SARASOTA, FL - When Church of Hope was drawing up plans to move into a new building five times the size of its previous facility, its Executive Pastor Peter Young attended a lighting trade show. There he came across a manufacturer that sold a full line of moving lights, LEDs, stage lighting and other products that appeared to offer outstanding features and value. Wanting to find out more about the company, Pastor Young called his lighting supplier/installer, Fred Costantini (Arc Associates Lighting Inc., Jacksonville, FL).
“He said, Fred, I saw some stuff that really impressed me, and I want you to look into it, recalled Costantini. The lighting manufacturer was Elation Professional, and Costantini not only checked out the companys products, he even sent some units to a lighting designer he works with, Dan McKenrick (t.v.l.d. Inc., Fredericksburg, VA) to be “put through the paces.”
The verdict was so positive that even though a different lighting manufacturer had been spec-ed for the job, Pastor Young switched plans midstream to go with virtually all Elation gear, along with some units from Elations sister company, American DJ. Even the trussing used to hang the lighting came from another of the companys divisions, Global Truss America.
“Price was definitely a factor, but it went beyond that,” said Costantini. “The Elation units had some technical advantages, too. Pastor Young also liked the idea that he could obtain virtually everything under one umbrella - LEDs, conventional lights, moving heads, trussing and all of the control.”
For instance, the churchs 1,500-seat main sanctuary includes the following products from Elation: six Power Spot 700 CMY and four Design Spot 250 moving lights, four Riva 80 LED systems, and 26 Opti Par stage par cans. Citing an example of Elations advantages, Costantini pointed to the Power Spot 700 CMY, a 700-watt color-mixing moving head: “The 700 is just amazing - its got some features that more expensive lights of its size dont have, like a linear zoom iris, an electronic ballast, two rotating gobo wheels, and an animation effects module.” The Design Spot 250 also offers features not typically found on other 250-watt lights its size --- most notably, a variable frost feature. This gives the Design Spot 250 the versatility to function as both a spot and wash, simply by adding or removing the frost effect, saving the church the expense of purchasing two types of 250-watt fixtures.
One of the innovations in the main sanctuary is the use of RGB color-mixing Riva LEDs along the walls. “The mood of the entire room - not just the stage -- can be altered subtly” by changing colors, explained Elation sales rep Dustin Pesnell (Freed Sales, Miami, FL), who visited Church of Hope numerous times during the planning phase. McKenrick of t.v.l.d. Inc. also spent considerable time on site, providing invaluable consultation and assistance in both the design and installation process.
Another nuance was to put all of the incandescent lights in the main sanctuary on RMD 620 dimmers so that they can be controlled with the same system as the moving lights and LEDs. “This was a really good idea, because you dont have to wait for someone to come in and turn off the house lights before you start the production. All the lights in the room can be controlled by the lighting director,” said Pesnell.
Control is provided by Elations Compu 2048FC PC-based DMX system. The software control system is easier to use than a DMX console, making it ideal for a church, where productions are typically run by volunteers as opposed to lighting pros. “With Compu software, if you want red, you click on red. If you want a circle, you click on circle. You dont have all these faders, buttons and knobs,” noted Pesnell.
Additional Compu 2048 systems are used to control lighting in other rooms at Church of Hope, whose facility will ultimately encompass 250,000 sq. ft. One of these rooms is the Life Center, where youth productions are held, which utilizes two Design Spot 250s, 10 Opti RGB color-changing LED stage lights, two American DJ Accu Spot 300 250-watt discharge moving heads, and one American DJ Accu Color 250 250-watt discharge color changer. “They wanted to make the Life Center as exciting and bright with lights and colors as possible,” said Costantini. “This ministry learned a long time ago that if they wanted to compete for kids attention, theyd have to fight fire with fire.”
Used to light up a small music stage in the Life Center, the Accu Spots and Accu Color - which are part of American DJs flagship Accu Series - also provided a cost-savings. “The church was trying to find ways to be economical yet still have a good bang for the buck,” said Pesnell. “Using some of the higher end American DJ items allowed them to do that.”
All in all, Pesnell noted, Church of Hope was able to cut lighting costs by nearly one-third by going with the Elation package.
For more information, contact Elation Professional toll-free at 866-245-6726 or visit www.elationlighting.com. Arc Associates can be reached at 800-226-5214 or visit www.arcassoc.com Freed Sales can be reached at 305-891-4742 or freedsales1@aol.com