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home | Solomon Award Winners

Solomon Award Winners

The Solomon Awards (formerly the House of Worship Awards) provided churches across the nation the opportunity to be recognized for their excellence in church growth, management and production. The awards were divided into two primary categories, worship facilities and audio-visual production for church services. Multiple awards in a category were available based on church size.

2007 Solomon Award Winners Announced!

View the winners below or click here to view all of the entrants.

Overall Category

Category: Most Innovative Church Facility

Crossroads Christian Church	Corona, CA
	By using world-class creativity and stewardship principles, including several innovative strategies derived from the theme park, entertainment, and event center world, Crossroads Church (Corona, California) appears not as a massive structure, but as a village-like composition of towers, metallic cornices, portals, and graphic walls intended to evoke a Mediterranean hilltown.

Facilities Categories

Category: Best Church Design - New Construction Project

Living Water Community Church	Bolingbrook, IL
	Living Water's church facility reaches into the diverse Bolingbrook community and radically impacts lives. Most areas of the building serve a variety of functions - from the cafe to the sanctuary, each area answering the cry of the neighborhood by providing space for real community interaction.

Gateway Church	Austin, TX
	Gateway Church's goal for their new worship space was about connecting people in relationship to God and to each other. To facilitate this, they developed an asymmetrical room with seating that wraps 200 degrees around the stage and used large video screens and lighting to create a visually fascinating experience.
Crossroads Christian Church	Corona, CA
	Using innovative techniques derived from the film, theme park, and retail design industries, Crossroads Christian Church (Corona, California) became the anchor of a postmodern piazza within a Mediterranean-styled "city on a hill" driving a substantial increase in both attendance and baptisms, despite a challenging leadership transition in early 2007.

Category: Best Church Design - Expansion Project

The Vineyard Church	Urbana, IL
	The Vineyard's 47,000 sq. ft. addition of an 1,100 seat, state-of-the-art performance auditorium and a cafe/community space met the goal of a comfortable, appealing space that would make a large church feel "small" while fostering spiritual discovery and growth.
Northland, A Church Distributed	Longwood, FL
	This expansive project, which Northland, A Church Distributed refers to as "Together We Can", involved two major phases. Phase One included a nearly 20,000 sf Children's Worship Wing, and Phase Two included a new 140,000 sf Main Sanctuary Building. The new sanctuary is the heart of Northland's facilities, where the rough hewn wood coupled with the crisp stainless steel features embrace this new trend in worship facilities, blending the looks of ancient and modern.

Category: Best Church Design - Renovation Project

Vineyard Community Church	Greenwood, IN
	Needing space, but not ready to build an all-new facility, Vineyard Community Church (Greenwood, IN) purchased an existing church building. A total renovation by Aspen Group of nearly 20,000 sft., transformed a dated, traditional motif to a contemporary, casual environment with a theatre-style sanctuary, vibrant cafe and bookstore to enhance ministries.

Fellowship Bible Church	Dallas, TX
	With a need to accommodate its growing congregation, Fellowship Bible Church Dallas sought a home which would compliment it's core mission of "outreach, restoration and equipping". The architectural project applied these core values and as an architectural solution adapting an existing structure (a movie theater) in a strategic location as a useful tool.

The Heights Baptist Church	Richardson, TX
	The Heights Baptist Church, a 5,000 member congregation in Richardson, Texas, completed a two-part renovation project to its original building, converting the interim 900-seat worship center into a 400-seat chapel and adult education space, and renovating an unused, basement-level mechanical room into an 11,750 SF youth center.

Category: Best Construction Management - New Construction Project

First Baptist Church	Morris, IL
	The building team at First Baptist Church in Morris, IL and Aspen Group creatively solved an uncommon amount of issues to finish the 6,700 square foot building on time and on budget. The cooperative spirit from start to finish focused the team and allowed them to lead a successful project.

Category: Best Construction Management - Renovation Project

Minooka Bible Church	Minooka, IL
	Many aspects contribute to make a successful building project. For Minooka Bible Church it was the combination of early planning, open communication between the building committee and design build company Aspen Group, flexibility, and finding the right lay leadership to keep the project focused on ministry, not just dollars.

