Church staff encounter heightened pressure during holidays like Christmas and Easter due to larger congregations and the demand for exceptional in-person experiences. The constraints of limited budgets add difficulty to the task of seeking inspiration for fresh ideas and arrangements.
For the 2022 Christmas Season Tech Director Josh Stecker and Lighting Designer Connor Hutson took on the challenge of surpassing the standard Christmas tree set design at Lakeland Community Church. They ordered truss angles to make “truss trees” and used 42 Blizzard Stormchaser Supercell bar lights to outline the trees and add visual interest and depth to the stage. Always looking to be good stewards of church resources, the Lakeland crew has gone on to incorporate the lights into Good Friday, Easter and Student CAMP sets that delight churchgoers.
Designing Captivating Holiday Sets
“We dead hang everything at Lakeland and my tech team is amazing,” said Josh Stecker. “We struck the previous set design and got the Supercells set up while Connor created a show in the GrandMA3 and got all the lights into the rig. Running fixtures at 52 DMX channels, you go through universes quickly, but it’s worth it for the Supercells because they offer so much in max DMX mode. The ability to separate the LEDs into groups makes it an ideal fixture to design with, and it comes to life with its pixel-mapping effects. The new Phaser engine in GrandMA3 takes these fixtures to a whole new level.”
Josh Stecker, Lakeland Community Church
For the Christmas set, Lakeland Community Church used 42 Blizzard Stormchaser Supercells, 16 ADJ Inno Spots, 8 SHEHDS Wash, 8 Elation Level Q7, 4 Martin Rush MH6, 2 Martin Rush MH1, LED light curtains, 1 Chauvet Low Fogger, 1 Pea Soup Phantom Hazer, 10 Chauvet Rogue R2X Wash VW and GrandMA3 on PC. The stage was designed by the Lakeland Tech Team, the lighting designer was Connor Hutson and the photographer was Amanda Breen.
Designing for both a somber Good Friday stage and a high energy Easter celebration required a versatile design approach. “The set design for Good Friday is always somber; lots of reds and more emotional colors. We set out to use the same design for Easter and when Easter hit we were able to add all the colors, high energy, and pixel-mapping from the Supercells that just sent the set over the top with energy. The versatility from a somber, supportive fixture to the main attraction for Easter is amazing, the Supercells are completely unmatched in features for their price point.”
For the Good Friday and Easter set Lakeland Community Church used 20 Blizzard Stormchaser Supercells, 13 ADJ Inno Spots, 8 SHEHDS Wash, 8 Elation Level Q7, 4 Martin Rush MH6, 2 Martin Rush MH1, 1 Pea Soup Phantom Hazer, 10 Chauvet Rogue R2X Wash VW and GrandMA3 on PC. The stage was designed by the Lakeland Tech Team, the lighting designer was Connor Hutson and the photographer was Amanda Breen.
In the summer, Lakeland Community Church hosts a week-long student CAMP to give kids a creative outlet to learn about tech and music. “We did a simple truss over band set-up and covered it with movers and 24 Supercells. We run Vista by Chroma-Q for CAMP and only have 2 universes so we ran the Supercells in 52 channel mode, patched 12, and then mirrored them from left to right so 2 would share the same address. Sometimes you don’t have the budget for 4 universes and this worked great. The amount of energy the Supercells push into the room with brightness and effects is cool to watch, and they really stole the show.”
For the CAMP set Lakeland Community Church used 23 Blizzard Stormchaser Supercells, 8 ADJ Inno Spots, 16 ADJ Mega Hex Pars, 4 Martin Rush MH 8 Minis, 1 Chauvet Amhaze Whipser Hazer, and 1 Vista by Chroma-Q. The lighting designer was Josh Stecker and the Camp Tech Director was Greg Hogfeldt.
Prioritizing Price, Versatility, and Reliability
“I don’t want to be thinking about lights when I should be focusing on my team and the congregation. Blizzard’s support is amazing, and they continue to back their products day in and out.”
Josh Stecker, Lakeland Community Church
CREDIT TO
Lakeland Community Church
Lighting Designers: Connor Hutson & Josh Stecker
Technical Directors: Josh Stecker & Greg Hogfeldt
PHOTOGRAPHY
Amanda Breen
CHRISTMAS SET GEAR:
42 Blizzard Stormchaser Supercells
16 ADJ Inno Spots
8 SHEHDS Wash
8 Elation Level Q7
4 Martin Rush MH6
2 Martin Rush MH1
LED light curtains
1 Chauvet Low Fogger
1 Pea Soup Phantom Hazer
10 Chauvet Rogue R2X Wash VW
GrandMA3 on PC
GOOD FRIDAY / EASTER GEAR:
20 Blizzard Stormchaser Supercells
13 ADJ Inno Spots
8 SHEHDS Wash
8 Elation Level Q7
4 Martin Rush MH6
2 Martin Rush MH1
1 Pea Soup Phantom Hazer
10 Chauvet Rogue R2X Wash VW
GrandMA3 on PC
CAMP GEAR:
3 Blizzard Stormchaser Supercells
8 ADJ Inno Spots
16 ADJ Mega Hex Pars
4 Martin Rush MH 8 Minis
1 Chauvet Amhaze Whipser Hazer
Vista by Chroma-Q
This article first appeared on Blizzard’s website, used by WAVE with permission: https://www.blizzardpro.com/article/holiday-sets-go-from-ordinary-to-extraordinary
Lauren Hunter
Lauren Hunter assists organizations in reaching their goals through her unique blend of freelance writing, content marketing, SEO, and public relations consulting and coaching. She founded ChurchTechToday.com in 2007 and has many years of expertise in the church tech and software space. She is also a musician and self-published author of two books. She loves exploring the big picture of the journey we are all on together. Lauren is married to her high school sweetheart, and they live in Northern California with their four teens. She can be found online at https://laurenhunter.net.
