Using Google as a Worship Resource
by Don Chapman
The Google search engine has
to be one of
the highest achievements of the
human mind.
Just think about it for a moment...
type
any topic you can think of into
the search
field and you're on your way
to almost unlimited
knowledge. How does this apply
to worship?
Read on, but first, a brief background.
Google (a twist on the word "googol,"
a math term for 1 followed by
100 zeros)
was only five years old on September
7, 2003,
and has quickly become a vital
part of the
Internet. The website performs
200 million
searches each day - more than
2,300 every
second in 88 languages. Surpassing
Yahoo,
Webcrawler, Lycos and other weaker
search
engines, Google now conducts
75% of all Internet
searches with a unique, powerful
and fast
searching method. Google returns
your searches
based on website popularity,
ranking results
by the links to them from other
websites.
The Google search field is a handy part of
WorshipHomePage.com. Plus, there's a new feature from Google,
unique to the WorshipHomePage Google search,
that will improve and refine all worship
search results typed into these pages! I
can find things on this search engine I can't
find on others. I consult it almost daily
for all kinds of worship activities, like:
1. Graphics for presentation software and
sermon illustrations. Google has an incredible graphics search
feature. It's legal to use images you find
in a worship setting (although you may NOT
use the images outside of worship, like in
bulletins, postcards, flyers, newsletters,
websites, etc.)
The US copyright law of 1976
contains a clause
that allows for churches to use
still images
in the context of worship. It's
in section
110, subsection 3. Here's a link:
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#110
Also, this law only applies to
the United
States, not to those of you in
other countries.
Try this: at the WorshipHomePage front page, click the "Google Images"
link and you'll go to the images search page.
Type "fall leaves" (WITHOUT quotes)
and up will pop thousands of images. As of
09/08/03, the first two images on the results
screen are excellent. They're also identical,
but notice the second one is a larger file.
Go with larger files - the larger they are,
the higher the resolution, and the better
the image will look on your projection screen.
Next, clicking on one of the
samples will
take you to a split screen. The
top portion
will have the image, the bottom
portion will
have the page where the image
originated.
Clicking on the top image will
often result
in a larger image appearing in
your browser.
If a larger image is available,
right click
it and save it to your hard drive
for later
use.
Wouldn't this nice image of leaves
look great
on your screen as a background
for song lyrics?
Try lightening it for use with
lyrics in
a photo editing program, and
keep the original
for a rich video backdrop.
The possibilities of Google's
image search
are endless for sermon topics,
holidays and
other special events. Use different
phrases:
"communion" and "Lord's
supper"
bring up different pictures.
Need an image
for advent? Try "advent
candle"
or "Christmas candle."
You'll find good images and some
not so good
images, and occasionally you'll
find a fantastic
image. Keep looking and keep
trying different
phrases.
A note from WorshipMax.com subscriber Jeffery Ling:
"Don - one comment about
your Google
article. Folks need to be aware
of the safe
search settings. People doing
searches may
get an eyeful of something they
weren't counting
on. Google offers a filter within
the site."
2. Praise song lyrics. Yes, I have CCLI's SongSelect so I'm legally
covered, but sometimes I'm just too lazy
to login and retrieve the lyrics I need for
PowerPoint!
3. Song searches. Ever have a few lyrics floating around your
head but don't know the song title or artist?
Try typing those lyrics, in quotes, in Google's
search field. For instance, the other day
I had the words of some hymn in my head,
but couldn't remember the title. I typed
"Thy tribute bring" into Google's
search field and the seventh result matched
the hymn I was looking for: "Praise,
My Soul, the King of Heaven."
Google's great for locating obscure
CDs,
too. I heard a different radio
version of
"Shout to the Lord"
that I loved
and tracked it down, through
Google, to an
obscure recording by Aaron Benward
on a artist
compilation CD. Type in the name
of your
favorite band or artist and their
website
will probably show up.
A note on quotes: they refine
your search.
Typing in "You are Holy"
without
quotes produces results that
contain the
words "you," "are"
and
"holy." These common
words bring
up way too many results that
aren't what
I'm looking for. Using the quotes
will find
instances of the >exact<
phrase "You
are Holy," the title of
a popular praise
song. Typing this phrase with
quotes yielded
the lyrics I wanted at the bottom
of the
search page.
Other handy uses:
Popup blocker. I hate popups, and since I do so much searching
on the Net for lyrics, images and other worship
stuff, they've become quite a nuisance. Google's
toolbar fixes that, with an excellent popup
blocker. It installs for free on the PC Internet
Explorer browser, or use the faster, more
secure Firefox browser with Google toolbar:
To date it has blocked 368 pesky
ads from
my computer! The toolbar has
other nifty
features, like an imbedded Google
search
field at the top of your browser
window.
Picasa: Google offers FREE photo managing software
that can also do simple editing. Keep track
of all those worship backgrounds you download:
Bottom Line: Use Google to make your life easier.
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