Guts Church in Tulsa, Okla., is not the average house of worship. Founding Pastor Bill Scheer is reported to have an affinity for leather and motorcycles and started the ministry in 1992 for people who don’t necessarily like church. Since then, the church has steadily grown to encompass three campuses and today is one of Tulsa's largest congregations.
In 2017, Guts Church decided on a complete upgrade of its 1,500-seat main sanctuary lighting system, and because the facility is somewhat limited with power availability, decided to go with LED lighting as the solution.
New outlook
“We wanted an extremely versatile profile fixture that was both efficient and powerful, something that had a really good punch, packed with features and an extremely rich palette of colors,” states Technical Director and Director of Worship Daniel Yarbrough, about the team's decision to go with Elation Professional Artiste DaVinci moving head lights. “When I saw they included gobos, an incredible zoom and wide array of other parameters at that price point, it was an easy sale.”
Installed in August of 2017 by Toucan Productions, the lighting upgrade replaces older 575W and 700W discharge fixtures. Although the Artiste DaVinci houses a 300W LED engine, they output over 13,000 lumens, which is comparable to 700W discharge lamp fixtures. “Brightness was a huge factor for us,” Yarbrough says. “I needed something that even in darker colors can be punchy and effective.” A useful feature set and power efficiency were also key factors in the church's choice, he says.
The Artiste DaVinci fixtures, used in weekly services and for special events, fulfill a few different roles. A pair of fixtures hangs midway back in the sanctuary, over the audience, and is used as spotlights for vocalists. “The color temperature and tight zoom made this a huge success,” Yarbrough reports. Other DaVinci fixtures are located upstage and are used in conjunction with other Elation lights for worship effect lighting. Still others are spread out on the deck to create more eye-catching looks.
Upgrade results
The Elation lighting was supplied to the church by Toucan Productions of Oklahoma City, a growing company with a dedicated church division that delivered a level of support that Yarbrough appreciates. He comments: “The entire Toucan team has been incredibly helpful in their support [of] this project. I came to [them] with a blank palette and a desire for a major production upgrade, and [they] brought up the DaVinci for me to demo along with some Elation matrix panels and ACL Bars."
He continues, "I went to the drawing board and created a design with our chief lighting programmer, Chris Collier. We sent it over to Toucan and a week later they were here installing the fixtures."
In the past, Yarbrough had used top name lighting brands at churches and at a production company he used to work for. He admits he wasn't entirely sure what to expect when it came to the Elation fixtures. “What I have seen is a fixture that does not compromise on quality and service for a better cost.” he concludes.
Learn more about Artiste DaVinci fixtures here: http://www.elationlighting.com/artiste-davinci.
