McAllen Family Church gets Robe
Published: WORSHIP
WORLD: The Family Church of McAllen, Texas (TFC) recently chose a Robe lighting system for its new 1,400 capacity main worship auditorium. The lighting fixtures were specified by TFC’s technical director Obed Castillo and supplied by Phil Rapp of Gear Systems Design from Oklahoma, who partnered with TFC to supply and install the full technical production package for the new space.
TFC originally launched in 1948 as the Church of the Good Shepherd, and in 1995, pastors John and Terry Brady joined the ministry. Since then, the congregation has grown steadily, causing the church to outgrow its previous sanctuary. Worship ceremonies are now led by pastors Nathan and Star Funk, who also lead various youth and children’s ministries at the HOW.
The stage systems for the new auditorium were designed for concerts and broadcasts in addition to the five weekly services. Currently TFC has a web-based ministry, but future plans include going to a multi-site format, so good broadcast lighting was vital to the final technical plans.
Gear Systems specified four Robe Robin 600 LED washes, eight Robin 300 LED washes, four Robin 300E spots, eight ColorSpot 250E ATs and 10 LED Force 18s plus a Robe Faze 1050FT hazer. Most of the lights are installed on trussing above and around the stage, and some are floor mounted on the stage.
As the auditorium has limited available power, it was important to choose fixtures with low power consumption, hence the selection of the LED fixtures and Robe’s small 250 series moving lights.
Practical on-going operational costs was another key consideration, coupled with the fact that the church’s location on the southern tip of Texas means that high temperatures are a factor, so fixtures outputting minimal heat were required to help minimise the utility bills.
‘The lighting is crucial to every aspect in the auditorium and all its uses,’ explained Mr Rapp. ‘The variety of the Robe fixtures has given the flexibility needed to accommodate the contemporary style of worship together with any broadcast lighting requirements. Reliability is crucial for a system of this size that is in such regular use, so given their track record Robe was an obvious choice.’
Above all, the rig was designed for complete versatility – any fixture can be repositioned anywhere above or on the stage or on the deck to give an almost infinite variety of looks and effects. The lighting is primarily operated by TFC’s volunteer technical team using a Jands Vista S3 console.