The days of hymnals, and songbooks are all but gone, but does that mean that your church needs to make an investment of hundreds, if not thousands of dollars to ensure quality video production throughout the worship service? The quick answer is most likely.
In order to perform ministry at a level of excellence that glorifies God and invites others to experience the beauty of Jesus, it's wise, if not downright necessary, to invest in software that allows for visually appealing and culturally current presentations of worship, sermons, upcoming events and all things in between. If you're planning on ministering to a media-saturated modern culture like ours, then it only makes sense to use the same avenue of communication as your church members and those in your community are accustomed to on a daily basis.
Yesterday and Today; a Reality Check
While twenty years ago it was perfectly acceptable to project slides on a screen. (Yes, slides which were set into a slide carousal). Thankfully, today we have the tremendous advantage of relaying on the aid of presentation software.
The question, of course, is which software platform should you choose? There are literally dozens of types of presentation software on the market today. They range in price from absolutely free up to thousands of dollars.
The type of software that your church selects should best fit your needs. Things to consider are your budget, the size of the sanctuary or auditorium, the type of equipment that you are currently using including projectors, speakers and computer, the amount of video that you want to run and obviously the different jobs that you want the software to perform.
If your church is like most out there, you probably need software that is powerful and flexible enough to seamlessly run videos, graphics, song lyrics and presentation files, such as PowerPoint, without overloading and crashing. On the other hand, you probably need software that is relatively simple and intuitive so that any volunteer can be trained on how to use it.
There are a handful of software products out there today that check off all of these boxes without completely blowing out the budget. We will look at the top three on the market today that retail for less than five hundred dollars as well as a fourth that is set to go on sale in the fall. In no particular order we will see what EasyWorship, Media Shout and ProPresenter have to offer, and then we will take a sneak peak at Airstream, which is due out in a few months.
The primary purpose for all of these types of worship software is to store a song library and promote easy navigation through both the song list as well as the slides of the songs that would be used for a Sunday service. Along with this important feature, these products all have the capability to play back video and audio through the software. They can do this either as a background loop behind song lyrics, or as a standalone video that might be used during a sermon. With the basics out of the way, then, let's see what separates these products from each other and from the rest of the competition.
EasyWorship
If you are looking for intuitive, easy-to-use, church specific presentation software, then EasyWorship would be a solid choice. Gabe Harris, Director of Sales and Marketing for EasyWorship, says that the software comes packed with some really cool features and it is completely designed specifically for churches.
"[With EasyWorship] you can train volunteers in minutes," Harris said. "Most church staffers don’t have an hour to spend training a volunteer on how to run the worship presentation. With EasyWorship, you don’t have to. Our software is easy to use and easy to teach."
Part of what makes EasyWorship so user-friendly is its simple interface. In the worship mode, the software uses a 3-column display with the left column revealing the entire song library, the middle column showing the song that is on deck and the right column displaying the song that is currently being performed.
Tony Parker, who has worked with various churches for over a decade in incorporating technology into their services and currently provides tech support to Rock Church in San Diego, is very impressed with EasyWorship.
"Without question the easiest interface on the market," Parker said.
"EasyWorship is modern and powerful worship software It is worship presentation software that supports the most popular features used in church worship and sermon illustrations."
EasyWorship is equipped to handle everything from YouTube playback, HD playback and backgrounds, web integration and more. Harris says that it offers "big church technology on a small church budget." The software enables churches to design professional presentations by supporting video tools and video imaging software by leading companies such as AlphaChannel, NewTek, Tricaster, and Blackmagic.
Along with the various features and the ease-of-use, Harris ensures that EasyWorship customers will also receive first-class customer service.
"Ministry is the heartbeat of EasyWorship," he says, "and we’re honored to serve and link arms with churches as they create worship experiences that draw people in and bring glory to God."
EasyWorship customers receive free phone and email support as well as a “no regrets 90-day guarantee."
"If a church is dissatisfied with EasyWorship, we refund their money. Guaranteed," Harris said.
Media Shout
Media Shout, fresh off the spring release of their version 5, has packed features and power into their newest software product. The version 5 release boasts of improved ease-of-use, more readily available content, a cloud to sync files and scripts in and even a feature that allows users to open EasyWorship and ProPresenter created lyrics directly in Media Shout for users that have recently switched from either of those software platforms.
