iTunes for Worship?

I guarantee the next time you venture out, you will be able to spot white earbuds on someone. You know the kind I’m talking about, Apples standard earbud for the entire iPod line. From the dentist to the mall, the gym to the office, everyone seems to have them. Have you ever stopped to think how iTunes could improve your worship service? Thats right! I said, “iTunes can improve your worship service.”

We have all been there, our pastor is ending up a message, and the perfect song is jumping around in our mind to play for the invitation. Having a library of music at your disposal is a vital tool to have access to in any service. Most churches have a band or a choir that will lead the congregation in the closing song or invitation. For those churches that don’t, they typically play a slow song or instrumental during this time. When the moment of opportunity arrives, and the perfect song is played, no one can explain the emotion or connections that is made. The obvious applications that most churches use iTunes for is pre & post music. You know, before the service and afterwards. The best tool I have found for iTunes is the playlist. I have a playlist for everything: soft, upbeat, instrumental, invitational, youth, kids, and hymns to name a few. When I am in a youth service during the meet and great, I click upbeat-then play. The atmosphere is set. During a long invitational where a somber mood has begun, I may play the instrumental. You get the picture right?

Having playlists pre-built allows you the opportunity to focus on other things rather than what song should be played next. Also for the churches that do not use a live choir or band, using these playlist for your worship service is invaluable. You can automatically set iTunes to fade to the next song in the playback section of iTunes preferences. Not having to switch cd’s out will reduce your dead time and retain the atmosphere of worship. This seems so simple, however, it can truly reduce some stress on those running the sound. iTunes in worship, give it a try.

Animated Backgrounds

This article came from Media317.com. I couldn’t have said it better.

Animated Backgrounds:
In worship services all over the country, projectors are displaying the text of the song on large screens for the audience to view.  Most of these presentations use animated backgrounds to enhance the display.  There are several places that I would recommend you look when getting ready to acquire these animated backgrounds.

Digital Juice produces high quality backgrounds that have been packed in what they call Jumpbacks. They have over 50 different bundles to choose from each containing a wide array of backgrounds. They are packaged according to themes and are a high quality. The range retail for $99, but are frequently on sale for much less. They are a great resource for your graphic needs.

Another quality source for animated backgrounds is Digital Hotcakes. They have an entire worship series of animated backgrounds. They are high quality products for about $49 per package. The one thing that Digital Hotcakes provides that is exciting is access to free backgrounds. The offer free downloads from their current inventory and they offer a free demo DVD containing several backgrounds.

by Alan Smith.

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