“One of the things we’ve done is added a whole bunch of Christmas lights on the stage, fixed into our DMX system. We’ve even got stage boxes that work in tandem with the lighting system." Simon Campbell, Director of Worship and Technology, Marion United Methodist Church, Marion, IA
With more than 120 years of history, Marion First United Methodist Church is an important presence in its Iowa community. A couple of years ago, leadership started talking about expanding and coming up with ways to reach out to new generations of worshippers.
The problem was, because of where the church was situated, there was no room for growth. So Marion First UMC purchased new land on the outskirts of the city and built a new modern facility.
Simon Campbell, the church’s director of worship and technology, says in addition to providing a new location, the church had the opportunity to do something special with its lighting and audio systems.
“Our thought process was to try and create an immersive lighting atmosphere,” he says. “We see a lot of modern and contemporary churches doing a lot of heavy backlights and moving fixtures, but we still have roots as a mainline protestant church with members who have been here for more than 40 years, as well as new families. What we were trying to do is create a modern space so it would fit the culture as well as the outreach we wanted to be doing.”
Recommendation & specification
Marion First UMC called upon New Haven, Ind.-based Custom Sound Designs to help. Project manager Jim Gall and lead installer Josh Buendorf recommended Vista lighting control software (recently acquired by Chroma-Q) with a Jands S1 programming wing and the Chroma-Q Inspire RGBW LED house lighting fixtures.
The big thing that stood out about Custom Sound Designs for Campbell was it was very ministry-minded.
“Josh [Buendorf] spent a lot of time on a church staff as a tech director and he and his crew were very helpful, and a natural fit [to work with us],” Campbell says. “It was great watching them interact with volunteers and ministry staff leaders and helping us with what we needed.”
According to Buendorf, Chromo-Q is able to fully color change throughout the whole sanctuary, as it connects the congregation to what’s happening on the stage.
“Being color-mixing fixtures, we can change the color of the house lighting to match our environmental projection and the stage color wash,” Campbell says. “It helps change the congregation from being observers to participants. And with each fixture being individually controllable, we are able to ‘shrink’ the room by only lighting the part of the space we are using.”
“[The color-changing fixtures] help change the congregation from being observers to participants. And with each fixture being individually controllable, we are able to ‘shrink’ the room by only lighting the part of the space we are using.” Simon Campbell, Director of Worship and Technology, Marion United Methodist Church, Marion, IA
Additionally, the system provides a non-verbal way to encourage participation, because when the lights change up front, color is reflected in the sanctuary.
“Another important thing for us was we wanted to be able to shrink the room for smaller services like funerals and weddings that wouldn’t be using the whole seating capacity, and you can do that with light by darkening certain seating areas,” Campbell says. “Having individual control was important so if we had 200 people in a room that sits 800, it didn’t feel empty.”
Another main feature of the system is that it fits with the church’s environmental projection.
“The lighting system we put together partners with the EP fluidly,” Campbell says. “We have a wraparound image that goes all the way around the sanctuary and the whole back of the stage and then we have the side walls part of the projection. It’s very immersive in that way. When the environmental projection changes, the color changes.”
“The lighting system we put together partners with the EP [environmental projection] fluidly.... When the environmental projection changes, the color changes.” Simon Campbell, Director of Worship and Technology, Marion United Methodist Church, Marion, IA
The control, utilizing the Jands S1 programming system, also fits the philosophy of what the church is trying to achieve. Plus, it creates a volunteer-friendly lighting system that’s easy to learn and easy to run.
Campbell explains Vista allows the tech staff to quickly pre-program a service for newer volunteers to simply execute the cue lists; but conversely allows advanced volunteers to take more ownership and control, utilizing the S1 wing with its programming and playback control, providing an ability to improvise and be flexible.
... Vista allows the tech staff to quickly pre-program a service for newer volunteers to simply execute the cue lists; but conversely allows advanced volunteers to take more ownership and control....
“One of the reasons we chose this is that it can be used by volunteers who are more entry level on this sort of technology, or it can be used by someone who knows what they are doing to create impressive lighting design on the fly and really enhance what’s going on in the room and what’s going on in the congregation.”
Christmas magic
The Christmas season has always been an important one for the church, and the new lighting has helped it make this year’s even more special.
“Since this is our first Christmas in the new facility, our main goal was to create a sense of home in a new space, so we’re doing a lot of familiar things,” Campbell says. “One of the things we’ve done is added a whole bunch of Christmas lights on the stage, fixed into our DMX system. We’ve even got stage boxes that work in tandem with the lighting system.”
The church’s Christmas music program includes four bell choirs who do a Christmas concert every year, and this year’s was made even more special in the new space.
“We also did a Christmas puppet show that utilizes a lot of black light fixtures, so we’ve had some opportunities to do some cool things.” Simon Campbell, Director of Worship and Technology, Marion United Methodist Church, Marion, IA
“Visually, with the new lighting at our disposal, the audio and visual are amazing in conjunction,” Campbell says. “We also did a Christmas puppet show that utilizes a lot of black light fixtures, so we’ve had some opportunities to do some cool things.”
For Christmas Eve, the church has the ability to change the whole lighting atmosphere with Christmas backdrops, which really allows Campbell and his team to have full control over the look and feel of the room.
“Now, we can do candlelight services any time of the day for the first time, which is a big deal because at our previous space, we had these beautiful stained glass windows that let in a lot of natural light, but we couldn’t do a candlelight service at 2 pm, but now we can,” he says. “It’s really enhanced what we wanted to do and fulfilled the vision we had.”
