How Do I Put Lyrics and Slides on Our Church Livestream?

Why it matters

When someone watches your service at home and the worship starts, they want to sing along. If the livestream only shows the band, or a blurry shot of the projector screen, they can’t. Lyrics, scripture, and sermon points on the stream make online viewers participants, not spectators. (See how to engage online church viewers.)

Getting slides and the live video together is one of the most common struggles churches tell us about. Here’s how it works.

The three common ways

1. Film the projector screen (simplest, worst-looking)

Point a camera at the screen in the room and switch to that shot during songs.

• Pros: no extra setup
• Cons: blurry, washed out, hard to read on a phone, and you lose the camera shot of the people

Fine as a starting point, but most churches outgrow it quickly.

2. A second video output from the presentation computer

The presentation computer sends a second video signal (often HDMI) into your video switcher or capture card, and the person running the stream switches to it or layers it over the camera.

• Pros: sharp, readable slides
• Cons: needs an extra cable and input, and putting lyrics over the camera shot takes extra setup (often a green background that’s keyed out)

3. A network feed into your streaming software (cleanest)

The presentation software sends its slides over your church’s network as an NDI feed, which streaming software like OBS or vMix picks up like a camera. With a transparent background, lyrics sit cleanly over the camera shot as a lower third.

• Pros: sharp, no extra cables, lyrics over the live shot look professional
• Cons: needs a reasonably capable computer and a good wired network (see network infrastructure for church AV)

Which one fits your church?

Your situation	Best fit
Just starting, one camera, minimal gear	Option 1, but plan to move on
You have a video switcher (like an ATEM)	Option 2
You stream with OBS or vMix	Option 3

Make it look good on a phone

Most online viewers watch on a phone. Slides designed for a big room screen are often hard to read at that size.

• Use a lower-third layout for lyrics: one or two lines at the bottom, over the camera shot.
• Big, high-contrast text. White text with a soft shadow works over almost anything.
• Fewer words per slide. Two lines is easier to follow than six.
• Keep your brand consistent: the same fonts and colors as your other screens. (See one look everywhere.)

How WorshipMetrics does it

Present, the free presentation tool in WorshipMetrics, builds your lyrics, scripture, and slides from the service plan, so nobody retypes them on Saturday night. To get them into the stream:

• Tech Manager (free, on your streaming computer) publishes a Present output as an NDI source with a true transparent background, so OBS or vMix can place lyrics cleanly over the camera, with no green-screen keying.
• Present includes a Lower-Third lyrics layout and per-church themes with your colors, fonts, and logo, so the stream looks like your church.
• Present can also drive your room screens and stage display from the same service plan. (See multi-screen output from a browser.)

For the technical details of the network feed, see NDI alpha-channel slides.

Need help setting it up?

Call 910-WORSHIP. Journey, our AI phone assistant, answers any hour and brings in a person when you need one. If your whole system feels old and complicated, start with where to start an upgrade.

Using a Blackmagic ATEM? Splitting ATEM Mini jobs for church volunteers. See also lyrics over the camera on an ATEM · ATEM Mini + OBS.