By Jennifer Andrews

For the choir’s eyes only. As projectors become less expensive, many churches have added a projector exclusively for their choirs’ use. These projectors are used to display lyrics that the rest of the congregation doesn’t need to see.

Share appreciation, announcements and photos. Before Sunday services is a great time to project images that can help build community. Display photographs of parishioners working together or notes of appreciation for those who contribute. Or, display announcements for upcoming events and church achievements.

Movie nights and more. Many churches have already caught on to the idea of using their projectors for movie nights. These get-togethers are a great way to share community time.

Sing-alongs. Do you have a talented congregation? How about hosting a sing-a-long? Hook up your projector to a DVD player, put on a Sound of Music DVD, turn on the subtitles, and now you can all see each and every word in big, easy-to-read print. There will be no excuses for not singing!

Video games. Video games aren’t just for kids anymore; with Gen-Xers all grown up, they appeal to older generations as well, with games ranging from “Pong” to “Donkey Kong” and beyond.

There are also spiritually based games on the market that are fun and educational. With a projector, these games can be played in nearly life-size format using a 120-inch front-projected screen. Players can feel the road, live the game, and maybe even learn a little.

Create holiday spirit. Using your projector to spice up your holiday decorations is easy and fun. Create a fall landscape with leaves changing color, or spice up your holiday season with snowfall and snow-capped trees. Front projection is a fun, cool and contemporary way to deck the halls.

Get together for sporting events. Make your church the place to go for this season’s big sporting events. You can project images as large as 12 feet wide with a front projector, and no big-screen or rear-projection television can come close to replicating this experience. Whether it’s the NBA playoffs, a college bowl game or Olympic ice skating, the big-screen effect adds excitement and lets large groups enjoy time together.

Outdoor festival fun! Take your projector outside for spring or fall festivals. Share a slideshow from last year’s event, create an interactive trivia game, or even take pictures that day and announce the winners of three-legged races and pie bake-offs.

Quick Tip: If you store pictures of events or people on a laptop, desktop or digital camera, create a slideshow! Simple, free (and inexpensive) programs can be purchased or downloaded — or they might even come with your computer — to show you how to add titles and special effects to your homemade slideshows. Some digital cameras let you to create slideshows with their software, either directly from the camera or using the software that comes with it. Your digital pictures can also be viewed as a slideshow using various online services.

Quick Tip: Projectors with short-throw lenses might be needed to create larger images in confined spaces.

Quick Tip: For family-friendly surfing, use the parental-filter options available on most major search engines. Prepare before the audience arrives, and bookmark appropriate sites.

Community Internet surfing. You might have noticed that your children, spouse and lots of other people are spending a decent amount of time surfing the Internet. Why not make Net-surfing community time?

Using a projector on the big-screen, you can gather worshipers in your church activity center to read, learn and spend quality time together.

There are loads of great websites with spiritual themes. You can find anything from Bible lessons to inspirational stories of spiritual courage. Church leaders can bookmark their favorite sites and use the Web as a tool for spreading the good word within youth groups, among senior members, and everyone in between.

Brighten up rainy days. Rainy days really can get us down, and we can’t always take the time to get away — but you can bring heavenly places directly to you with your projector.

Check the Internet for live Webcams from around the world. Watch surfers in Hawaii, or the wildlife in Alaska, or anywhere you can imagine.

Connecting with missionaries. You can catch up with your missionaries around the country or the world, connecting to the rest of the congregation over a live Webcam link. Chronicle their experiences, share their success stories, and follow up on progress made in offsite charity work. If your church has more than one location, you can also offer a Webcam feed to additional locations, adding to the sense of community.

Business meetings have been the primary use for video projectors for many years, but do you put your projector to use in your church business meetings? Projectors are a tool to foster better collaboration in meetings of all kinds.

Projectors are a great instrument for building community, so don’t let yours sit on the shelf. If you’ve got it, use it!

Jennifer Andrews is the Internet communications manager for ProjectorPeople.com, where she has been writing tutorials on projection technology for more than five years. Visit www.projectorpeople.com for more information about this dynamic display technology.

Quick Tip: With many wireless-enabled projectors (and wireless computers), you can seamlessly transfer from one presentation to another without unplugging and re-plugging various computer sources. There are numerous wireless projector options available today.

Quick Tip: Projectors can be taken outside if they’re sheltered. Check the owner’s manual for warnings regarding outdoor use.

Quick Tip: Webcam links are affordable and very easy to use. Yahoo and other services allow video camera feeds for no cost when two users have free Yahoo accounts with instant-messenger service installed. Webcams can also be found very cheaply sometimes for less than $30. These free solutions, however, are typically low-resolution.