I have been reviewing worship software since 1999. I usually write about the features and benefits and give a general overview of the program. This time, I though it would be interesting to interview the programmer in order to get a different perspective of the software. I recently spoke with Jeff Taylor, who has been the primary programmer for EasyWorship.
Worship software is designed specifically for churches to display songs, scriptures, and videos. There are a variety of programs available on the market today, which all use a dual-output video card system that is easy to set up in Windows 98 or higher. One output is connected to a computer monitor, which displays a control interface. From here the operator can choose songs without the congregation seeing what they are doing. The second output is connected to the projector, which shows the full-screen output.
In addition to a sampling of songs, three Bible versions, and some sample videos, EasyWorship includes a nursery alert feature that will display a number in the corner of the screen. It also has a messaging system for longer messages. A CCLI SongSelect interface allows you to import songs from the CCLI database – a real time-saver. New and/or original songs may be entered through the song editor.
EasyWorship also has a powerful background designer, which allows you to confine text to any part of a background; new backgrounds and videos may be imported into the program. Any system font, style, and color may be used on a per song basis. Also featured are over 100 transitions, a blackout button and a “clear screen” button, which clears the words but leaves the background. This is great for musical interludes.
EasyWorship has an excellent online forum for discussing technical issues and great phone support. The software includes a site license, meaning that you can use it on multiple computers in your church. A 30-day trial is available at www.EasyWorship.com and it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee. I spoke with company owner Jeff Taylor on September 24, 2003.
CPM: Since the software is called “EasyWorship”, what’s the easiest aspect of the program?
Taylor: We really strived to make the user interface intuitive. Rather than trying to reinvent the way a program is laid out, we made it familiar, like a standard Windows interface. You can find things quickly because it’s familiar to other programs that you already use: right-clicking, short cut keys, and buttons that you can immediately recognize. With a standardized interface like ours you don’t have to read the manual to get started. That’s what we were after.
CPM: Most churches use PowerPoint to display songs. What makes EasyWorship different from PowerPoint?
Taylor: It’s geared for the church, whereas PowerPoint is geared more for business-type presentations. In EasyWorship, you have a control screen that only the operator sees and they can spontaneously pull up any song, scripture, or video. One of the biggest differences is the text. You can add an outline and a drop shadow to the text and it is readable on almost any background no matter how busy it is. The bells and whistles are important in our program, but in the end the most important thing is how readable the text is. We have put extra efforts into that aspect.
CPM: The ability to overlay video seems to be the latest feature in worship software. What have you done with EasyWorship in this area?
Taylor: We wanted this feature to really stand out, so we’ve spent a lot of time on it. We didn’t just want this to be another gadget in the program, so we worked hard to take the quality to the next level. We want it to do more than what is expected, so we take as much time as necessary to make it better.
CPM: In the latest version you can not only overlay text on moving video while navigating through the song, you can also transition from a video to another video while both videos continue to play – just like a real-time mixer. That’s really impressive. I’m guessing that wasn’t an easy thing to accomplish.
Taylor: You’re right. We had a lot of hurdles to jump to make that happen. Even if it’s hard for us, our goal is to make it easy for the user. So, we work at that. Simple text on video isn’t very difficult, but to do it right has taken about two years, and we’ll keep working on it.
CPM: I understand that now you can bring live video into EasyWorship and overlay text on that as well.
Taylor: Yes you can. All you need is a simple video capture device, like the Aver EZMaker. You can bring in S-Video or composite video. That can be a live camera, VCR or DVD player.
CPM: What about FireWire?
Taylor: Yes, you can bring in FireWire, but there is some latency (delay) so you would only use that if you were showing a video. Using S-video or composite is better for live feeds.
CPM: What computer requirements are necessary to use these features?
Taylor: Just about any off-the-shelf computer will do. We recommend a Pentium 4 1.6GHz or better. Of course, you need a dual-head video card in any case. I recommend a card with an nVidia chip or an ATI card with plenty of video RAM – 64MB or better. You can pick one up for around $79.
CPM: Many programs can import PowerPoint presentations, but they have to use Microsoft’s PowerPoint view ’97 to play the presentations back. This has always been disappointing to me because the text in the ’97 viewer doesn’t look as good and the ’97 viewer can’t play back the new XP transitions. Have you found a way around this problem?
Taylor: Yes. In the latest version, EasyWorship will access the PowerPoint program itself if it’s installed instead of the viewer program. PowerPoint runs in the background. You see the thumbnails of all of the slides in EasyWorship and navigate just like you would normally, but you get all of the features of PowerPoint because you’re actually using the real program and not the viewer. We’re still working on perfecting that, but it works well.
CPM: I’ve heard that Microsoft is finally coming out with a new viewer. Will EasyWorship be able to use that?
Taylor: Microsoft’s new viewer will not include OLE automation, which means it will be difficult for programmers to tap into controlling the viewer from another program. But, we’ll figure out how to do it.
CPM: EasyWorship can access scriptures. How many translations are available?
Taylor: You get King James, American Standard, and RVA (Spanish) standard with EasyWorship. Six other translations are available for a small licensing fee.
CPM: What’s the one thing that you believe sets EasyWorship apart?
Taylor: We are continually working on the program, constantly trying to take it to the next level. We want people to see the quality difference so that the software sells itself. Like I said, the output is the most important part of any worship software. We see EasyWorship as a way to display pieces of art, not just text on a screen.
CPM: What can we expect from upcoming versions of EasyWorship?
Taylor: A better schedule designer for transitions and a simple looping feature. We are going to integrate a feature that will be much like PowerPoint, in that you can build slides with elements that come in separately. It will kind of be a cross between PowerPoint and Flash designed specifically for church use. We are also working on 3-D transitions that will work even from video-to-video.
CPM: Any final comments?
Taylor: I just really suggest that churches take time to play with all of the worship software that is available out there. We want them to buy the one that works best for them.
And that’s great advice. Having reviewed over 20 programs myself, I’ve found that each have their strengths and weaknesses. I recommend trying demo versions of several programs before selecting the one that best meets your needs. My feeling is that you will strongly consider EasyWorship when you see the quality of the output and the features it has to offer.
Tim Eason is President of ChurchMedia.net, an online resource
center dedicated to churches using media in ministry. Tim is author of Media
Ministry Made Easy (Abingdon Press) and conducts seminars nationwide. Known
as the “Media Missionary,” Tim has a passion for equipping churches
to fulfill the great commission using modern methods of communication.
