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A church service is not a sales meeting. Microsoft's PowerPoint is great for sales meetings, for visually conveying facts and data. But churches need a presentation package suited to their unique requirements, to deliver the visual aspect of a sermon or a song. The differences are powerful enough to impact lives forever.

How can the choice of software have a bearing on church members' lives? Perhaps Josh Lyon from Shepherd Ministries puts it best, "We wouldn't think of using a business plan to teach the principles of Christianity, so why would we use a business program to show them?" Church-oriented software allows the medium to disappear while highlighting the message.

A road-weary salesperson does not want to see a slide presentation that uses the same format as the training module she demonstrated five times during the week. As a contrast, Song Show Plus from Fowler Productions conveys song lyrics, sermon points, map details, and video clips, all with a unique focus on worship. Easy Worship, another popular presentation program, adds moving backgrounds that interplay with the lyrics to form a cohesive message quite unlike PowerPoint.

Unlike well-structured business meetings, church services often flow in unplanned ways. While PowerPoint's design allows only a preplanned, linear presentation, worship software allows complete freedom to follow the changes common in contemporary worship situations. Thus, any last minute song addition or deletion will not interrupt the service, nor will the projection screen flash "computer-eze" data for everyone to see.

Prologue's Sunday Plus, for instance, uses a separate monitor for controlling the main display. Roger Cutler, part of the team responsible for Sunday Plus, says, "We had to develop a package that hid the inner workings of the system from the end viewer. By accessing the dual monitor mode of the computer, we made it possible to derive a preview/program scheme that mimics standard TV production methods."

Fowler Production's Song Show Plus is one of the most popular presentation packages currently available. Doug Reece, the project's key programmer, explains the need for church-oriented software, "It gives churches the ability to communicate at a higher level. The pastor's illustrations are driven home when the congregation can see the grisly reality of a cat-o'-nine-tails and the treacherous ascent of Golgotha. PowerPoint is simply not designed to deliver a sermon."

Song Show Plus is bundled as the exclusive software choice in video projection systems from Fowler Productions. Multimedia consultant Terry Smith echoes Reece's sentiments, "It's not enough for us to install a flawless video hardware system; we must insure the content is carried by a programming package that follows the nuances of every worship style and approach. Song Show Plus is made to order for a group of fifty meeting in a store front as well as a throng of thousands gathered in a mega-church."

Live camera footage of platform events, termed image-magnification, or I-mag, is a given in larger churches where the congregation may be hundreds of feet from the stage. However, laying text over the video image presents a challenge to the operators.

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