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Inspire Waikele Church in Waipahu, Oahu, needed a lighting system for two distinct purposes: for its live singing and live streaming. So when the church team learned they could accomplish both with one versatile lighting system that didn't break their budget, they warmly said “aloha” to elektraLite products for the sanctuary.
Axia Concepts of San Jose, California, recently completed the installation of 20 elektraLite 1018AI LED stage lights, along with 18 ML602 LED moving profile spots with gobos, and a dozen eyeBall LED fixtures into Inspire Waikele's main sanctuary. For special accent/effects lights, the church now also has two LOS-1 Lightstream Quad LEDs—which offer tight, twisty beam effects from their mountings on a movable split yoke—and eight elektraBar full-featured linear strip LED fixture.
Pastor Franco Heu says they enjoy how the new lights help enhance the total worship experience, even before the sermon and the songs. He says it starts at the front door. “The lights allow a warmth and welcome for individuals that are new to attending church, or those that are hesitant to come into church.”
Axia Concepts' Bryan Cole recommended the elektraLite products for numerous reasons. “Many churches are used to having ‘speaking' lights and ‘worship' lights. I was able to get both functions out of a single system,” he says.
Inspire Waikele offers a range of worship opportunities with one service on Saturday, three on Sunday and youth services on Wednesday. They also host events called Equip and Inspire Conference, Kids/Youth Camps, and Inspire Nights (Vision Sharing). The sanctuary setup stays the same, although a few of the eyeBalls on light trees are easily moved around the church at times where color is needed.
Cole, who has focused on worship systems installations since 2005, says, “The ML602 was to provide an engaging worship experience, with haze, and the whole thing—very much like a nightclub. The 1018AI was a different story. They needed better lighting for video, during the speaking part of their message—they live stream their messages. They had a mix of mostly incandescent fixtures of various types. I chose the 1018AI because of its very even coverage, and the ability to very delicately control the color temperature of the white. As a bonus, with these fixtures they also gained an additional color effect for their worship experience.”
Cole says he got a great reaction from the church production team. “One of the video guys asked me what kind of light meter I used to get the color and coverage so even; he said it was perfectly balanced on video and did not require that the camera iris be adjusted as the operator panned across the stage. I did not use any kind of light meter.”
Lighting Director Harrison Yoshishige says, “We basically use all of the features on the lights that we have. The strobes can be used to not only to make instrumentals and faster songs more engaging, but on our ML-602s it can also enhance and highlight the powerful moments in the slower worship songs.”
“The elektraBars can be used in many different scenarios,” he points out about the LED strip fixtures. “Normally we use it to add color to the back wall of our stage, but they can also be used as blinders. At a recent camp we had, they could be used as decently good stage lights if you have a power limitation on the area.
“We've mostly been using the eyeBalls as side washes for our stage,” Yoshishige adds. “However, when I designed a system for our Junior High ministry, the eyeBalls gave an amazing effect as blinders, strobes and as just static lights pointing outward combined with a bit of haze.
“Our 1018s work well as stage lights,” he continues. “The indigo component in the LED fixture allows you to make a really nice blue or purple. Their colors can also help even out the wash a bit more, giving us more control of the atmosphere of the room.”
Speaking of control, the pastor appreciates elektraLites' user-friendly functions and plug-and-play operations. His volunteer lighting team's average age is 19, with the youngest one being 15. “It is easy to learn and use,” he says. ”They've all enjoyed using the fixtures.”
Cole of Axia Concepts is thrilled that they are pleased. He sees his mission as combining his technical abilities with his passion for fitting “right sized” solutions to ministry. The elektraLite products fit right into that formula with their versatile features and budget-friendly pricing. He likes to service the niche where more personal service is welcomed for small to medium-size venues with lighting, audio, video, people management needs and more.
The elektraLite products answer the needs not only for Axia Concepts but also for houses of worship like the Inspire Church. So much so that Inspire has very recently installed even more elektraLites--eight ML-601s and 21 eyeBalls—into Inspire Mililani, the church's second of three locations in Hawaii.
For more info on Inspire Church, . Axia Concepts can likewise be found online at .
