A lot of churches love gear.

We do too. At Churchfront, we are AVL nerds. We love great audio systems, clean lighting rigs, high-resolution video walls, and camera systems that make worship environments look excellent online and in the room.

But gear is rarely the whole story.

In this video, Matt walks through a project at Lomax Assembly of God where the church already owned a large LED video wall before Churchfront got involved. On paper, that sounds like a head start. In reality, the wall created a bigger question:

How are we actually going to hang this safely?

This project is a great example of why churches should think about infrastructure before buying major AVL equipment.

The wall was not the only cost

The LED wall at Lomax Assembly of God is a large 2.6mm pixel pitch wall. The panels are roughly half a meter wide by one meter tall, arranged in three rows and fifteen columns. It is a serious piece of video equipment, and it looks great in the room.

But the wall had been purchased from another company before the church had a full plan for installation.

That matters because this was not a simple wall-mounted display. Matt describes it as more like a traditional touring video wall. The panels clamp together, hang from fly bars, and require a proper structure to suspend them safely.

That is where the hidden cost showed up.

Before Churchfront could hang the wall, move the speakers, or upgrade the lighting, the team needed to understand the building structure. Churchfront worked with a structural engineer and discovered that there was almost no weight allowed to hang from the purlins in the roof structure.

That is not a small detail.

If you are hanging anything above people’s heads — LED panels, speakers, lighting, truss, or other equipment — safety has to come first. A structural engineer needs to confirm what the building can support and how that load should be transferred.

The worst-case scenario is not that the install takes longer or costs more. The worst-case scenario is that something falls and someone gets hurt.

Infrastructure determines what is possible

Because the church could not simply hang the video wall from the purlins, Churchfront installed heavy-duty bolt-together truss from Tyler Truss and tied it into the large structural beams in the ceiling.

In one area, the truss even had to extend through a wall so it could connect properly to the building’s main beam structure. That is not the part of an AVL upgrade most people think about when they imagine a new video wall.

But it is the part that makes the system safe and usable.

This is why AVL integration is not just about picking the right product. A good system depends on the room, the structure, the power, the cable paths, the rigging, the workflow, and the people who have to operate it every week.

In other words, the gear only works when the infrastructure supports it.

The speaker system needed more than repositioning

The project also included redeploying the room’s existing speakers.

Before the upgrade, the speakers were placed in a way that created feedback problems. Matt talked with Travis, the church’s main tech volunteer, who said feedback had been a recurring issue. That made sense because the speakers were aimed in a way that pushed high-frequency energy back toward the stage.

Churchfront modeled the room in EASE, recalculated the coverage, and moved the speakers wider while pitching them outward. The team also added matching QSC powered speakers as front fills to improve coverage for the front row.

That is another example of systems thinking.

The answer was not simply “buy new speakers.” The better first move was to understand the room, improve the deployment, solve the coverage problem, and make sure the hang was safe.

Churchfront also installed truss above the drop ceiling for the speaker hangs. Most people in the room will never notice it. But that hidden truss is what makes the speaker system safer now and more flexible later.

If the church upgrades the PA in the future, the infrastructure is already there.

The lasting value is behind the scenes

A major theme of this project is infrastructure over gear.

The new truss, rigging points, rack work, power sequencing, floor pockets, data, video, and power infrastructure may not be as exciting as an LED wall. But those are the pieces that can serve the church for decades.

Matt points out that this kind of infrastructure could last 30, 40, or even 50 years. A PA system, lighting fixture, camera, or video processor will eventually be replaced. But a well-designed infrastructure backbone makes future upgrades easier, safer, and more cost-effective.

At Lomax, Churchfront added clean floor pockets across the stage with audio inputs, data, video, and sequenced power. That gives the team more flexibility for worship, events, and future system changes.

The team also cleaned up and expanded the rack systems. Some gear was new, and some was reused. That included stage boxes, Allen & Heath ME personal monitoring infrastructure, Shure wireless, Dante-enabled wireless receivers, DMX distribution, a NovaStar processor, networking gear, and a network-accessible relay panel for power sequencing.

These details matter because volunteers and staff need systems that are reliable and repeatable.

A beautiful worship environment is not just about what people see on Sunday. It is also about whether the team can turn the room on, troubleshoot quickly, run services consistently, and keep the system healthy over time.

Livestream systems need consistency too

The project also included video and livestream infrastructure.

The church had computers running ProPresenter, Lightkey, and other production tools. The system included UniFi networking, Blackmagic video equipment, a Streaming Encoder HD for Subsplash, and a camera setup with Canon PTZ cameras and a Blackmagic Design studio camera.

Matt gives a practical warning here: avoid mixing and matching camera brands when possible.

Different camera brands can be difficult to color match. Even if two cameras look good on their own, getting them to match in the same livestream environment can be frustrating. If the budget is limited, it is often better to choose a more affordable camera system that allows you to get the right number of matching cameras rather than mixing one expensive camera with cheaper cameras from another brand.

That is the kind of decision that saves your team time every week.

Start with the real cost of deployment

The big lesson from Lomax Assembly of God is simple:

Before you buy the gear, ask what it will take to deploy it safely and effectively.

An LED wall is not just an LED wall. It may require structural engineering, truss, rigging, power, processing, video infrastructure, cable paths, rack work, control systems, and future upgrade planning.

A speaker system is not just a speaker system. It depends on coverage, aiming, room modeling, rigging, stage volume, feedback control, and front-fill support.

A livestream system is not just cameras and a switcher. It depends on matching cameras, networking, computers, routing, encoding, volunteer workflow, and the weekly operating process.

This is why Churchfront approaches AVL as an integrated system, not a shopping list.

If your church is planning an LED wall, PA upgrade, lighting refresh, livestream system, or full AVL renovation, start with a plan. Understand the building. Engage the right experts. Think through the hidden infrastructure. Then choose the gear that fits the system.

If you have questions about your church’s AVL needs or what it would take to install a system like this safely in your space, reach out to Churchfront at https://churchfront.com/apply/.