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Faith's Video Ministry

When Faith Baptist Church initially decided to start videotaping special events and pageants, we naturally turned to local businesses for our video needs. However, we soon realized that God had blessed our church family with the means to start our own in-house video ministry. By using our own members and producing the videos in-house, we realized that we had more control over the quality and impact of the final results. 

Through member donations and support, we were able to purchase the bare essentials to get us going. Initially all we started with was a small video mixer, a TV monitor, some borrowed camcorders, and a bunch of cable TV wire. Although we weren't about to win any Academy Awards, the love and dedication that was put into that first attempt far exceeded anyone's expectations and encouraged us to continue in the direction that God was leading us in. We continue to upgrade equipment as we are able, but we firmly believe that our greatest asset is our faith and our volunteers. 

Video Ministry Volunteers

	Laurie Dell heads up the Video Ministry and is responsible for production and duplication of all videos. During a typical taping, she can be seen in the video booth monitoring the individual camera images and operating the video mixer. She's in constant communication with our cameramen via headset radios so that she can direct their efforts during taping.
	Jeff Klein is our video technician who helps design our video setup, sets up the video equipment, provides technical support and runs the audio mixer during tapings. On a typical taping day, he can be seen running around like a chicken with its head cut off until at least 10 minutes into taping.
	Mike Simmons is one of our regular cameramen and graciously provides the use of his two Canon GL-1 video cameras in addition to the two that Faith now owns. He is also very knowledgeable in videography and regularly provides advice and support to the Video Ministry. Here we see a rare picture taken by a brave, and unsuspecting, young photographer...(who is still listed as missing).

Other volunteers include: 

Renee Mattison	John DeNuto	Lee Salley
(Picture Coming Soon!)	(Picture Coming Soon!)
Katie Salley	Leslie Young	Darrel Sell
		(Picture Coming Soon!)
Matt Harrison	Patrick Harrison	Tyler Harrison

Video Equipment and Setup

	For video mixing, we use the Panasonic WJ-MX20, a four channel analog video mixer which allows us to connect up to four cameras using either common video RCA or higher quality S-video connectors. Camera images to the mixer and the final output can be monitored in the video booth. The video mixer output goes to the VCR and Digital Video recorder for recording, as well as to the gymnasium for overflow viewing.
	In the beginning, we started with borrowed personal camcorders for our video cameras. Shortly afterwards, Mr. Mike Simmons was kind enough to allow us the use of his two Canon GL-1 semi-pro camcorders. We liked them so much that we later purchased two of our own, allowing us to run up to four Canon GL-1's during our Pageants and Special Events. The GL-1 can output video over composite video (via the RCA jack), Y/C Video (via the S-Video jack) or Firewire (via the IE-1394 jack).
	Cabling for our video feeds is mostly RG-6, although we do use some RG-59 for some of the mixer/monitor/VCR interconnections. Currently we have dual cables run to jacks on the left, right and stage sides of the sanctuary and a dual set for the Family Life Center overflow feed. We use one cable run per camera via RCA connectors, which gives us a spare and also a way to send video back the other way (i.e. for a stage video monitor).
	Camera and playback signals to the video mixer are monitored and previewed using the Sony SSM-930 black and white 9" television monitor. These types of monitors are specially designed to pass the signal "through" the monitor rather than splitting the signal. Simply splitting the signal with a "Y" cable or adapter would cut the signal strength in half, which hurts the appearance; these monitors maintain the proper signal strength while monitoring the signal.  There is also a special "75 ohm" switch, which selects or deselects the proper termination impedance for video cabling to prevent "ghosting" in the video image.
	All audio and video interconnections supplied by different sources of AC power are transformer-isolated with Jenson Isomax and Rolls HE-18 isolators to prevent "ground loops" (current which flows between power sources over the AC ground wire).  Ground loops cause drifting lines in video and hum or buzz in audio.
	The Main Sanctuary Projector is a Mitsubishi XL5900U LCD projector, supplying 4000 lumens of brightness at XGA resolutions to the 10'x12' main sanctuary video screen. Common uses are praise and worship lyrics, video clips, and weekly announcements.
	The Rear Sanctuary Projector is a Mitsubishi S490U LCD projector, supplying 2600 lumens of brightness at SGA resolutions to the 6'x8' rear sanctuary video screen. This provides a copy of the main screen material to the Worship Pastor and Choir.
	The Family Life Center (Gymnasium) Projector is a Sanyo PLC-XP55 LCD projector with a long zoom lens, supplying 4500 lumens of brightness at XGA resolutions to the 8'x10' Family Life Center video screen from extreme distances. The high room light levels and increased distance from the screen require this projector to be even more powerful than the Main Sanctuary Projector!

If your response to reading any of the above descriptions was "cool!!", you may just have found a place in our little group of tech geeks. Contact Laurie Dell for information on how to join our band of merry little men and women! 

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