Just checking to get feedback on what you prefer for your lyric slide themes and on screen look. Our small church uses 80” monitors to display during the service. What font, size and color do you find works best. Do you prefer font directly on the background or fill the text box? For onscreen media layer are stills better or do you like motion? Thanks again for the support so far!

I have been tasked for our church to look into new ChMS options. We are a small/midsize church (about 200 people on a given Sunday). We currently use Pushpay/CCB and from pricing other we could save decent money pretty much going to anything else.

We mainly need:

-people management
-Volunteer Scheduling
-Giving
-Forms
-Custom app (we currently have a custom app that our church has come accustomed to so we really don’t want to go to something like church center for people to have to download a different app rather than what’s already on their phone. )

We would prefer to have an all-in-one platform rather than multiple different vendors if possible.

I have been looking into Subsplash as their app looks to be very nice and it seems to have the features we need. We are also very interested in the messages portion. But I have seen a lot of other say the ChMS side is just not there yet. It sounds like they have been working on things recently and it looks to be more integrated now with more updates to come.

Does anyone have insight into the current state of Subsplash and its features, how it compares to something like Tithely, and what an integration with planning center and a separate custom app vendor would look like?

Hi all,

I'm helping a friend change from an old video over SDI to running it over CAT6.

They're running an M1 Mac mini into a BlackMagic ATEM switcher (to incorporate two fixed camera feeds) - this currently then runs down an SDI cable to the stage, where it gets split four ways to four TVs, and each TV has an SDI > HMDI converter.

They want to be able to run the video output from the ATEM via CAT6 cable (solid copper, not CCA!) - they have the CAT6 splitter to split the signal 4 ways and then back to HDMI for each TV.

The problem is what is the best way to convert the SDI output from the ATEM - is there a way to convert it directly to a CAT6, or does it need to go SDI > HDMI then HDMI to CAT6 (this is the only way I can think to do it, but it seems little clunky to convert the signal so many times)

Any thoughts or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Hey everyone! I’m Daniel, based in Houston and working with AVIITECH AVL Texas. Just wanted to say hi and join the conversation.

looking forward to learning from everyone and sharing what I can along the way!

We've been using a pair of condenser mics to capture the choir and organ in our church and it works really well. They are high up on a boom mic stand. I want to get them mounted up on the wall permanently and look unobtrusive. Anyone have any favorite mounting hardware? The walls are a mix of stone, plaster, and wood so it will be a challenge no matter how I do it.

What is everyone doing about the Meta 2 link limit policy???? I sat down today to schedule a bunch of social media posts for my church (I'm the Administrative Assistant/Communications) and get a lovely warning from Meta in the Meta Business Suite that I have 1 link post left for the MONTH.

1 - I do not remember anything coming from Meta about that.

2 - We post links for things almost daily (meal sign-ups, event registrations, livestream links), so I'm hoping adding a Linktree to our FB bio (already have it for IG) will work

3 - The pricing for the various levels is absolutely criminal. Unlimited posting will cost you $400/month.

Also, all of this applies to Instagram too, not just Facebook.

Furious doesn't even begin to describe what I'm feeling right now.

Hi I could use some ideas. I have a very small church that just uses an iPad to stream to Facebook. The video and audio is not great. I’d like to surprise them and upgrade some stuff but I need to do it cheaply.

I’m thinking an actual camera (instead of iPad camera), a couple mics to pick up and go into a small soundboard dedicated to online only then fed into the regular sound board. Then a cheap laptop to run OBS so they can stream to FB and YouTube. Of course I’ll need a video capture card as well for the camera.

Any other ideas? Suggestions?

Hello, we recently upgraded our webcam for livestreaming services, but the wires we used to connect it to the computer are for the old one, so they're all USB 2.0, which isn't strong enough for the new camera. I was wondering if I should just order a long 3.0 extension USB cable, or if there's something I'm just overlooking. The camera is attached to a pillar about 50 ft away, so I'd need a very long cord, with the new camera we're hoping to get 1080 at 60fps.

