Neon Stacks

From: Scott Bahler, Camarillo Christian Church
I’ll start by saying that I believe that the most important spaces in all the world are the spaces where ministry happens and the amazing story of Jesus is shared. I always aim high, and not for my glory but His.

This summer, we launched our Neon Summer Color Fade stage design—an elevated and vibrant look aimed at making our worship space truly memorable. I borrowed the core concept for this build from a fantastic resource I found online (https://churchstagedesignideas.com/remarkable-summer/), and I’m excited to share how we brought it to life!

✨ Happy Accidents and Creative Lighting

One of the coolest things I found while doing this stage build was actually by mistake!

I had intended to only use one light to illuminate the vertical “stacks.” However, I ended up needing three lights for proper coverage. This happy accident turned out to be a massive win, as it allowed me to create an incredible visual effect: a smooth fade of light colors across the vertical structure. You can see this striking color blend clearly in the pictures!

🛠️ Using What You Have (and Hiding What You Don’t)

Our stage presents a unique challenge: it’s very chopped up with fixed wood walls that break up the space. Instead of fighting them, we utilized them!

• I covered the unsightly walls with black drape (cheap pipe and drape).
• These walls then became the perfect, hidden anchors to hold up our vertical stacks (made from 2″x3″ lumber).
• We even stapled the stacks directly onto the wall behind the drum set.

The Lesson: Don’t let stage limitations stop you; find ways to turn them into supporting structures!

⬆️ The Only Way is Up! (The 30′ Rule)

Since I can’t go wide on our stage, I decided to go up.

The side stacks measure 12′ x 4′ and are comprised of 4″ wide stripes of Coroplast (corrugated plastic) spaced 4″ apart.

• Coroplast costs about $30 per 4×8 sheet, and it only took about 3/4 of a sheet to make one stack—very budget-friendly!
• I used a battery-powered staple gun for quick assembly.
• I cut the Coroplast with a razor knife on the ground using a straight edge. Pro Tip: Don’t stress about perfection! The 30′ Rule applies—no one in the audience can tell if the cut is slightly off from 30 feet away.

For the drum stack, I used 8′ strips, putting them both inside and on top of our drum cage structure.

💡 Simple Vertical Lighting

I really like the light bars we used vertically on the stacks. They have different channel settings, but for this look, I kept it simple, using the most basic setting to keep all three lights on a given stack one color at a time, allowing the colors to blend nicely across the structure.

🖼️ Palm Trees Without the Cliché

Instead of doing physical palm tree cut-outs or—heaven forbid—nailing surfboards and flip-flops to the walls (as some suggested!), we created the summer vibe digitally.

We used the “Palms Remix” from ProPresenter on our screens. By setting different tropical-themed BGs on the side TVs than on the center screen, we had enough options to give a varied and fresh feel for each song in the set. This gave us nice summer vibes without going too cliché!

💰 Stage Design Cost Breakdown