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Hi all,



Just wondering how y'all project (overheads / projector) your lyrics on Sundays--that is, if you aren't using hymn books or songbooks.



We have always used overheads (I've led worship in 4 churches and all have used only overheads). But with technology being as it is, we're now thinking about (toying with the idea really) of using a projector.



I use Worship Assistant (what software do you use??) and it has the ability to do the presentation format. I'm wondering how you do it--who does the switching of songs for you? The same person as for overheads?? (I do my own overheads!) Do you use backgrounds for each song individually or as a set?



Questions, questions!! Any and all opinions welcomed!



Blessings!



Moe.

:crooner:
You've got questions, we've got opinions!!!



Most places we've been have had overheads. If you have a good flipper and a good system, you're good to go. If you're using an 8-year-old who cares enough to keep 'em in order and flip 'em when it's time to flip, you're still luckier than some, but you're limited in what you can do ad lib. That won't change with a projector, no matter WHAT software you use.



Moe, do you have any sort of prayer support right now? If not, I'd urge you to find someone who would be willing to accept your worship leading as a prayer assignment. Have you and I talked about this before? If so, you can skip a paragraph if you want to. I really think that ALL worship teams (music or movement) need to have assigned intercessors as part of their personal teams. This is a person who is not just a "prayer warrior", but someone who loves to just talk with Father and listens to what He has to share and is articulate enough to express that and WILLING to express it. This person is usually not a prophet, but has a definite sense of the prophetic. Intercession is a prophetic thing. As an intercessor, if you've heard something from God for someone, and you share it, you are speaking prophetically, yes? Doesn't make you a prophet, but it does lend a prophetic bent to your prayer ministry. If you want to go into more detail, we'll start a separate topic for this.



If you DO have an intercessor, ask that intercessor to start praying for a flipper for you, one who will see it as a ministry, not as another task. Whether you use an overhead or LDC projector, this is an important task that deserves attention and needs a level of expertise to be invisible (and thus EFFECTIVE!).



Most of the time, overheads are actually easier. Slap 'em up there and usually the worst thing is that you'll have 2-3 sheets per song and if you want to repeat some verse or a particular chorus, you have to let flipper know in advance or by voice command. And of course, they have to be mentally present enough to HEAR your intention.



With any software solution, you have a different and more complex deal. Most slides for a song do NOT have the whole song on one slide. Some can barely fit one VERSE on one slide. Flipping back and forth requires skill and a better than entry level working knowledge of the software to use keys to go back or forward in the play list or to kill the play list and pick out song number 527 in the repertoire and do it in place of 231. Most software can do that, but you have to know how to do it so that it's invisible and seamless to the congregation. And if you want "Take my life" and you have 4 versions of that, you have to be really, really clear to the flipper so that the congregation gets to sing along and not just listen to the solo. Wrong slides, be they plastic or software, can be killers of the "mood".



Does that help??
Also, FWIW, I really do like projection instead of hymnals. It gets the eyes of the folks up out of the pew and give them a chance to observe what's going on in the room, maybe to see what God's doing in someone else's life! That's why I don't like to see the band, the leader, or the drummer dead center on the stage. They don't need to see me to follow my lead. That's vanity or maybe just plain nutsy thinking. It ain't a concert, but that's a whole different rant! Smile