Crossroads Church Gains Peace of Mind and Complete Visibility with EnGenius AI Cameras -
Rowlett, TX
Background: A Growing Church with a Big Heart
Crossroads Church in North Texas has grown from a small congregation to more than 1,200 members over the past decade. Its mission extends far beyond Sunday worship, supporting global missions, local outreach programs, K-5 schooling, student ministries, and community faith events. The church’s outreach helps feed under-resourced families, support women recovering from abuse, and assist individuals overcoming addiction. Throughout the year, Crossroads hosts major gatherings like Winterfest, Mother’s Day Out, Best Week Ever for kids, and free kids summer camps – all celebrating faith, family, and togetherness.
We’re a very community-focused church—about half of what comes in goes right back into missions and ministries that help people locally and around the world. But with all that growth and activity, we realized how important it was to keep our people and property safe. We’ve got kids, families, and visitors here every day—it’s our responsibility to protect them.
— Jason Collins, Lead Pastor
These many overlapping functions require a surveillance camera setup capable of monitoring large crowds, detecting potential incidents before they escalate, and maintaining situational awareness throughout all areas of the property. With thousands of visitors, volunteers, and families on its multi-use campus each week, security and visibility became essential to protecting both the people and the mission of Crossroads Church.
The Challenge: Need for Full Visibility
The church’s previous camera system consisted of only 22 traditional NVR cameras. Coverage was incomplete, leaving critical blind spots in parking areas, indoors, and outdoor spaces. Additionally, the aging network infrastructure struggled to support new technologies and high-bandwidth applications like live streaming and digital signage.
“We have ministry happening here every day of the week. Over a thousand people come through every Sunday for our regular services, and throughout the week we host recovery programs, Bible studies, youth groups, and community events. There’s always something happening on campus. If something happened, we simply didn’t have visibility. That’s not acceptable anymore.” – Steve Deere, Executive Pastor
The campus itself now spans 30,000 square feet of indoor space and 15 acres of open areas, including parking lots and a soccer field — all of which require reliable security coverage.
The Solution: EnGenius AI Cameras and Unified Cloud Network
To modernize its infrastructure and strengthen campus-wide security, Crossroads Church turned to Joe Phillips and the IT experts at Smart Technology Solutions. Joe recommended a full upgrade using EnGenius AI cameras, EnGenius Cloud-managed switches and EnGenius Wi-Fi 7 access points to deliver both security and scalability. Initially concerned about cost, the church found EnGenius’ value proposition compelling, offering enterprise-level intelligence and coverage at a fraction of competitors’ prices.
The church deployed:
6 x EnGenius ECS2552FP and ECS2528FP multigig switches deliver faster speeds to support Wi-Fi, livestreaming, security cameras, and AV systems across the sanctuary, classrooms, and offices without slowdowns.
12 x EnGenius ECW536 Wi-Fi 7 AP ensures strong, reliable Wi-Fi coverage throughout large church spaces—sanctuaries, offices, and community halls—keeping staff, visitors, and streaming services seamlessly connected
Unified cloud-managed visibility across the church, school, and parking facilities
The new surveillance camera setup provides complete coverage with no blind spots, while the upgraded network backbone supports live streaming, video production, and seamless high bandwidth applications.
I’ve been deploying EnGenius for many years across multiple clients. You guys just keep innovating — keeping up with the leading enterprise brands at 40–60% of the cost.
— Joe Phillips, Smart Technology Solutions
Results: Safety, Confidence, and Operational Efficiency
The impact was immediately felt as the new system allowed the staff to quickly find and review footage of a reported incident in their parking lot and verify it did not happen on church property with clear, time-stamped footage. Now parents feel more confident sending their children to student ministry and daycare, while the safety team can easily monitor live video feeds during services and large community events, creating an extra level of security.
We don’t have blind spots anymore. We have peace of mind knowing if something happens, we can see it, isolate it, and respond. That’s priceless.
— Steve Deere, Executive Pastor
The upgrade also delivered major improvements to the church’s network performance such as boosting internet speeds, stabilizing livestreams, and ensuring seamless connectivity across multiple buildings. Crossroads rely on cloud-based tools for video editing, graphic design, and content creation, all of which require substantial bandwidth. With the new infrastructure in place, the staff can collaborate more efficiently, work on large media projects without lagging, and support live events with confidence. The result is faster workflows and noticeably higher productivity across the board.
“It’s about enabling us to do our jobs better. You’ve done your job well so we can focus on doing ours.” – Jason Collins, Lead Pastor
Unlocking the Power of AI
While the church is still rolling out the full suite of AI capabilities, certain features are already making a meaningful impact. Event detection and vehicle tracking help the team stay aware of what’s happening across the campus, even after hours. Software-defined customizable alerts will be set up for any activity that the church finds unusual such as unexpected access, unauthorized vehicles, or extended loitering to allow staff to respond proactively instead of constantly monitoring live feeds.
Leadership expects the value of these AI insights to continue growing over time, not only strengthening security but also helping them better understand how their campus is used throughout the week. In the end, Crossroads credits EnGenius for delivering advanced AI features, easy scalability, and a budget-friendly solution that enhances safety, efficiency, and peace of mind for both staff and congregants.
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