Case Study
Trinity Grace Church: Interpretation Equipment Rental
With the help of iProbe's interpretation equipment Trinity Grace Church conveys its message in Spanish.

the performance during the church service at the All-Parish Gathering .

the client's need

we helped with

• rental of portable FM interpretation equipment

iProbe Client Testimonial

the challenge

Trinity Grace Church is a growing family of neighborhood churches in New York City. The Trinity Grace Church model is a highly relational, deeply interdependent, kingdom-focused vision of the city church. It enables church to remain small enough for each member to be known intimately and to involve every person in ministry while maintaining a kingdom-sized vision for renewing the city. As a family of neighborhood churches, the parishes join together periodically for citywide events.

The parishes cater to a diverse community. It allows for an all-inclusive experience for their US Hispanic members by providing simultaneous interpretation during gatherings such as the All-Parish Gathering that took place January 29, 2017 at the Washington Irving High School in the neighborhood of Gramercy Park in Manhattan.

the solution

in order for the Spanish congregation members to understand the service conducted in English, Trinity Grace Church reached out to iProbe regarding renting interpretation equipment to use during All-Parish Gathering. Based on their needs of using the equipment for 15-20 Spanish-speaking parish members to understand the English message spoken by the pastor, we proposed a Portable FM interpretation system.

This is untra-portable interpretation equipment that allows for a fast setup and it's so easy to use so that an interpreter can use it on their own without the need for a technician. With a working range of about 100 ft, it can be an ideal system for a religious organization who needs a low maintenance interpretation equipment rental at a reasonable cost.

Should the church have needed a more robust FM system, we would have recommended they upgrade and rent an FM conference interpretation system or possibly an infrared conference interpretation system.

reliable interpretation equipment in NYC

the all Parish-Gathering would be taking place in a school auditorium just a few minutes away from iProbe's location in New York City. iProbe supplied a handheld FM transmitter with a headset mic and 20 FM receivers with earphones, along with backups. Before delivering the equipment, we preset the frequency on all transmitters and receivers so they are ready for use right out of the box.

A good listening experience in a crowded auditorium

This event has over 1000 people in the audience. Only a few needed the interpretation. It's important to keep in mind that bodies absorb RF energy. When using a simultaneous interpretation system with a simple RF beltpack transmitter in a crowded space, you can increase the the chance of a good signal by maintaining line of sight with the RF receivers.

The parish band plays in front of a crowd.

RF receivers were available for pick up at the welcome area.

The Spanish interpreter (left) listens attentively to the service in order to provide the simultaneous interpretation.

The Listen LR-500 RF receivers are layed out on the welcome table.

It's a good idea to have the audience members in need of interpretation seated closeby the interpreter, within 20 ft with the interpreter facing them. This can improve the listening experience for the people using the equipment. Based on this suggestion, the parish sat together all the people in need of Spanish interpretation.

Trinity Grace Church got good results by planning the seating arrangements such that space got reserved for those in need of the interpretation to sit together in close proximity of the interpreter. Everyone was able to hear!