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When steady growth in attendance at The Lamb’s Chapel in Haw River, North Carolina, began causing traffic snarls on the one-lane roads leading to Sunday services, church leaders knew it was time to expand with an additional location for attendees making the drive in from nearby Burlington.
The new Airport Campus opened its doors this summer and now welcomes Burlington attendees to a modern, 2,100-seat auditorium featuring a large stage for worship services and community events, including weddings, funerals, graduations, conferences and more.
For the project, Kernersville-based AVL Environments helped with new technology installation. AVL President Brandon Munger, a certified technology specialist of design (CTS, CTS-D), says they solved some lighting challenges with 31 Stingray Profiles, a new LED fixture from elektraLite. He says they offer a clean, warm white light and are designed for public spaces just like the new auditorium.
“We're using these fixtures as their primary ‘face light’ fixtures on stage,” Munger explains. “It's a large stage area with a longer throw so we needed fixtures with the necessary output. The lights are not easily accessible from the floor so we went with LED fixtures to reduce the need to be up at them for operation and servicing. We also used the Stingrays in the clouds to provide step lighting for the balcony area; the fixtures are hidden between the cloud and shuttered off to illuminate the stairs.”
Munger recommended the elektraLite Stingrays because the client needed a bright LED fixture but also needed to stay within the original budget constraints of the conventional system that had been called out in the design scope. “The Stingray fixtures were a great value,” he says, “so they fit the bill perfectly.”
Brandon Patton, media/productions manager at The Lamb’s Chapel, says the elektraLite Stingrays brighten faces with a natural looking light and help the congregation see what’s happening onstage.
At the heart of the Stingray Profile is a newly designed 300-watt COB (chip-on-board) LED. The COB refers to the way the semiconductor chip is packaged in the fixture, and is designed to offer more optimal color mixing and lighting.
With a balanced 3,200K-color temperature and CRI of 95, the ellipsoidal WW LED provides white light, and should the church decide to add color, a built-in accessory clip and included color frame allow for diffusion and color media to be used. It also offers interchangeable lenses.
This was the first time The Lamb’s Chapel has worked with AVL Environments—a designer of lighting, video and audio and control. Patton says it was a phenomenal experience.
“The Lamb’s Chapel proclaims its passion for worship through the use of lights, graphics/media, cameras and sound. Technology is not only a way to help spread a message, it’s also a way to express God-given talents through its creative use in services,” says Patton.
“We use all sorts of technology to support our pastors and worship ministry team on a weekly basis,” he adds. “While lighting and sound are necessities, it’s not a show. It’s a chance to use technology to bless others. God was the first artist. The colors, the sunrise and sunset—only He could have created. Colors from the LED lights and screen images for the background in worship services are a way of saying ‘thank you’ to our Creator. It’s another form of worship.”
