So what do you do when you want to take your services to a new level? You find a computer and come across a projector and ready to show lyrics, movies, etc up on a screen for your service. You are really excited, but want a bit more freedom than what powerpoint, or keyonote, or openoffice can provide. So you start the search for a ministry presentation software. There are a lot of big names out there…
For Windows:
Songshow Plus
Mediashout
Easy Worship
For Mac OS X:
Pro Presenter
…and many more. Now you look at the prices…
For Windows:
Songshow Plus – $299 for a Basic license, $449.95 for professional not counting plugins
Mediashout – $429
Easy Worship – $399
For Mac OS X:
Pro Presenter – $399 for single license, $799 for site license
…expensive. Now maybe you are at a point that you can afford those, and that is great. Each one of those products along with the dozens more can do amazing things. The problem is there are many churches that simple can’t afford that, especially in today’s economy. So what is a church supposed to do if wanting to take that next step on the media side of their services?
Enter Openlp!
I have some very high hopes for the creators of this program. The program is still in an alpha testing phase, but their goal is incredible. They are creating this media presentation software to help churches in the very predicament described above. Openlp is an open-source software which means a community works on it together and distributes it freely to the public. The best part about it is openlp will be cross platform! So whether you have a mac, windows, or linux system you are in luck.
So be sure to check it out, and spread the word.
I’m looking forward to the beta release to really test out the program.
www.openlp.org
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We are currently using the 1.x release in our church which is Windows only but extremely stable and works perfect. We had been using SongShow Plus but the fees were killing us every year and so where the hardware requirements. OpenLP does everything we need and more and doesn’t require all the hardware. The 2.0 release that is currently in alpha is also going to be cross platform and provide some more expanded features.
The 2.0 release is what I am very excited about. I use a mac mini for my children’s ministry. We currently use Keynote for our presentations, which works great, but limits certain things. I’m glad to hear from someone who has used the 1.x release in their live church services.