Since 1975, the Houston Chinese Church has established a unique voice within Houston’s vibrant Southwest District, offering worship services in English, Mandarin and Cantonese weekly.
As the church grew, serving more worshippers in its diverse community, its leaders realized they needed a more flexible lighting system that would allow them to create a more modern, welcoming environment inside their sanctuary. Vincent Ng, CEO of Ving Media LLC, was called in to improve the lighting system and make it more flexible to meet the church’s growing needs.
“The church wanted to upgrade their lighting system for good reason,” said Vincent. “The fixtures they were using were over 30 years old, and all the colored lights were already dead. They decided a switch to new LEDs would not only illuminate worship better, but be more eco-friendly by consuming less power.”
Working in partnership with 3rd Coast A/V for the rigging and as the lighting designer, Ng chose 28 Chauvet Professional Ovation E-260WW and 20 Ovation E-910FC ellipsoidals for the church’s lighting rig.
“The lighting truss in the main sanctuary is about 32’ from the floor and roughly 30’ from the stage, which makes the throw distance we needed to cover 40’ to 50’, depending on what we were lighting. We wanted fixtures that were bright enough to meet this requirement, yet still within budget,” said Ng. “Both the Ovation 260WW and 910FC fixtures have the best price per lumens on the market. They are also virtually silent, and the controls are very intuitive with a smooth dimming curve, making the system easier for volunteers to run.”
Adding Ovation E-910FC fixtures to the design also provides the church with the opportunity to use colour for the first time. “They have never had an option to use coloured light before, so they are very excited,” said Vincent. “They have a production every year, so they will be incorporating the 910FC fixtures into their lighting design for that and are also starting to add background colour to enhance their regular worship services.”
The church also installed a ChamSys MQ40N console to allow for the addition of more fixtures and additional universes in the future. “We chose the ChamSys console, because
it allows the church to use extra universes for moving head LED lighting in Christmas and Easter productions,” said Ng. “They are looking to add Rogue fixtures for this purpose.”
As Houston Chinese Church continues to grow, their commitment to community will not dim. Their new Chauvet Professional-based lighting system from Ving Media allows them to offer a more flexible and diverse worship experience, while at the same time maintaining the traditions that are important to their worshippers.