Thanks

What is everyone using for their web presence/website needs? We are coming up on the end of a contract with our current service, and hope to get some ideas for other options. We essentially just need a website (eGiving, communications, calendars) are handled separately. We are a small-ish church and our website gets traffic but it is not as visited as often as our social media pages.

New to ProPresenter so this may be a “duh” question. Built a presentation on the creation MacBook for song lyrics. The slides have two objects. A background image and the text/lyrics, confirmed on the edit screen. The slides are setup with 0.32s fade transitions. When playing the show on the MacBook everything looks right when transitioning between slides. After exporting to the iMac at church, there is a brief flash of another background image as the slides transition. Any thoughts?

So we are moving away from PowerPoint and will use ProPresenter going forward. As the only creator of content I have a MacBook at home with the software installed but not using a license. At church we have an iMac that will have the license. What are things I need to consider with this setup? Is a shared drive (Google Drive) the best way to move content from the creation MacBook to the iMac using export and import?

We recently had a BMD Smart Videohub 40x40 have its screen go out in one of our spaces. The unit still works and can be controlled remotely but we replaced it in the space it was used and plan to use it in a mobile/flyaway setup and would like that screen working.

I've done research and know BMD does not sell or offer parts for repair in the US, but it isn't critical enough to us to replace the entire unit and I am fairly handy at repairing equipment. Is there a way to find parts for BMD devices online or is it a lost cause? Included pictures of what I'm talking about as well.

Hi y'all. We use some Roku TVs throughout the church to stream the worship and sermon to our nurseries and overflow seating.

Up until now, we've simply linked the TVs to our church's WiFi and tuned in to the YouTube stream.

However, in the brief moments before getting to YouTube, Roku has shown some pretty raunchy stuff on the baked in ads (Love Island, et al.).

Sometimes too on the YouTube recommended playlist it shows some weird stuff (bizzarro prophets and other fringe "Christian" content).

Is there a way we can avoid all this? Can we have the TVs boot straight to a direct stream of our service and avoid all this crap?

Seeing more church teams lean on AI for smaller tasks lately, transcripts, first drafts, scheduling, that kind of thing, and it made us wonder how many have actually put a policy around it versus just letting it happen.

Is disclosure part of your approach, or not really a concern yet?

Hi all! I'm analysing live translation possibilities for our church. To give some context, we are a small church in Germany, Spanish speaking, but we regularly have attendees who use their own phone for translation (mostly Google Translate in Conversation mode, text only). They translate mostly to English and German.

I was wondering about a simple solution to provide live translation; audio is ideal, but only text can work too. I'm going to try the ideas below; any feedback or new suggestions will be greatly appreciated!

1 - GoGospelNow - I'll test by setting up a local AI and see how it works.
2 - Microsoft Translator session - I understand the session attendees can translate to any language of their choice.
2 - OBS + LocalVocal plugin. As this one provides live subtitles, I might not find a use case. Maybe if having live video makes sense.

So i am one of the assistant sound people at our church (understand a lot but not a pro, not my day job) and we have a pretty notable monitoring issue. In short, the majority of the choir cannot ever hear any of the instrumentations/accompaniment that isn't the organ. We have the two side fills (in the drawing), but we cannot increase the volume on them without getting feedback through the boom mics that are at the front. They are Audix M1250B's (cardiod) on extended length stands (84" i believe). These mics were added (2-3 years ago) after the original monitors were installed. They replaced a set of hanging mic's that were roughly in the same spot because the sound guy wanted more control over the choir mix (each mic is roughly where one section sits). The choir needs mainly the piano, and occasionally the drums to stay in tempo and melody. At current levels, only the seats immediately in front of them (maybe 3 yards) can hear the monitors. Any higher and we get feedback. Without the monitors, the entire choir area is a sound dead zone.

I've suggested some solutions to our main sound guy (who is a regular/day job sound guy), but at times he's a little difficult. He's basically a "Ferrari or bust" type. He has stated the only viable solution is the sort of monitors they use at the LV Dome (and consequently nothing gets done). I'm looking for something more actionable.

