Faith Church EPC Finds Cost-Effective Efficient Technology Solutions

For 25 years, Faith Church EPC in Rochester Hills, MI had gone without a building of its own. Based in this attractive Detroit suburb, the church’s congregation met at various schools and rented facilities on Sundays and holidays, having to go through the arduous process of transporting and setting up its equipment every week.

The challenges of meeting these constant set-up demands gave Faith EPC administrators an appreciation for equipment that is durable, dependable and easy to work with. So when the church finally fulfilled its long-held dream of constructing its own building in 2008, it wanted technical systems that were user-friendly, reliable and affordable for their new 350-seat auditorium.

Based on these criteria, Faith’s Technical and Creative Director Tom Moyer put together a lighting ensemble comprised largely of LED fixtures from Elation Professional. The system includes 12 Elation Opti Tri Par LED par-style fixtures and four Design LED Tri-Brick LED color wash bricks, both of which provide RGB color mixing. An ETC SmartFade ML lighting control console largely because it provided a “big bang for the buck” says Moyer. “The ability to handle moving lights and its volunteer friendly layout were important to us”

Two SmartMAC, 150-watt, moving head lights from Martin Professional complete the lighting system. Moyer says, due to the passive cooling (no fans) the lights are very quiet, something that is very important in a room this size. Sound control in general was a concern for the church as they transitioned to the new building. At the request of the worship leader, electronic drums were replaced with acoustic drums. The sound was overwhelming. Moyer’s solution included a drum enclosure from Clearsonic. The results were “fantastic”, Moyer says, “And the people there were great to deal with.”

The new audio system includes three JBL Vertec loudspeakers per side with matching JBL subs under the stage. Speakers are powered by Crown XTI Series amplifiers and controlled using a Yamaha LS-9 mixing console. All wireless mics are Sennheiser EW100’s.

The video system features three Eiki LC-XB42N 3 LCD, 4500-lumen projectors, and an Analog Way QuattroViewFX switcher/scaler. The source for lyrics and sermon notes is an iMac running Keynote. Da-Lite rigid-frame screens are mounted to the left and right of the stage, and at the back of the room for “confidence” monitoring from on stage.

The system was obtained from and installed by Advanced Light and Sound (Troy, MI). “We’d been looking for an LED option [for lighting], because we wanted to reduce operational costs going into the building,” Moyer adds. “The Elation LEDs’ low power consumption, along with their 50,000-hour lamp life, were ideal for keeping a lid on energy and maintenance costs, he says. Moyer also liked the fact that the LED’s were gel-free fixtures that could “pull almost any color at will” through RGB mixing. “Not having to pull out ladders or our lift to change gels – or maintain an inventory of gel cuts – is a great time saver, allowing me more time for programming.”

The fixtures are being run in 3-DMX-channel RGB mixing mode. Their ability to smoothly blend an infinite spectrum of colors has provided an ideal lighting solution for the church’s 350-seat auditorium, says Moyer. “We use them both in the daytime for morning services and in the evening for special events. They do just fine during the day to light up the space and give it a warm feel. I can pull some really soft amber face lighting, and I can also pull some rich, vibrant colors. The lights really excel, and folks love the real rich colors.”

In addition to their performance, Moyer likes the way the Opti Tri Pars’ external appearance contributes to the room’s design. “They have a very clean, high-tech look. It’s a newer look that’s more like an ETC fixture than a traditional par can. We’re using them with barn doors and this gives them a really theatrical look.”

The four DLED 36 Tri-Bricks are mounted behind an arch over the stage and are used to light the drum kit and provide a small wall wash. Moyer would eventually like to expand the system, adding more DLED 36 Tri-Bricks to wash the back wall. If he does this or adds any other new fixtures in the future, he will be able to do so easily, thanks to the expandability of his Elation Opto Branch 4 DMX distributor, which can be easily linked to other Opto Branches via 3- or 5-pin XLR. “That’s one reason I went with the Opto Branch – because it’s expandable,” said Moyer. “It gives us the ability to add to our lighting system without having to upgrade the splitter.”

More information about Faith EPC Church can be obtained at www.faith-epc.org.

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