We're all familiar with smart cars and smart homes. Well, Fellowship Church, based in the Dallas TX area, is a smart church. Founded in 1989, it grew from 150 members who met on Sundays in a rented facility in the suburb of Irving TX into an evangelical juggernaut of more than 24,000 worshippers each week. Now, congregants meet at 10 locations, including satellite churches in South Miami FL and North Port FL, as well as in Norman OK. Led since its founding by Ed Young, Fellowship Church has used modern church techniques to build its congregation. Those techniques include embracing contemporary worship styles, including plenty of music, and using specialized services for children to cater to youngsters and their parents alike. This mind for modernism applies to the church's AV technology, as well. Fellowship Church follows a path that, by now, is well trodden: It broadcasts and streams its main message to its satellite locations each week, framing it with local pastors and live music. Very recently, Fellowship Church opened what Pastor Young calls a "co-main" location. The new church is located in Frisco TX, about 15 miles from the 20-year-old, 4,200-seat main location in Grapevine TX. It was built into what formerly had been a Gander Mountain superstore, which closed in 2017 after the retailer declared bankruptcy. For the new Frisco location, Fellowship Church worked with AV integrator Clark, which has offices in Dallas, Orlando FL, Atlanta GA, Denver CO and Los Angeles CA.
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