Studio33:3… With Meaning

Grand Rapids, MI (August 15, 2025)—There is a moment in the video memorializing the opening celebrations for Studio 33:3 at Grand Rapids First Church in Michigan when studio designer and acoustician Gavin Haverstick sees the completed control room for the first time, and he appears genuinely awestruck. “It felt like I was walking into Heaven,” he says. “It was all bright and white, the lighting was perfect—it is such a special place.”

The studio, in a building adjacent to the church’s 3,500-seat worship center, is the culmination of a three-year project, a long road that began with a tragedy.

In January 2022, lead pastors Sam and Brenda Rijfkogel lost their daughter, Sarah, a worship leader and featured singer at the church, to colon cancer. She was just 27. A foundation was set up in her memory to encourage the development of the next generation of worship leaders, and from that sprang the new studio honoring her legacy.

Sarah’s presence can be felt throughout Studio33:3. The name refers to her favorite Psalm: “Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.” She had an ellipsis (…) tattooed on her microphone hand to signify, as she explained it, that “my story goes on.” The three-dot motif is echoed in the studio lighting and décor. Her personality lives on in the lounge, where photos taken from her phone cover one wall and books on her favorite subjects are scattered about.

The 2,600-square-foot studio was constructed within a former science lab in the building. “It’s exactly what I want as a studio designer—a big open space with not a lot of obstacles to work around,” Haverstick says. The floor plan went through numerous iterations before the church found extra space for the lounge, enabling Haverstick to lay out a 514-square-foot control room, 806-square-foot live space, a 275-square-foot iso room generally used for the Yamaha nine-foot grand piano, and a second iso room measuring 114 square feet that incorporates two amp closets.

“Our mission statement is, ‘We create rooms that inspire,’” Haverstick says, and indeed, two of his previous designs inspired the church’s team, led by Drew McElhenny, executive pastor of Worship, Tech and Communications. The first was Christian music artist David Crowder’s facility in Atlanta. “They gravitated toward that clean, all-white look,” Haverstick notes. The other was Brooklyn Duo’s studio: “They liked the stair-step pattern with lights built into it; you see that in Studio33:3, as well.”

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McElhenny, who grew up making music and recording, first met Sarah when he came to the church in 2010 as Youth Worship Director and she was singing on the worship team; they would go on to work closely together as leaders. Initially, the church built a small project studio in-house, outfitted with an Avid S3 and Apogee Ensemble interface. Not surprisingly, the new studio has significantly improved the quality of in-house productions, including projects released on the church’s Wind & Embers label.

“We’re also very excited about being able to open this up and bring in Christian artists and churches, and to help propel the music forward together,” McElhenny says. “We have a lot of concerts that come through, so we’re looking forward to offering a live recording experience down the road and making that a part of their stop here.” Sunday services are piped over Dante into the Studio 33:3 control room and mixed for broadcast.

CLUTTER-FREE CONTROL

McElhenny worked with James Good, design and integration manager at Vintage King, who brought Haverstick Designs into the project. A visit to PMC’s Nashville demo room convinced the church’s team to install IB2S stereo main monitors. “The low-end information was really tight, but the 10-inch driver in the midrange really spoke to us,” McElhenny says. Genelec SAM speakers, with a 7382A sub, were selected for the Dolby Atmos 7.1.4 rig, in white, to match the décor.

“Early on, the church was on the fence about whether or not to outfit the room for Atmos,” Haverstick notes. “We designed the space with Atmos in mind because if you don’t do that, then you end up with a door or window in a place you don’t want it to be if they choose to add Atmos later, which they ultimately did. We also tried to keep the room as clean and clutter-free as possible, so the side and rear surrounds are against the walls; we didn’t need speaker stands.”

COME BACK TOMORROW FOR THE CONCLUSION