HENDERSON, NV — Following seven years of worship services conducted in what congregants described as “a kind of holy dimness,” Cornerstone Fellowship replaced its sanctuary projector bulb last Sunday, revealing to 214 members that the church’s worship slides had contained full-color imagery since at least 2019.

The replacement, completed Saturday afternoon by facilities volunteer Doug Hester, 61, required a bulb ordered from a third-party vendor in Malaysia after the original manufacturer discontinued the model. The new bulb illuminated the 9 a.m. service at approximately 4,200 lumens, a figure nobody at Cornerstone had a reference point for.

“I genuinely thought the cross on the 'How Great Is Our God' slide was a design choice,” said worship attendee Renata Okafor, 44, who has attended Cornerstone since 2017. “I didn’t know there was a sunrise behind it. I cried. I don’t know if it was the Holy Spirit or just the brightness.”

“Technically the old bulb was still producing light. It just wasn’t producing enough light for anyone to see anything. We felt that was sufficient.”

Worship director Calvin Marsh, 38, confirmed the previous bulb had been flagged as “dimming noticeably” in a facilities report submitted in March 2021. A replacement was discussed at four subsequent deacons’ meetings before a motion to table the matter passed unanimously in November of that year. The bulb cost $34.

Several longtime members noted they had assumed the muted gray aesthetic was intentional — possibly liturgical. One man said he had written a personal reflection in his journal about “worshiping in the fog of faith.”

At press time, the audiovisual subcommittee had convened an emergency meeting to discuss whether the sanctuary was now “too bright” and whether the new bulb could be returned.