Kim Gentes

Facebook is tiring sometimes. And having the videos autoplay can be annoying when you are trying to find something in the feed.  How do you turn off the autoplay? This one is relatively quick and painless.

Step 1

Click on the Privacy Shortcuts (lock icon) link on the top right of most browsers using Facebook. From the options that appear, select the "See More Settings" link at the bottom of the shortcuts listed. This should lead you here: https://www.facebook.com/settings/ . It should appear as below.

Step 2

Click on the "Videos" link at the bottom left portion of the screen among the catagories of settings. This will make the "Video Settings" tab appear. It should be located https://www.facebook.com/settings?tab=videos . It should appear as below.

Step 3

On the "Auto-Play Videos" setting select the "Off" option. You should be good now.

Mobile Facebook Video settings are done differently.  Here is the official Facebook help on adjusting those:

https://www.facebook.com/help/633446180035470

Editors Note: I have received a number of requests from people asking about video streaming of their worship services, and I am so happy that I got permission from these fine folks to include some helpful resources on the details of doing this for your church. Below is a 3-part resource (video, audio and PDF) that should help any church get an idea of how to get started in this area. Thanks Dan & Kevin! - Kim Gentes

How To Stream Your Worship Services Online
With Dan Wilt (WorshipTraining) and Special Guest Kevin Weimer (WorshipStream)

Description: Every church can benefit from streaming their services online. In this webinar we will talk about why churches stream, should it be live or on-demand, one camera versus multiple cameras, and what do you need to get started. There are literally countless options on how to implement a system for streaming, but we will focus on the basics of what you need to know to begin. This is a very practical (non-super-technical) look at how easy it can be to start streaming your services and events online. 

THREE (3) RESOURCES: The video, audio and PDF resources that were presented in this webinar are available below in full form below.

Resource 1: Webinar Video

Resource 2 and 3: Audio & PDF Downloads

Free Resource Downloads for  "How To Stream Your Worship Services Online"
by Dan Wilt & Kevin Weimer

Editors Post-Logue: If you have further questions about streaming your worship or church services online, you can contact Kevin Weimer directly via http://www.worshipstream.com .  He is very knowledgeable in this area and will help answer your questions.  I have personally used WorshipStream.com services before and highly recommend them.    Sincerely, Kim Gentes

Kim Gentes will be teaching a couple of sessions at an exciting technology and worship seminar in Phoenix, next Friday/Saturday (July 17-18). We wanted to let you know about this tech and worship event and invite you to come. Here is some more info from the seminar below! See you there! Kim

My Tech Team Needs Help!

Like it or not, technology is a part of your ministry today.

Be it lights, sound, visuals, or room dynamics, there is a lot that can go wrong if not attended to properly.

Worship! Arizona is delighted to help sponsor and promote the first ever WorshipMusicTech Seminar coming next Friday and Saturday, July 17-18 at Calvary Community Church, 12612 N. Black Canyon Highway, Phoenix, AZ.

We have assembled a team of professionals from within the Worship Technology Industries to offer valuable information that will help church staff, musicians and tech personnel advance their use of technology. A list of session tracks is available on the WorshipMusicTech website.

Registration is easy and available online for $30.00/person before July 10th. After that the cost is $40.00 at the door.

Schedules, presenters, and breakout session information is available at www.worshipmusictech.com See you there!

Kim Gentes

Few technologies have flooded the modern church as powerfully, quickly and pervasively as the recent deluge of video and visual engagement in local services from small to large churches alike. For those well on the way to discovering this new tool in the mode of exaltation, you already know technology is involved, but you may not know what or who are the movers and shakers in this revolution. Today's post is about all that.

Learning the landscape.

Before you go off and start inducing photosensitive trauma into your congregation, it might be good to understand some concepts and important why's and whatfors. Here are some good general sites for that:

several articles here: http://www.churchproduction.com/go.php/article_by_type/C14/

good articles and links here: http://www.gregatkinson.com/

a nice blog here: http://visualworshiper.com/blog/

good book : http://www.quentinschultze.com/2009/01/high-tech-worship-interview.html

more detailed info and coolness factor: http://christianvisualist.wordpress.com/

Choosing an engine.

