A Bright Tool for Worship

Some great ways to energize your services

by Gary Zandstra

A year ago, Great Hills Baptist Church in Austin, Texas, installed a new digital projection system in its 3,400-seat auditorium. Colin Lambert, director of media ministries at the church, says the 5,000 ANSI-lumen large-venue projectors have enriched the worship experience several ways:

They offer a unique way to present announcements. Videotaped announcements are shown before or after the service so they don't interrupt worship. The presentations are a lively, entertaining, and fun way to get people interested in various ministries of the church.

They project the words of hymns, songs, Bible passages, and liturgy. This gets people's heads out of books, hymnals, and bulletins and into worship. "It increases the intensity of participation," Lambert says."

They allow image magnification of singers or speakers. Great Hills Baptist is so large that many people could miss the expressions of worship leaders. Video projectors allow the kind of close-up views that help people feel like they're a part of what's going on.

They add images or outlines to illustrate the pastor's message. "Visualizing various points of the sermon increases your memory of those points," Lambert says.

In addition, video projection can help you offer:

Graduation highlights. With a digital camera or photo scanner, you can use a program like Microsoft Power Point to create a slide show that highlights graduating seniors. On the slide you can show senior pictures and tell what each senior plans to do after graduation.

Baptism portraits. Digital photos can be taken of adults and children who are to be baptized, then shown during the ceremony. If a church has more than one service, pictures of those who were baptized at other services can be shown.

Missionary updates. Project a picture of a missionary and the country in which he or she serves. Include a list of specific prayer requests.

Pre-worship videos. Get permission to show videos of beautiful scenery along with a prelude or with CDs of appropriate instrumental music played over your sound system.

A Purposeful Choice
Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church in Southern Michigan uses videos in its worship services. Steve Flint, minister of music at church, was the driving force behind installing video projection in the church. But Flint pushed for a system that would augment worship, not detract in any way from it. "If we had decided to do projection because numerous other churches were doing it, the purpose would have been all wrong," Flint says. "Rather, we looked at our worship style and envisioned how projection would enhance our worship experience."

For help in doing that, the Spring Arbor church enlisted the services of a multimedia consulting company. Rob Stam, former technical director of Christ Memorial Church in Holland, Michigan, worked up the final design for that projection system.

The System
The video projection system for Spring Arbor Free Methodist Church includes the following equipment:

• Two Sanyo 9000 projectors;
• Two Cineperm 10.5 x 14 front projection screens with matte-white surfaces,
• One Extron 4LDX system switcher;
• An assortment of Extron signal-distribution amplifiers, computer interfaces, and high resolution cabling.

The Extron system switcher allows input from two computers, one in the sound booth and one on the platform, as well as from two video inputs, one for video playback and the other for image magnification. The system switcher doubles the video, allowing the projector to stay in the first computer's input for all of the sources. When the system is in use, the operator selects one of the four inputs on the Extron system switcher. The operator never has to touch the projectors, except for turning them on before a worship service.

In addition, an output of the system switcher is routed through a scan converter that changes the signal to a composite video that is sent to the 27-inch monitors that face the stage. The monitors allow technicians to see what's happening on the screen without having to turn around to look. This really helps when Flint suddenly asks the congregation to sing four verses of his favorite hymn, which few people—including the worship team—know. The worship team just follows the monitor to lead the congregation in song.

How Video projection Works
Video projection can be likened to an overgrown television or computer monitor that takes images from a source and projects a magnified version of those images onto a screen. The system needs the following equipment to operate:

• A VHS VCR (a video, video camera, laser disc, or DVD player), or a personal computer with a minimum resolution of 800 x 600, from which to get images;
• A projector, preferably a video/data projector of 500-plus ANSI lumens (the brighter the better) or XGA resolution;
• A projection surface: a white wall, front projection screen, video cubes, or rear projection screen;
• The interfaces and cables to hook all of this together. Most likely those will come with the projector, but you must place the input sources within a certain range of the projector.

Choosing a Projector
Selecting a projector is much like buying a computer. What you buy today will be worth half of that in six months and will be obsolete in less than a year. Projectors operate at various levels of performance, but unless you understand technical jargon, the terms used to qualify the performance mean nothing.

Every manufacturer claims that its projector is superior—even though only a few manufacturers actually make the LCD panels and lamps that are the heart of these machines. I strongly recommend that you find a reputable dealer who will allow you try a projector before you buy it. You should test the projector in the space where it will be used and under the actual lighting conditions. If the room usually has a lot of outside ambient light, test the projector on a sunny day.

Look for the brightest projector you can afford. Give up resolution for brightness if necessary. However, do not go below 800 x 600 resolution, or the image quality may not be acceptable.

Buying Options
When you get ready to purchase a projector, consider these sources:

1. Internet or mail order. This may be the most cost-effective way to buy a projection system. However you must be confident of your ability to order the right equipment and to put the system together once it shows up.

2. Local dealer. By purchasing the equipment from a local supplier of audiovisual products, you can usually be sure that you will get the right equipment, connectors, and cables. You also can get advice on installation.

3. Systems integrator. A systems integrator will completely install your new system. If you are not completely familiar with the equipment, this is the best way to go.

Good stewardship means getting the best value for your money—not just the best price. The best value may be a system that costs 10 to 20 percent more but is fully installed, rather than a mail-order system that was a really good deal but that you can't figure out how to install.

Easy Does It
Once you have your system in place, watch out for New Toy Syndrome. Don't go overboard with your purchase. While it's great to be excited by new technology, be careful how you introduce it to your congregation. Prove its merits gradually.

Perhaps the first week that you use the video projection system, you could project songs, announcements, and sermon notes to the congregation, using basic transitions. In the weeks to come, you could add video clips, Scripture passages, and more advanced transitions.

The key is to make sure that everything is done with excellence. Re member, most people today are used to the highest standards of video projection on television, in movie theaters, and on the Internet.

Whether your worship style is traditional, contemporary, or liturgical, video projection can enhance your worship experience—if you are clear about why you are using it and use it accordingly.

Gary Zandstra is a multimedia consultant for Integrated Media Group in Byron Center, Michigan.

Copyright © 1999 by the author or Christianity Today International/Your Church Magazine. Click here for reprint information on Your Church.
May/June 1999, Vol.45, No. 3, Page 10

	Subcategories of Lighting & Video
	Multimedia Resources Video & Video Consultants Screens Film & Video Equipment Lighting & Lighting Consultants Overhead Projectors Software Projector Lenses Video/Data Projectors