The Rivers Church in Sandton has a growing number of congregants, which is always great news for a church. It means their message is being well received and people are enjoying the sermons. Not wanting to overcrowd their church in Sandton, Rivers Church decided that it would open a new place of worship in order to maintain the growth and comfort of their congregants.
Their new location, formerly known as Theatre on the Track in Kyalami, is an old theatre turned conference venue that would be perfect, not far from the Sandton church and designed with holding people in mind. The venue needed an overhaul and DWR Distribution, with the help of the Install Crew, completely stripped and renovated the old technical installation from top to bottom, making it look fresh and professional and adhering to the Church’s aesthetic standards. Edward Helliwell, technical manager from the Rivers Church, was adamant on having a top-notch lighting LED based lighting system, which was supplied and installed by DWR. This includes eight Robin LEDWash 600s, six Clay Paky Axcor Beam 300s and four Robe DL4S Profiles which come from the Sandton branch. These all serve a very specific function key to the vision of the church.
“The Robe DL4S are used to light up worship leaders and singers, giving them enough light to perform their duties and for the audience to see them, plus the added benefit of full control to ensure the lighting is not harsh on the eyes,” said Edward. The Robin LEDWash 600 is implemented for the audience and stage lighting to ensure a consistent and practical level of light whilst the Clay Paky Axcor Beam 300s in conjunction with Le Maitre MVS Hazer are used for effect lighting and ambience to line up with the venue’s sound and speakers to deliver maximum results for a greater impact of message. In addition, were the inclusion of Longman FacePar 900As and F4 Ups.
The completely LED based lighting set up was supported by the use of Prolyte trussing and three Prolyte PLE 250kg double reeved to make them 500kg motors, ensuring the safety of those in attendance. Edward says, “Prolyte is the only trussing I would use in our environment.”
The church makes use of volunteers to help with the lighting and decided on a dot2 core compact console allowing complete control and ease of use. “I’m very happy with what it does and how easy it is to use for the volunteers, making training easy,” he said. “This also helps with consistency.”
The venue, fixtures and control were all ready to go when, the night before the opening, a storm made its way to Kyalami and lighting directly struck the venue. DWR prides itself on support and Edward knew he could count on this. Replacement fixtures were organised, and the original fixtures sent for repairs as the church staff and DWR united in order to get everything up and running. The ceremonies went on without a hitch.
Senior Pastor: André Olivier
Rivers Church Kyalami made an effort to deliver to its congregants, and with the help of DWR and the church staff, it went from delivery to exceeding, because when the focus is on the people, only good things can come from it.
Photo credits: Duncan Riley
