In March of 1983, Grace Community Church began to meet in Tacoma, Washington. The church went through several short stays in multiple different places until they settled at a private school just outside of Tacoma.
The Charles Wright Academy played home to the church for the next 18 years. And while they didn't feel completely visible to the community, the church had a stable meeting location for their congregants, something they hadn't had until they moved to the school.
By having a stable location, GCC was allowed to grow deeper with their congregants and also allowed them to grow as a church. And by 2003, the church was able to grow even more when a commercial space was purchased for their worship services.
Seven months later in October 2003, GCC held their first worship service at the place they still call home. They have a mixture of old and new contemporary worship, and GCC knew in order to grow further and keep up with the changing times, they had to add some equipment for their ever-growing community.
On a weekly basis, the church hosts 75-100 people, so they knew they needed to keep their congregants feeling connected. When their standard projector, a 2,500 lumen one, started to fail them and the pictures became next to impossible to see on the screen, they decided to install the Hitachi CP-WX8255A projector which proved to be an important element of each service.
Bruce Cowan, video operator and treasurer of GCC said the projector was specifically chosen because of the church's need to go wide-screen as well as the projector having 5,500 lumens. "It makes a huge difference in our sanctuary," he said.
One of those differences was the ability to use the projector in a well-lit room when the sun was shining. "I don't have to pray for dark, cloudy days on Sunday's anymore," Cowan said. Before the old projector was failing, it was hard to see what was being projected when it was sunny outside. The sun made it difficult for patrons to see the messages being displayed on the screen, which would make for a frustrating service.
Before installing the Hitachi projector, if it was too bright outside, the picture from the projector was difficult to see. Lights would have to be shut off and shades would be have to closed in order to try and get a clearer image. Now, Cowan said the picture is clear and bright and they don't have to turn any lights off or close any shades in the church.
Originally, the church was equipped with a 100-inch diagonal 4:3 screen. So when they got their new projector and a 129-inch 16:10 screen, it didn't go unnoticed. With a brighter, clearer image, the congregants have no trouble seeing the screen, making them feel more connected with the service.
Now, because of the widescreen format of the CP-WX8255A, GCC is able to provide more information for the public than they ever could before. The new screen and projector also allowed the church to use the same slides they had used with their previous screen, but Cowan said the congregants had no idea the slides were the same as they had always used. "No one realized that the same slides, which we had used before, had so much color to them," Cowan said. "From the very first day the Hitachi projector was installed, people came back after the service to thank us for the newer, brighter, larger pictures."
Another major factor in deciding to go with the CP-WX8255A projector was its ease of use. Since Cowan serves as the main researcher, producer, installer and operator of the Hitachi projector, he said he has found it easy to use as well as operate.
Since the projector has been installed, the background noise during the services has been reduced using the projector's "eco-mode." This was very important for the speakers that are on the stage because they are located under the projector.
None of the running noise is detected by the sound system, which allows for a clear service every Sunday.