I’ve been a church music minister/worship leader for going on 20 years now, most of my adult life. I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to make my job better and easier over the years. I’ve done it professionally for a good part of those years, but always in smaller churches. I like the dynamics and flexibility of smaller churches, and I wouldn’t want my music to come down to “do this, it’s what we pay you for.”
The downside to this is that small churches don’t have the budget to do all the cool new slick presentation stuff like you see on TV. I’m not going to debate whether or not those things are useful- in the right hands, they can be- but most churches can’t do them anyway because of the cost involved.
That’s where I come in. I’ve also been a computer tech for close to 20 years, and I know a lot about getting the most out of old computer hardware and software. Businesses are usually locked into using expensive software suites, but churches don’t have to spend big money to get useful tools. Still interested? Read on!
It adds up. For instance, upgrading old office computers to Windows 7 costs from $150 to $300. Replacing them is even more expensive, especially if you go with Macs. Microsoft Office can set you back $150 per computer or more, and if you use projectors in your service, the price of presentation software is astounding.
Granted, if you can afford to buy the best tools, so much the better. Most of us can’t, though, so we’re forced to either do without, or get creative! For geeks like me, the second option was always better.
I’ll deal with some of these problems in upcoming posts, but the first one I want to share with you is the foundation for reducing costs in computers. I highly recommend Ubuntu Linux, and more specifically, Ubuntu Studio for worship leaders. They are great operating systems for upgrading older computers that won’t run Windows 7. Why spend $500 on a new computer when you can get a modern, useful upgrade for the old one- and it’s 100% free!
Here’s a quick video explaining how to install Ubuntu on a computer!