Presentation software: It's not just for PowerPoint anymore. As the NFL says, on any given Sunday, anything can happen—and now it usually does, on video.

From the moment attendees arrive at church, they can be greeted with weekly announcements on video screens throughout the campus, led in song with the aid of lyric projection in the sanctuary, and directed to further spiritual growth by picking up a videotape of the service as they leave. And presentation software can be behind it all, making it easier to bring continuity to each Sunday.

Trends usually follow the same pattern; what was once a rarity eventually becomes commonplace. In the North American church community, a trend in technology typically germinates in a megachurch or alternative worship environment, is absorbed and refined by progressive worship leaders, and ultimately adopted by mainline denominations for everyday use. Video presentation software has closely followed this path. Early users were often chided for bringing office-based PowerPoint slides into the church. But those "pioneers" have been vindicated by the effectiveness of the medium in improving retention and enjoyment of the message. Today, it is as common to see song lyrics and sermon notes projected onto video screens in small, rural churches as it is in mega ones.

While Microsoft's ubiquitous PowerPoint package will certainly work in church, it is not always the best solution for the needs of most congregations. To better serve the church market, several products are now available that address the unique requirements of projection in the worship environment. Each package is loaded with various features; finding the most appropriate features requires a definition of the church's goals and a clear understanding of the package benefits that best meet those goals.

While it's easy to be wowed by the technology of presentation software, a church should have a clear and compelling reason for integrating that technology into its situation. Some of the right reasons include: the desire to increase comprehension and recall of lyrics and sermons; the need to include material not available in a printed form; and a passion to break down the wall between traditional and contemporary services by developing a common medium for all content.

Large screen text with a pleasing background can free parishioners from the need to find and hold a hymnal page, while focusing everyone's attention on the platform area. Movie and TV clips can deliver a point in seconds that would require several minutes of verbal communication effort. Simultaneous presentation of varying biblical translations can convey text usage in a fresh, concise manner.

You can do all this with presentation software. But where to start? There's a myriad of software choices available. To ease the selection task, here is a list of the most popular choices and a few new packages that are sure to become future classics.

Prologue Sunday Plus. If you've been to a Promise Keepers or Maranatha Music event, you have seen this package in action. Designed as a lyric display package with excellent background integration, Sunday Plus is the latest version in a line of products with an impressive heritage. According to spokesperson Lou Douros, Prologue's long suit is its ease of use. At the Maranatha Worship Leader Workshops, it is quite common to see a local church volunteer running the lyrics for the Praise Band after just a few minutes of instruction.

The preview mode allows the operator to decide the content of the screen image prior to its viewing by the congregation, thereby eliminating missed cues and incorrect data display. Roger Cutler, another member of the creative team at parent company Grass Roots Software, notes the flexibility Sunday Plus brings to image playback. Whether the video file is in any format from QuickTime to JPEG, it can be played back glitch-free in the 2.1 version of Sunday Plus, bringing a sigh of relief from frustrated church techs everywhere.

SongShow Plus.^TM In his classes at Integrity Music's Seminars 4 Worship, Fowler's Ken Holsinger discusses the whole system approach his company takes when it comes to church video. Part of that system is client education, and Fowler's "Multimedia From A to V" is a 32-page booklet designed to thoroughly inform anyone who has the task of bringing video into their local church. This indispensable guidebook covers video sources, distribution schemes, delivery mechanisms, and software.

Fowler's preferred software package is SongShow Plus, a full spectrum ensemble that integrates with CCLI's (Christian Copyright Licensing Inc.) SongSelect directory as well as Integrity's Worship Software to fulfill the lyrical needs of the worship leader. Meanwhile, numerous maps and charts enhance the pastor's teaching. SongShow Plus is designed to blanket every event of the worship service, from invocation to benediction, in a simple and seamless manner.

Presentation Master. Frank Meyer knows what churches need in the video age to convey an eternal message in a time-limited environment. His program, Presentation Master, as its name implies, is oriented toward worship environments that flow according to the direction of the Holy Spirit. The system's logic is well founded and the code has been thoroughly debugged, allowing the software to operate unimpeded by glitches or loops. Creative Lifestyles is to be commended for presenting such a masterful package to the contemporary church market.

Digital Juice. Images are a key element in any successful presentation, and some of the best come from Digital Juice. The complexity and detail of the files indicate the effort Steve Roche and his team have made to produce images worthy of a network television broadcast. While images from other sources show clear signs of truncation and looping, the layering used by Digital Juice is so dense as to be imperceptible, lending a film-like fluidity to the file. The company's Jump Back series is an innovative full motion background compilation that can add tremendously to the mood of a service. Digital Juice delivers on many fronts, and at a reasonable price.

Shepherd Ministries. When it comes to video presentation, one size does not fit all, and nobody knows that better than Josh Lyon's team at Shepherd. The company's key focus is to listen to the needs of each congregation and develop a hardware/software (usually Sunday Plus) system tailored to meet those needs. With around-the-clock technical support and a full installation team at the ready, Shepherd Ministries can deliver a package even at the proverbial eleventh hour that will stand the scrutiny of the future. A patient, knowledgeable staff is a key element that sets Shepherd apart.

Artbeats. Phil Bates' work has appeared in movies like Charlie's Angels and Mission: Impossible 2, but his heart beats for the church market. So he has taken some of the best cloud, fire, and water scenes and made them available as part of the Artbeats image library. With every image shot on film, the quality is stunning and the time spent editing the layers is rewarded with seamless transitions and loops. For use in a dramatic nature collage or as part of a multi-media backdrop to a sermon, Artbeats has something for every church and situation.

Donline Solutions. Don Wuebben has taken Microsoft products Word and PowerPoint and turned them into a usable worship presentation package. Worship Builder is for anyone who wants the familiarity of business presentation made palatable for the local church. It's an idea that works.

Worship Photos. The excellent photography skills of Jim Whitmer are put to good use as imagery for the church market. Good shots that blend well with text overlay are the keys to this successful package.

Church View. Teleprompting is the focal point of Church View's vision of visual reinforcement. Church View allows a pastor to see the Scripture reference before the congregation so he or she can segue smoothly into the reference. Choirs and soloists can also benefit by previewing the opening words of the next verse, etc.

Tempo. For any church looking to project traditional hymn lyrics, Tempo offers HymnShow, a text package oriented toward non-contemporary environments. HymnShow will also integrate well into other software, making it an excellent long-term investment.

EasyWorship. Text overlay onto a background is difficult for some programs to achieve, but not EasyWorship. A single-handed creation of Jeff Taylor, EasyWorship may be a future standard package, with its full text support, advanced verse searching feature, and adaptability to any style of worship environment. This package really does make it easy to worship.

PlayStream. A hosting company serving over 2,000 customers worldwide, PlayStream features an easy linking technology that can provide churches with advanced capabilities to play, manage, and monetize audio, video, and multimedia content over the Internet. It is a great way for churches to not only stay connected as a congregation, but to expand the reach of their ministries to their respective neighborhoods—and beyond.

Kent Morris (kentmorris@aol.com) is a sound system designer in Atlanta, Georgia.