I love to have time to give special touches to messages, lessons or program presentations. Communication is mentioned consistently as a need in churches and it is clear that if there were more time or those with talents in specific areas than we could be more creative and utilize more dynamic tools to reach out, and find more material that would enhance our presentation. But the reality is that we have to make choices and our time is very limited. So does that mean that we just have to settle for what we can get done? No.
In today’s world there are many creative people who offer their creations for free. Below are some programs that may be useful in preparing eye catching presentations, in recording programs, in downloading videos from the internet, and much more for your ministry.
Sound Recording:
Audacity at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/ offers open source software designed for recording and editing of sounds.
Blog Suppliers:
Free Blog providers include WordPress at http://wordpress.org/ and B2evolution at http://b2evolution.net/ which are easy to use and can be linked to your website. An example of b2evolution can be found linked to our website at www.wallaceresources.us .
Cartoon Character Creation: http://www.toondoo.com/createToon.do?param=openFullWindow
This program allows you to create cartoon characters and strips for presentation.
Video Communication: Skype at http://www.skype.com
Skype provides video conferencing and audio conversations. A group away on a mission trip and want to catch up on the days events? Skype gives you a way to do that.
Visual Creations: Wordle at http://www.wordle.net/
A very simple program that allows you to create your own personal word designs. These designs can be used for the cover for worship flyers, slides, posters and more. It is a creative visual way to highlight ideas, programs or efforts.
Noted: Finding out how to save your creation to your hard drive is simple once you know the process. Steps can be found in Wordle’s help section.
Web Video Downloader: YouTube downloader at http://youtubedownload.altervista.org/
YouTube Downloader is free software that allows you to download videos from YouTube, Google Video, Yahoo Video, and many others and convert them to other video formats for storage on your computer.
PDF Creator: PDFredirect at http://www.exp-systems.com/
This program allows you to create universal, standard and secure pdf files. It is compatible with all Windows programs.
Open-Source Software: OpenOffice.org at http://www.openoffice.org/
This offers free database, presentation, text document, spreadsheet, and drawing programs developed by Sun Microsystems.
12/3/09