Located in Rock Hill, South Carolina, West End Baptist Church serves more than 2,300 parishioners. Its history dates back to 1895, when ministering to the spiritual needs of the people in the Arcade/Victoria Mills community first began with a small Bible study in Rock Hill. While today’s church bears no physical resemblance to these beginnings, it is still focused on the same clear vision. 

Today, West End serves its congregation from two locations, and everything about the church speaks to its focus on excellence. Two different Sunday morning worship services – one contemporary and the other, a blended service – include music, video, drama and messages that not only speak today's language but are practical for everyday living. 

 “Buildings don't change lives, but what's inside them does. It is amazing what God can do when His people work together,” said Senior Pastor Mike Lowery, who has been with the church since 1995.

This emphasis on excellence extends to the materials West End produces for its congregation and its 70 different ministries, each of which produces a variety of materials, from bulletins and posters to flyers and newsletters. Reverend Lowery and the church’s staff and volunteers work hard to ensure that all printed materials exemplify the quality of their ministry. 

“The Lord has blessed us. We are committed to doing things the right way,” he explained. 

One of those strategies was acquiring technology that would enable West End to increase the use of color in its printed materials. Many studies have shown that color makes documents stand out, enhances customer loyalty, influences opinion and boosts recall, by as much as 75 percent. 

Church communicators, who rely on effective communication with current and prospective members to reach out to and build their congregations, are making increased use of color printing technologies to enhance their programs. Advances in both spot and full-color digital printing systems have made printing in color faster, easier and more affordable than ever before. 

West End found a system that satisfied these needs when it purchased a RISO HC5000 Full Color ComColor Printer to enhance it internal printing capabilities. The result has been a dramatic increase in the quantity and quality of the documents being produced. At the same time, West End has recognized a substantial savings in its color printing costs.

“With this new system, we are able to produce high-quality, full-color printing at approximately 2.5 cents per page,” said Reverend Lowery. “The cost savings, coupled with the HC5000’s speed, gives us the opportunity to produce quality documents in all of our ministry areas and has greatly expanded our printed material.”

Prior to purchasing the system, the church produced only 10 to 15 percent of its documents in color. To do this, it used an in-house laser printer and outsourced jobs such as newsletters. It was also very time consuming and labor intensive to produce documents with this equipment, since staff had to collate, fold and staple pieces by hand. Producing the newsletters at an outside printer required a month’s lead time. 

“We needed to invest in a full color technology that would allow us to do these jobs in-house,” said Reverend Lowery.

Joyce Honeycutt, West End’s office manager, concurs.  One of her jobs is to explore new technologies that save time and labor. 

“Visual communication in today’s culture is so important,” she explained. “With applications that vary from financial reports to children’s newsletters, it is crucial that we effectively communicate visually, and that means using color. The HC5000 is a compact machine with great options – duplexing, folding, stapling – that allows our support staff to be much more productive and creative. We are able to produce beautiful and appealing documents, and that has really boosted morale.”

For Pastor Lowery, the HC5000 has been particularly helpful in preparing the variety of presentations that he makes. 

“Now I am able to make last-minute changes to presentations and produce a quality piece instantaneously,” he said. 

Today, West End produces 85 to 90 percent of its printed material in full color. With the finisher option, documents can be folded, sorted and stapled. As a result, materials that used to take staff several days to produce can now be completed in hours. 

An additional benefit is the system’s networkability. 

“We can send files from the desktop, even from our other building, which is 1.5 miles from the worship center. Our experience is so successful that other churches in the area have come to our campus to look at our printing operations,” said Reverend Lowery.