Mid-Week Setup - Media

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Mindset

Getting things ready for the service can take some time. This is the foundation of a smooth service as well as the polish & effort that the congregation feels when they are with us. Read the Media Screens page before this one, to get an idea of what we are preparing for!

Read Importing Songs to ProPresenter to learn more about that process.

Responsibilities

Words to Know

Setup – Service Plan

  1. In ProPresenter, click the + button near library, then choose Planning Center Service
  2. Navigate to the proper campus, service type, and date for the next service. Click Select
    1. This will import the plan from Planning Center, and attempt to auto match service sections and songs from things already setup in ProPresenter
    2. Drag the new playlist to the top of the list
    3. Check that the correct presentations were auto linked, it just uses names, so the wrong campus slides may be hooked up, or the song name put in oddly. You can update the schedule and use the Update (circular arrow) button in ProPresenter to sync.
      • Most changes to the plan will be overwritten on the next sync from Planning Center.
  3. Change the colors of the Service Start (green) & Transition (yellow) Headings to give visual clarity to the operator
  4. Hide unrelated items in ProPresenter with a right click and pressing Hide:
    • Setup, SoundCheck & EQ, Rehersal, Final Prep/Pre-Service, Pre-Service Prayer
  5. Pick an overall "theme / topic" for the week's song backgrounds (open media bin to browse Motion Backgrounds)
    • For example: Bright Colors, Shimmers, Antelope Canyon Colors, Fall Forests, Rivers in Nature, Haze, Moving Chroma, Luminance Collection, Paint Strokes, Christmas, Solaris, Wiggly Colors, etc.
  6. Drag your selected background(s) onto song intro slides, and remove/add Lighting Cues to match your choices
    • remove macros with the right click menu, add macros with drag & drop
    • You may also add more lighting cues at transition points of the service to automate things
  7. Use the ProPresenter calendar to check the automations (countdown & lights)
    • Typically, you open the calendar, uncheck the "show cycle" option bottom middle, and update the dates to the next service & imported playlist
    • If unconfigured, 5 minutes before service it will jump to LAST WEEK's playlist/schedule
  8. Lastly, manually link or create new presentations for parts of service that are missing media
    • Check out the Misc Media library, there are template presentations you can update or duplicate and use
    • If adding videos, ALWAYS do the following
      • right click in the media bin and set Playback Behaivor to Stop
      • right click the slide its on, and set the Go Next Timer to the seconds of the video

INFO Take note what songs are missing translations (or missing entirely) to be addressed by the next service, and send to the translation team. Refer back to Importing Songs for new songs.

Setup - Sermons

  1. Get New Sermon Resources
    1. Check new sermon resources (usually in Canva) for spacing, correct sizing, and having slide names
      I cannot stress enough how useful having slide names is!
      • 00 prefix on title/thumbnail slides: 00 TITLE ENG
      • 0# numbered & titled slides for key points: 01 Tithing is a Faith Test
      • LT prefix & title for lower thirds LT Tithing is a Faith Test
      • SCRIPTURES BKGD
    2. Download from Canva
      • Press Share top right then Download
      • Change file type to PNG, enable transparent background
      • (If animated slides) You can alternatively download slides as short MP4s
    3. Move into Sermon Media folder (don't extract them yet)
  2. Clean up from last week (keeping title slides & intros if continuing a sermon series)
    1. Delete files from sermon media
    2. Delete slides & scriptures from sermon presentation or make a new one in the Sermons Library
    3. Delete props (lower thirds) from the props panel in ProPresent (bottom right panel)
  3. Finish prepping new resources
    1. Extract/Unzip the resources if needed (to show in ProPresenter)
    2. (Optional) Use iMovie to create the loop for the Spanish and English background
    3. Right click in the media bin and use Clean up by Name to sort the files
  4. Start importing into ProPresenter, doing as much of this in bulk as possible will save tons of time
    1. Drag the new Scriptured Background onto the Scriptures macro
    2. Create props by shift selecting from the media bin, dragging into the props window, shift selecting props, assigning 20 second auto clear
    3. Create section title slides with props and correct macros applied (see below)
    4. Read through sermon notes adding scriptures with copies of the section/title slides to break up the presentation
      • Only the first instance of a section/heading title has a prop attached
      • Be sure to check which Bible translation is being used
    5. Go back through and add the Scriptures macro to all scripture slides
  5. Do a run through from start to finish using the spacebar

INFO Check all screens for desired output through the sermon (audience, stage, livestream)

Things to Know

Translations

We commonly use the NKJV, AMP, NLT, and CSB translations. Whena adding verses you can choose the Bible translation.

If using NKJV then the RVES is the proper Spanish version. For NLT, NTV is the Spanish version.

Last Edited: December 2nd, 2025 at 1:19 PM
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