I recommend a good deal of open source software on this site. Open source programs offer a viable alternative to expensive programs. What you miss are some user-friendly features and support, however most problems are easily solved by glancing through extensive forums.
One I came across recently is Open LP. If you can’t afford Media Shout, Song Show Plus, or Pro Presenter, then you may want to consider this. You can download it here.
Hey, here are some free looping backgrounds just in time for your after Christmas weekend service…or for next year! These are courtesy of the folks at Soul Refinery.
I love music. Since I miss a great deal of worship services, I worship at many other times aside from Sunday mornings. One of the tools I use in the office each week is a site called Grooveshark. You can listen (not necessarily download) virtually any song you can think of. It is a free, internet-based music service. You can purchase a membership with them in order to listen to music in more versatile ways as well.
This one is for the techie’s out there. Go to 5am Productions if you would like to get a few quality loops for worship or countdown backgrounds. When you download the zipped file, you get about 100 .jpg images. You’ll need to import those images into a program like Windows Movie Maker, Adobe Premier, Cyberlink Power Director, or iMovie, set the .jpg images to go for a duration of about 1/30th of a second (30 frames per second), and then publish it as a .wmv, .mov, or .mpg file. Not too complicated, huh???
If you are not caught on to Seeds Family Worship, then you are missing out on something great for your ministry. The music they produce is completely from Scripture and the tunes are modern and catchy. They not only offer a great variety of CD’s, but will also come to your church to help you put on a family worship night. When you purchase one of their CD’s, you actually get two, one to listen to and one to share. This is in an effort to perpetuate their “seeding” mentality concerning the Word of God.
Another way they plant seeds is by making all of the chord charts and words for each song available for a free download on their website. I personally contacted them to ensure that the downloadable chord charts were free for anyone and they assured me that they were. You can even listen to the songs through their site, then get the chord charts to learn them yourself. It’s a great resource for leading worship at your next special event for kids, during AWANA opening ceremonies or for a kids worship service.
