The scaffolding is returned, the ladders put away, and the new video projection system is now complete. After a few favorite old clips, the question of what to put on the screen every Sunday looms over the church like a giant blue-screen flashing "invalid input." Designing a comprehensive and touching video presentation for opening Sunday is one thing—making it happen every week is quite another.

From song lyrics to sermon notes, activity announcements to baptismal photos, video systems have become an integral part of church life. But without a versatile presentation software program, the task of turning one more PowerPoint slide show into a work of art becomes a journey inside an Escher print. While PowerPoint can be used effectively in the church, specific programs geared toward the worship environment allow for seamless flow and a smoother learning curve. Good presentations are made, not born, so here are some creative steps toward building a visual production with impact.

Squint Not Thine Eyes

The first rule of visual display is readability—the text must be legible. While elaborate fonts may appear elegant when viewed on a fifteen-inch computer monitor, they usually lose edging when observed on a projected image from a distance. Arial and Times New Roman, though, are not the only good choices for clear text. Several pleasing fonts with high readability indices are available in standard word processing programs. The key is to try several fonts with the same text on a single slide and compare their legibility.

Another projected text issue is dot crawl. When a video system cannot resolve the edges of a letter, irregular patterns emerge and appear to "crawl" across the words. Adding a shadow and removing italics often reduce the effect of dot crawl.

Font size is a double-edged sword. On one hand, increasing the size of the text improves readability and lowers the screen size needed for an audience. On the other hand, large fonts require numerous slides to convey very little information, while the oversized text implies the congregants need a "large print" version in order to see. For song lyrics, the standard approach is to display only half of the verse or chorus on each slide.

Backgrounds can make or break a presentation. The ubiquitous dark blue PowerPoint background is now taboo, as is any background that involves intricate detail or overzealous movement. Song backgrounds should reinforce the lyrics' theme without overstating the obvious.

For example, instead of portraying a cross behind, "When I Survey the Wondrous Cross," a photo of the Earth hanging in space can showcase the unique position God casts on humanity without simply restating the song's lyrics. Similarly, a sermon on the miracle at Cana could have a static image of a bride and groom as the background for the story of water into wine. This particular wedding metaphor also avoids any controversy with images of wine bottles within the church.

Sermon notes can be left on the screen for an extended period while the point is elaborated and reinforced. This technique eliminates the "what's next" anticipation syndrome and allows members to take notes while learning. Song lyrics should be advanced just as the last line of the phrase is completed to allow for mental triggering of the next stanza.

Custom-Made for Worship

Church-specific presentation software has matured into a viable and reliable alternative to PowerPoint. The greatest advantage these programs have over PowerPoint is instant access to any slide. PowerPoint is a linear device, meant to display a programmed sequence of information to a ready audience. Worship software, however, anticipates the myriad paths a service can take, with immediate recall of songs not in the bulletin, a photo of an ancient urn, or a map overlay of modern Israel.

Almost all church software now includes several versions and translations of the Bible along with a wide-ranging library of popular hymns and choruses preloaded for ease of access. Differences among programs fall more to nuances of operation than to performance, since all major titles are stable and intuitive. PowerPoint, for all its advantages of price and familiarity, is a business program.

Worship software is designed to import new songs and log CCLI numbers for remuneration. Additionally, worship software flows from lyric projection to announcements to sermon support within a single shell. Incidentally, each program also includes a worship-sensitive spell check feature to differentiate "angels" from "angles." Finally, worship software companies provide technical support specific to the church's application.

Based on these recommendations, a cohesive visual presentation program might look like this: As the members enter the sanctuary, scrolling digital signage displays the week's upcoming events and activities. Five minutes before the service, the projection dissolves into an image of the day's theme, and then fades to black thirty seconds before the music begins.

As the instrumental prelude dissipates, the title and initial portion of the first song appear onscreen with a simple hybrid background of water and sky. As the song progresses, the water transitions into a moving image of a stream. At the song's conclusion, the video fades to black, and then re-emerges as a high-energy geometric pattern with large font text to accompany an upbeat song.

Thanks to the worship program's search engine, a non-scheduled praise chorus is found and displayed before the worship leader concludes the first line. When the energy subsides, the video morphs into a non-descript wallpaper background with the responsive reading overlaid in simple text.

During prayer, the projector is extinguished and then reignited for sermon support with clear scripture references and message points. An occasional map is displayed and one or two photos are shown of objects mentioned in the scriptures. The video is darkened during the invitation. Finally, a closing photo collage of shut-in members is shown as a reminder of the body members not physically present for the service.

Multimedia software holds the key to better visual communication. As a tool, it can be used to assist your church in spreading the Gospel. As an art, it should "Amen" the service, not preach its own sermon.

Copyright © 2004 by the author or Christianity Today/Your Church magazine.
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July/August 2004, Vol. 50, No. 4, Page 25