Language Interpretation of Services Strengthens Congregation at Shadow Mountain Community Church
By: Chris Steinwand

As culturally diverse as North America is, imagine a community church that has not only large Anglo and Hispanic populations, but also significant numbers of European, Arabian and other ethnic groups – all sharing the same faith and worshiping in the same congregation. How can one church meet the spiritual needs of such a diverse group of its members? Historically, the solution was “easy” – they made everyone learn Latin.

Today, however, technology is providing a more palatable option that is proving valuable in strengthening church members both in spirit and in numbers.

Shadow Mountain Community Church, located in El Cajon, Calif., is accommodating the diverse needs simply and efficiently with an extremely versatile digital mixing console and the clever use of some innovative wireless audio technology from Listen Technologies.

Shadow Mountain has a large number of Spanish-speaking members, as well as Albanian and other non-English-speaking visitors from time to time. Prior to acquiring their Listen system, separate church services accommodated Spanish and Albanian-speaking parishioners.

As the ministry’s technical director, Timothy Hunten looked into how to best address the church's unique multilingual needs and found that Listen’s wireless audio solutions were the best fit. Now services are more fully integrated, allowing for a greater degree of multicultural fellowship.

"We've been thrilled with our investment and the wonderful service we’ve received from the Listen staff” Hunten said. "Once we turned the system on and tweaked it for optimum output, we haven't had to do much with it. In fact, the only maintenance issue we've encountered is changing the batteries, and you can't really call that maintenance, can you?"

Magic or Miracle
So how does it all happen?

From a member’s perspective, it seems like a miracle. It begins with the member picking up a personal receiver and headphones, tuning to the appropriate channel and listening to the service in their own language. Simple and easy, just as it was meant to be.

From a technical perspective, however, it’s slightly more complicated.

With a congregation of more than 6,000 members, five buildings, and services three times a day, Hunten has the daunting task of making the “magic” happen. While the main worship center is, as the name implies, the main sanctuary for services, Hunten also manages services at four other audio-visually equipped buildings. With as many as 40 events a week on the campus, all requiring full technical support, he uses a well-designed suite of specialized equipment to deliver the goods reliably.

1. The main worship center seats 2,500 and has an audio system designed to accommodate both front of house (FOH) and monitor functions for a full band, 35-piece orchestra, 160-voice choir, praise team and numerous soloist, groups, speakers and guests. On any given Sunday, there can be more than 5,000 worshipers spread over three services. Their audio solution includes a Listen language interpretation system, which services all the buildings on the church campus.

In the main hall, sound reinforcement is relatively straight forward. An Innovason SY88 digital console, featuring 80 input and output channels and faders, with 48 mix buses, handles the mixing and signal routing. The scores of inputs coming from the stage are a mix of Sennheiser, AKG and Shure wireless and DPA microphones. Outboard gear includes TC electronics, Eventide and Yamaha, while JBL components make up the loudspeaker system.

Managing all the audio inputs (and their individual settings) is quite a task. Hunten’s creative use of the right equipment enables the church to minimize microphone inventory and keep audio processing gear in check. Hunten really demonstrates his technical artistry by enabling all those inputs to be interpreted into additional languages.

The real-time interpretation is conducted from the five interpretation booths, which double as counseling rooms after the services. Each booth is equipped with a video monitor and a pair of Sony 7506 headphones, allowing interpreters to observe what they are hearing during the approximately 90-minute services (sermons, which are the main portion of the interpretation, last approximately 40 minutes). Hymns, announcements and dramatic enactments are not interpreted, but non-English-speaking churchgoers find having their own language right in their ears for the main sermons helps them more fully understand and follow along with other events.

1. The interpreters speak their translations into Crown CM-312AHS head-worn microphones, and a personal mixer allows them to adjust the level of their own voice as well as the program feed. Each interpreter equipment feeds the translation into a Listen LT-800 Stationary FM Transmitter. The LT-800, which has a reach of 3,000 feet, broadcasts a superior quality audio signal of the interpretation to the Listen LR-400 Portable FM Receivers worn by congregants. (The signal can also be picked up by stationary receivers and wireless speaker/receivers.) The end result is that the audience can hear and understand the presentation better and in the individual own languages.

The church uses five of Listen’s 57 possible channels: four are for language interpretations, and the fifth provides auditory assistance for the hearing impaired by rebroadcasting the service from the main sound system to the receivers.

Good Works
Both the Listen receivers and the transmitters include a proprietary LCD screen showing the channel selected, signal strength, channel lock status and battery level. The LT-800 Stationary FM Transmitters have multiple audio inputs with level control and mix level control. Transmitters can be rack mounted, have multiple antenna options, and include a test tone for tuning.

The LR-400 Portable FM Receivers, which can also be powered by either standard AA alkaline batteries or rechargeable NiMH batteries, are compatible with stereo or mono headphones. Additionally, the units have a channel SEEK capability that makes it easy for any user to tune. Channel selection is behind a lockable door, to prevent accident channel switching. 

 “We have 50 LR-400 receivers that we can drop-in to Listen charging cases, so our receivers will always be ready for use,” Hunten said. “These storage and charging cases also give us a convenient way to transport and keep track of our receivers.”

The Gift of Tongues
Church services are regularly translated to Spanish and Albanian. The Listen system is also used to accommodate requests for French, Chinese and other languages when families have guests from their home country.

Hunten says that members especially appreciate that their visiting family members can sit with them and enjoy the service in their own language.

“Before we installed the Listen system, we had no way to get our non-English speaking members involved in the same service,” he said. “We had to offer alternate venues and services. This integrated system creates an atmosphere of togetherness that would have been impossible before. And that’s really our main goal – bringing people together.”

Keeping the Records
Hunten also pointed out, “We take the interpretation signal to a Tascam DA-78 (8-channel digital tape recorder) to archive the services and to make copies of the message in other languages. This has been a great addition to our ministry and has allowed us to reach more people than we would have been able to otherwise. It’s a great tool that requires little to no maintenance once it is set up.

“It has been so rewarding to look around during church services and see so many different faces, to have such a clear picture of who we are as a community,” says Hunten, who takes pride in knowing the church's Albanian-and Spanish-speaking members feel at home, despite the language differences.

The system's assisted listening component has also allowed quite a few elderly members to more fully participate in the church.

Chris Steinwand is a public relations and marketing expert, who has dedicated his career to the professional audio industry.