Empower Church is a multi-cultural, dynamic, modern and effective Church based in Pretoria. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, the church has experienced remarkable growth and has recently acquired Absen KL2.5 panels from DWR Distribution to continue expanding its online presence.
Guided by the leadership of Pastors Gebhardt and Shannon Berndt, Empower Church has branches in Cape Town, Durban and Secunda, with the heart of their operations in Pretoria. For an extended time, they hired an Absen screen from the technical supply company Stage Effects but eventually decided to purchase their own panels.
“Let me start off by saying that working with DWR over the past three to four years has been the best choice for us as a national church,” comments Pastor Gebhardt. “From moving out of the epidemic into becoming a church with more than 100,000 YouTube Followers, millions of online views, and hundreds of thousands of social media followers, the church just kept expanding, and among this success would be the partnership, alliance and collaboration of DWR and especially Duncan Riley and Jaco Beukes. Empower Church has also purchased more LED, lighting and audio for our branch in Durban. DWR is always involved from scratch up because, as the saying goes, it just works.”
Duncan Riley says it’s mutual respect. “At Empower Church everything is done exceptionally well and it’s an honour that they rely on DWR in their quest for ongoing excellence. Their attention to detail is second to none and dealing with Pastor Gebhardt and his team is a wonderful experience.”
The KL Series has been designed for permanent installations, delivering vibrant colours, high refresh rate, high contrast ratio and high grayscale. The new panels were given a frame, designed and manufactured by DWR’s Keith Pugin, and then integrated into the church’s existing LED support structure.
The result is an ideal backdrop for preaching, providing backlight and colour wash during worship, and enhancing the stage decor. It collaborates with the lights and is also used to help set the mood and atmosphere in the auditorium. The designers and the media team work hand in hand to ensure creative content, motion backgrounds, updated themes and videos that ‘pop’, which they describe as an ideal solution for a modern-day church environment.
The church’s technical team are mostly volunteers, with only a few full-time staff. Thanks to Absen’s ease of use, volunteers never have to think about the technicalities of sending a signal or managing the screen.
“Working with DWR is a joy from planning to implementation and support afterwards,” ends Pastor Gebhardt. “There is regular communication whenever there is a question, and DWR regularly advises our technical team of upgrade possibilities. In 17 years of leading the church, I have never come across a company like DWR that is diligent in excellence, honest in business, makes people feel they matter, and is never shy to go the extra mile or to work late at night to ensure product and customer satisfaction. This makes the partnership one we will cherish and foster for years to come. We would like to thank DWR for always being friendly and helpful. I have advised tens of churches and companies to work with you and will not move away from the recipe of success. Excellence made easy equals DWR.”
In conclusion, DWR’s Jaco Beukes ends, “I really enjoy working with Empower Church. It’s beautiful to see the heart and fruit the church bears. Thank you for the opportunity to be part of your story and for the trust you have in us.”
