With some church planning experts predicting the demise of the mega-church and the rise of the multi campus church format, the number of portable churches seem to be on the rise.
The rooms that these portable churches meet in can be very diverse, ranging from a school gym, theater, or cafeteria, to the local YMCA, a movie theater, a convention center, or a hotel ballroom.
While some portable churches have the luxury of sound and lighting systems already in the room, most do not and have to bring their own technical systems in wherever they meet every Sunday.
If this is your situation there are five main technical components and two primary logistical considerations to portable church lighting.
The five main technical components are that lighting requires power, something to hang the lights on, fixtures that create the light, dimming, and some way to control the dimming.
The two logistical issues are marking all of the components for easy setup and packaging the lighting rig in an efficient manner.
Power
Lighting equipment requires a good bit of power to run.
One of the first things you should look for is how much power there is available in the room. This doesn't just mean how many outlets the room contains, but how many circuits are controlled by separate circuit breakers. Keep in mind that several outlets can be connected on the same circuit.
This may take a little bit of detective work to find all of the circuits, but a circuit finder from your favorite hardware store or electrical supply house can speed up the process.
Plug in the circuit tester and find which outlets are connected to each breaker in the room. Be sure to make a drawing that shows where each outlet is and what breaker it is connected to so that you have record of your findings. This will also help you determine where everything should plug in and how much cable you are going to need. Also make note of what amperage each breaker is. You won't be able to run as many lights off a 15 amp breaker as you can a 20 amp breaker.
Once you figure up how much power there is to work with in the room you need to assign that power to different tasks. If you have a PA system and video projection system, those systems are going to need power as well. Allocate power to these systems first and see what you have left over for lighting.
If you are not going to have enough power for the lighting system then you may need to look to other rooms to pull power from or look at having a larger electrical feed installed in the room and then use a portable distribution system to break the power out to individual dimmers and lights.
Hang Positions
What you hang your fixtures on will depend, somewhat, on the type of space and how much room you have to set up the lighting system.
One of the simplest ways to hang the lights is by using Ultimate Support type tripod stands. They are cost effective and easy to carry and set up, but they are not able to get the lights very high in the air. This means that the lighting angles are very flat and will be shining directly in the eyes of the people on stage.
A similar but more effective solution is a crank-up lift like the Applied Electronics' AE 12 or AE 16 that can raise the lights from 13 feet to 16 feet in the air. These lifts tend to be more expensive, heavier, and require more training to use, but make for better lighting because of the better angles that the lift height provides.
These lifts can be topped with a T-bar with the fixtures attached or sometimes will have truss placed across them, depending on your particular need.
Another solution, and probably the best solution if you can make it happen, is to permanently install a lighting position in the room. This isn't always possible but is an avenue that should be explored, especially if you have a long-term lease. The improved lighting quality and the reduced time needed for set up and tear down make this option a good one if you can do it.
Lighting Fixtures
While all the parts of a lighting system are important, the lighting fixtures are the heart of the system and the primary component the audience will notice.
Since your power will probably be limited, it is generally wise to look at higher-tech, lower-power solutions to light your stage. While you will pay more initially to purchase these technologies, the payoff is that you don't need much power in the room to run them.
These technologies include fixtures like the ETC Source Four line of fixtures, the Seachanger Nemo, the Prism Projection Reveal CW LED fixture, and other LED and arc lamp-sourced fixtures that are on the market.
As you look for a fixture to light the faces of the people on stage, remember you want fixtures that produce nice-looking flesh tones. For back light and set lighting you should consider LED fixtures and small moving lights.
Dimming
Most portable church lighting situations use modular dimmers that are sometimes referred to as truss or tree-mount dimming. One example of this kind of dimming is the ETC SmartModule for dimming conventional fixtures.
These dimmers are usually made to plug into a standard wall outlet and usually will dim four 600-watt circuits. These dimmers are generally cheaper to use than going with larger rack type dimmers for small lighting system applications.
With newer technologies such as the Nemo, Prism Reveal CW, and other numerous LED fixtures and moving lights, dimmers won't be required as these fixtures already have the dimming built into the units.
Control
For control of your lighting you will need some type of console. What console you choose depends on your needs.
If you are only dimming dimmers up and down you can get away with a very small conventional console. If you have moving lights and LEDs then you will probably want a more advanced moving light console for control of the lighting system. Several companies make moving light consoles that can run on a laptop, making them small and portable.
Along with the control console you might find that a data splitter will help make your cable runs easier. This device allows you to run multiple cables in different directions to control different devices instead of having to daisy chain each dimmer or automated lighting fixture together.
Just remember in planning your power cord and data cable paths you want to minimize the trip hazards for the people attending the service.
Marking The System
While the actual design of the lighting system for a portable church is very important, an equally important part is the logistical portion of the portable church lighting rig, starting with marking up all the pieces and parts.
As someone that has done numerous concert tours, I know that how the equipment is marked can make you or break you. If the equipment is marked well it will go up fast and easy. This is especially true when using volunteers to set up and tear down.
First use a drawing of the room's layout to decide how the pieces and parts will get marked and color-coded. For example, all of the downstage left lifts, lights, dimmers, and cables are marked with red tape, all of the downstage right components are marked in blue tape. All of the upstage lights are marked in purple tape and the lights on the floor are marked in yellow tape. Each fixture gets a position number marked on it and where it hangs on the bar or truss gets a matching number. Each cable is labeled as to where it plugs in. Cables that mate together to form extensions are labeled with letters.
This way it is easy to know where the item goes based on color, number and letter. Be sure to duplicate this information on your drawing and keep copies of it to refer to.
Packaging the System
Think efficiency.
In packaging a system the first thing that you want to remember is to minimize the small pieces or the repetitive tasks that have to be done every week. For instance, if you are clamping the light to a T-bar on the top of the lift every week you should look at permanently mounting the lights to the bar. You might also consider permanently mounting the dimmer to the T-bar as well.
If each week you roll out two extension cords and three DMX cables to the same place, you should look at taping all of these cables into one bundle or "loom" so that, in effect, you are laying one cable out each morning and coiling up one cable that afternoon for load out.
If you are going to be in the same room for a while it is well worth taking the time to custom-build cables to the lengths needed to eliminate multiple cables having to be connected in each run, as well as to eliminate any excess cable length.
Quality cases should be purchased to protect your equipment investment. Equipment tends to get damaged in transit if the cases are not well built and padded. Also make sure that when you have cases built that they will easily fit in your truck or trailer and not leave space unused because the cases are odd sizes. The more uniform the case sizes and shapes, the better they will pack.
Label each case so you and your volunteer staff know what goes in it. Additionally, there should be a list of equipment that lives in the case, both on the outside and on the inside of the lid. This way there is never any question as to what is in the box.
Putting it Altogether
Because each room is different and your needs and circumstances are unique, I recommend seeking out the help of a reputable lighting company to help you design your portable church lighting system.
A good lighting company will be able to help you put together a lighting package that will easily load in and out, not trip breakers, and enhance your portable church service with light.
