998, as part of its continuing mission to expand, the Yonsei Central Baptist Church decided to begin broadcasting its services. Today, it is estimated that 50,000 worshippers – both on site and via the broadcast – take part in services each week. Alongside services, musical concerts are broadcast from the church. All these broadcasts are distributed via IPTV to set-top boxes.
offered by broadcasting – either on mainstream
platforms or streaming on the Internet. The programming can extend from religious discussions to full church services – including opportunities to serve congregations in outlying areas where a minister might not be able visit regularly. And there is ample evidence that such broadcasting can swell the numbers of some denominations. The Yonsei Central Baptist Church started in 1986 in Yeonhui-dong, a district of Seoul in South Korea, in what was essentially an underground basement. Within six years, the group had outgrown the space and purchased an existing church building in Noryangjin-dong. Two years after moving there, an additional 11,000 square feet was added to the
“We employ 15 people for our broadcast operation,” says Hwan-Cheol Lee, chief of Broadcast Station at Yonsei Church. “Twelve Sony cameras with Canon HD lenses and a Sony 8000 vision mixer have been installed to cover vision demands. “Audio is handled by three Harrison’s Trion consoles. Two are used as live broadcast consoles, while the third is utilised for fully automated post-production. A stand-alone Trion is used as a front- of-house console to provide the onstage monitor mixes from a remote controller. Each console is networked via fibre to a Harrison digital engine and has combined inputs of 288 microphones, 160 digital 40-bit channels, working over 96 fader strips. Graphics are provided by Compix, while editing is done using Final Cut Pro X.” The original programming is broadcast in the Korean language, although the on-demand option on the church’s website carries English subtitles.
NOT LOST IN TRANSLATION Yonsei Central Baptist Church uses Cantemo Portal to facilitate delivering files for broadcast; it was the first client to have the Portal translate into the Korean language
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