Father & Son Bring Vision to Life with
ADJ at Destiny Church!
When Destiny Church in Rocklin, CA, wanted to attract younger members through cool EDM events, father/son lighting duo Rick and Caleb Franke used a combination of ADJ effects to create a versatile display that works just as well for prayer as it does for parties…
We can all probably agree that inside a church is the last place you’d expect to find an EDM event. However, that’s exactly what can be found at Destiny Church in Rocklin, CA, which regularly hosts regular DJ events for its younger members inside a specially designed Youth Room. Naturally, resident lighting designer and owner of Illuminate Production Services, Rick Franke, opted for ADJ when it came to lighting, teaming up with his son Caleb to install something that appealed to the church’s existing and potential youth members.
Having already been fitted with an atmosphere-enhancing lightshow in its main auditorium (featuring an array of equipment from ADJ’s sister brand Elation Professional), the team at Destiny Church decided that a new lightshow in its state-of-the-art Youth Room was essential. Youth Pastor Rick Franke and his 16-year-old son Caleb were tasked with the project, envisioning a display that would enhance youth services as well as stage shows and also cater for EDM-style events, DJ performances and live bands.
“We have a typical weekly youth service and we just wanted something that would attract young people that come from the local area,” says Rick. “Now we put on a weekly event that happens every Wednesday night for the high school students. We do EDM type stuff and have DJs that come in. We also have live bands on.”
Of course, in order to transform the stage and make the lighting suitable for musical performances, especially modern EDM, the father-and-son duo needed a game-plan. As the younger of the two – and the lighting designer for the Destiny Youth Room – Caleb seemed to have a vision that would work for a range of performances, noting the versatility of ADJ’s products as a key factor.
“I wanted a stage that I could obviously do a lot with; something that I could make go crazy for EDM and do some cool stuff with, but also be able to dial it down for the youth service,” explains Caleb. “The design I wanted to go with was a really full look on the stage; all the gaps being filled in really well and obviously a lot of color – versatility was key.”
In order to achieve this idea of a multi-purpose lightshow that could create a cool atmosphere for EDM events and a more subdued one for services, Rick and Caleb used a wide range of ADJ products; incorporating powerful wash lighting – including eight Ultra Bar 6 units and 15 Dotz Pars – as well as 22 Sweeper Beam Quad LEDs, the fast-sweeping quad-color beams of which Caleb says he loves.
Building on this mesmeric combination of immersive washes and slicing beams, they then added a total of 20 moving heads to the top of the rig, including eight Inno Spot Elites and four Inno Color Beam Z19s, bringing added movement and color. Eight compact, but powerful, Mega Flash DMX strobes were also used – ideal for when Caleb is lighting EDM and DJ events that require more of a club-style intensity. Finishing things off nicely, Rick and Caleb then fitted 10 LED Pixel Tubes and some video screens, the latter of which they now use to project lyrics and other visuals during performances, events and services.
This combination of far-reaching wash fixtures, powerful moving heads, and unique effects like the Pixel Tubes, gave Rick and Caleb the results they were looking for: an exciting lightshow that was versatile enough to be used across a range of events and services, but always catering for that younger, hip audience.
Caleb is quick to note how the varying effects used in the lighting setup help him achieve the ‘wow factor’ with his displays: “The Sweeper Beams are definitely one of the cooler fixtures in the setup – they’re very fast and you can get them all going in a big wave pattern which makes the stage look pretty crazy,” he enthuses. “The other part that is really cool is the Pixel Tubes, because we can control the segments and make it look like it’s raining down the back of the stage.”
While both father and son were evidently pleased with the results, the church leaders were equally as pleased, convinced that the lightshow will help the church’s youth service to attract more attendees. “They totally embraced it! They understand that you got to do something exciting to attract young people and that’s why they did it and made the investment in the first place,” says Rick. “The lead pastor – Greg Fairrington – is a big believer in reaching young people and the board is certainly in his corner.”
Now that they have a safe, positive space where they can learn about Christianity but also enjoy cool events, the reaction from Destiny’s youth members has been just as enthusiastic as the leadership. Rick tells us: “They were very shocked, but they loved it! They couldn’t believe what the stage has turned into from what it was – the transformation brought a lot of excitement!”
As with any project, the lighting install in the Destiny Youth Room wasn’t without its challenges! For starters, Caleb’s grand vision demanded a slightly higher budget than the team were granted. In order to bring the plan to fruition, Rick and Caleb opted for a versatile but affordable range of ADJ fixtures, which allowed them to create something truly unique without blowing their budget. “We had to change out some products for ADJ and it turned out very cool for what the budget was,” explains Rick. “From what we originally submitted I think we had to shave about $20,000 off of it.”
Having played an instrumental part in the Youth Room project, Caleb has his own thoughts on how the whole process went: “My favorite part was designing it and seeing the finished project when it was all done. It was very rewarding! Getting the pricing right but keeping it cool – that was a good learning experience for me.”
Aside from the budget, there was also the issue of space within the venue – according to Rick, the biggest challenge that they faced. “It’s not a really large stage and there is a proscenium and it just goes up another 15-20ft! So, we basically used the truss to make a ceiling over the stage,” he says. “Sight-lines were also a big concern for the video screens; making sure everyone could see them. Caleb wanted the stage to look really full, top to bottom, left to right, and I think we achieved that.”
The final issue was deciding how they would program the lightshow, eventually Rick and Caleb opted to use a Jands Vista S1 console and Jands Vista v2 ‘Byron’ software to control the lightshow over four DMX-512 universes! The Sweeper Beams and Pixel Tubes are also controlled using the Vista S1 console, with Caleb programming the effects over Art-Net into DMX.
So, it seems Destiny’s senior figures, its youth members and the father-and-son lighting duo, Rick and Caleb Franke, were all incredibly pleased with the how the new ADJ lightshow in the Youth Room turned out! Making it a worthwhile investment, Rick and Caleb succeeded in creating a display that not only encourages youngsters to partake in services but also to enjoy music events and other performances.
For us, it was a pleasure to be involved with an organization that had such a clear and ambitious vision for what they wanted to achieve! Teaming up with a hard-working and visionary father and son duo, we managed to bring pure lighting excitement to Destiny, helping young people get involved with the church in an exciting and, most of all, cool new way!
ADJ/Elation equipment used:
ADJ Inno Color Beam Z19 (x 4)
ADJ Inno Spot Elite (x 8)
ADJ Dotz Par (x 15)
ADJ Mega Flash DMX (x 8)
ADJ Ultra Bar 6 (x 8)
ADJ Sweeper Beam Quad LED (x 22)
ADJ LED Pixel Tubes (x 10)
Elation Rayzor Beam 2R (x 6)
Elation Rayzor Q7 (x 4)
Elation Epar Tri (x 6)
Elation Enode 4 (x 1)
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