Category: Best Operations and Maintenance

Lee Harris, Fielder Road Baptist Church	Arlington, TX
	Lee Harris is the facilities manager for Fielder Road Baptist Church - a vibrant congregation located in the center of the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex where he manages The MetroCenter. Designed to host concerts and community events, it's a space for the church to match their vision to minister to their community.

Category: Best Special Project

Lake Tulloch Bible Church	Copperopolis, CA
	The church set out to design a room for youth that would promote excitement and stability. This room, which has been named “Crosswalk” has incorporated lots of multimedia to enhance the ministry of worship, preaching, and discipleship. This project is a teenager’s and youth pastor’s dream come true.

Criswell Center, First Baptist Church	Dallas, TX
	The Criswell Center is a multi-functional "hub" for the 10 building urban campus of the First Baptist Church of Dallas. The 7 story, 210,000 sq. ft. facility features 2 below grade parking levels, an atrium overlooking downtown, prayer tower, fountain mall, chapel, dinner theatre and conference space.

Northland, A Church Distributed

Longwood, FL

The Children's Worship Wing at Northland, A Church Distributed is a two-story, 19,360 sq ft state-of-the-art themed education building. It features a unique blend of education, entertainment and meeting space for the elementary grades K-5. The primary features are: Two-story rotunda and pre-show room with climbing wall; Large main room to accommodate 350 children; 18 Classrooms and; Glassed connecting link to new sanctuary.

Best Overall Building Project

Crossroads Christian Church	Corona, CA
	Using innovative techniques derived from the film, theme park, and retail design industries, Crossroads Christian Church (Corona, California) became the anchor of a postmodern piazza within a Mediterranean-styled "city on a hill" driving a substantial increase in both attendance and baptisms, despite a challenging leadership transition in early 2007.

Audio-Visual Categories

Category: Best Design, Implementation and Operation - Audio Equipment/System

Christ Life Church	Tempe, AZ
	Christ Life Church's previous system included Mackie 32 8bus, lexicon effects, EV mains and subs, QSC power USA 900 and USA1310 and many kinds of Shure wireless microphones. In their audio equipment implementation, they now utilize a Yamaha M7CL board, Meyer UPJ, CQ-2, CQ2, 700HP all controlled by the Meyer Galileo.

Faith Promise Church

Knoxville, TN

Faith Promise Church feels very blessed to have an opportunity to take a quantum leap into audio technology in the implementation of new technology products. The quality difference was night and day which supported our value of intentional excellence.

Westover Church	Greensboro, NC
	Westover Church installed the world's first Midas XL8 Live Performance System in its new Worship Center last September. The auditorium has a seating capability of nearly 3,000 and is covered with a point source configuration of speakers and also employs a surround system of speakers. There is a Midas network interface for connection of touring analogue and digital consoles.

Category: Best Design, Implementation and Operation - Video Equipment/System

Lake Wylie Christian Assembly

Lake Wylie, SC

Lake Wylie Christian Assembly was given a $50,000 gift of a broadcast system, picked as a winner out of 2,000 entries into a drawing. It includes a Echolab Opera 3408 video switcher &, Compix-charator generator, Avitech-display processor, and 360 System-image server. It is now installed and has changed the way they capture their service on DVD.

Van Buren First Assembly of God	Van Buren, AR
	IMAG to the extreme with an outdoor LED sign broadcasting live services and more than 30 HD monitors inside. Over 15 miles of CAT5 cabling for AV distribution on a budget all ran by the same volunteers who installed, and now operate, all equipment makes this install a huge success.

Valley Baptist Church	Bakersfield, CA
	Valley Baptist Church reaches the world through television. In mid 2005, construction began on a 6,000 square foot production facility in the space formally used to care for babies and children. Today, weekly worship services are enhanced technically and a 30-minute broadcast is produced in both English and Arabic.

Category: Best Design, Implementation and Operation - Video Equipment/System

Faith Promise Church

Knoxville, TN

After renting moving light for several productions, Faith Promise Church decided to take the plunge and invest in their own equipment. That have found that it has brought the weekend experience to a whole new level.

