Power Point™ Can Be Beautiful

By now, many of us have a projector in our houses of worship where we can see announcements before services, view a listing of the day's reading from God's everlasting Word, can take notes from bullet points from that day's sermon,...and actually see the psalm/hymn/spiritual song on the screen thus encouraging us all to sing out (as opposed to singing INTO the hymnbook[!]) and potentially making our worship in song stronger!  The "Paperless Hymnal" has made the rounds to many congregations and is a big help for most of the worshipers, including the song leader.  I only qualify that because there are some who are compelled to continue using the hymnal; I used to think there may be some who were so steeped in tradition they couldn't bring themselves to get roped into this "new-fangled high-tech" stuff; but more often than not, it is usually the eyesight of our brother or sister that prevents them from observing the projection screen during worship.

And yet, even with all the improvements in the technology, there may still be some problems a congregation, a worshiper, and a song leader may encounter.

• The slides aren't changing when they're supposed to do so: at most congregations somebody is "running" the slideshow for the song leader (although it could be possible to do, I don't know of any instances where the song leader is moving from slide to slide while leading the worship, nor would I recommend it; with all the other things the leader has on his plate [keeping tempo, singing out, still worshiping while leading, etc.] that would be one more thing to add to his caseload and one more thing that could go wrong). Every now and then, there may be a delay with the switch to another slide, to the next part of the song, and this can lead to one of at least two potential disasters:
1. The song stops at the slide (usually mid-verse): this has happened to me a number of times and it is terribly embarrassing! This brings up the good point that a song leader should take a hymn book* up to the podium with him in the event something like this happens.  This way, you can pick up where the song has stopped and continue leading unhampered. So even if the slide has stopped on "I know [I know] that my redeemer lives, And ever prays [And ever prays] for me" you can continue singing "I know [I know] eternal life He gives From sin and sorrow free" without stopping mid-verse.  One problem with this is it can be possible to focus too much attention on the book without realizing where the slide presentation is (you've skipped over to the third verse and the presentation has started on verse two), so be aware of both.  Another problem is that the layout of the verses are different from what is written in the book. Whereas "I know [I know] that my redeemer lives" fits nicely on one line on the PowerPoint slide, there may be more or less lyrics on the line in the book you're using.  Familiarity with the song can help with this, but again be aware of both.
   
• *This is not to say it is compulsory to take a song book with you.  I used to have a modular system of sorts where I'd make paper copies of the songs I was leading and put them in order in a folder (this changed from time to time, so I was always updating the folder and keeping old copies in storage).  I've heard of people using different presentation programs on their iPads or other tablet devices.  At the risk of bragging, I did conduct one service where the songs I selected were ones I had committed to memory and could lead without the book anyway ("Hallelujah! Praise Jehovah", "Our God, He is Alive", etc.).  So long as you have some sort of back up in case the unthinkable happens, you should be okay.
2.  Everybody continues to sing the song with a new set of words for the continuing melody..., and it's the words you just finished singing!:  this too is rather embarrassing because it shows that you are zoning and your mind is not as focused on the song as it should be.  Imagine singing the hymn I've demonstrated so far, "I Know that My Redeemer Lives", using the usual melody, but with these words: "I know [I know] that my redeemer lives, And ever prays [And ever prays] for me; I know [I know] that my redeemer lives, And ever prays for me...."  Obviously it fits, but hopefully you'd realize something is amiss when you read "that my redeemer lives" for the second time.  Obviously, keeping your mind on what you are singing is paramount (after all, you're not simply leading the worship, you are participating as well!).  But if the unthinkable happens (that you suddenly become unthinking as you "zone" through a song), calmly, professionally, stop where you are in the song and try to begin again, perhaps the beginning of the verse or back a page or two where a thought begins (inserting a brief apology before starting over again isn't mandatory, but it can't hurt).
3. The slide changed too quickly!!: hopefully this does not happen frequently (if at all).  This can be especially concerting if you are leading a new song (whether new to you, new to the congregation, or new to everybody).  Best advice I can give you is to MAKE SURE you KNOW THE SONG.  So if the PowerPoint presentation goes haywire, in ANY of these three scenarios, you can keep everybody on kilter, on tempo, and continue in praise to the Lord.
• I'm leading singing for somebody and I'm using their presentation: whether it's YOUR presentation or somebody else's, it would be in your best interests to double-check the presentation before you start.  Besides checking for errors (especially if these things are typically put together by the guys in the A/V booth), it would be good to know what the song leader, for whom you are subbing, had in mind to sing...and having a list of the songs may not be enough.  I know of an incident where a brother was subbing for another, using the songs chosen by the one for whom he was subbing [say that three times fast!].  The one who chose the songs has a tendency sometimes to do something like "sing all three/four verses before we sing the chorus at the end"; the brother filling in for him was not ready for some of that.  As the Boy Scout motto says, "Be Prepared!!!"

As I mentioned in another article on this blog, bringing a song book or some other aid with you to lead singing is a good idea, even if you can see the presentation screen or you have a monitor to view at the podium.  It could be a song book, it could be some of the songs photocopied and compiled for that particular service, it could also be scans of the song put together in a presentation that YOU can view on your tablet or other mobile device (I have personally done that, making scans of the songs and putting them in a PowerPoint presentation to view on my iPad; I have also heard about some hymn software, like some of the newer volumes of the Paperless Hymnal, where they have entire pages of songs with all verses together, as you see in the hymnal, to be downloaded by song leaders for this particular use).  Whatever you use, make sure it is handy in case ANY of these situations occur.

Keep leading us...!



--bas4d