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Today well over 7,000 people worship every weekend at the Orland, Illinois, Parkview Church or one of its two satellite campuses. Back in 2002 the 600-person congregation moved into a new larger campus to accommodate growth at the 54-year-old house of worship.
Parkview Christian is ranked by Outreach magazine as one of the 100 fastest growing churches in the US and is committed to services that are relevant to modern sensibilities. The church's Christmas services this year drew over 20,000 people, touching hearts and souls with a warm, uplifting message, a communal candlelight observance, and contemporary praise music featuring Notre Dame University violinist Tim Michuda.
Adding to the atmosphere was full production lighting support by JR Lighting Design, Inc., who provided a large lighting rig consisting of 70+ fixtures that prominently featured 24 Rogue R2 Wash RGBW fixtures and 4 Vesuvio RGBA LED foggers from Chauvet Professional. The Rogue R2 Washes were dispersed symmetrically throughout the rig. Eight were hung on an upstage truss as automated backlight, with the remaining 16 rigged on four vertical ladder structures (two downstage and two upstage) with four R2 Washes each.
The owner of JR Lighting Design, Jason Reberski handled the event by special request. “While I really don't design and program much at all these days, as my role has changed significantly to business development and specifications. However, Parkview is a longstanding customer of ours and requested that I take on the challenge this year,” says Reberski. “The Rogue R2 Washes served many purposes in the design, from theatrical backlight to aerial effects and theatrical sidelight. One of my pet peeves is a calibrated white point, and the Rogues generated a range of excellent white light and color mixes. The idea was to keep a very clean design and break the ‘horizontal linear aesthetic' with the vertical ladders.
“In addition to the performance of our Rogue fixtures, we were helped by the work of our team,” continues Reberski. “JR Lighting Design, Inc.'s Director of Operations Kevin Rosenhagen managed the account and coordinated production logistics, and Systems Integration Manager Justin Litterio engineered the system and conducted all CAD work.”
Adding to the impact and drama of the services were the 4 Vesuvio RGBA foggers that were arranged across the downstage deck, sending thick plumes of water-based fog 20' in the air.
“The Vesuvios were used in the opening number to accentuate the chorus with both sharp blasts of quickly-dissipating fog that were reminiscent of pyrotechnics, as well as sustained streams of fog that created a ‘cryogenic burst' effect. Again, even the white light mix of the Vesuvios was calibrated to 5600K.
“Fortunately, with the very precise cueing that needed to be repeatable for the nine services I was able to timecode all of the musical portions of the show on a grandMA2 desk with full pre-viz prior to production. Our goal was to support the service and the music with lighting that engaged the audience and supported Parkview's ministry.”
