Free Projection Software For Churches

With the advent of the so-called "mega churches" here in the US, and around the world, churches have an increased need to leverage media during services. While many congregations don't have 40 foot screens with projectors that can be seen from space, most have ventured far from the hymnal packed pews of yore. For many years, Microsoft's "Power Point" was the projection software of choice, as it easily met the needs of many churches. Over time, however, the weaknesses of powerpoint became evident: No ability to call up scripture for quick display, lack of embedded media support, and a general deficit in the area of attractiveness sent media savvy congregations elsewhere.

In was this market that programs like Media SHOUT! and SongShow Plus were created to fill. Now, these things are great. They have a ton of bells and whistles, media embedding abilities, a ton of cool transitions, and the ability to display moving video underneath text. Included are things like native powerpoint file importing, multiple bible versions, and the ability to transform still pictures into an animated background. There's just one problem: Most churches have to spend upwards of $2000 to get a screen and projector installed in the first place. Add a reasonably powerful PC (most churches will just go to Best Buy, and unknowingly overpay), and all of a sudden, the church is looking at 3 grand, before you even consider media software.

Have I mentioned that these software packages are not cheap. How much? Well, most cost $500 up front, along with a $100-$300 a year subscription fee thereafter. It doesn't sound like much, but it really adds up to quite a bit, especially over a lifetime of use. Oh, they also sell separate packages of motion video and stock backgrounds that run $150 or so apiece. For smaller congregations, this stuff can really bog down the budget. Sure, it's something that you will use every service, but most small congregations won't run it more than twice a week. It's often hard to get the cash out of the board for a projection setup, much less a recurring cost, year after year. Don't even bother asking about a separate license/pc/projection setup for the youth ministry.

So what is the small church with a reticent board to do? Fortunately, someone has noticed the plight of the humble projectionist/media pastor/children's minister, and gone to the trouble of developing free versions that compare nicely with their more expensive cousins. As is the case with all open source projects(and software in general) some are more advanced than others. The point is that they are all free, and usually less complex than their really pricey relatives.

I'm going to start with a round-up of the various projects for Windows, as it has the highest installed userbase in the US, and around the world. My first candidate is DreamBeam. This was made in Germany, by a single developer, so he could learn how to program in .NET. As such, most of what needs to be installed already exists on your Windows XP machine(or Vista, if you are unfortunate enough to be running that flavor of Windows). It supports powerpoint conversion, has dual-monitor support(one screen for pc, one for projector), and is integrated with the SWORD project, which it installs for scripture support. The media playback is occasionally iffy for flash, but since most people will be using Windows Media or Quicktime compatible files, it is not too much of an issue. The feature that is most important is the live/preview screen. This allows you to pull up media on your local screen, and then choose whether or not to send it. It works wonderfully when the worship leader forgets verse 2, and jumps directly to the bridge of the song. Did I mention it also has a searchable database of any songs that you have used in the past. This is helpful when the head pastor springs a song on the worship team at the end of the service. That way, the congregation can participate, rather than attempting to remember all 30 verses of "Amazing Grace". The one downfall of this program is its inability to directly import powerpoint slides. You must first use a conversion utility included in the program. This will probably be resolved in a later release, but hey, free is free.

Another program available for general use, and one that could be called "The Grandaddy of Open Source Church Presentation Software"(but won't, because the title is too long) is OpenSong. It has far less features than DreamBeam, and is more of a glorified powerpoint with preview. It also includes a searchable database for songs, and scripture database. This is as much as many churches will need, and it does an admirable job. It has also one of the few projects that has been ported over for use on the Mac. Most Mac users will want something that is more aesthetically pleasing to do the job. One really nice feature is the ability to import a song direct from CCLI's website. A SongSelect account(which is required to use the feature) is not free, however. It's boring, bland, and highly stable. It is also available for use in many different languages, which is great for the increasing number of churches who are offering a Spanish language service. It is also available for linux, which I will discuss later.

This one, I have not tried, but have read up on a little bit: ZionWorx. It is pretty much equivalent to OpenSong with regards to features, but has a distinctly powerpoint-like user interface. It has something the creators call "intelligent, one-click lyric scheduling". I don't know what that is, but it sounds nice. Evidently, it is lightweight as well. It requires the bare minimum to run, and that could be good for those running a donated pc setup, as most people have a little 500 mhz box sitting around in mothballs. If you don't, you can pick one up for less than $50 at the local flea market, or get one free on craigslist.

Now that you Window's users have a few alternatives, I will turn to the few who use Linux. The reason I mention this, is because many of the guys at my church are high-level users who would attempt using an all-linux solution. Lyricue is probably my favorite linux-flavored presenter, as it includes some highly flexible options for presentation. Sure, it has dual-monitor support, but it also includes a client/server based model. What can you do with this? Well, it allows for controlling the projection software over the internet, or from an internal network. How do I know this works? Well, the fellow that designed the thing controls the whole system from a tablet pc, sitting in the front row of his church. While Lyricue does not have multimedia support, I am sure that at some point, it will. Now for the downside: Many people on forums have difficulty getting the MySQL database hooked into Lyricue. It's kind of important, because that is the backend for the searchable song database. Once you get it running, it is kind of nice. Documentation is rather sparse for the running of the software, so you might be pushing buttons until you get something to work. It's a great solution for just being a one-guy project. Hopefully he will be able to attract talent to develop the software further.

Then, there's DataSoul. I like DataSoul because of the general ease of use that it provides across platforms. As long you have java, you have DataSoul. It's quick to install, the user interface is great. Again, no muyltimedia support. Then again, that's an inherent problem with linux. While you can play any conceivable format, getting the hooks to have it embedded in a larger program that has many other dependencies is a downfall for the operating system itself. This could be fixed in a flash or java installation, but no-one seems to have taken the steps to program something that can handle this. Media is a tricky devil. Nowhere is this more evident than a project known as Easy Media Presenter. While this Java-based presenter may work fine on a Windows box, it instantly locks up my Ubuntu installation. My guess is that it has something to do with EMP's support of video. From what I can see, it is a promising package, and if it ever gets to where it actually works, it will be amazing. Stick with DataSoul for now.

There are many things for a church to consider before making an investment in a program like Media SHOUT!. Make no mistake, it is an investment. Remember, just because you paid for it, doesn't mean it has to work all the time. Indeed, many of the "professional" programs are far more buggy than single developer, "amateur" projects. Hopefully you can find something here that will meet your needs, or perhaps help you make the decision as to whether or not your need to drop the extra cash. At any rate, God bless you, and I wish you success in your ministry.

Until next time, remember the admonition of scripture, "...lift up your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh."