The Original Design
(And still most sought after)
The original truss style podium was designed for Willow Creek Community Church's 25th Anniversary in October of 2000. The request was made for a design that would better fit the stage look for the celebration. A contemporary new look was necessary and it needed to be lightweight to meet the mobility requirements. After several modifications the final design was determined, proper materials selected and the prototype was built. When it was presented, it received rave reviews from the Senior Pastor and other staff members who felt it captured the event perfectly.
Willow Creek hosts many conferences throughout the year and many inquiries began to pour in as to where others could acquire information or purchase a podium like ours.
In September 2001, We were convinced that churches and other venues outside of Willow Creek were truly interested. To accommodate the many requests, Jespersen Podium began with the production of two units for Northridge Church in Michigan who have ordered 9 additional units since, to be used in their children's ministry. Requests continued to come in and now several hundred churches, schools and other venues across the U.S. are using the Jespersen design.
The Designer Steve Jespersen was a staff member at Willow Creek Community Church from 1996-2005. He lead a team of volunteers that build everything used on the Willow Creek stage. From small props to huge sets that require hundreds of man hours. Steve organized the workload and assembles the teams needed to fulfill the churches needs. When that first podium was built he had no idea that it would generate enough interest that he would need to outsource some of the work to keep up with orders and keep the costs down. What Steve originally threw together out of materials at the church has now turned into a precision manufactured piece of stage equipment that looks good in any environment and is customizable to some extent. The summer of 2005, Steve moved back to his home state of Washington where he set up the manufaturing of the podium. In August, 2006, he returned to Willow Creek as a neighborhood pastor. The manufacturing of the podiums is still done out west.