Photo of Camron Ware working a High End Systems (HES) Road Hog console, courtesy of Nick Rivero.
While the lighting console market is less saturated than other product categories, the number of choices out there requires churches to do some homework when deciding upon a solution that best fits their needs. Church Production recently spoke with several tech directors to learn what factors they take into consideration when purchasing lighting control.
Christopher Eguizabal, lighting designer for Harvest Ministries in Riverside, Calif., counsels churches to avoid seeking out the console that is the hot product among large concert tours and megachurches—a syndrome he calls “console-envy.” “Most likely it will be a $170,000 console—that's not always what you need, and a lot of times, in a church venue, you'll never reach the feature set that those consoles have.” He adds that there are plenty of less expensive consoles out there that offer similar feature sets.
Harvest currently uses a combination of Martin M6s, M2GOs, and M-PCs across its two campuses, and will be integrating Martin systems into its third location, currently under construction. Eguizabal explains that these boards deliver the power his team requires, while remaining accessible to volunteer operators. He also underlines that the manufacturer provides good customer support, and encourages churches to take this into consideration when they're making a purchase. He also notes that it's wise to buy into a series that offers a PC version, along with several desk versions. “That way if you move up, the software is all the same, it has the same patching, and there's not a big transition that needs to happen when you go to re-patch it,” he explains.
For Andres Rivera, core technical arts director at Hope Community Church, user-friendliness is a high priority because he relies upon volunteers to run lighting at Hope's main campus in Raleigh, N.C., its satellite site in Morrisville, N.C., as well as in its portable location at Holly Springs High School. He recounts that the church recently migrated to Jands Vista boards, which he says are easy to learn—and therefore easy to teach volunteers how to use. “My volunteer base has already gone up just because of the switch,” he says.
Avoid seeking out the console that is the hot product among large concert tours and megachurches—a syndrome called "console-envy."
While your purchase should definitely address your church's current needs, Rivera reminds churches to also consider the future. “Make sure you're thinking about expansion, because if you don't, you're going to be buying a new board in the next couple of years,” he warns. This may require more of an upfront investment, but it will turn out to be cheaper than having to make an entirely new purchase not far down the road. “Don't just go for budget and buy the simple board, because you don't know which way your church will go in the next couple of years.”
Beyond the Esoteric
Aside from technical considerations, making the right choice also requires churches to do a bit of soul-searching: what are you all about? What are you trying to accomplish? Timothy Frederick, director of media ministries at Bethlehem Baptist Church in Minneapolis, with a campus in Mounds View, Minn., and a portable location in Burnsville, Minn., points out that the answers to these questions can vary widely from church to church.
At Bethlehem, for example, lighting remains simple—a stage wash with occasional focus points here and there—and controllable through ETC SmartFade lighting consoles, which the church has been running for years. Frederick relays that this simplicity goes hand in hand with the church's worship philosophy. “We want to have a level of undistracted excellence, where you're not noticing the worship because it's so finessed,” he explains. “The phrase that has come up a lot is, ‘doing more of the show.' We don't do the show.” He does admit, however, that in the next several years Bethlehem will upgrade to consoles that can better accommodate LED lights. “The SmartFades can run it, but it takes more channels and it's cumbersome to do.”
Then there are churches that run the lighting system without a physical lighting console. Such is the case for Foothills Christian Church, a 550-seat house of worship in Boise, Idaho. Media and Tech Director Sam Boydstun explains that the church is currently using Luminair, an iOS app controlled via iPad. Previously, the church was using a Mac-based software system that worked, “but there was a lot of back-end programming,” he says.
The Luminair app cost the church $80, and an external control module was another $100. “Once of the reasons we really like using an iPad as opposed to being in a fixed position with a console or computer is that we're able to go around the room and see what different scenes in the show look like from every perspective,” Boydstun notes. And, its interface is unintimidating, making it easy for volunteers to learn.
Frederick reports that while lighting can be elaborate, it doesn't have to be—nor does the expense of purchasing a console. “If your vision is simply to proclaim the Word of God and to lead people into worship every weekend, you don't need a lot to do that. You need to have it be good, but it doesn't need to be flashy,” he says. What's more, there are a number of options out there, even for churches with restricted budgets. The trick, he emphasizes, is knowing what you're all about in the first place. “You have to get your vision down first. Once you get your vision nailed down and you really know what you're trying to do and you're unified in that as a church, then you look at gear. There are going to be options for you—there will be. You might need to make some concessions, but there are going to be options for you, and they're going to be good.”
