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ByDave Hall

Why ease of use is the key to church AV

Churches don’t have an endless supply of volunteer AV technicians – and that’s where we come in.

So says DSAV’s Dan Herbert (above) in the latest in a brand new series of CRE Exhibitor Podcasts showcasing a range of organisations you can expect to meet at CRE 24.

‘A lot of the audio-visual systems we install are geared around ease of use,’ explains Dan. ‘Nine times out of ten you can simply turn it on at the beginning of the service and turn it off at the end.’

Dan points out how many AV companies will look at what happens in church on a Sunday in isolation from the rest of the week.

‘The Sunday service is the culmination of what happens over seven days in church but what takes place in midweek is just as important,’ he maintains. ‘The verger may need to turn on the system for a service or stream a funeral, for example. That’s where ease of use really has to come into it.’

A lot of the systems DSAV install come with personal training.

‘It always amazes me that there are still churches out there with no system whatsoever,’ says Dan. ‘We’ll make sure we are there for your first service and return three or four weeks later to answer any questions you may have.’

Click here for the full podcast and here for an introduction to all the interviews on offer.

• DSAV are on stand B15 at CRE 24

CRE 2025

See a complete list of exhibitors at CRE 25
CRE 25 is Wed 15 and Thu 16 Oct
Book your ticket here for as little as £3

ByDave Hall

Last chance to nominate your volunteer of the year

You have until this Friday (26 July) to nominate your volunteer of the year, as part of the new Benefact Group Charity Heroes Awards.

Supported by CRE 24 exhibitor Ecclesiastical, the awards are designed to celebrate and support people working tirelessly to make positive change. They are open to charities and not-for-profits, including churches, based in the UK and Ireland. The winners will be awarded £5,000 and runners up £1,000.

With six categories, churches are invited to apply here via a quick and simple form. Here are the awards, and what the judges are looking for:

Volunteer of the year  – Volunteers who have gone over and above, making positive impact for charities, dedicating their time and energy to a great cause

Climate action project – Charities which have inspired and motivated action to tackle the climate crisis

Local community initiative – A project which has reached the heart of a local community to tackle a local issue

Digital fundraising initiative – Inspiring digital fundraising which has created new sources of income and motivated supporters

Small charity, big impact – A small charity (with a turnover of less than £1m) that has made a big impact

Charity leader of the year – A charity CEO or other senior leader who is a role model for others by championing a cause and inspiring change 

The winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in London on Thu 28 Nov. An additional colleagues’ choice award will also be announced during the ceremony.

Helen Richards, church operations director at Ecclesiastical, part of the Benefact Group, said: ‘We are delighted to support the volunteer of the year award as part of the launch of Benefact Group’s Charity Heroes Awards 2024. This new awards programme celebrates and supports charities and churches working tirelessly to make positive change.

‘Ecclesiastical is proud to be part of Benefact Group, a family of award-winning specialist financial services companies and the third largest corporate donor to charity in the UK. Owned by a charity ourselves, charitable giving is at the heart of what we do. All our available profits go to good causes and the more our group grows, the more we can give.’

• Ecclesiastical are on stand A1 at CRE 24

CRE 2025

See a complete list of exhibitors at CRE 25
CRE 25 is Wed 15 and Thu 16 Oct
Book your ticket here for as little as £3

ByDave Hall

Worship without the worry: simple, affordable solutions from CCLI

Through a growing number of carefully-selected partnerships, CCLI now offers a whole range of solutions for churches – from worship software to tracks, apps to administration tools.

‘Traditionally, visitors have approached our stand at CRE with questions only about copyright and licensing,’ explained CCLI’s Rich Burrough. ‘But last year marked a significant change, with the introduction of the CCLI Family. A logical next step from copyright licensing has been to empower churches with content that can be used under those licences. Now we want to provide time-saving applications and tools that enhance church services and activities where that content is used. Our DNA is to serve the church and that’s what the CCLI Family is all about.’

First to join was WorshipTools, a small team of software developers who are all involved in worship in their local churches. Central to WorshipTools’ vision is that their applications can be used for free. Having started with Presenter, which is simple, yet fully-featured presentation software, WorshipTools now provides online planning and church database management applications appropriately called Planning and Community, as well as a digital music stand app called Charts.

‘All WorshipTools applications are built with the needs of churches in mind,’ explained Rich, ‘they’re easy to learn and connect seamlessly together, saving time. And, of course, they can all can be used free, forever!’ 

With the growing adoption of tracks in worship, their next partnership was with Loop Community. Loop provides a range of track solutions, from sophisticated multitracks that can supplement the sound of larger worship teams, to simple Lite tracks, designed for congregations who may not have any musicians available.

‘All tracks are easily customisable, either online, or using Loop’s free Prime App,’ said Rich, ‘making them a more flexible alternative to backing tracks.’

