Running a service

Running a service without an AV volunteer

Small churches don’t always have someone for the laptop, and sometimes a volunteer can’t come. PraiseAV can be run from the front with phones:

• the worship leader runs the songs and readings from their phone (the AV remote)
• the preacher puts their sermon on screen and moves their own slides and notes (the preacher remote)

The laptop just sits to one side, plugged in.

Set it up once, before the day

Do this when someone is at the laptop, for example at a rehearsal. It only needs doing once for each phone.

1. On the laptop, click Remote (top right), then Switch remote control on.
2. The worship leader scans the code with their phone, types their name and taps Connect. On the laptop, click Allow as AV remote.
3. The preacher does the same. On the laptop, click Allow as preacher remote.

PraiseAV remembers both phones. From then on they connect straight away, with nobody needed at the laptop. Remote control also switches itself back on each time PraiseAV opens, if it was on last time.

See Phone and tablet remote for more, and what to do if a phone can’t connect.

On the day

1. Plug the laptop in (see the battery below), open PraiseAV, and open the service.
2. Put the welcome slide or logo on screen, then leave the laptop.
3. The worship leader opens the remote on their phone. They tap a song in the service, then Next ▶ for each verse. Black and Logo are there for in between.
4. When it’s time for the sermon, the preacher taps ▶ Start my sermon on their phone. The sermon goes on screen, with their notes on their phone and the preacher’s screen.
5. The preacher uses Slide ▶ and Notes ▶ as they go. (The preacher remote can’t move away from the sermon, so they can’t knock the songs out by accident.)
6. After the sermon, the worship leader taps the next song.

The laptop stays awake

While PraiseAV is showing the screens, or remote control is on, the laptop won’t go to sleep or turn the projector off, however long nobody touches it.

The battery

When the laptop is running on its battery, a small note at the top of PraiseAV says so (On battery · 80%). As it runs down it turns amber, and then red with plug in the laptop.

Phones connected to the remote see Laptop battery 25%: plug it in at the top when it gets low, so the people at the front know too.

One person leading worship and preaching

If the worship leader also preaches, allow their phone as an AV remote. At the bottom of the remote, ⇄ Switch to the preacher’s view gives them their notes, timer and Start my sermon, and ⇄ Switch to the AV view takes them back to the songs. There’s no pairing again. See Phone remote.

The same button is handy for demos: one phone shows both remotes.