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Better Video Calls 101

Zoom, and Google Meet are becoming a frustration for a lot of people right now, but it does not have to be. Learning how to make yourself, your system, and your connection better, goes a long way to taking the stress out of video calls. Today I want to talk about how to improve your […]

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FAQ: Why Do We Still Use The GrandMa 1

I get this question fairly regularly, why do I still use the GrandMa1 lighting console? This console was originally launched in the spring of 1997, some 23 years ago, and yes, it is older then some of my lighting designers. Don’t get me wrong I would love to have a new colorful GrandMa3 console. I […]

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Studio Lighting At Home

Hello my name is Jordan Monson and I am the Lighting director here at Willow Creek Community Church, I also do a lot of video work on the side.  Since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic a lot of us have been filming service elements, worship, and sermon videos in our homes, and it looks […]

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Streaming From Home

Hello Everyone, my name is Jordan Monson and I am the Lighting Director here at Willow Creek Community Church, as well as an avid gamer and photographer. I was speaking with my wife about what I could do to help contribute to churches in this unprecedented time in our nation, and around the world. She […]

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LED Tape and Pixel Mapping

Hello, my name is Jordan Monson and I am the acting lighting director here at Willow Creek Community Church. I have also worked and toured with the company iLuminate in some capacity for the last seven years. For those who don’t know what iLuminate is, they are a dance company who perform in light up […]

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Wireless Mic Storage Innovation

For years our wireless mics have been stored in hanging clear shoe storage bags in our wireless cabinets. It was not a pretty system but for years it was functional…up until a few weekends ago when two wireless mics fell out of the aging containers because the plastic bag had stretched. At that point, I […]

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FAQ: What does Willow use for footlights?

We’ve received a lot of questions recently about how Willow does footlight. In this article, we’ll break it down by venue, fixture, and learnings.Main Auditorium:For our main auditorium stage, we use a product from Ketra called the G2 linear, powered by the N3 controller. They are 1’ fixtures with 6 RGB LEDs in each fixture […]

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Lighting Thoughts From GLS 2017

Willow Creek hosted the FILO conference recently and I had the opportunity to share some of our lighting learnings from the Global Leadership Summit 2017. What you are about to read is what I wrote to present from at FILO. This is by no means an article full of specifications, power draw, or DMX channels, […]

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Designing With Scenic LED Pixels

When Jordan Monson joined Willow Creek South Barrington’s staff as Lighting Engineer, our LED game grew significantly stronger. Jordan came from designing, building and programming light suits for the dance company iLuminate, and over 6 years experience working with various forms of LEDs and alternative lighting products. In this article, Jordan outlines his workflow, process, […]

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GrandMA1 Lighting Console

Preparing for a Lighting Load In

A part of my role here at Willow is designing and installing many large lighting rigs every year. With large-scale production like at Willow, lighting rigs can get very complicated very fast. In order to minimize unnecessary complications and maximize efficiency, I have developed a process to help prepare for and lead lighting load-ins for large […]

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