One of the
Largest Churches in the Nation
Calls on
BAG END

One of the largest churches in the nation calls on Bag End for the foundation of its sound system.

The Potter's House is one of the largest houses of worship in nation - but that's only fitting since the church's charismatic leader - Bishop T. D. Jakes - is himself larger than life.

Founded just five years ago with 50 families from Charleston, W. Va., The Potter's House - a multi-ethnic, nondenominational church - now claims a membership of more than 28,000. So it came as no surprise when two years ago the church's leaders unveiled plans for an 8,000-seat worship center the size of two football fields.
Situated atop 28 acres of rolling hills in the Oak Cliff area of Dallas, the new worship center is open - and continuing to grow. In addition to capacity services every Sunday, Bishop Jakes maintains an extension television ministry with his “The Potter's House” program that can be seen three times a week on the Trinity Broadcasting Network and weekly on the Black Entertainment Television Network.

The heavy broadcast schedule is vital to The Potter's House Ministry, but church leaders did not want the broadcast needs to take away from the esthetic appeal of the worship center. Worship is high-energy, involving a great deal of audience participation. So with those priorities in mind, church leaders assembled an extensive design team of seven firms, among them a pair of nationally known audio experts: consultants Acoustic Dimensions and audio/video contractor Signal Perfection Limited.

“The broadcast needs of the ministry required an intensive amount of technical equipment be integrated into the ceiling,” said John Paul DeFrank, project manager for The Beck Group, the architect and general contractor for the project. “Probably the greatest success of the room was the crafting of the beautiful design to hide the technology.”

When it came to the in-house sound system, the shear size of the space was a factor. A number of acoustic and audio strategies were utilized to make the 190,000 square-foot worship center feel like a smaller church. “The acoustics were designed to create intimacy in the worship experience,” Eric Seifert of Acoustic Dimensions, the lead acoustical designer of the project, said. To generate the energy needed for the congregation's interaction in such a large space, tremendous sound pressure levels are required. Acoustic Dimension's audio system is capable of 125 dB at the mix position.

Familiar with the capabilities of BAG END subwoofers, Acoustic Dimension specified eight custom designed BAG END QUARTZ and ten D18E-I high-performance subwoofer cabinets to be the backbone of the worship center's bass system. Four of the cabinets are installed on either side of the stairway to the stage. That's a total of 36 18-inch subwoofers directly in front of the congregation capable of going down to 8 Hz.

“I was surprised,” said The Potter's House Chief Audio Engineer Kirk Denson. “I was skeptical whether the BAG ENDs would be able to provide the punch we wanted, but I really like what I'm getting out of them.”

Fort those who marvel at - and wonder about - the extensive use of technology in his ministry, Bishop Jakes has a straight-forward answer. “We have stepped up to the contemporary challenge of applying hi-tech tools to high church worship and outreach. The church cannot significantly influence the 21st Century society by continuing to image cutting edge as stained glass windows, and high-tech as overhead projectors - ignoring the tools that influence and mold the rest of the world."

Bag End Loudspeakers
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