WorshipTECH | got worship?

Archive - WorshipTECH RSS Feed

An AWESOME free tool for task management

Article by Jason Whitehorn December 28, 2011 in WorshipTECH with 0 Comments

If you need a great free tool to manage the simple tasks in your life with minimal resources…then I have just the website for you: enter minimaltasks.com . This website is developed by my good friend Andrew Lee. (Yes, I know a lot of us tend to throw around the phrase “my good friend” like its going out of style…but Andrew just so happens to live next door as well as plays bass for me in various worship teams.) It is simple in what it does…minimal even – you type your tasks in the input field and they stay locally saved on the computer or device you entered them on. There is no “save” button. You can close the window, shut down the computer, and come back hours later…and your task is still there.

Want a shopping list on the go? Call up the website on your smartphone and you have a portable shopping list. It’s great for to-do lists as well!

Since the items are held locally on your own computer – they are there as long as your cache stays around. If you clear the cache – then the tasks go away. To remove an item in the list – simply backspace over it…or type a new one in its place.

Give the site a try today and see if you don’t find yourself becoming a huge fan of “minimal tasks”.

Visit: http://www.minimaltasks.com

The App EVERY Worship Leader and Pastor Needs!

Article by Jason Whitehorn December 20, 2011 in WorshipTECH with 0 Comments

I have a confession to make – I have a hard time dealing with people who come up and talk to know if I don’t know them on a name-to-name basis. I am in contact with so many people through my daily walk in life that it is hard to keep up with who I’ve met before and who I haven’t.

Imagine having someone walk up to talk to me that I don’t remember…and I treat them as if I’ve never met them before. I don’t want to leave anyone feeling like they are that insignificant – so…I usually adopt an “I know everybody” rule:

I treat them as if I DO know them.

I don’t like it, though…after all…isn’t that somewhat fake?

I just found a solution to my issue thanks to Evernote. Evernote has a new app available called “Evernote Hello”. It’s getting a lot of flack online already…take a look at this video about the product and we will discuss in a minute.

The naysayers don’t like it because of the “cheesiness” of asking someone you just met to take a picture of themselves…or to ask to take one of them. I understand where that would apply in normal day-to-day activities … but I think this app could be HUGE for worship leaders and pastors who people already EXPECT need to know a lot of people.

If you are at a Pastor’s Reception / Pastor Connection (whatever you chose to call opportunities where you can meet guests before or after services) and you meet someone new – I think it would be very understandable to say:

“You know, I have a lot of people that I keep up with…and while I try my best to remember faces and names…I’m not perfect at it. I have an app on my phone to help me remember people. Would you mind putting in your information here.”

I think the suggestion would not be poorly recieved and, at times, even appreciated.

How could YOU see using this new app? Will you use it all? How do you deal with remembering the people in your congregation? I’d love to hear from you! Just post in our comments section below.

Worship Tech: Turning Your Music Pages – Hands Free

Article by Jason Whitehorn December 14, 2011 in Reviews, WorshipTECH with 0 Comments

We are blessed with the privilege of getting to try-out all kinds of gadgets, instruments, and software that may be beneficial to worship pastors/leaders here at gotworship.net . Many times, there are products that simply stand out because of their awesomeness – but sometimes the best products we get are the items that go un-noticed.

Distractions are all around us in worship from the moment we hit the church doors. As worship leaders and worship musicians – it can be very easy to become distracted by…well…just about anything. Having to take the time to do one more thing like turning a simple page on a simple piece of sheet music can sometimes be enough of a distraction itself.

Enter…the AirTurn BT-105. This little pedal is a great compliment to those of us who use an iPad or computer on stage and need to be able to flip through things like charts or lyric slides without having to use our hands.

To test it out…we gave it to one of our many talented keyboardists and asked him to use it during a recent Sunday service.

As you can see – just having such a simple device can be a huge addition to the current technological advances in worship such as PlanningCenter’s Music Stand.

The device itself is compact and very portable. It comes with a convenient charger and instructions for how to sync it with your preferred device. After a quick Bluetooth pairing – you are on your way to hands free page-turning in a snap!

No more fumbling with an iPad page while trying to play guitar or piano. Even if you have the act down to a science and can keep playing, turn a page, and get back to playing without skipping a beat – the simple distraction it takes from your congregation’s point of view of “what is he/she messing with” can be enough of a distraction. The AirTurn eliminates the effort.

While we’ve only addressed the Planning Center app, there are a growing number of iPad, Android, Mac and PC apps that the AirTurn BT-105 can be used with.

If you want more information on purchasing an AirTurn, BT-105 please visit:

AirTurn’s Product Website

Pro’s: Distraction free page-turning. Works with most popular worship apps. Small and portable. Black and low profile (not an eye-sore).

Con’s: Instructions aren’t the clearest to follow – but a little common sense on the user’s part will make set-up a snap!

Overall take: Worth a “got worship? Media Seal of Approval”!

