Pathway Church, founded in 1959 and located in Wichita, Kan., faced new security challenges in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. The church operates three main campuses (Goddard, Westlink and Valley Center) along with 16 additional leased or hosted worship sites. Budget constraints and staffing limitations made it difficult to reliably monitor across its large campus environments and numerous entry points. The church also wanted to address insurance requirements, safeguard children’s areas and streamline facility management without adding significant recurring costs.

“We didn’t have the manpower to cover every corner of our buildings,” said Dan Doerflinger, facilities director, Pathway Church. “We needed a camera system that could help us extend our reach, so one person can monitor spaces that would otherwise take multiple staff to oversee.”

To offset budget limitations, Pathway independently applied for the Nonprofit Security Grant Program (NSGP), which provides up to $200,000 per location to support high-risk nonprofits, such as faith-based organizations, in strengthening physical security and reducing vulnerability to potential threats.

Utilizing funding awarded by NSGP, Pathway selected i-PRO for its camera technology, cost-effectiveness and seven-year warranty. The church deployed a mix of S and X-series cameras at its Goddard and Westlink campuses, including multi-sensor units for exterior coverage, fisheye and dome cameras for interior spaces and bullet cameras for parking lots. The cameras are managed through i-PRO’s VideoInsight video management system.

“The lack of recurring licenses made a huge difference for us as a nonprofit,” Doerflinger said. “It meant we could budget gradually and know the system would be scalable long-term.”

With the ability to manage hundreds of cameras across multiple campuses, VideoInsight provides a unified view of operations and simplifies security oversight for Pathway.

i-PRO’s AI-driven features were another key factor. Object detection reduces false alarms caused by environmental movement, such as trees blowing in the wind. Analytics like people counting give Pathway a clearer view of service attendance without compromising privacy, while clothing color search (such as looking for someone in a blue shirt or jeans) makes it easy to find specific individuals in a large, busy building. These tools have also reduced the time required to review footage.

Privacy protection features, including facial masking for students, are equally important for Pathway’s school, helping ensure compliance with privacy laws when video must be downloaded for incident reviews.

The system was implemented with support from ADS of Wichita, Pathway’s systems integrator, which also provided training to help church staff operate the system independently.

Monitoring stations now provide live oversight throughout the week and during weekend services, while remote access allows Pathway to quickly verify alerts. Insurance claims are easier to resolve as well. In one case, i-PRO footage confirmed that a damaged vehicle window resulted from an accident rather than vandalism.

The church is continuing to expand coverage, with plans to install cameras in all 46 classrooms at its main campus by next year. Long-term, Pathway is exploring advanced applications like vehicle counting and integration with i-PRO’s end-to-end safety system, ClassSecure, to further strengthen security and operations.

“Our congregation values knowing we’re proactive about safety,” Doerflinger said. “The cameras help us protect our members, support our staff and steward our resources wisely.”