As one of the largest houses of worship in North America, the Second Baptist Church in Houston, Texas works hard to keep parishioners active and engaged. While that means providing clear communication and useful information about the ministry’s essential Christian beliefs, it also requires doing so in a compelling manner.
After its initial exposure to digital signage at a Washington DC Baptist convention, the 95-year-old megachurch has embraced the medium in diverse ways to guide visitors, engage parishioners, and reinforce its position that church can be fun and exciting. Second Baptist chose AxisTV Signage Suite to power their church digital signage, and was soon working closely with the Visix Creative Services team to develop a digital signage strategy with a mix of linear, interactive, and social media content displayed on video walls, kiosks and traditional displays throughout the sprawling campus.
And sprawling it is: The Second Baptist Church is far more than a traditional house of worship with a single sanctuary for weekend services. The property includes four sanctuaries, including a 4500-seat worship center, a K-12 school and several meeting spaces on its West Campus alone. Visitors both new and familiar to the campus can easily get lost while wandering the expansive complex, which made wayfinding a top priority.
“Using Visix AxisTV Signage Suite software, our Creative Services team had a template to develop a complete custom interactive wayfinding experience that’s easy to use,” said Jason Cain, regional sales manager for Visix. “This not only simplifies how people navigate the campus; it represents the start of the digital signage journey that the church has thoughtfully created.”
That digital signage journey includes a 10-monitor video wall with adjacent side-by-side displays. All displays are touchscreen-enabled with 4K content, and the 12-output media player can feed ultra-high-resolution video to corresponding displays or stretch special visuals across the entire videowall.
Ten side-by-side displays offer event schedules and other content that parishioners can interact with. Notably, the Creative Services team’s design allows visitors to interact with a section of the video without interrupting the interactivity of other displays.
“Those who engage with the screens enter into a custom interactive experience of their choosing,” adds Cain. “Upon touching a display, a specific section of the video might switch to an educational menu where parishioners could learn about the church, and upcoming events and educational experiences.”
The church has also deployed smaller, separate video walls in other dedicated spaces that show more linear content. This includes screens within the sanctuary and overflow rooms that show both live-produced and digital signage content during services.
All of this adds up to how the Second Baptist Church is using digital signage to create a more dynamic experience that reflects the vibrant nature of its multi-faceted campus, which also hosts wedding, graduations, and live events.
“This is far more than a Sunday service application,” said Cain. “Second Baptist Church is a modern, cutting-edge house of worship that draws very diverse attendance, and digital signage adds to the dynamic they’ve created and the image they’ve built. It’s truly a seven-days-a-week digital signage program.”