# Outdoor Church Service



## Capn (Aug 5, 2007)

The church that I TD at has to do a Sunday outside next month. I'm looking for some input, thoughts and advice. (pertaining to the outdoor service and not advice like, "If someone offers you a penny for your thoughts, take it. It's a good deal") We have to do 3 services that hold 1000 people per service. My initial thought was to use a 60 foot by 120 foot tent, but I fear people in the back will feel like they are at a football game in the cheap seats and I also fear there won't be enough headroom for sound and lights. I would also like to avoid IMag. Any thoughts? Oh yeah, like the rest of you I live in the real world and have to do it "as cost effective as possible", what ever that number is. Mostly, though, I need to do it right.


----------



## avkid (Aug 5, 2007)

Use a round tent.


----------



## Footer (Aug 5, 2007)

Call any local tent company's, these things are not cheap to do. Depending on where you are, what is available will be limited. Also, the larger tents can have points put in for truss and what not fairly easily. Start making phone calls then see what you end up with.


----------



## Capn (Aug 5, 2007)

Couldn't get a round tent that big. A 60x120 is about $2500 in my area which is do-able cost wise. I didn't realize you could get hang points. I'll call them in the morning and see if they can do that.

Thanks a lot!


----------



## Footer (Aug 5, 2007)

Capn said:


> Couldn't get a round tent that big. A 60x120 is about $2500 in my area which is do-able cost wise. I didn't realize you could get hang points. I'll call them in the morning and see if they can do that.
> Thanks a lot!



Usually what they do is drop points off of the poles. Self climbing truss is also used pretty often. PM BillESC, he has some tent experience.


----------



## SHARYNF (Aug 6, 2007)

as a general rule of thumb you will need about 10 square feed per person, this will allow for stage, aisles etc etc, so you are looking at a pretty big tent. Usually you have two major types, pole and frame. Pole usually has a pole for each 20 foot section, so a two pole tent usually maxes out at 40 by 60, and you then add addtional poles for each additional 20 foot sections (usually these tents have additional sections to aid expansion, so you would be looking at a 40 By 260 foot or your increase the width and add quarter poles, so you would have an 80 by 140. which would probably be more practical but you still have the poles to deal with, but they are pretty easy to put up, you also need 10 additional feet on each side for the stakes and ties. (I have a 40 by 60 that use alot and can expand) 

The standard tent is about 17 feet tall in the center at the poles and 7 to 10 feet high in the sides. I am raising mine to 22 feet in the center with 12 foot poles on the sides so that I can raise the truss higher for lighting, currently I get about 11 feet height, have a 2 foot high stage, so the tuss is on the low side I typically set up with the stage on the long side so that I don'thave a pole in the middle but have the two poles on either side of a 20 foot stage.
I use it for concerts, and the audience spills out to the out side with the tent mainly for stage and close in section.

The other option is a frame tent these are much more complicated to put up and definitely need a lift to raise the sections, but they don't have the poles

Sharyn


----------



## Capn (Aug 6, 2007)

Wow! I sure came to the right place for advice. You people are incredibly generous with your knowledge. I'm feeling a lot better about this now. Having never done this before, I wanted to make sure that our first time was a success. (read NOT a disaster)

I'll talk to my local rental company and see what my options are.

Thanks so much!


----------



## jwl868 (Aug 6, 2007)

This is more from audience experience (and is less of a technical issue), but you may want to check for any sources of external noise, random or regular, that are muffled or inaudible when inside the church building. For example, railroad engines, firehouses, ambulance stations, church bells, sirens, loading docks. While there isn’t much you can do about the noise, you may want to plan how to react to it – pause, restart, whatever. 

Joe


----------



## gafftaper (Aug 6, 2007)

Is this a case of you WANT the service to be outdoor or is it a case of you need to be somewhere other than the main sanctuary for a Sunday?

The cost of $2500 for a tent, plus all the rigging stuff, Chair rental... it could easily balloon up to around $4,000-$5,000... and there's a ton of work there running power (do you need to rent an industrial generator for power?). What about the toilet situation... rent honeybuckets for 1000 people? 

If you don't specifically want to be outside that Sunday there are a lot of other options to consider. Is there another church that would rent you their building for the afternoon and you could just have your services later in the day? I know that the 700 seat theater not to far from me would cost you way under $1000 for the day and that includes their full production staff and equipment. What about renting a school gym or auditorium... around here that would only cost you a couple hundred dollars. There are places like VFW halls and other community organizations, convention centers, hotel meeting and ballrooms, even renting a warehouse for the day (with 3000 people coming someone's got to have access to a deal at some sort of large facility). Every one of these options would cost less than the price of your tent alone and would be a lot less work.


----------



## Footer (Aug 6, 2007)

gafftaper said:


> Is this a case of you WANT the service to be outdoor or is it a case of you need to be somewhere other than the main sanctuary for a Sunday?
> The cost of $2500 for a tent, plus all the rigging stuff, Chair rental... it could easily balloon up to around $4,000-$5,000... and there's a ton of work there running power (do you need to rent an industrial generator for power?). What about the toilet situation... rent honeybuckets for 1000 people?
> If you don't specifically want to be outside that Sunday there are a lot of other options to consider. Is there another church that would rent you their building for the afternoon and you could just have your services later in the day? I know that the 700 seat theater not to far from me would cost you way under $1000 for the day and that includes their full production staff and equipment. What about renting a school gym or auditorium... around here that would only cost you a couple hundred dollars. There are places like VFW halls and other community organizations, convention centers, hotel meeting and ballrooms, even renting a warehouse for the day (with 3000 people coming someone's got to have access to a deal at some sort of large facility). Every one of these options would cost less than the price of your tent alone and would be a lot less work.



You can't have a gym or an auditorium revival, you have to have a tent or its just not a revival!


----------



## gafftaper (Aug 6, 2007)

Footer4321 said:


> You can't have a gym or an auditorium revival, you have to have a tent or its just not a revival!



Well I know that... but he said, "The church that I TD at has to do a Sunday outside next month... We have to do 3 services that hold 1000 people per service. My initial thought was to use a 60 foot by 120 foot tent" 

That doesn't sound like they are out there for fun that sounds more like they are out there because there's new carpet being installed, or some other reason that forces them to go. It also doesn't sound like he's focused on the tent as the only option.


----------



## Capn (Aug 6, 2007)

We have to be out of the main room because we are hosting an AIDS awareness tour done by World Vision http://worldvisionexperience.org that requires both our sanctuary and atrium for the entire week including Sunday. The reason for the tent idea is that we can put it up on site because the congregation is invited to go through it sometime between 8:00 and noon that Sunday. It would be easier for them to come to one of the services and stay for the experience. We're expecting a large turn out from the local community and requesting our members NOT attend until Sunday to allow the rest of the local community ample time.
jwl868: Great thought about local noise. Fort Wayne International Airport (sounds big, looks little) is near by and to top it off, there is an Air Force base there as well. As you said, not a lot we can do about it, but VERY important to think about the interruptions.
*GYM* revival...hum. Just doesn't have the same impact.


----------



## Footer (Aug 7, 2007)

Capn said:


> *GYM* revival...hum. Just doesn't have the same impact.


And it smells worse as well. Sounds like your going to end up with the tent of some sort.


----------

