BlackTrax at Trinity Fellowship Church
Trinity Fellowship Church in Texas is known for creating immersive and distraction-free worship experiences for its congregation. With services happening every weekend, plus large-scale seasonal productions such as Christmas performances, the church needed a reliable, flexible lighting solution that could adapt to both everyday services and high-demand productions.
Lighting Designer Reece McKillip oversees the look and execution of all lighting for the church’s weekend services, as well as special events. He also supports Trinity’s campuses with technical oversight and ensures seamless integration with the church’s broadcast operations.
McKillip’s journey into production began as a church volunteer running cameras. Opportunities in local theatre deepened his knowledge, eventually leading him back to Trinity in a professional role.
The Challenge
Trinity Fellowship operates in the round, which creates unique challenges for lighting. Traditional stage lighting risks blinding audience members seated close to the stage, and other tracking systems previously tested by the church proved unreliable.
“We had constant issues with our old RF-based tracking system. Even something as simple as the pitch of the cymbals from our drummer would interfere, sending lights dancing uncontrollably across the room. We had to recalibrate the system weekly,” recalls McKillip.
The church needed a tracking solution that was stable, reliable, and easy to implement without burdening the technical team with complex programming or constant recalibration.
The Solution: BlackTrax
In 2013, Trinity Fellowship became the first permanent installation site of BlackTrax. From day one and for over a decade, the system has delivered a level of stability and accuracy the church had never experienced before.
“The biggest thing I remember is that other systems required an extensive amount of programming. With BlackTrax, all the settings are self-contained. It’s simple to switch between talent beacons, and you don’t have to define all that programming every time,” says McKillip.
For Trinity, BlackTrax is less about spectacle and more about removing distractions. By keeping light exactly where it’s needed and away from where it isn’t, the church can maintain an immersive environment that feels natural and focused.
Everyday Use
- Weekend Services: BlackTrax acts as a utility tool, ensuring spot-following without blinding audience members seated close to the stage.
- Precision Lighting: By keeping face light on the talent exactly where it’s needed, and nowhere else, the team can saturate the rest of the stage with colour to shape the atmosphere and set the tone.
- Ease of Deployment: The system is easy to activate when needed, and as McKillip notes, “We can calibrate once and then trust it show after show, week after week.”
Special Productions
BlackTrax really shines during large-scale productions such as Trinity’s annual Christmas events. With dancers moving across the stage, low-lying fog, and LED backdrops, the system ensures lighting remains tightly controlled. “It’s incredible to have the ability to keep light off LED walls or projection mapped backdrops, or to avoid training volunteers to hit spike marks. It eliminates distractions and lets us create high-impact productions without compromising the worship experience,” McKillip explains.
Why BlackTrax?
- Reliability: A “set it and trust it” system with no constant recalibration.
- Flexibility: Scales back for weekly services but expands for large productions.
- Simplicity: Minimal programming burden for operators.
- Distraction-Free: Ensures lighting enhances worship instead of drawing focus.
For Trinity Fellowship, BlackTrax is not about creating flash or spectacle. It’s about reliability, precision, and above all eliminating distractions during worship. As McKillip puts it:
“BlackTrax is a tool that helps us effectively execute our services in a way that eliminates distractions. That’s a big deal for us.”
