[ WM ] You have several campuses. Do you duplicate the lighting systems in each one?
[ Sheldon ] Our campuses have similar setups, with a mix of profile fixtures, washes, and LED Lekos for front light. They run on Jands Vista consoles, while our main campus uses a grandMA system. Each campus has its own Production Director who handles programming and trains volunteers specific to their campus.
[ WM ] Do you do any lighting work outside of the church?
[ Sheldon ] Yes— I work with Daniel Smallbone and for King & Country as a draftsman, and I also contract with Black Box as a designer on various projects. Additionally, I love creating“ just-for-fun” designs that I post on social media.
[ WM ] Are you using Dante? If so – how do you like it and for what function?
[ Sheldon ] Yes, we use Dante for our tracks system. In our lighting world, we use Dante AVIO adapters to bring timecode into our MBOX media server and distribute it to our grandMA console.
[ WM ] What challenges in the lighting department do you face because of live streaming?
[ Sheldon ] We’ ve found a good balance now, but early on it was a challenge to make our room looks translate well on camera. That meant pulling back on saturation, keeping intensities more uniform, prioritizing solid front light, and creating depth and contrast to help subjects pop both on screen and in the room.
Working closely with your video director to dial in camera settings alongside your lighting is crucial to creating a great environment in the room that also translates well online.
[ WM ] How do you keep the relationship and communication strong between the worship leader and the team on stage, the audio techs and your own lighting efforts?
[ Sheldon ] Good communication and early planning are key. I make it a priority to connect with our worship, creative, and production teams well in advance to discuss any special needs or ideas. For example, if I want to program a song with timecode, I’ ll coordinate with our worship director several days beforehand— not the day of— so everyone has time to prepare. I aim to communicate requests or needs at least three days out, which helps prevent anyone from feeling rushed and allows the whole team to execute with excellence.
Building trust and fostering open, two-way feedback with our pastors and weekend executive producer is also crucial. It’ s important that we can all communicate freely, share ideas, and give and receive feedback. At the end of the day, it’ s about working together as a team, not as individuals— and that mindset makes all the difference.
82 BUYER’ S GUIDE # 12- 2025 WT Subscribe to [ WM ] for Free...