The total overall cost of LED display ownership is dropping, and because architects are designing new houses of worship with true windows, not stained glass, [LED display technology is gaining ground].
More houses of worship are reportedly embracing LED displays to better connect with their congregations, particularly younger, digitally native attendees who find digital displays more appealing. A case in point is Perimeter Church, a 5,000-member worship community located on a 100-acre campus in Johns Creek, Ga., outside Atlanta that recently renovated its sanctuary with three NanoSlim displays from LED solution industry provider NanoLumens.
The Perimeter Church sanctuary offers 2,305 seats and a stage bordered by beautiful floor-to-ceiling windows. However, with Perimeter’s projectors, the large windows had to be covered during sermons to preserve the color and quality of the projected image. Perimeter’s Director of Technical Ministry Steve Simmons determined that replacing the two side projectors with thin, lightweight, floating LED technologies would enhance the atmosphere by allowing for natural light to brighten the main sanctuary during the day. Adding a center LED screen would allow them to engage the younger, millennial members of congregation in new ways, improving comprehension and retention of the sermon points. The church turned to leading LED innovator and manufacturer NanoLumens to design and install three versatile NanoSlim solutions for the space.
“Rear projection takes up too much valuable stage space and interferes with back lighting of musicians, talent and set pieces,” Simmons explains. “And unless there is enough fly space or ceiling height, front projection creates beams that, when passing through people and stage elements, create shadows. The NanoLumens LED display solutions not only overcomes these problems, but also has many added benefits.”
Display specifics
The new LED solution needed to be bright enough to outshine the sun without showing a glare; NanoLumens passed the test with flying colors. As a result, two floating 19-foot by 11-foot NanoSlim Engage 2.5mm pixel-pitch solutions were installed on either side of the sanctuary stage and one 40-foot by 20-foot 6mm NanoSlim solution was installed behind the stage — introducing a dramatic new visual element to the sanctuary.
According to NanoLumens Southeast Regional Sales Director Arch Nelson, “The NanoSlim LED displays are so much cleaner and brighter than the previous technology. The images shown on each solution during services and other events are visibly more vibrant, enhancing the overall atmosphere of the sanctuary. For example, each pixel can play a combination of 16-million colors. The three NanoLumens solutions are changing the way Perimeter Church conceives of and performs all of its religious services and special events.”
New thinking
Historically many houses of worship have resisted installing LED display technology because of the cost, according to Nelson. That situation is changing in part because the total overall cost of LED display ownership is dropping, and because architects are designing new houses of worship with true windows, not stained glass. “If churches want to be able to unite their sanctuary with nature on a beautiful day, they can’t use projection or any other technology besides LED,” Nelson adds.
The new technology system has been well received by the congregation. When the first two NanoLumens solutions were introduced to Perimeter Church’s congregation on Palm Sunday in 2016, the curtains were up and light was shining throughout the sanctuary. “It was definitely a service to remember,” Nelson concludes.
[Editor's note: This piece was originally published in July 2016.]