Dashboard Confessional: Clicktracks with In-Ears

Article by Jason Whitehorn November 21, 2011 in Answer Bag, Worship, Worship Training, WorshipTECH with 0 Comments

You can find the our Aviom video mentioned above here : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7Rczu3Pkv0
You can watch the video we mentioned from Bryan Nelson here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8iTcg410mzA

iPads (and iPhones) in Church

Article by Jason Whitehorn January 10, 2011 in Worship, WorshipTECH with 1 Comment

Technology grows in leaps and bounds - and it is more and more common that you see iPads and iPhones popping up in services across the country each week. When I bring a word of Scripture during a worship set…I read it from my iPhone. When my pastor reads his Bible or looks to his sermon notes…he reads them from his iPad. These seem like the obvious uses – but what about the uses that don’t seem as obvious?

ProPresenter : ProPresenter has been my screencast of choice for quite some time. The fact that they have an app available for both iPhone and iPad that allows you to control your ProPresenter presentations remotely just seals the deal of their “uberness”.

Planning Center Online: Worship planning is so easy with this website. With their free app, you’ll be able to create and arrange your worship services, schedule your team members, arrange your stage, and run your service live all from within the app!

YouVersion : Don’t keep sermon notes to yourself…share them with your congregation! This is one of the greatest tools to keep a congregation following. I have literally seen people who otherwise would not follow a sermon get out their iPhones and follow along just because “it is cool technology”. Tell me that isn’t a God thing! You can allow your guest and members to follow along with sermon notes, follow the Bible verses as you call them, give tithes and offerings, give prayer requests, and much more all from the same app!

Prayer Engine : Speaking of prayer…take a look at some sweetness from theprayerengine.com . Our church uses their technology to allow anyone to post a prayer request and then have others pray for their needs. The requestor gets a message each time someone prays for their need! Pretty sweet. There is a nice app design as well. You can see our web interface here: http://prayer.lifepointchurch.org/prayers.php

What about thinking outside the box? I recently had a got worship? subscriber send me a message asking me what I thought the best iPad apps for Audio/Visual were. Do any digital mixing during your service? Stop for a moment before you ridicule me…your FOH guys spend their time in the back corner of the room – a place we encourage others not to hang around – yet that becomes a point of reference for what they hear to mix by. Now, a good sound guy will tell you they walk the floor to hear how it sounds. What if they could mix while walking?

There are plenty of digital boards out there with computer interfaces. This opens the possibility of being able to VNC into your computer from an iPad and being able to use the same controls from your monitor right on your iPad! Some of you may already be doing this with a laptop. Question…while your FOH guy is walking around with his device and it falls and drops…would you rather replace a $500 iPad or a laptop for a couple of grand?

How about lights? There is an app already to help you with your lighting needs. You can even program scenes. Take a look at the video below and find out more. And then find out how to get the LightingPad here.

So these things beg to question…what are the best apps you have found for the iPad, iPhone, or iPod Touch for church use? Use the box below to help contribute to the conversation!

Beyond the dB’s

Article by Jason Whitehorn January 5, 2011 in Stage, Worship, WorshipTECH with 1 Comment

This week, we are taking a look – errr…a listen – at our church venue’s sound. Yesterday we discussed using an SPL meter to determine a comfortable range to run sound at for our worship services – today we go beyond the dB’s to explore other factors that attribute to “loudness”.

Taming Your Worship Volume

Article by Jason Whitehorn January 4, 2011 in Stage, Worship, WorshipTECH with 2 Comments

Yesterday, we talked about the dangers of being too loud in your worship venues. If you haven’t already, I urge you to go back and read the article. Understanding the problems loud and uncontrolled music creates is one thing – knowing how to keep it in check is another.

Your Worship Music Is Too Loud!

Article by Jason Whitehorn January 3, 2011 in Stage, Worship, WorshipTECH with 1 Comment

There is one question that, I can assure you, you will never get right for 100% of your congregation. That question is this:

“What is the acceptable volume to do our music sets at?”

Good luck with that one. For some, it will always be to soft. For most – it will always be too loud. Still, there has to be an acceptable answer that will at least satisfy the majority, right? The good news is…there is. Before, however, we start to understand exact decibels and the craft of running sound – we need to understand what “too loud” translates to in real life. For that reason – I will give you “Jason’s 4 D’s of Worship Volume”…and we will include some friendly insights from Robb West – my F.O.H. Director…and suggest to you that your worship music is too loud when it:

New Gear for the New Year!

Article by Jason Whitehorn December 31, 2010 in Another thought, Worship, WorshipTECH with 1 Comment

These shirts are sweet! If you want to make a statement – or just stand out in the crowd…this is the shirt for you!

We all need a little more cowbell…and now you can tell the world with an all-new t-shirt that is exclusive from got worship? Media.

A portion of the proceeds from this shirt will goto help us support World Vision.

Not interested in a shirt? We have water bottles, tank tops, cutting boards and more with the same series on it! Buy one or two today!

Click here to view more items or options!

Worship Rehearsal 101

Article by Jason Whitehorn November 11, 2010 in Media & Creative Services, Stage, Worship, WorshipTECH with 1 Comment

I can make you one guarantee about your worship team – there is one member of your team each week that does not practice his/her instrument at home at all before rehearsal. In fact, despite the number of times you have admonished your team following rehearsal to “go home and work out any kinks in the songs before Sunday”, this person simply does not follow the instructions. Continue Reading…