NEW ORLEANS – Jestin Quiett, technical director of City Church, based here, credited the new video wall that serves as a backdrop for church services for a wide variety of looks and effects. Ray Ziegler of RZI Lighting New Orleans provided the PVP S7 LED panels from Chauvet Professional that make up the 6 by 30 foot (HxW) video wall.
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A quick look at City Church’s online calendar is enough to show anyone that this ministry believes in reaching out and serving its congregation in ways that include, but also go far beyond, traditional Sunday services. Indeed, the church’s Wednesday night services have become a tradition for many of its 2,000 members. Then there are prayer breakfasts, “kidz conferences” concerts and more. An attractive 6’ high by 30’ wide video wall made of PVP S7 LED panels from CHAUVET Professional helps this remarkable church create a supportive atmosphere for its diverse activities.
Serving as a backdrop on City Church’s main stage, the CHAUVET Professional LED wall is used to show videos, text and images during services, as well as dynamic chase scenes and graphics during a variety of other events. “There is really no end to how we can use the video panels,” said Jestin Quiett, Technical Director of City Church. “Our lighting supplier Ray Ziegler (RZI Lighting New Orleans), who has always been very supportive and helpful to us in every project, gave us excellent instructions on programming the video panels, so we’re able to keep things looking fresh for our members.”
Keeping things fresh has always been important for City Church, says Quiett. Prior to installing the PVP S7 Panels, the church would change its stage backdrop on almost an annual basis. Just prior to the PVP S7 panels being installed, this backdrop consisted of “blinders with some uplights” according to Quiett.
Now, since the PVP S7 Panels have made it so easy to create new looks, Quiett expects to save time and money on lighting. “We will no longer have to keep adding new fixtures to the backdrop,” he said. “It’s much easier to change what we show on the video wall.”
A solid, high definition video panel with black face SMD LEDs, a tight pixel pitch of 7.8 millimeters and 1,500 NITS illuminance, the PVP S7 delivers the brightness and rich hues to provide color saturation of the stage area during services. The panels are intense and vibrant enough to stand up to the 50 LED moving heads that are also used in the City Church stage area.
“The video wall is doing everything we ever could have asked of it,” said Quiett. “At this point it looks like we’ll be buying more panels to create an even bigger wall. Our church is always looking for new ways to engage our congregation.”
Indeed, City Church has always been a trail blazer. The church was founded in 1979 by the noted Pentecostal leader Bishop Owen McManus, Sr. after his acceptance of African Americans into his congregation led to a split with his denomination. In the ensuing years, the church grew to become a vital part of the New Orleans community. Then, after Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, the church was flooded and the congregation was dispersed around the United States.
However, the church’s determined leaders were undeterred. A group of 21 members returned to New Orleans. Working night and day to rebuild the church, they opened their doors to resume services on Dec. 4, 2005, just over 3 months after Katrina. Today, City Church has a thriving ministry encompassing 300,000 sq. ft. of building space and 33 acres of property, with schools, a youth center and a dynamic main worship stage with a backdrop provided by a very versatile LED video wall from CHAUVET Professional.
