When you want to offer a giant worship service, what could be a more appropriate venue than Angel Stadium? Saddleback Valley Community Church (SVCC) in Lake Forest, CA, recently celebrated its 25th anniversary in a big way, using High End Systems equipment in the production.

A near-capacity crowd of 30,000 filled the field of Angel Stadium in Anaheim for an April 17 celebration of worship. The event featured a sermon from their founding pastor Rick Warren, also author of the best-selling book The Purpose Driven Life.

LD Jon Griffin, lighting director at SVCC, brought the church’s own Wholehog 3 lighting console to the outdoor gig. His rig included 20 High End Systems Studio Color 575 automated wash luminaires supplied by California Stage and Lighting.

"The church wanted to do a service where the entire congregation could meet at one time," Griffin explains. "We average around 20,000 each weekend over six services. It was a church service followed by a concert."

"As far as the Wholehog 3 goes, there's a reason I spec'd if for the show. I love working with it and all of the functions. I find the occasional bug still, but nothing is a ‘show-stopper’ anymore. I also wanted a console I was familiar with and knew what I could do with it for the most flexibility."

He spec’d the Studio Colors as his principle wash light, even though it was a daytime event. "It was mostly for ‘camera-candy’ but with the chance that we might have to add a roof on the truss at the last minute -- which we didn't end up with -- depending on weather, I knew I needed to have the most punch that I could. They (Studio Colors) are workhorses and I knew I could rely on them."

Lighting Production Team
Lighting designer: Jon Griffin
Lighting programmer: Matthew Cotter
Lighting technicians: John Ostby, TJ Simons, Kevin Sorg
Lighting equipment supplier: California Stage and Lighting
Main Grid/Staging supplier: All Access Inc.