In October 2021, more than 1,200 members and guests gathered at First West Church in West Monroe, Louisiana to celebrate this dynamic house of worship’s 100th anniversary.
Although the church had indeed come a long way from its humble beginnings when it held services in an elementary school, its leadership was not looking back during their centennial. With their eyes focused firmly on the future, they had contacted Donnie Brawner and his team at Paragon 360 the previous year to draw up plans for a renovation project that would make the church ready for its second century.
Earlier in 2024, the large-scale, multi-phased, multi-year renovation project was more than halfway completed. The results speak volumes about the vision of the church and the planning and professionalism led by the Paragon 360 team. This is beautifully evident throughout the campus, from the renovated 2,000-seat sanctuary to an all new look for Feazel chapel.
However, although a key goal of the renovation was to update the look and feel of the space to make it warm, fresh, and inviting, this comprehensive project involved much more than aesthetics. It also featured extensive acoustical work along with the modernization of the AVL systems to incorporate current technology, which involved reimagining the choir loft, choir entrance, and back of house, as well as relocating the baptistery for better connection with the congregation.
Naturally, lighting was an essential part of the plans. The new lighting system at the church was designed by Richard Heaton who has been a valuable part of Paragon 360’s design team for a decade. Working with the church, the team completed an upgrade that involved a complete overhaul of the entire platform lighting system to include LED fixtures, a replacement of the existing dimmer infrastructure with DMX relays, and the installation of custom fabricated scenic and architectural elements that incorporated LED units.
Paragon 360 relied heavily on CHAUVET Professional fixtures in the lighting upgrade, installing 47 Ovation E-260WW ellipsoidals, 33 of which have 10-degree lenses, while the remaining units are at 14-degrees. Also included in the upgrade were ten Ovation Cyc FCV2 fixtures, and 20 Rogue R3X Washes.
Replacing the old stage lights, the E260WWs were hung on existing catwalks, while six of the Ovation Cyc FCV2 units were arranged on the floor of the thrust, to serve as foot lighting and to uplight talent on the downstage platform. The other four cyc fixtures were placed on a front lighting truss to color the seating area. As for the Rogue moving washes, they were hung on 40 and 50-foot truss structure to be relied on for richly textured and colored backlighting.
“The church was ready to upgrade the key lighting from conventional to LED and remove their aging dimming equipment,” said Brawner, summing up the vision behind the lighting upgrade. “The facility sees several special events each year, including hosting national touring acts. Their desire was to add a modest amount of moving lights that would allow some creativity and reduce the need to rent fixtures for special events.”
Among the more impressive features of the remodeled church are new LED walls serving not only as IMAG screens and a center large format screen but also as a camera one background that backs the semicircular stage. This wall is run from an upgraded control room with a 4K capable system that features new switching and routing. Completing the package is a new camera system that includes manned cameras (Panasonic 3900), wireless camera, jib camera, and PTZs.
Commenting on the new system, Tim Spencer, Executive Pastor of the church said: “Paragon 360 is a good option for us because they bring a wealth of knowledge across multiple disciplines, and they excel at helping us think towards the next decade and be creative in our approach.”
Relying on this experience, and guided by its own vision, First West Church has charted a wonderful path for the start of its second century.
