"We are constantly changing our sets to keep things fresh and help our creative team connect with our audience," says Daniel Connell, who has served as the COTM's full time lighting designer for the last three years. "On average we do a redesign every three months or less and average about five or six sets a year.
"For this reason we've decided to stick with renting all of our intelligent lighting rather than purchasing. This gives us the flexibility to change things up as we need without being hampered by the cost and difficulty of buying new gear and selling old. This also keeps labour costs down by not having to keep a moving light repair tech on staff."
Connell's long-time friend, Andrew Stone, had previously taken a position as the church's production manager and audio director and was in the process of helping COTM make the transition from traditional church looks with lots of white light to a more concert style stage design and brought Connell on board to help continue that transition. "He and I had toured together with various concerts over the years and had a great history of working very well together," Connell stated.
The Church on the Move campus sits on 300 acres and includes three venues ranging from 1200 to 2500 seats. The largest venue, the adult auditorium, houses a Martin rig of MAC 700 Profiles, MAC 700 Washes and MAC III Profiles, although it is not uncommon to see Martin MAC 250 Entours or Martin smartMACs in one of the smaller venues which are used primarily for the kids' ministry.
Prior to June 2010 most of the church's fixtures were primarily non-Martin with the exception of 18 MAC 700 Profiles which they began to use in 2009. "I had used Martin gear in the past but this was the first fixture from Martin that I really fell in love with," Connell says. "Even though we don't have to maintain the fixtures ourselves I can't use a fixture with constant mechanical problems, and with events spread throughout the week we have very little time to have portions of the rig down. The 700s have been virtually problem free for the past year."
Lighting equipment supplier to Church on the Move is Integrity Lighting and Sound of Tulsa, who has stocked Martin lighting since 2004. Integrity has also supplied LED lighting, rigging and more to the church and provides 24/7 support as needed.
(Jim Evans)