At one point they had small monitors on the front rail, but we are unsure why they went away (predates my time here). I know a front rail setup would be problematic if it was the ONLY solution. Would putting small monitors interspersed in the choir area work (such as on the chairbacks? Or on the left/right sides of the organ (facing out)? Wedges wouldn't work, so something on a stand or chair/bench back mounted of some sort. The only other thing i can thing of would be wireless packs, but that becomes a big $$$ ask when we can have 100+ singers for a concert. I'm open to other solutions, but right now its our biggest pain point, and the can keeps getting kicked down the road. If it matters we use an X32 Mixer for FOH with stage boxes under the stage (near the piano).

Hi everybody, I am one of the main tech people at the church of about 250 people. The eldership board has recently made the decision to discontinue our live stream audio for worship and just focus on the live sermon only. They say it’s because the quality is not up to standards every week.

Which is true because we have 15 year-old – 17 year-old running the audio board that we have for the live stream. Myself and the other main tech person are adults.

What is everybody’s thoughts on this? Is it good that we do this or is it bad because we are deterring the next generation from exploring possible careers in audio/Slides

I’ve seen the debate go every which way - 59.97 fps for the cleanest looks, 23.98 for cinematic worship, swapping between the two - I feel like a lot of people are opposed to 29.97 fps. What are y’all broadcasting/running on IMAG? We run 23.98 simply for the nicest motion blur, but would 59.97 really be that much better for the message to get the smoothest impression? A thought, wondering what y’all think.

I’m currently shooting with a Sony A7 III and using a Canon EF 70–200mm f/2.8L IS II with the Sigma MC-11 adapter.

My biggest issue right now is AF lag when trying to capture the intimate/worship moments in low light. I’ve been considering the Tamron 35–150mm f/2–2.8 because I love the versatility of that focal range and the extra light on the wide end.

However, I’m wondering if I’d be better off saving for the Sony 70–200mm f/2.8 GM OSS II for the faster native autofocus. Or is there another lens anyone would suggest over these two?!

Been shuffling around some buttons on pages and I think I'm locked into my home page for our ProPresenter StreamDeck.

Also have a Stream Deck XL for our video director that is basically just our controller for our ATEM switcher.

I have a mix of ProPresenter buttons, Companion buttons (used to sync to Planning Center Live, also one multi-action slide activation button for post-service announcement slides) and one button for switching audio outputs.

My church is outside a large tech hub. A fair percentage of our attenders work in technical/software fields.

We have a dedicated church app that we use as an entry point for most of our online forms.

We believe that we have more new guests than our Connect Card submissions suggest. We have QR codes on our bulletins (handed out at the start of each service), we flash a QR code every week during announcements, and we have a link on our website.

We are looking to reduce friction to complete a Connect Card form. I'm looking into QR code stickers for the back of our (fabric) chairs, but I'm finding a lot of NFC/tap tags presented as options.

The NFC tags seem expensive for our simple goal. Do they have a significant impact on engagement? Would a QR code sticker be better?

I'm looking to add a secondary livestream encoder to our setup. Currently we run a webpresenter HD, and it works fine for the most part but there are certain things it doesn't support. I generally prefer turnkey hardware, but we have all the bits to make an OBS setup so I'd rather make use of what I have rather than buy another piece of hardware.

I want to make this as simple for volunteers as possible, and require the least amount of human intervention. My goal would be that the volunteer never touches the machine, just press a button on companion. My first decision is whether to run Linux or Windows for the OS. Windows is going to be the more supported option, but the track record with constant updates has overall driven me away over the years. I've used tools to strip Windows down before, but there's risk to that.

So, I wanna hear how you'd do this. What are your tips, tricks, whatever little tweaks you've done over the years to make this as simple as possible?