Category: Best Tech Director

Bill Swaringim, Windsor Crossing Community Church	Chesterfield, MO
	Bill Swaringim is the Technical Director for Windsor Crossing Community Church in Chesterfield, Missouri. Bill's gifting is as much about the people as it is about the technology. His gift for building teams and creating connection make him a gifted technical director.

Michael Wells, Trinity Fellowship Church	Amarillo, TX
	Michael Wells is the Director of Sound & Production at Trinity Fellowship Church in Amarillo. He administrates the lighting, sound, video production and graphics, and recording production for all church events. Mike has a great deal of technical knowledge which serves him well in this very technology-driven church.

Phil Hall, Free Chapel

Gainesville, GA

Phil Hall produced results, gave the leadership needed en-coupled with quick learning that pulled together volunteers to make the musical and audio team work well together. The result was great sound and flawless services.

Category: Best Technical Production Team

Olivet Baptist Church: Production Team

Austin, TX

Olivet's Production Team has done a marvelous job in assisting others with various video projects. Whether it's doing commercials, assisting our Pastor with his video intros and outros, or assisting the elderly in taping, they have done an outstanding job. A talent is something you enjoy doing, and its something that God has given to you directly. The reason this team works so well is that, like the disciples (12 unique individuals that God put together), they work well together

Campus Hill Church Media Team

Loma Linda, CA

Headed by Pastor Cristian and operated by volunteers, the Campus Hill Media Team has grown from a small audio tape production to a full TV ministry aired internationally, blessing families and churches and healing souls.

New Hope Christian Fellowship: Technical Production

Honolulu, HI

Here, at New Hope Christian Fellowship, one of our core values is that we do church as a team. Our technical production teams are mostly led by and filled with volunteers. The sound, lighting, stage, internet and video teams are comprised of ordinary people doing extraordinary things for the Lord.

Category: Most Innovative Production

Mt. Bethel United Methodist/Live it Live! Production Team

Rogers, AR

"Live It Live!" is an interactive children's worship television show designed to excite motivate and educate our children in an entertainment forum so that they may achieve a deeper understanding and richer relationship with Jesus Christ.

NorthRidge Church

Plymouth, MI

NorthRidge Church continues to be imaginative, innovative, and influencing and only through the work of God and His divine inspiration are we able to experience the victory when it comes to seeing thousands of lives eternally changed. However, while they know God receives the glory for the work He does at NorthRidge, they continue preparing and creatively programming every service. Their eight Easter services of 2007, nominated for "Most Innovative Production", saw a total of 206 salvations.

Category: Best Systems Contractor or Consultant

Mark Pearson, CCI Solutions	The Grove Community Church: Riverside, CA
	Having a good systems designer and integrator is crucial to any new building project. The Grove Community Church found this in Mark Pearson from CCI Solutions. He is technically excellent and posesses the rare ability to communicate extremely technical information so that everyone understands it. He truly cares about every project, both big and small.

Harold Rubens	The Brooklyn Tabernacle: Brooklyn, NY
	The Brooklyn Tabernacle had only 5 days to replace their failing DSP system. Audio designer/ consultant Harold Rubens provided a clear plan of attack to replace the current system and used innovative techniques to achieve uniform coverage and sonic balance throughout a room with zones that are acoustically very different.

Category: Best Digital Church

Bushnell Congregational Church

Detroit, MI

Bushnell Congregational Church utilizes the same technologies for its website as sites such as myspace, youtube and facebook. Visitors and members now have a rich dynamic experience for worship on Sundays or any other day of the week day or night.

Northland, A Church Distributed	Longwood, FL
	The 160,000 sf facilities feature state-of-the-art technology with the 1,024-channel audio/visual routing matrix and "Metro Ethernet" system will greatly improve the two-way interconnectivity between Northland's sites. Those who worship on site, too, will benefit from the advanced technology. From the moment the worshiper walks through the main entry and throughout the worshiper's experience.

Best Overall AV Project

New Hope Christian Fellowship

Honolulu, HI