- Just because you're a smaller church,
doesn't mean you can't have
a brilliant stage design.
And in this video, I'm
going to share with you
three small church stage design ideas.
(upbeat music)
Well hey there I'm Brady
from prochurchtools.com
and this is the channel
that helps your church
learn creative skills and feel like a pro.
We publish new videos every single week
so make sure you hit the
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The average church in
North America is just
around 200 people.
So before we get into stage design
and how to create great looking
stages on a small budget,
I just want to make very clear that
if you're a smaller church,
you're not abnormal and
you're not in the minority.
You are the majority!
So really, using the word small church
or smaller church is not really even fair,
because you are the norm.
And the reason I say this
is because when it comes
to stage design, often
we get our inspiration
from the big churches.
And when we get our inspiration
only from big churches,
it usually means that we're
also getting our inspiration
from the big budgets.
At the very least, budgets
that our bigger than ours.
So let's dial that back
for a moment and talk
about three ways to
create great stage designs
on a small budget.
First things first, it's
important to be clear
about this one main thing,
the most important part
of your stage design is your lighting.
Stage design is 75% lighting
and as my friends over
at the Creative Pastor have said.
Wood pallet walls like the one
behind me, they're gonna come
and go, but the lights that
you have on stage can be
with you for decades and so
when it comes to your stage
budget, whatever amount that may be,
prioritize the purchase of
lights over everything else.
And that's my first suggestion for you
as church trying to design
a great looking stage
on a small budget.
Forget the trendy stage
items, just use lighting.
And to bring this example to life,
take a look at this shot from my church.
Here we have shimmering LED
strips in the background,
and it's kind of hard to see,
not only are there LED
strips on stage here,
but there's also a rain
wall if you can believe it,
and yet, despite those two crazy elements,
the most dramatic part
of this stage design
is the twin streams of light that
are backlighting our worship leader
and creating a dramatic silhouette.
Two simple backlights
outshining LED strips
and a freaking rain wall.
Simple is good.
Of course, if you want to
move past stage designs
that are only lighting,
let's talk about two wildly
inexpensive materials
that you can use to create amazing
and immersive experiences.
Firstly, coroplast is still the king
of budget stage designs.
I did an entire podcast, it's linked below
with Jonathan Malm, he's the creator
of the popular site
Church Stage Design Ideas
and the number one material
that he recommends churches
use is coroplast.
It's inexpensive, it's
flexible, it's adaptable,
you can shape it, you can light it,
and it won't simply
create just a single look.
I did another podcast with a pastor
of a church plant called
Creating Beautiful Stage Designs
On A Church Planter's Budget
and this church's stage design was done
almost entirely in coroplast.
If you want to hear
more from that podcast,
it's linked below also.
Finally, the third and
final stage design idea
on a budget uses PVC pipe.
In this video you'll see
our church stage design
uses LED stripes.
But you can create a virtually identical
look using inexpensive PVC pipe.
Much like coroplast,
PVC pipe is inexpensive
and a great receiver of light, meaning,
you can color it however you want.
Linked below is an entire post on PVC pipe
from my buddy Jonathan Malm again over
at Church Stage Design Ideas if you want
to get a fuller breakdown of how
to use PVC pipe to build a stage design.
The most important thing to remember here
is that lighting is the most
important element by far
when it comes to your stage design.
Prioritize lighting,
and then use adaptable
and inexpensive materials like coroplast
and PVC pipe to supplement your lighting.
If you liked this video,
make sure you hit the like button below
and definitely subscribe to
the Pro Church Tools channel,
we post new videos like
this every week helping
your church learn creative
skills and feel like a pro.
And, if you want to take
your church's website
to the next level, make sure you download
our free guide called 101
Website Tools for The Modern Church.
Like I said, it's 100% free.
And you can click the
button to download that.
Question of the day for you is,
what's the best stage
design you've ever seen?
Leave a comment below.
I'd love to hear from you.
Thanks for watching and
I'll see you next time.
A friend of mine named Jeff
Macintosh runs a company
called Church Motion Graphics.
You may have heard of them.
If not, you should know
that Jeff and his team
are undoubtably the leaders
in motion backgrounds.
The Westcott Flex Light.
It's an LED panel and it's probably unlike
any other light you've ever seen.
Here are five reasons why
I love this light so much.
