Michigan’s NorthRidge Church

NorthRidge Church in Plymouth, Michigan is not your ordinary house of worship. An active and growing congregation, NorthRidge incorporates ‘relevant music, creative arts and technology’ in order to communicate and inspire. An important element in the church’s ability to do just that is a Martin lighting and Jem fog effects package.

Main Auditorium
“NorthRidge is a growing facility, also in terms of entertainment technology,” says Josh Holowicki, Lighting Director and Lighting Designer at NorthRidge who also participates in scenic design and leads a creative technical group. “We like to buy Martin every year as budget becomes available. The master goal is to have all 2K Washes, Profiles and Performances and possibly supplement with some 250s or 700s. We have a long term plan but it will be a Martin rig when all is said and done.”

The NorthRidge facility houses a main auditorium plus three additional theatres and other rooms. The Main Auditorium is a 3,083 capacity space where weekly services are held. Rigged over the stage are eight MAC 2000 Washes and 8 MAC 2000 Profiles along with 6 Atomic 3000 strobes and two Wizard Extreme effect lights. A pair of Jem Glaciators is used for low lying fog effects with additional haze from two Jem ZR 24/7 Hazers and large mounted hazer. Six FiberSource QFX 150 fiber optic illuminators power a 60 x 30 foot fiber curtain with an additional three FiberSource QFX’s powering a 24 x 12 foot portable fiber curtain.

“It’s a Jungle Out There”
NorthRidge produces an ongoing series of themed services that take approximately eight weeks each to put together. “We try to incorporate a theme with a certain series,” Josh explains. “Everything has a point and a purpose for what we do. For example, we had a series after Easter called ‘It’s a Jungle Out There’ – a series based on relationships with a different talk based on a different subject each week. By creating a jungle atmosphere on stage with the lighting, a waterfall, jeep, vines, etc. we were able to tie the talk and the theme together and really put people in the jungle per se. The lighting creates a great visual backdrop. We used music, even bird sounds, and every ten minutes we’d have a thunderstorm with the Atomic strobes and used the Glaciators and hazers to create a jungle fog. It’s fun to see the look on people’s faces. People don’t know what to expect and every week more and more people show up. Then we move on. The next series is called ‘You Asked for It’ where the pastor answers questions – sort of an interview format.”

New technology
Each Christmas some 500 volunteers put on a ticketed event that attracts over 24,000 people, most of whom have never been to the church before. This year there will be 10 shows. “Because it’s a ticketed event all the proceeds generated help us to buy new technology,” Josh states. “We’re creating the revenue ourselves. Putting the event together allows us to acquire new technology that we wouldn’t otherwise be able to have and we can utilize this new equipment year round.”

On the move
Josh explains that they are converting their entire stage to a portable rig - basically installing a touring rig in a permanent application. They also have a motor control system with Stagemaker motors with show control modules and will be putting the lighting on flying truss so that the whole rig will be able to move. “The reason for that is flexibility – we change our stage design often yet our ceiling grid stays the same. From a maintenance standpoint it’s easier to bring the whole truss down and it allows us to do truss moves during services and shows.”

There are additional theatres at NorthRidge; one for second/third graders, one for the fourth/fifth grade level and The Underground, a multi-purpose theatre for Jr. high/high schoolers. All these areas can also be adjusted to accommodate adult events. These theatres house par cans and source 4s with The Underground recently speced for MAC 250 Series lights - 8 MAC 250 Kryptons and 8 MAC 250 Washes.

Discovery Island
Out near the main lobby area is the Boardwalk, a hallway that leads to a children’s area, Discovery Island – a place for children to enjoy themselves while they learn about God. The entire area looks like a beach boardwalk with store fronts, light posts and palm trees. Welcoming them into the area are 12 Mania DC1s splashing a water effect on the wall. “We found a great solution by putting them there and have another wall that we’re looking at the LED color changers for,” Josh says.

Why Martin?
Josh first bought Martin lighting three years ago with the addition of 2K Washes last year. “I spent over a year doing product testing and development and building a relationship, not only checking out Martin product but everyone else too,” he says. “The reliability has been outstanding. We’ve had some small issues but those have gotten fixed quickly. The service and response time has been better than expected.

“One of the reasons I chose Martin is the brand reputation for excellent fixtures. And Martin has everything I want from a 200 dollar fixture to my 2Ks. Nobody else has the product line that Martin has. Plus they have the Jem smoke series. One thing we try to do is create a relationship with a company and use their product line to its maximum potential. That way we have one company to work with, we’re familiar with one product line. The lamp is consistent, my maintenance is consistent and it’s just one phone call. Why would I want to deal with 10 different companies? Service, parts dept. etc. it’s comfortable to just call them up. The service and just the general way I was treated by Martin in terms of my research and checking out the fixtures - they were more than willing to get demo units - it was never a hassle. Martin offered a solution and it was what we wanted. It’s really working out well.” Supplier of the Martin gear at NorthRidge is Steinas Systems of Branson, Missouri.