Flexible and Cost-Effective
As with all media server usage, the media is carefully selected to support the message from the stage. Realistic digital content can act as a background to a skit being portrayed, trimming the need to build (and store, and pay for) elaborate set elements. The same backdrop used for skits can support the band, when it takes the stage, perhaps with completely different visuals or I-Mag. And since most professional media servers are built with video capture cards, integrating live images from cameras in the performance and being able to cue switching with lighting cues from a lighting console is not a complicated multi-person event; this can be easily handled by one person from the lighting console, making for a tighter show, consistent performances and fewer mistakes overall.
Media servers also can be used in place of many of the standard church service AV setups. For instance, a PowerPoint file can be exported as a movie file and easily triggered from the lighting console, slide-by-slide. (It’s easy; use the Media Play Mode-In Frame and then record a single slide per cue). The advantage of running it this way lies in less equipment in the FOH area… and that can be a plus in a small FOH booth. In addition to the equipment/space savings, the PowerPoint file can be manipulated in the same way any other piece of digital content can be, via color, visual effects, scale, etc. All of these ideas mean greater flexibility in the creative impact on the media.
Adios, Hymnals
As AV technology has been introduced into the church through contemporary services, many traditional church services have begun to integrate digital media into their weekly presentations. Messages for everything including meetings, announcements, Bible study, classes, video presentations, missions, guest speakers and scripture are able to be effectively broadcast on large visible projection screens for the entire congregation to easily read and refer to when necessary.
Song lyrics also play a huge part of a worship service. Having projectors inside churches once was considered taboo because it was thought that staring at a screen interfered with the connection to the message being spoken. But today, projecting the lyrics to a song has become almost the standard, and it has changed the way congregations sing praise. The traditional way of singing from a hymnal will never disappear from most traditional houses of worship; however, as most churches (both contemporary and traditional) have discovered, using screens to display the words encourages more audience participation because it simplifies the process of participating (you don’t have to scramble to find the right page). Like it or not, most audiences are filled with people who won’t take the time to grab a hymnal and open it, but if the words are right there on the screen, then they will, at the very least, hum along.
A New Breed of AV Tech
As more and more houses of worship embrace professional lighting, audio and video technology, the lighting/audio/video technician in a church will no longer be expected to just set up a mic on the pulpit and walk away. This new breed of technician will be one who is required to multi-task, so if all video and lighting cues are triggered from the lighting console, then this will greatly simplify playback and stress. And this may be a perfect opportunity for the young tech that dives into learning both lighting and video; he or she will then find themself full of knowledge that can be used in other live performances beyond the church walls. What an awesome reward for being in service to your church!
Boosting Attendance
The bottom line for making these changes to church services is simple: it’s likely to have a huge impact on the attendance. Churches depend on the congregation, the faithful members who support the church through their time, service and money, so finding new ways to increase attendance is always on the radar. For a church to continue to grow and be able to reach a broader audience, it may very well find itself having to embrace new ideas. And those ideas can be just the shot in the arm that a struggling church needs to find new legs.
There are many content providers for church services. A simple web browser search pulls up quite a few including these dynamic sites: Sermon Spice, sermonspice.com; Share Faith, faithclipart.com; Oxygen Church media, oxygen-multimedia.com; Christian backgrounds, christianbackgrounds.net; and Worship House Media, worshiphousemedia.com.
