The tough thing about using media in churches is that there is so much competition out there.  When church visitors are used to seeing multi-million dollar productions on a daily basis it makes still song lyrics on a screen look incredibly cheap and corny.  While the mega churches in the country may have the budget to nearly compete with film, cable TV series’ and live event productions like the Grammy’s, the mid-size and smaller congregations are left to try to keep up on a weekly basis.  Not an easy task.

This is where packages like Renewed Vision’s ProPresenter software come in.  ProPresenter is a powerful live Worship software package for the Mac platform that quite simply blows away all the other software packages that I have used.  Cost effective and user-friendly, ProPresenter has all of the features you ever wanted in a presentation app.  From simple moving backgrounds behind song lyrics to full HD video playback, live video capture/display and built-in fully customizable countdowns, ProPresenter fits the bill for congregations of all sizes.

Besides being chocked full of powerful features wrapped up in an intuitive user interface, ProPresenter also has some pretty flexible licensing.  Buying one copy of ProPresenter allows you to install it on as many machines as you need to at your location.  It’s not a true site license in that it does not allow live event use on multiple machines simultaneously, it does mean that you can install a copy on your office computer to build the presentation for a service and then copy that presentation to the production machine to be used for your event.  Quite handy really.

The most exciting feature, at least for us, is how much smoother we can run all of our media during a live event.  Up till now, when we would play a video, we would play a DVD that we created during the week.  This presented a few issues.  One, it took quite a while to cut the video together, compress for DVD and then burn and test the DVD.  Two, during the service we had to switch inputs to the DVD player, start the DVD and wait for it to spin up and display.  Third, we were spending a small fortune on blank DVD’s to be used for 2 – 5 minute videos.  Not to mention the ‘visually stunning’ hard cuts from the end of the DVD clip to the bright blue DVD Player menu screen.

One of our biggest annoyances was the delay in spinning up a DVD.  It doesn’t seem like a big deal, but when 700 people are staring at a screen waiting for a clip to start, 3 seconds of dead air can seem like an ETERNITY.  With ProPresenter, we have the ability to cut that same video together during the week, export to a digital format and store that clip on a network server to be played from within the ProPresenter software instantly when it’s time for the clip.  Much smoother, much more streamlined.

Keep an eye out for some of the new features ProPresenter will allow us to utilize in our Worship services.

Jason
jason@cclife.tv

Here’s what some people who are using ProPresenter have to say about it.  I’m sure you’ll recognize most/all of these folks.

“Every time I have the opportunity to lead worship, I want to create an atmosphere that helps people encounter our great God. ProPresenter has been the ideal way of communicating and presenting our songs. We use it every time we are on the road. It is dependable, easy to use, and most of all, creatively stunning. “

- Chris Tomlin (www.ChrisTomlin.com), 
sixstepsrecords Recording Artist, 
Passion Worship Leader

“We began using ProPresenter at our concerts recently and have loved the stability and ease of use. We have a lot of video content as part of our concerts and we need a stable program that delivers the features we need as a touring artist. ProPresenter has exceeded our expectations and we take it wherever we go.”

- Bart Millard, 
MercyMe (www.mercyme.org)

“ProPresenter wins! It is by far the best presentation software available. And when used in the context of a live worship experience, it is simply irreplaceable. For the last 6 years of concert touring and church worship leading, I have not once taken the stage without ProPresenter powering our visual live worship experience. Whether it’s background videos, motion lyrics, or simple text, ProPresenter’s intuitive design and easy to operate interface make it ideal for the live worship setting. It looks amazing and is a massive resource to us. Thanks Renewed Vision for making such stunning software to enhance what we do!!!”

- Steve Fee (www.SteveFee.com), 
INO Recording Artist, 
Worship Leader (North Point Community Church)