Since authoring my articles in Your Church magazine, I have received questions spanning a number of topics. By far, the most common question is some form of “is such and such the right tool for our church to use?” If I were a vendor, my answer would be yes, FantastiWorship © is the tool for you without seriously taking into account the particulars of your situation. In answering these questions over the years I have assembled a list of ten questions that you should consider as you are making the decision to invest in worship software and, in some case, hardware to run that software.
1. What kind of hardware do you have?
Powerful software with all the bells and whistles capable of video feeds and complex blends and transitions between songs and videos is now available for the consumer. If you’re planning on running it on that Pentium IV that someone donated to the church a couple of years ago you are going to be sorely disappointed. Remember that programmers and designers work on state of the art computers so all of the features that they develop always work for them without hesitation. When you install this same software on hardware that barely meets the minimal standards, well you know what happens.
Video processing takes a lot of horsepower so the first question you need to ask is whether you posses or can afford to purchase the computer necessary to properly run the software you are interested in. Vendors offer packages for both the Windows and Mac platforms. While there is a school of thought that says the Mac is superior for video and graphical display (and everything else for that matter!) you must remember that joining the Apple community comes at a premium. The larger installed base of Windows computers makes the cost of entry for similar power much less expensive and easier to maintain.
2. Who will be operating the software during worship?
While many churches are blessed with staff and a corps of volunteers who serve in the worship ministries long term, many congregations rely on a revolving set of volunteers to perform the tasks necessary to a Sunday service. Worship software runs the gamut in complexity from simple to needs-a-professional-hand-at-the-controls to operate and this must be taken into consideration when shopping for software. In a relatively stable staff situation, the training investment needed to run the more complex tools will allow for the effective use of the product, dipping into all of the powerful options that the software has to offer.
On the other hand, if your volunteers tend to rotate and vary in technological acumen you will need to keep the presentation as simple as possible so that a new operator can be trained at a moments notice. Software that favors placing all of the screen images in front of the operator makes it much easier to follow a Spirit-led worship leader as she changes the verses of a praise song. One click video and Parental notification features go a long way to creating a smooth worship experience in this situation.
3. Who will be assembling the worship service script?
As important as the software operation is, the creation of the worship show or script is a factor that needs to be considered in the same light. A dedicated staff can be trained and develop an experience base in the creation idiosyncrasies of the software. Once trained, the staff can become productive and efficient in producing the script week after week. If you have a situation in which someone new will need to be trained often to create the scripts, the simpler software is going to be a better choice.
4. What is the culture of your church?
Have you taken the culture of your congregation into account in considering a software investment? An older or more conservative body may not be as receptive to modern, MTV style video presentation. If you are not going to be able to utilize the bells and whistles, why pay for them? Moving backgrounds, bolder graphics, and complex slide transitions are going to seem out of place behind the words of A Mighty Fortress just as a plain white or blue background would not contribute to My Redeemer Lives.
5. How many ministries within the church are going to want to use it?
Software is not an all-you-can-eat buffet in its pricing. The cost of software is in its licensing and you must be aware of the restrictions that come with each license. The software may be very restricted as in it can installed on one computer at a time. This will mean that all creation and presentation of the worship service will be limited to this machine. Other licenses will allow the purchaser to install the program on multiple computers for the purposes of separating the script creation and the presentation to two different venues. Notice that this does not mean that one copy can be used in the sanctuary on Sunday and the other used in the Youth Group on Friday night.
There is usually a volume discount when purchasing multiple licenses so the price will not be $BasePrice x #NumberOfComputers. For example, the base license for Media Shout includes two computers. To add two additional computers, there is a fixed cost that is less than the initial purchase. Vendors also offer a site license in many cases. This option allows you install the software on every computer at your site. This license does not give you carte blanche to extend the installations to every computer also owned by the staff.
6. What is your budget?
To prevent ‘feature creepitis’, your team should decide on the fixed budget that can be devoted to the worship software purchase. With this baseline in hand you can narrow down your search to only those packages that fit within your budget rather than letting the expansive feature sets of the tools guide your decision making. It’s kind of like buying a car. The salesman is going to put you in the most tricked out, option laden model he has that fits your basic parameters with the siren song that you can have it all for “just twenty five dollars more a month.” Good stewardship demands that we purchase tools that best fit the mission of our church and utilize them to fullest extent of their abilities. Overbuying a tool that contains features that we will never use is poor stewardship.
7. Have you factored in the peripheral costs?
Many years ago when I longed to move up from my Instamatic camera to an SLR, I searched the ads in photography magazines over and over before settling on the Pentax model that I wanted. Having finally saved up enough money, I went to my local camera store and set about making the purchase. Reality struck me right here as the salesman asked what lens I would like to purchase. Wait, the camera doesn’t come with a lens? Nope, and the film and the strap you want and the filters and bag and processing all cost more as well. It was a lesson that has served me well through the years. Using media in worship is similar in that there are peripheral costs that you must consider when making this sizable investment.
The list of extra expenses is varied. For example, even though the vendor supplied a library of lyrics with their package, you may discover that you are not singing these public domain hymns much anymore. In order to legally display the lyrics of today’s praise songs you need to be licensed and display that license as well as the composer’s name on your slides. Have you factored in the cost of this license? Those fancy graphics or life-lesson videos that attracted you in the first place? Not included in the package but can be purchased for just a few dollars more a month… You get the idea. By the way, have you priced out a replacement bulb for your new projector?
8. Do you have an alternative?
Is you church headed toward this automated solution because it has become the default experience of every other church in the area? Have you considered alternatives that include an unplugged worship experience? The hymnal in its various forms still holds an attraction for many churches and there is a sense of community that can only be found in sharing the books with your neighbors and singing praise along with them. There is also the option of the praise leader actually leading the accompaniment by “pre-singing” the verses for everyone else to follow. (If you don’t know what I’m referring to do, find some Third Day worship or some Pete Seeger (forget his politics for a minute) and watch how they skillfully teach the verse before singing it a second later.)
Before investing further in new software, have you tried using the tools you already have like PowerPoint or Keynote? While they are far from perfect for the flexible nature of a worship service, they can be made to function given enough attention. The advantage here is that many computers will already have these programs installed and many, many people know how to create presentations and use them. Sometimes a zero budget is a blessing.
9. Do you have a backup plan?
This is really part B of the question above. Computers crash, projector bulbs burn out, worship shows get corrupted, and people get sick on schedule only familiar to the angels. What is your plan for all of this wonderful technology the day the computer dies. Congregational worship can’t simply be canceled for a hardware malfunction. As a part of the process of shopping for the tools that you want to use, you should also have in your pocket a plan for that day when it does not work.
Having the plan is one thing. You should also practice it and have everything in place for seamless replacement on Sunday morning…in a hurry. Remember we are there to worship God, not commiserate with worship team.
10. Will it glorify God or yourself?
Remember what we are here for. Have the choices we’ve made and the worship experience we created glorified God or has it been a display meant to garner praise for our technical skills and talents? If the software or other aspects of the worship service become the focus rather than leading the congregation to the throne, it’s time to return to a piano or guitar and the voices of the people.
I hope you find this helpful. I’ll enjoy hearing what you think about the list and especially if there is a subject or thought that I missed.