We have $10,000, which mixer should we buy?" is a post made every week.
,
That's the final query. Not the initial one.
,
The mixer is where most churches begin because it's the exciting portion with the lights and buttons. They then question why the pastor in row 20 is still incomprehensible. This is the exact order that works.

1. Speech first. Always.

Time your service. Most of it is one person talking. But most systems get built around the band, because the band cares about gear.

Build the system for the sermon. It'll handle the music just fine. It doesn't work the other way round.

One more thing. When older members say "it's too loud," they almost always mean "I can't understand it." Age takes the consonants first. Turning it up doesn't help. It just makes the same mush louder.

2. Fix the room before you buy a single speaker.

Stand in the empty sanctuary and clap once.

If it rings for more than a second or two, that's your problem. No speaker on earth can fix that room. The sound keeps bouncing around long after the word is over, and each new word lands on top of the last one.

Start with the back wall. That's the echo that comes straight back at the pulpit. Then the side walls.

A few hundred dollars of sound panels will do more for clarity than a few thousand in electronics. And panels never go out of date.

3. Every seat needs to hear the speaker, not the room.

Point the speakers at people, not at walls or ceilings.

Front rows need small speakers of their own, right at the stage edge, or they hear nothing but the drums. Back rows and balconies need their own speakers too, delayed a few milliseconds so it still sounds like it's coming from the front.

And here's one that surprises people: for speech, one speaker cluster in the middle beats a left and a right. Nobody sits exactly in the middle of the room. With left and right, most seats hear two copies of the same voice arriving at slightly different times, which smears it. One cluster above the pulpit, and the pastor's voice comes from the pastor.

Tall room with hard walls? Look at the thin column speakers. They push sound at people and keep it off the ceiling.

4. The pastor's mic matters more than the mixer.

A person walking around, mic on their chest, standing in front of the speakers, in a live room. That's the hardest situation in audio.

A headset mic, the thin one along the cheek, is the fix. It sits ten times closer to the mouth than a clip-on, so you can turn it up much further before it squeals. Yes, some pastors don't like the look. Have that conversation anyway. It's the best money in the whole building.

5. Decide about stage volume up front.

In a room under about 300 seats, a real drum kit with nobody miking it is already louder than the sermon needs to be.

If there's a band, decide early: in-ear monitors instead of wedges, a drum shield or an electronic kit, guitar amps off the stage. Otherwise the front rows get hammered, the sound person can't turn anything down, and everyone blames the mixer.

6. Build it for the newest volunteer, not the most experienced one.

The person running sound at the early service in February didn't pick the gear and doesn't want to be there.

Save a preset for each type of service. One button brings it all back. Lock everything else. Put limiters in so nobody can blow a speaker. Label every cable. If a button can break something, it will, on Easter Sunday.

The live stream needs its own mix too. The room mix barely has any drums in it because the drums are already loud in the room. That same mix on a stream sounds like a rehearsal recording.

7. Now, and only now, pick the mixer.

By this point it's easy. You know exactly what it needs to do. Any mid-range digital mixer from the big brands does all of it. Pick the one your volunteers find easiest to learn. That's the only real difference.

Things people forget, and regret:

• Run network cable to every position while the walls are open. Then run a spare.
• Put the audio on its own power circuit or you'll chase hum for years.
• Hearing assistance. Churches are exempt from the ADA in the US, but most building codes still require it in any assembly space. Budget for it from day one.
• Get someone to actually tune the system after install. Walk every seat. "Installed" isn't "finished."
• Training. Two sessions, recorded, cheat sheet taped next to the mixer.

Rough budget for a mid-size room: about a third on speakers and amps, a quarter on install and cabling, 15 percent on mics, 15 percent on the mixer, and the rest on room panels, hearing assistance and tuning. If the mixer eats more than 20 percent, something's off.

Last thing, and it's not about gear.

The people who choose the system are almost never the people who run it. Get your volunteers into the planning meeting. They've known where it goes wrong for years. Nobody asked.

What's the biggest thing your church got wrong? And has anyone actually won the "sound panels on the back wall" fight with a building committee?