CSD Group, Inc., an award-winning creative design/build AVL firm based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, turned to an all LED Elation lighting package for a new large worship space for Raleigh First Assembly Church. A major renovation of a building previously used as a manufacturing facility, the 1600-seat venue houses over 100 Elation fixtures and now has a higher calling as a state-of-the-art worship environment.

Located in Raleigh, North Carolina, the Elation fixtures were installed in the new building in June as the core of a new dynamic lighting system. “Essentially only the shell of the building remained and the entire interior is completely new,” states Doug Hood, President of CSD Group (www.CSDus.com), who was brought on as the design/build partner for sound, video, lighting and acoustics. “This church has a dynamic teaching ministry and a very powerful worship experience. Particularly for worship, we wanted to create an immersive experience where we could really enhance visually what they were already doing musically.”

CSD specified an Elation lighting package and proposed all LED fixtures, also for the multiple benefits and savings it provides, including power savings, no bulb changes, less heat and lack of dimmer racks, all money saving advantages. CSD also designed the lighting for the new space with input from Elation personnel. “Elation has been a strong partner with CSD for quite some time and since they provide excellent products and great support it was a natural fit to call on them for this project,” Doug states, who notes that the stage lighting in the venue is almost exclusively Elation.

As the church also upgraded to HD projection and HD broadcast cameras, the new lighting plays a critical role in both. “During worship the house lights are run very low which can be a challenge for maintaining a clean camera shot,” Doug explains. “To compensate for this we used several Lumina Strips as footlight/uplight across the front edge of the stage. This gives us proper facelight so we can keep the persons on stage visible while still running the house lights low. It performed just as we expected.”

Other Elation LED lights installed include the DW Profile, a dynamic white light LED fixture which is used to provide general stage wash lighting. Powered by a 250W white LED engine, the DW Profile gives a soft yet clean light that can be color temperature modified. It also offers zoom and beam shaping for more effective directional white light control. Mounted on downstage trusses and across upstage pipes for effect lighting are a variety of other Elation LED lights including ELED QW LED strip lights, full color Cuepix Panel LED matrices, Level Q7 PAR LED lights, SixPar LED color changers, and Rayzor Q12 Zoom LED moving heads. Satura Spot LED Pro moving heads, located both front and back, are used for color and mid-air effects.

The new lighting system is used for a wide variety of purposes including creating an environment for worship for weekly services, color and effects for concerts and other performances, vacation bible school, and more. “By using a vast array of products, not just in terms of quantity but in style of product, we are able to give the customer an excellent array of tools to use each week,” Doug stated.

Doug thanks Ed Cheeseman, Rob Ludwig and the team at Elation for “great support throughout the project” as well as special thanks to Danny Collins and Charlie Perkins at RFA. “They were both a joy to work with and our entire team at CSD felt a real connection with them. From the start we felt like we were really partnering with them to build something special and in the end the new RFA facility truly is a special installation. It goes beyond the technology. It really is a space built for worship.”

 Elation Equipment:

12 x Lumina Strip

12 x ELED QW Strip

12 x DW Profile

16 x Level Q7

10 x Rayzor Q12 Zoom

6 x Satura Spot LED Pro

4 x Cuepix Panel

SixPar