Whether you’re a new church plant or you’ve been in ministry for years, you’ve probably discovered by now that styles of communication are constantly evolving. Take for instance all of the changes in social media that have happened within the last year. Sometimes it may feel like it’s a daunting task to keep up with the latest trends, but in the midst of this make sure you don’t forget about the screens that your congregation looks at every Sunday.
From redesigning your ministry’s logo to reconfiguring your stage set-up, all of these elements help contribute to the overall look and feel of your services. With that in mind, why would you leave your presentation software behind? If you’re still using PowerPoint to run your presentations, it may be time to upgrade.
Getting new church presentation software may be one of the best purchases you can make to update your church’s Sunday presentation.
Here are 10 reasons why you should upgrade your software today:
- Library for song lyrics, scriptures and media: Keep it all in one place. No need to shuffle back and forth between PowerPoint files and your many other files needed to create services. With church presentation software, you will have your song lyrics, Scripture, and media available to drag and drop all within one program.
- Integrates with CCLI’s SongSelect Lyric Service: Access your SongSelect account from within your church presentation software, find a song, and add it to your song library.
- Scripture search: Have you ever had a speaker use a Scripture that wasn’t in your PowerPoint file? Whether you type the verse out or try to copy and paste from an online Bible, the speaker will have moved on before you get it on screen. With the right church presentation software, you can easily search by passage or keyword, then drag and drop the verses you need into your presentation.
- Schedule: By the time you’ve inputted the song lyrics, announcements, sermon slides and transitions, your PowerPoint slideshow is on the point of overflow. Even an outline view isn’t very helpful. Most church presentation software makes it easier to see your service at a glance with a service schedule. It can condense the view and allow you to see your service slides in a customizable view. Collapse your schedule to see only big section slides or cascade your whole schedule and get a quick view of the entire service.
- Broadcast capabilities: Whether you’re interested in broadcasting online or you already are, make it easy on yourself and your tech team by integrating your presentation software with your broadcast.
- Lower thirds: With lower thirds, you can easily merge the visual with the informative. Keep your viewers engaged with the live service while keeping them on track with song lyrics and sermon notes.
- Foldback: Give whomever is on the stage a helping hand with a foldback screen. This screen is solely dedicated to providing crucial information like how much time is left in a service, what is currently being shown on the screen, and what will be shown next.
- Last-minute changes: Handle changes on the fly with buttons that give you a faster than fast fill-in to throw on the screen in a moment’s notice. Display your logo as a transition between worship and the sermon. Fade to black without hitting the right arrow button a dozen times. Have a worship leader who might break into an impromptu chorus of “Blessed Assurance”? Hit the clear button. Remove the text while keeping the background up. Then, find the lyrics you need, drag and drop them into the schedule, and go live. It will look like the whole thing was planned from the beginning.
- Alerts: Project a unique number in the corner of the screen and protect parents from the unnecessary awkwardness of being called to attend to their children.
- Multiple seats: Though license policies vary, whatever product you choose you will most likely have the ability to add multiple seats to your license. This means you can use the same product in your main service, youth service, and Sunday School. Sharing your files on the church’s network allows you to keep a cohesive look for all services.
This is more than making life easier for you and your media team. It’s about moving your congregation’s focus away from, “What’s going on in the sound booth?” to the vision and message that is your church.
Keep it clean. Keep it simple. Make it easy to understand. With church presentation software, you can accomplish all of this and keep your message flowing throughout every visual on the screen. Don’t let insufficient software keep your church from communicating well.
