A new service from a blank page to a ready plan in 20 minutes

Twenty minutes is realistic when you know the songs and do things in the right order. The desktop app is the quickest place to do it, because Scripture and presentations go in right there. Shortcuts are for Mac: on Windows, press Ctrl instead of ⌘.

Minutes 0–2: start the plan

In Services (⌘6), click New plan. It creates a "Sunday service" for the next Sunday at 10:00. Change the title, date and time in the header.

Is this Sunday like last Sunday? In the browser, open last week's plan and click Duplicate, then change the date and title. If every Sunday has the same order, Save as template once and start from the template.

Minutes 2–9: songs

Under the list you'll find the Add: bar. Click Song, type a title, author or number, and press Enter to pick the first result. Add all the songs, then put them in order by dragging.

Open the pencil (Edit item) only where something differs:

• Key, if this Sunday's differs from the song's,
• Form, for example For this service without the last verse,
• Note for the team, such as "acoustic first verse".

Minutes 9–13: everything else

• Scripture: type a reference such as Rom 8:28-30.
• Header, Sermon, Announcement, Other: use these for the order of service. Remember that they show their title on the wall when you reach them.

Now ask the preacher for the passages, if you can, and add them here. A verse in the plan is one key press on Sunday. A verse nobody mentioned is a scramble.

Minutes 13–16: presentation, if there is one

Click Presentation and pick a PDF, PowerPoint or Keynote file. The server turns it into slides, so you need internet. Wait until it's ready, then check the first and last page.

Minutes 16–18: tell the team

Click + Notes for anything the whole team should know. Then click Draft · publish, and it changes to Published. If you're scheduling people too, the roster is a separate job: A month of serving rosters.

Minutes 18–20: make it safe

Click Prepare service. The app downloads the media, the theme background, presentation pages and verse texts. Wait for Service prepared, and read the list if you see Prepared with gaps. Do this on the computer that will run the service.

The plan is done. Everything below is for Sunday itself.

When the plan changes on Sunday

A plan is a starting point. In Show, every row on the Songs and Media tabs gives you three moves:

• + (Add to plan): adds the item to the plan. During a service it goes in as the next item. Use it for a song someone asked for at the last minute.
• ▶ (Show now): puts it on screen at once. In a running plan it's logged on this computer as "off plan", so afterwards you can see what was really sung. It doesn't go into the team's plan.
• A plain click on the row during a presentation: cues it as next. CUED and the title appear above the plan, nothing on the wall changes, and it comes up after the last slide of the current item. Then the plan carries on. On screen now shows it right away, and ✕ cancels it.

In the Songs and Bible views, the Next and On screen now buttons give you the same choice.

Note the difference: + changes the plan, and with Service plans: Edit the whole team sees it. The other two change only what you do now.

The keyboard is quicker: ⌘K or / to search, Enter to cue, ⇧Enter to show now, ⌘D to add to the plan.

A verse from the sermon

The preacher says "let's open to Romans 8", and everyone looks at the wall.

1. In Show, press ⌘B.
2. Type Rom 8:28-30 and press Enter. With Click = on screen ticked, the passage goes up straight away.
3. → steps through the verses, and at the end of the passage it adds the next verse.

Each verse gets its own slide, as large as it fits. If you'd rather choose first, untick Click = on screen, then use Add to plan or Show now.

Is the preacher quoting a translation you don't have, or bringing their own points? In Bible, switch to Own text, fill in Reference and the text, and click Next or On screen now. Each paragraph becomes its own slide.

What's next

• Preparing a service on the computer
• Running a service in Show