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What is Worship Presentation Software?
Mary McMahon
Mary McMahon
Worship presentation software is a software product which is designed to be used in the preparation of multimedia presentations for churches. This software can be used by religious officiants, youth group leaders, and other members of a church to create dynamic presentations for groups large and small. This type of software can be used everywhere from facilities like the Crystal Cathedral to rural meeting houses. Several software companies produce worship presentation software for numerous different denominations; although many of these products are aimed at Christian audiences, versions tailored for Muslim, Jewish, and other congregations are also available.
This software often resembles products such as Powerpoint in structure, but it operates slightly differently. Like other presentation software, it can be used to prepare a slideshow which plays when activated, but it is specifically designed to integrate multimedia content, and to provide a religious focus. The library of clip art, videos, and so forth is religious in nature, for example, and many worship presentation software products also come with the complete text of a religious text of choice, such as the King James Bible or the Book of Mormon, to allow people to pull quotes easily and quickly.
When setting up a presentation in the software, it's often possible to add all the elements needed from the materials included with the software. People can also add in their own videos, photos, and animations. For example, if congregants are being asked to pray for a member of the community, a photo montage of the person they are praying for might be displayed. In addition, worship presentation software comes with a musical component. The software can play music, and provide the words to the music so that people can sing along.
In a very large house of worship, worship presentation software can be used to ensure that the entire congregation is being reached. It can also help people in the congregation feel comfortable and familiar, even if they are visiting the church for the first time, because they can easily follow the sermon and words to the music. The software can also be used to provide closed captioning for Deaf and hard of hearing parishioners.
Many of these products allow people to use the software on a trial basis for several days or weeks so that they can get a feel for how it handles. People may want to take note of features they like and dislike when shopping for software products so that they can find a version which will meet their needs.
Mary McMahon
Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a WiseGEEK researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.
Learn more...
Mary McMahon
Ever since she began contributing to the site several years ago, Mary has embraced the exciting challenge of being a WiseGEEK researcher and writer. Mary has a liberal arts degree from Goddard College and spends her free time reading, cooking, and exploring the great outdoors.
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![Worship presentation software often include texts, such as the Book of Mormon.]()
By: KalaniWorship presentation software often include texts, such as the Book of Mormon.
Discussion Comments
I'm the chairman of the worship committee at my church, and I managed to convince the pastor to consider using free worship presentation software. He was reluctant to use it for our traditional service, but he said it looked good for the contemporary service he planned on starting soon. I personally think there are elements of church presentation software that would work for traditional services. like projecting the worship song lyrics in real time.
I think once he has enough time to experiment with all the things this software can do, he'll find a way to implement it. He likes to use Powerpoint for Bible studies already, so it's not like he's completely unfamiliar with the concept of multi-media presentations. We also have a church member who puts together these kinds of presentations for a living.
I think my own church is too small to get much out of worship presentation software, but I've been to some larger churches where it was very effective. Being an accompanist, I especially liked the idea of projecting all of the verses of a congregational hymn on a large screen. I'm always worried that some congregants can't read the small print of a book hymnal, or they'll get confused if the song has 5 or 6 stanzas.
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