CARROLLTON,TX – Contemporary and traditional services share a great deal in common at the First Baptist Church at the Fields. Both take place at the same time in the same sleek modern building. Worshippers at both also hear the same sermon simultaneously, because while the preacher speaks in one room, his message is live streamed to the other.
More details from Chauvet (www.chauvetprofessional.com):
The room that hosts the preacher live will alternate each Sunday. But one thing remains consistent: the visual quality of the sermon (live or videoed) will be excellent, thanks to a stage lighting system designed and installed by Paragon 360 that features CHAUVET Professional Ovation fixtures.
The Springfield, MO-based company installed the new LED system at the suburban Dallas church as part of a larger project. The Church at the Fields campus was originally built in 2016 as a satellite for contemporary services. Last year, in accordance with the church’s original plan to consolidate its entire operation, work began on an expansion project at that building so it could house both contemporary and traditional rooms side by side.
Paragon 360 was brought in to design the new dual-room space and provide audio, video, and lighting systems, as well as custom scenic, staging, and architectural elements. From the beginning, the company’s design team recognized that having a versatile stage lighting rig would be critical to the church’s plans to live stream sermons.
“We needed an LED option that we knew could deliver quality front light color temperature as well as an output that would make the video pop, while at the same time not abandon the live congregation,” said Richard Heaton lighting designer at Paragon 360. “Proper front light for video was especially important on this one, as was getting a smooth even wash of the entire stage.”
A collection of 26 Ovation E-910FC RGBW-Lime ellipsoidals provided the Paragon 360 team with the color temperature and coverage they were after. Divided evenly between the two rooms, these fixtures are spread across two positions: one approximately 20-feet from the stage, the other about 33-feet. Since the rooms are also used as gym/recreation centers during the week, the Ovation units were positioned between 26 and 28 feet off the floor to avoid flying basketballs.
Outfitted with 14, 19 and 36 degree lens tubes, the Ovation E-910FC fixtures easily handle the throw distance, to cover the stage in a smooth even field of light. The fixtures’ silent operation and adjustable pulse width modulation (PWM) ensure that neither noise nor flickering will distract from the live streamed sermons.
During normal Sunday services, the Ovation E-910FC units are used to cover the stage in balanced white light. For special events, however, the church will call on the color rendering capabilities of these fixtures to bathe the stage in evocative hues.
Added color is provide during services and events by 20 COLORdash fixtures installed as part of the expansion project. The Paragon 360 team placed 11 COLORdash Batten-Quad 6 and nine COLORdash Batten-Quad 12 units inside stage modesty walls, where they are used as accent scenic elements.
Scenic elements in general may vary between the church’s contemporary and traditional services, but there is no real “generation gap” at this thriving house of worship. How could there be? Both worship rooms sit side-by-side; and both see the same sermon at the same time, lit in a way that pleases everyone’s taste.