The latest member of the family will be introduced at CRE 2024. Sunday Sounds provides quality patches and templates for keyboards. As sound designers and worship musicians, Sunday Sounds’ team understands the needs and challenges faced by worship keyboard players. As well as their library of sounds and song-specific patches, Sunday Sounds’ solutions include apps, software and hardware to help keys players.

‘Just as CCLI grew out of the need for copyright solutions, the CCLI Family is about providing simple, affordable solutions to the challenges faced by today’s churches,’ said Rich. ‘And not just churches with technical know-how and big budgets. We believe we have solutions for every church, no matter their means.’

And they’re not stopping there!

‘We hope to have something very new and exciting to introduce at CRE 24, which a growing number of our customers have been asking for,’ said Rich. ‘Want to know what it is? Come and meet us in Milton Keynes!’

• CCLI are on stand C42 at CRE 24

CRE 2025

See a complete list of exhibitors at CRE 25
CRE 25 is Wed 15 and Thu 16 Oct
Book your ticket here for as little as £3

ByDave Hall

Aintree Baptist: scaling the planning application hurdles

Making personal, face-to-face contact with experts in their field is the unique value of CRE – as Rev Geoff Bentley of Aintree Baptist Church, Liverpool found out last year.

He met Mark Newall, director of BCHN Architects, at CRE 23 in Solihull. Their conversation led to the company being invited to plan the remodelling of the Victorian era building.

‘We are now progressing the design towards a planning application via our collaborative design process,’ said Mark. The whole congregation has been involved in the planning process with company experts holding a series of meetings to determine individual church members’ views.

Original thoughts of demolishing the building had been put forward before but these were rejected by the Liverpool planning department. BCHN were asked to remodel the present building, demolish existing extensions and create a new development to include a meeting hall for at least 200 people, various smaller meeting rooms, a reception area, office and foyer café, along with storage areas.

The new plans include redeveloping the present building to two stories, without overlooking adjacent properties, and working out how visitors can park either in the church car park or other nearby areas.

‘It was a long process as we wanted the whole church, neighbours and other stakeholders to be satisfied with the final plans,’ said Mark. ‘We hope to make the planning application in August.’

Based in Shrewsbury, BCHN Architects began life in 1963 as Leonard Baart Associates and has evolved through various changes until becoming BCHN Architects in 2023 following the merger of Baart Harries Newall and Bott Cruise Architects.

‘The collaborative relationship we form with our clients is central to the way we work, with dialogue at the heart of everything we do,’ said Mark.

Pastor Bentley, who took over the leadership of the church in 2017, situated near the historic site of the world-famous Grand National steeplechase, said: ‘We are seeing the closure of many churches and other publicly accessible buildings, but we are growing numerically. We can serve the community in a wider and more effective ways if we have the facilities to support these tasks.’

‘Our job was to provide those facilities and in consultation with the church, that is what has happened,’ said Mark.

• BCHN Architects are on stand F5 at CRE 24

Photo: Members of Aintree Baptist Church consider plans to modernise their church.

CRE 2025

See a complete list of exhibitors at CRE 25
CRE 25 is Wed 15 and Thu 16 Oct
Book your ticket here for as little as £3

ByDave Hall

Get some sound advice from CRE first timers

From a single lectern microphone to a full sound system with lighting and screens, MTS Live can meet the needs of your church, however big or small.

‘With dynamic lighting and video wall, we were able to create a fantastic party atmosphere for the 20,000-plus visitors to the Big Church Festival,’ said Keith Forster, who launched MTS Live in 2006. ‘And what we did for that event can be done on a smaller scale to make church services easier to understand.’

Based in Oldham, the company, which will exhibit and provide technical resources to CRE 24 for the first time, is heavily involved in providing sound, lighting, video and staging for major conferences, awards shows, exhibitions, festivals and community events. It also has a busy installation department. Alongside the company’s more commercial work it offers support, both practical and financial, to churches and other Christian organisations. A good example would be their continuing work for The Message Trust.

‘We cover the vast majority of their UK events, everything from a small PA system for a day’s work in school or prison, through to larger conferences and outreach gigs as well as completing extensive installation work at their HQ in Manchester,’ explained Keith.

‘Our in-depth professional knowledge and wide-ranging experience allows us to calmly and flexibly meet the demands of our varied clients.’

When The Ark, Isleham moved the growing church to a green oak building outside the village, MTS Live created a full 3D visualisation of the space so the design could be viewed and changes made before any installation work. The MTS Live experts assisted The Ark’s team with the installation, programming and commissioning of the lighting system.

‘We look forward to talking to church leaders at CRE 24 about any problems they may have with their systems,’ said Keith. ‘It will be our first visit to the exhibition and we know that visitors will find us receptive to any problem or proposal. There is nothing that our skilled team will not be able to solve!’

• MTS Live are on stand P32 at CRE 24

CRE 2025

See a complete list of exhibitors at CRE 25
CRE 25 is Wed 15 and Thu 16 Oct
Book your ticket here for as little as £3