Jeff Abbott, the production director at Christ Church in Hickory, N.C., wanted to create an engaging, creative, inviting stage environment to help his church reach its audience for Jesus. Purchasing high-end stage design materials, however, wasn't within the budget.
Turning to the web for inspiration, he visited the popular stage design site, churchstagedesignideas.com, and found a few different designs that gave him what they were looking for. The designs he found use inexpensive, everyday materials in creative ways to create a unique set. The concept that Abbott selected was almost a basket-weave look, with long, narrow panels alternating between concave and convex orientation. The church's goal was to reveal this set in time for its Night of Worship concert.
Once he had an idea where the set was going, Abbott wanted to visually see what he had in mind. Before going into ministry full-time, Abbott worked as an engineering manager involved in 3D design, so it was natural that he chose to do a 3D model of his concept. Google's free 3D modeling software, Sketchup (sketchup.google.com), was the obvious choice to create a plan for the new design.
Once the design was modeled, the building process began with wooden frames, which were painted black. The frames were screwed into the stage to add stability.
The surfaces of the set were created with a popular material called corrugated plastic (or Coroplast), which is the material used for real estate and political campaign signs.
Corrugated plastic can be found at local sign shops, home improvement stores, or from plastic manufacturers, and it costs about $12 for a 4-foot by 8-foot sheet. Once purchased, they cut the sheets into 12-inch, 16-inch, and 20-inch strips that were four feet long, then stapled the pieces to their frames.
The whole project took the church's crew about two weeks, building the set pieces in-place on the stage because they weren't planning on moving the set very often.
They lit the set from above with intelligent lighting, and from the front with gel'd Source Four PAR fixtures. Some LED lights were added behind the keyboard player and drummer.
Abbott and the folks at Christ Church did such a great job on this set design that churches around the world have attempted their own versions.
Abbott's willingness to share and encourage other churches is inspired by his work with Jared Roman, the lighting director for Buckhead Church, a North Point Community Church campus in Atlanta. Roman has worked closely with Abbott, having him build a couple of set designs for Buckhead Church. Abbott says, “[Roman's] willingness to share is what prompted me to share the set. I would encourage more people to make their set designs available so we can all help advance God's Kingdom.”
