Jimmy Swaggart Ministries

In early 2019, Paragon 360 was contacted by Tim Tracy, Director of Television for SonLife Broadcast Network about the extensive renovation of the iconic Jimmy Swaggart Ministries Family Worship Center. This space has been the home to the Swaggarts' ministry for 30 years and the SonLife Broadcast Network programming location for over a decade. The project was going to be very challenging because the church had no interest in relocating temporarily and did not want to miss a single service. The church partnered with Paragon 360 for the multi-million dollar project which included redesign of the entire platform, along with new audio, video and lighting systems, custom rigging, extensive acoustical work and Paragon’s signature scenic and architectural elements.

The Paragon team extended the platform's footprint to accommodate the Swaggart team's organic approach to services allowing more space for the praise team. The lollipop stage design creates a space for all three generations of Swaggart pastors to deliver their dynamic messages with a surrounding audience. To answer a desire to make the large space feel more intimate, Paragon designed, built and installed custom, motorized, dropdown illuminated scrims that would close of the balcony space in addition to a custom, acoustical island ceiling panel system.

A cornerstone of the SonLife Broadcast Network's programming is the weekly live broadcasts from the Family Worship Center. With this being the first renovation of the space in thirty years, there was a desire to modernize the room's aesthetics. However, with a ministry focus on television, it was paramount that all of the scenic and architectural elements on the platform would be designed and built to look fantastic on camera. This meant texture, depth and dimension would be paramount.

Paragon designed, built and installed several custom, modular, architectural elements for this project including a curved wall that separates choir form orchestra at mid-platform. The wall contains an integrated curved LED wall, real wood with illuminated faux stone elements, acoustical elements, and a handrail. The backwall of the platform consisted of illuminated wooden columns, wall panels and screen surrounds with faux stone accents covering a space of 120’ wide by 36’ tall. In addition, Paragon provided a front of stage façade that ties into the stage backgrounds, several illuminated modesty walls on the platform, custom railings, curved prayer benches matching the shape of the stage thrust, a custom, branded pulpit, a surround wall for the monitor mix area and a custom drum enclosure.

The Family Worship center was suffering severe acoustical issues caused by the face of the balcony, as well as the unique shape of the ceiling. After a dep acoustical analysis, the Paragon team installed acoustical elements on the front face of the balcony and fabricated a custom acoustical island ceiling throughout the sanctuary that dramatically changed the space.

The updated stage design impacted aspects of Swaggart's original audio design. The existing floor pocket infrastructure was renewed and raised to the level of the new platform. The team also relocated the monitor mix location, improved the ergonomics of the patch bays, and installed all new multi-pair cable for the entire system. The Swaggart audio production team was plain in their objectives, "if it ain't broke, don't fix it." With this in mind, the Paragon design team worked within the existing system and made improvements where needed. The FOH mixing platform remained analog, and an analog patch bay was installed to accommodate the current analog connectivity of the system.

The main objective for the church's video system was improving the flexibility of the stage design. By integrating LED panels into the set elements, the Paragon team offered a more dynamic approach to the set design. The choir and modesty walls feature a 20' x 5' and 18' x 2' custom-curved displays, respectively. This design places 7' feet of LED panels directly behind the praise team and presenters, allowing endless flexibility and creativity for weekly broadcasts. Four 8' x 4' 10" LED confidence monitors were installed along the balcony wall.

To save cost, existing projectors were used for the main IMAG screens allowing LED displays to be used in the most significant places, including directly in the background of the primary camera angles. The LED confidence monitors eliminate the need for projection or TVs, reducing light spill, reflections, glares, and future proofs their monitoring system with a long-lasting solution. In addition, a new 7' X 12' LED display was also designed into the main lobby space which is the focal point before entering the worship center.