In the scope of video/media presentation, most people in churches settle on a software driven solution that puts a program as the core engine for organizing and presenting your visuals.  In the "marketplace" there are really 4 major players in this core compentancy strata of media foundation engines:

Mediashout ( http://www.mediashout.com/ )  - the premier high-end presentation software engine. Currently runs only on PCs. 

Pro-Presenter ( www.renewedvision.com )  - another high-end presentation software engine. Currently runs only on Macs.

Easy Worship ( www.easyworship.com ) - simplicity with basic presentation functions.

Powerpoint ( www.microsoft.com ) - the most common denominator, Microsoft's presentation software meant for the office still holds the most churches in its installed base.  When flipping through linear slides is all you want, this works.

Bulking up on content.

Knowing how to use video, and having a competant tool to drive it is like good driver with a car but no gas. The visual fuel in the worshiping church is content.  Here are some top notch media sources.

iWorship DVDs  ( http://www.worshipmusic.com/dvds-integrity-iworship.html and http://www.worshipmusic.com/musician-resources-integrity-iworship.html)

iWorship FLEXX ( http://www.worshipmusic.com/flexx.html )

Work of the People (http://www.theworkofthepeople.com/)

WorshipHouseMedia (http://www.worshiphousemedia.com/)

Sermon Spice (http://www.sermonspice.com/)

Shoutable.com (http://shoutable.com/)

more info on sources from our own stuff : http://www.kimgentes.com/worship-technology-roundup/

Important Peep.

After scanning any area of knowledge, its good to learn by just watching a skilled craftsman. In the arena of visuals in worship, there is none more acclaimed than "worship vj", Stephen Proctor. I could laud the events, people, experience and kudos that Stephen garners from anyone in the media and visual arts communities, but its probably just a lot better for you to visit his site and learn how someone at the high-end of visual expression in church and event contexts thinks and does.

http://worshipvj.com/

Now, go forth and video-aphy!

Kim

Tracing the real history of the Internet is a little like telling who the most important people where in the 20th century-- you will get a different answer from different people.  Although generally agreed upon major players and organizations make it in to most stories of the Internet, you will find derivations from the source material that depend on, well, the source!  The Brits, French and Americans all think they did something major to help develop what would eventually become the internet.  But frankly, one thing should be said that is not normally expressed in most text books or fact lessons- the Internet itself was not a pre-planned notion or idea.  No one woke up one day and said "hey, we have computers. Let's build a world wide connected system of redundant path communication nodes, with a robust protocol and extensible architecture."  In fact, most of what we now have that is used on the Internet was an amalgamation of ideas and systems that merged over time, to meet the needs of different governmental and commercial entities.

For me, as a software engineer, I began using the Internet in 1993.  One thing commonly minimalized by "Internet" historians are two major points: 1) popularization of network services to home users by the CompuServe service (the first true precursor to the modern day ISP).  2) the explosion of the Internet directly attributable to the development of the Mosiac Browser and the work done at NCSA-UIUC.  Frankly, most "historians" tend to think technology drove the Internet explosion.  But that is short sighted.  We had connectivity technology long before 1993/1994.  But no one really cared much about it (except scientists, academics and military minds) before the release of the Mosaic browser.  Mosaic was the grand-daddy of all web browsers.  From it, all browsers came. Once we have a graphical viewing tool to accompany the information storage and retrieval devices of the internet, common use of the web exploded- and Internet found a lifeline to become the predominant technological and commercial wonder of the last 20 years.  These two points (CompuServe and NCSA-UIUC's Mosaic browser) are often trivialized by historians, because, frankly they see the non-academic/scientific influences as being somehow less valuable. But they are crucial. Keep that in mind as you read or watch any history of the Internet.

For those who want a somewhat extensive (and less than clearly scholarly) review of the Internet development, I would refer them to the well-kept article at Wikipedia. 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Internet

Yes, it is actually fairly accurate and is kept under close scrutiny by the myriad of people who watch over that portal.

For a more terse, though somewhat euro-centric branded, view of the growth of the Internet, there is a good web movie online at YouTube that does quite well. See below.

Hope this little informational walk-through helps you understand a little bit more about the technology we now use everyday.