The worship software is flexible in that it allows for editing and creating on the fly while it is running. When purchased, it can also be loaded on up to three computers for maximum value. In terms of ease of use, Media Shout boasts a drag and drop feature that allows users to insert a song, announcement, video, sermon point, or other cue into the worship presentation, simply by dragging and dropping the selected cue wherever they want it placed in the presentation. Media Shout also allows users to create multiple templates and apply formatting, effects, backgrounds, or any other settings with a click.
Parkerville Baptist Church has been using Media Shout for a few years now. Pastor Craig Lydon says that the staff and volunteers caught on quickly with the software and it has worked out well for them.
"We have been really impressed with [Media Shout's] capabilities and once we got our database of songs into it, it has been great. The bonus is that for a service I can train an operator really quickly," he said.
Along with relative ease of use, Media Shout also provides a vast array of preprogrammed content that is available at users' fingertips. The software comes packed with 65 different Bible translations, sermon points and illustrations and over 600 songs to making presentation building easy.
Media Shout offers extensive technical support for customers that include free telephone support, one-on-one church onsite training, free webinars and a collection of DVD training courses.
"The bonus is that for a service I can train an operator really quickly," Lydon said. "Setting up a cue takes a little more training, but if a person is a reasonably competent PC user, they can manage it pretty well. Basically we have had a good experience."
ProPresenter
Renewed Vision's ProPresenter, the real heavyweight of the industry, continues to change and improve to satisfy and enlarge its clientele. ProPresenter works with both Mac and windows and it is built specifically to make high-quality live productions easy. The way it is meant to work is that users control a presentation on one screen, while dynamically affecting the visuals and lyrics experienced by an audience on one or more separate screens.
ProPresenter is loaded chock full of features that make it one of the most powerful and easy-to-use systems in the industry, especially at the five hundred dollar price point. The software can be used to dynamically project text, videos, DVD, audio, graphics, websites, countdowns or pretty much anything you can think of with a simple click. It can enhance presentations with motion graphics such as animated text fly-ins and transitions. It has an optional cloud feature for synchronization and collaboration over the Internet simplifying media and song management.
Neil Oldham, Worship Leader at Cypress Street Church of God in West Monroe, Louisiana, has been very impressed with what ProPresenter can do. He continues to find more features that he loves because he says the software is actually fun to use.
"Pro-Presenter was like a breath of fresh air," Oldham said. "It's as powerful as you could want but as simple as you and your team need. It contains tools I'll never need in my blue collar ministry setting. But there are also some I never thought I'd use but now love."
Oldham says he is still trying to find his way around ProPresenter, but he already has some favorite aspects of the software. First, for example, is the possibility of running a presentation remotely by phone or tablet. He also enjoys the easy-to-organize videos, images and audio files, the easy to create countdowns and the simplicity in making last minute Sunday morning edits.
Bryan Townsend, who offers tech support at First Baptist Church of Nevada, Missouri, echoes Oldham's praise.
"I'm a stickler for a smooth, seamless presentation," he said.
"I don't want any weird breaks or jarring cuts I want the presentation to enhance, not distract, and ProPresenter has features that allow me to do that even on the fly during the service, if I have to."
In fact, the list of features that ProPresenter offers is seemingly endless. Besides the ones already mentioned, the software also includes a built-in Scripture engine with over 50 available translations, PowerPoint import and playback support and an advanced, customizable stage display that acts as a cheat sheet for a pastor or worship band along with a host of other features.
AirStream
AirStream, an application being constructed by Seraphim Software, will allow churches to share the experience of live services across campuses and around the world over the internet. John Linton of Seraphim Software says that the program gives you the best of both worlds by storing all of your presentations and media items in the Cloud while leveraging your local hardware to ensure resilience during actual services.
Linton says that AirStream is designed to specifically benefit users in the areas of compose, present, direct and immersion. In terms of compose, for example, AirStream uses the Cloud to bring the compositions of an entire team together to form presentations that are unique and excellent.
"Compose gives your members the tools to create stunning visuals using many dynamic elements including: text, particles systems, maps, count-downs, and features to enhance Biblical content," Linton said.
As for present, AirStream aims to allow users to fluently control church presentations to deliver an excellent worship experience to all those in attendance. With features like annotation and drawing, the speaker can take control of their own presentation as it is being presented.
"With an intuitive interface," Linton says, "anyone can present like an expert [with Airstream]."
When it comes to direct, the software integrates images with live video inputs in real time. This allows for services to be easily streamed, stored and published on a church website with the push of a button. Finally, with immersion AirStream transports your congregation to an atmosphere of worship with environmentally projected visuals. The software uses the simplicity of unlimited maskings and blendings to turn the architecture of your church into one large, beautiful canvas.