MIAMISBURG, OH — SouthBrook Christian Church, busy with two campuses and six services each weekend, consolidated to one location in March 2008. The staff was also looking for a way to create an “edgier” feel to its services. They opted for a lighting system with moving lights and ETC controls. The church’s staff impressed lighting consultant Jim Gage of Visions in Light with their vision. “The church design and build team was very tech savvy, headed by their technical director Dana Harrah, and they wanted to go with state of the art systems,” said Gage. “Only the best and proven technology was to be used for the infrastructure.”
“We already had some ETC fixtures in our stock, and further research showed us that ETC was essentially the industry standard in many ways,” said Harrah. “We also felt more comfortable having the dimming system, architectural lighting system, and lighting console all coming from the same manufacturer. The new lighting system was a big jump for us, and we wanted to be certain that all the pieces were going to work together correctly from the start.”
An ETC 192-channel Sensor+ dimming system handles both stage and house lighting. ETC Unison architectural control provides basic lighting control through programmable wall stations located at key locations throughout the auditorium. ETC Source Four PAR, PARNel, and ellipsoidal fixtures illuminate the church’s message. And an ETC Congo jr control console with a Master Playback Wing ties the system together.
“We needed a console that a few of our staff could quickly learn lighting programming on and then train volunteers to execute and handle minor edits for the lighting scenes during weekend services,” Harrah said. “We connected quickly with the Congo jr. Everything that you need seems to be right in front of you, and there are numerous programming wizards to assist you in achieving both simple and complex lighting scenes right from the start. We didn’t feel like we had to learn a whole new language to begin lighting programming — it was very intuitive.”
ETC distributor On Location Lighting demonstrated the Congo jr to the church staff, and On Location Lighting also oversaw the lighting system installation. “The Congo jr was selected because of its strong potential to be able to be both a moving-light console and a theatrical console,” said Gage. “With the knowledge that the church wanted to move to the next level with expressionistic lighting and ambiance, this was the best controller for the price.”
“The Congo jr is one item that almost never comes up as a limiting factor for what we want to do,” said Harrah. “Since we’ve all been learning about lighting as we go along, the console has served as the gateway to an artistic and technical world that can otherwise be confusing and frustrating. Even after using the console for six or seven months now, we feel like we have just scratched the surface of what it is capable of doing.”
For more information, please visit www.etcconnect.com.