Kim Gentes

iWORSHIP FLEXX is marketed as "videos that follow your lead". An apt description, iWORSHIP FLEXX are professional videos related to specific worship songs. Each FLEXX product contains several songs (normally 7 different songs on each edition). Each song comes with several MPEG & Quicktime files - each file represents a song segment. Used with software like MediaShout, you navigate through verses, choruses and other song sections by clicking on these custom designed videos. iWORSHIP FLEXX is easy to use and contains exceptionally well produced content.

iWORSHIP FLEXX highlights very progressive video styling and graphics which may be a notch or two above what you are currently using in your services with adding static lyrics on some stock motion backgrounds.  The folks producing iWORSHIP FLEXX have done a spectacular job at making the videos very crisp for their purpose- upbeat songs pop, while balads pull back and let the image breathe without disturbing the visuals too much.  One thing I liked about the offering is that it provides intro segments, which let you cue up the song musically before the lyrics start hitting the screen.  There is also a great extended video segment, letting you run consistently on the screen, even if your band is playing an instrumental section.

Technically speaking, you will want to make sure you are using a relatively new machine with FLEXX video demands.  This model of doing VJ or worship lyric presentation removes the lyrics COMPLETELY from the process-- they are all embedded in the FLEXX video segments.  And that is the point- what you are doing here is simply running a single video for each section of the song.  The concept is brilliant, but does mean you can't have the old PC that ran powerpoint try to chug along on these meaty MPEG or Quicktime videos as you swap through song segments.

Churches that want a more progressive, higher level video experience will love FLEXX.  I would say that some churches may find FLEXX a little too progressive, depending on their song selection.  Over the years I have heard churches get more and more articulate about too much happening on the video screen during worship.  I think FLEXX could be used well, but I am guessing some churches will want to be sure to watch a demo before purchasing for their more conservative environments.

Overall, its a great product, beautifully and artfully rendered, with a perfect mix of technical chops to make it "plug and play" with MediaShout or other higher end presentation software. 

iWorship FLEXX has several titles out including:

• Majestic (Amazon link) : http://amzn.to/p7BKa7
• You Are Good (Amazon link) : http://amzn.to/q5rqxL
• Our God Saves (Amazon link) : http://amzn.to/nPV6ud
• Glorious (Amazon link) : http://amzn.to/qzRLhJ
• Lead Me To The Cross (Amazon link) : http://amzn.to/n0BkaA
• God You Reign (Amazon link) : http://amzn.to/oo9ho5
• You Are For Me (Amazon link) : http://amzn.to/ow65e1
• Christmas: We Adore You (Amazon link) : http://amzn.to/nCS6uj

Review by Kim Gentes

aChordADay.com - If you're like me you spend a lot of time doing a lot of stuff. Some of it necessary, some of good, but a lot of it just busy-work.  After a while, you forget what you like to do.  For guitarists, sometimes you don't have an hour to sit down and practice, or even 30 minutes.  Unless you play professionally, your life is spent with a lot of other things to keep the lights on and the roof over your head.

So when you want to learn something with guitar, you go a couple routes- find a course or scheduled lesson with a good teacher who can push you further.  Or, if you just have the desire to learn a bit each day, but aren't at a place to do a lot more right now, it can be nice to get a little nugget of guitar wisdom each day.

This is where a site like "A Chord A Day" (www.achordaday.com) can come in real handy.  Az Samad is a noted fingerstyle guitarist from Malaysia, who has put together a simple, but effective little online respite for the wandering guitarists out there.  Nothing fancy, but a nice vibrant chord each day for you to consider. It includes a short measure or two of sample notation, and a nice online audio demo of the chord, along with a sentence or two from Az.  Like musical vitamins for the guitarist each morning, this might indeed keep that muse-hated physician "Doctor Boredom" away for another day.  Check it out (www.achordaday.com)

Kim Gentes

Run by a guitarist named Kenny Goh!  This is an awesome resource for guitarists!

An amazing website of great stuff, done by someone who seems pretty genuine (he's not trying to just sell something)... here are plenty of youtube.com vidoes on his blog, and almost all are his revisions of how to play certain electric guitar licks.. very very good site! Check it out!  Be sure to send your church guitarist here!

http://guitarpraise.blogspot.com/