Prestonwood Baptist Church, North Campus

The growth in North Texas over the last decade has been off the charts. Located in the heart of this growth in Prosper TX, is the North Campus of Prestonwood Baptist Church. The church was busting at the seams with three, jam-packed services every week. There was a desire to increase seating capacity and upgrade the systems in their main sanctuary to buy them a few more years until they can build a larger sanctuary which will follow additional education space, already in the works.

Paragon 360 was called on for the multi-million-dollar project that included major audio, video and lighting system upgrades, motorized rigging, a new stage design that featured multiple LED walls and a new broadcast video control room. This is one of six major projects that Paragon 360 has completed for Prestonwood over the last five years including renovation of their main Plano sanctuary, campus-wide audio upgrades, renovation of their youth space at Plano and renovations to their gym space at North campus to accommodate contemporary worship services.

New audio systems were designed that included Meyer Leopard line arrays along with a DiGiCo Quantum 338 monitor console to integrate with the Quantum SD7 Paragon 360 installed in 2021. The system also included a new DSP for the atrium and lobby systems and a new low-profile, steerable floor monitor package. “The design and system that Paragon came up with was able to cover this room in a way that we have never been able to cover it before” said Bryan Bailey, Director of Media. “One of the common comments we get even from people that don’t really understand audio technology is just how much better the room sounds and that they appreciate the increased intelligibility.”

An all-new video control room included new switching and routing by For-A which Prestonwood demoed and decided on after seeing it at NAB. The system also included graphics computers, recorders, engineering and monitoring, patch panels, distribution equipment and included wireless intercom systems tied into the existing owner-furnished Riedel system for both campuses. Paragon also provided new production furniture and several ReveLux displays in the control room. The video system also included upgraded hardware for existing, owner-furnished cameras from the Plano campus.

The new stage design features several new LED walls including a Revelux Wallpaper, wall mounted LED wall for the center wide screen, Revelux Marvel LED walls for (2) IMAG screens right and left, and Revelux Marvel LED walls for (4) custom, moveable walls on stage carts. The modular stage carts were custom designed and built by Paragon allowing them the ultimate in versatility. The ReveLux LED walls are very similar to the ReveLux products installed by Paragon at the Plano campus in early 2023.

The lighting system upgrades included changing all key lighting to LED fixtures in addition to new power and data distribution, CueServer 3 Pro Base and converting all of the house-lighting to LED. Many pre-existing, owner-furnished moving lights were redeployed into the system. All stage rigging above the platform is now accomplished through a motorized system on a single controller.

“This was a very challenging project for us due to the budget restraints we were up against to accomplish the churches objectives” explained Donnie Brawner, Paragon 360 Owner and CEO. He went on to say, “The church was persuaded to run this as an IPD project which is typically reserved for much larger, new construction projects and it really turned the typical church design process on its head putting the cart before the horse. We agreed to participate either way because Prestonwood has been a long-standing client, and we want to do what we can to help them. For a client however with the kind of expectations that Prestonwood has, this budget, timeline and project delivery process was a serious challenge. I think it turned out well considering the circumstances.”

Regardless of the challenges, Paragon 360 was able to deliver the project on-time and on-budget, allowing for a seamless opening. “I was shocked at how smooth the three service, opening day was” said Bailey. “We did not have a single issue, and everyone was thrilled with the opening. Paragon helped make that happen because of the people they put onsite and the care that they put into it. They went above and beyond.”