Experience.FellowshipOne.com

We are opening our first multi-site location at a theater.  Anyone have dos/don'ts about using movie theaters for church sites?

We also use F1 ChMS and will be using F1 check-in, has anyone had problems storing computers in trailers during the week etc.

Thanks

Mark 

I have just become aware of a church that is meeting in a ballroom at the Mall of America.  www.TheRiverChurchMOA.org  You might contact them directly on the storage of their stuff situation and ask how they do it.  My own setting is in a traditional church building. www.atgrace.com

I love the idea of creative locations.  I prayed for your church today.

For an audience of one,
Marion Lorence

Hi,

 I can answer the issue regarding the computers.  A typical PC can be stored under conditions between 35 F and 120 F without damage.  If there is excessive humidity, then you are looking at moisture on IC's, etc.

 -Kevin

You are very lucky to be blessed with a theater.  My advice to you is go nuts.  Once you learn all the ins and outs of what you can do with the tech in that theater, if your church ever decided to build a facility, you'll want to incorporate EVERY thing that you saw.

Fly wheel, catwalks, lighting, etc...  You might want to get in touch with someone before adjusting all that stuff, of course.  My wife was the theater manager at a local high school and the church that came in there on Sundays was notable for messing things up.

But, done right you will love what you can do with a theater.

Hey Mark!!

Our Church has had a muti-site at a theater now for over a year. God has really blessed us at that location. A group of people arrive every Sunday and 6am to unload 3 trailers worth of equipment and stage decor for a 9 am service. We have preschool through youth also serving God in their own classrooms. For the Preschoolers and Children, they are in a party room in the theater. The middle and high schoolers are across the way in a Game Works, which is like a big arcade, where they play for about 20mins and then they join together in the dinning room for their teaching. We have greeters both inside the lobby and outside the theater welcoming people and handing out cards to passerby. It took a few months of passing out flyers for non members to understand that we were even there. Our theater is located inside a mall so there are lost a searching people that pass by our doors that we try and encourage them to come on in and experience God in a different way. One the biggest things that we try to do in our extended church is bring a piece of home to the theater, we have the same signs, decor, coffee, and lessons for every age. Our slogan is one church where you are, so no matter which location you choose to attend you are going to get the same experience. We have services on Saturday night that we record and then play on the theater screen after a live worship that rotate musicians between the campuses, with one campus worship pastor. There are two teams of volunteers one group that sets up and a second that comes later on to tear down and store the trailers in our church parking lot. Both teams have grown into a family with a strong bond, and I'm sure you find that when you move into your theater and you start getting the hang of things that the bonds of the people around will grow strong. Well good luck, and my God bless you on your endeavor.