Bible For Easyworship 7

[Frida Kosofsky]

Were considering switching rom EasyWorship to OpenLP. I need to convince the decision makers that OpenLP is a stable product. I need to answer basic question such as : How long has it been a product? How many churches use OpenLP? How stable is the program in Windows? I need to know for sure that we will have a seamless transition from EasyWorship to OpenLP. Please advise. Thank you!

I've tried a lot of software packages, quela, easyworship, freeworship etc.. Even dabbling with SongPro (which I don't like, way too overcomplicated) and for many years used Zionworx. but Open LP stands out.  Easy to setup..  (took me about 20 mins to learn how to use it), importing all my existing songs was straightforward,  the ability to display images without resorting to PPT (which uses up way too much system resources). the availability of the NIV Bible ..... and for some strange reason that other software packages seem to lack.  The ability to load a different song, without it going live straightaway. A big bonus in our Worship services..

@lpgrimm You might find that OpenLP can import songs from EasyWorship very smoothly and without any manual intervention. We migrated from something called SundayPlus (never heard of it anywhere except in our church) several years ago and the import wasn't as smooth as I'd hoped. I think OpenLP did provide a conversion tool but a lot of the songs ended up with weird characters in them, the verses weren't split correctly and none of the author fields were populated. I suspect this was due to the source format or the way they had been entered originally rather than a shortcoming of OpenLP. My solution took a few hours split over several days but was manageable.

We've just completed the move from EasyWorship to OpenLP.  Today (February 25th) was the first Sunday where I didn't have an EW schedule available 'just in case.'  The initial reason for leaving EW is their new policy of an annual subscription to keep up to date.  However, having made the move over the last month and a half I find OpenLP veery easy to use and it does everything I've asked of it.  Only those 'in the know' realised anything had change as the onscreen presentation uses themes that are identical to those I'd created in EW.  It did take quite some time to create theme templates but well worth the effort.

We are looking at making the change across to OpenLP from Easyworship. We have been using EasyWorship 6  for just over a year and are keen to be able to control our slides from mobile devices. The $500 price tag for version 7 got me thinking of alternatives especially given a number of niggles we have with the software.

From my quick test I am impressed with OpenLP, especially the way the bible verses are split over slides and the SongSelect integration is much better than EasyWorship. The only downside I can see at the moment is that the custom slides are not as flexible/easy to edit as the EasyWorship equivalent (that is almost like PowerPoint). We currently use this for some graphical slides to announce things like coffee in the evening service. I know it is possible to still do this by creating a theme to use with a custom slide (or create an image) but it's just not as smooth ;-)

A new feature that I think would get round this problem is to have a menu item called "Edit" when you right click on a file (.png .svg .pptx .jpg etc) in the Service Manager (and maybe also in the library lists?). OpenLP could then open the default program to edit the image or presentation on your platform. This way if for example you have your notices saved as a group of .svg files and you notice a typo before the service, the operator could easily edit that slide by right-clicking on it and Inkscape popping up. My python is a little rusty so may take me a while to put it in myself however I think it should be easy to do and work on all platforms.

The other big plus (for me) is the opensource nature of OpenLP. If I get time it will be great to develop a plugin (if not already done and I have missed it?) to create a booklet pdf (or other format e.g. rtf) of a service (Including all the words to songs, readings and maybe PowerPoint slides). This would help automate the task we currently have been doing by hand in large print for some older members of our congregation who can't read the screens.

@johnd One of our users actually uses the stage view for accessibility in his church: -hidden-gem-of-openlp/

Not that a PDF export wouldn't be a great addition to OpenLP, just highlighting another workaround that some people have used :-)

We will be using the stage view for the stage, so probably not going to be an option. Having a quick look at the source I think I will be able to easily hack the "Print Service" to add a checkbox to include the words for songs and readings. I can then maybe add an "export to pdf booklet" if I get time.

I also experimented putting this mornings service in OpenLP. I think I can do everything essential to make it a viable alternative to EasyWorship. The one major issue I had was adding songs from CCLI. Currently, our worship leaders when picking songs email the office the song name and CCLI song number e.g. 

O Praise The Name - #7037787A lot of Christian songs have similar names and some classics are reworked (also crediting the original author). We just find it the easiest way of stopping confusion (our leaders tend to pick songs from their music folder which is typically printed from SongSelect and has the song number on it anyway). With this in mind, it would be helpful if OpenLP could search for the song number both in the local database and when importing new songs from CCLI.

I think both of these suggestions will be easy to add and I will add them both as separate feature requests to track (or shot down if would only be me using them). My one question is... With the imminent release of version 3 I am assuming that I should put them into that branch (it will probably be a month before I have the time anyway - but the CCLI song number search would stop us from switching to OpenLP so will prioritise that).

I was wondering if someone can help. 

We are looking to switch from EW to OLP however the biggest reason we want to switch is because with EW people setup their own profiles at home, this often means the database of songs they are drawing from are incorrectly formatted or they don't even have the latest songs on their home database!

Does OLP run a 'cloud' type function in terms of storing songs in a central library. Meaning that people can log in at home and put there presentation together for Sunday knowing they are using up to date songs?

Any help would be appreciated. 

Jim 

EasyWorship 6 updates the powerful yet simple-to-use worship presentation software that has come a long way since it's early days. We took a look at the new version (6.5.5) and found that EasyWorship 6 competes with other great worship presentation tools like MediaShout, ProPresenter, and other worship software on the market. It's the best version of EasyWorship and one of the best worship programs we've seen. Should you use it instead of PowerPoint? How does the program work?

Some churches use PowerPoint to handle their worship presentations. Why would these people ever pay $500 for a product like EasyWorship 6? PowerPoint is a tool. The popular Mac alternative Keynote works just like PowerPoint. However, they're both generic tools intended to appeal to any kind of presenter. Churches present the same kind of information each work, like lyrics for hymns and worship songs or Bible passages.

PowerPoint requires the user to enter or copy and paste the bible passages into a slide each time the presenter wants to show a verse or passage. Worship Presentation software like EasyWorship 6 makes importing the bible text easy. It includes a database of translations and the text of each of these translations. Type the reference or point and click a few buttons and the program creates a pre-formatted slide with each verse in a beautiful way.

The person building a church presentation can add lyrics as easily as they can bible verses. Most worship presentation software comes with a database of public domain hymns. Import the text of lyrics from third-party services like Song Select.

In addition to creating simple song or bible verse slides, the user can make collections of pictures, videos and do live image magnification with a feed from a video camera. Add lower-third titles, text or images over these live video feeds as well. You can't do that easily in PowerPoint.

When you open EasyWorship 6 you'll see the window that lets the user build a new worship presentation. From top to bottom you get the application menu with the toolbar below it. The middle section of the screen shows the list of slides in the worship presentation with previews. The lower section shows the tabs for adding content to the presentation.

During a worship service sometimes there are emergencies with one attendee like a car with headlights left on or a problem with their child in the nursery. There's an Alerts button that lets the presentation control personnel alert attendees with these kinds of problems.

Other toolbar buttons include a Logo, Black Screen and Clear button. The Logo button shows the EasyWorship logo unless the user adds their own. Black puts up a black screen. Clear leaves the background but removes the content in the foreground like song lyrics or Bible verses. Finally, the Live button turns on or off the display. If it turns it off the computer will show the Windows desktop background. If it's turning it back on, it shows the current cue in the schedule.

In the center section below the toolbar, you get three window panes. The schedule along the left lists all the items in your worship presentation schedule. The center shows a preview of the currently selected item. The right shows a preview of what the people will see on the external screens or monitors.

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