a Voice in the Wilderness

You’ll find that combining your individual PowerPoints (Announcements, Song Lyrics, Sermon Notes, Scripture, etc.) will make it much easier to manage on Sunday Morning. I’m not going to reinvent the wheel here, a decent link is this school site[1]. Another website also describes this process[2]. In this tutorial, they over-ride the default format with the format of each original PowerPoint you add. Many churches will do this. Each song will have an image (of video loop) behind it, sometimes linked to the content of the song. If you are following along with this series, all your songs will have black backgrounds & white text. So it won’t matter whether you keep the background of the main PowerPoint or the individual song PowerPoints. They will all be the same.

If you’re using images behind your lyrics, there are several commercial sites you can inexpensively purchase[3] hundreds of image from (including moving backgrounds). In addition, there is a flickr group[4] you can use.

The lyrics themselves are a different story. I have found that there is not a reliable free place on the internet to consistently get lyrics to all the songs you need. Except CCLI. Use the force Luke, it is your destiny. Pay the money to CCLI & be done with it. It will be easier and safer in the long run. Besides, you know you’ll need to have the license anyway. Churches should not be skirting the law.

Based on the size of your church (I’m guessing here) the price will be right. Small churches can procure the basic license to project the lyrics (under $250 for a church under 500 members) and get the Song Select access ($134 for the SongSelect Advanced Melody, which is what you’ll likely want if you are doing contemporary worship) for under $400. Check the CCLI web site for up to date pricing.

Projecting Bible Passages

Links in this article:
[1] http://www.port-huron.k12.mi.us/tech/Handouts/How-To/Combine%20PowerPoint%20Slideshows%20into%20One.htm
[2] http://facultysupport.ucdavis.edu/techtips/powerpoint/Combining%20Multiple%20Presentations/index.html
[3] http://www.flickr.com/groups/worshipgraphics/
[4] http://www.songsonpowerpoint.com/
[5] http://www.ccli.com
[6] http://www.biblegateway.com/versions/?action=getVersionInfo&vid=31