How Grace Community Church Transformed Their Services

The Challenge

Grace Community Church in Springfield, Oregon had been using commercial presentation software for years. With annual license fees exceeding $500 and a steep learning curve for volunteers, Pastor Michael Torres was looking for alternatives.

"Every year, we'd debate whether to renew the license," says Torres. "For a church our size, $500 is a significant expense. And every time we got a new media volunteer, it took weeks to train them."

Discovering WayPresenter

A fellow pastor mentioned WayPresenter at a regional conference. Torres was skeptical at first — could a free tool really match what they were paying hundreds of dollars for?

"I downloaded it on a Thursday evening and was honestly amazed," he recalls. "The interface was intuitive, the AI scripture detection was something our previous software couldn't even do, and it was completely free."

The Transition

Grace Community made the switch over a single weekend:

1. Friday evening: Installed WayPresenter and imported their entire song library from their previous software
2. Saturday morning: Configured audio and display settings, created their custom theme
3. Saturday afternoon: Trained two volunteers on the new interface
4. Sunday morning: First service with WayPresenter

"The transition was remarkably smooth," says volunteer coordinator Lisa Chen. "The import tool brought over all our songs perfectly, and the interface was so intuitive that our volunteers picked it up in under an hour."

The Impact

Six months later, the results speak for themselves:

• $500/year saved on software licensing
• AI scripture detection catches references the team would have missed
• Volunteer training time reduced from weeks to one afternoon
• Service quality improved with faster, smoother transitions

"The AI detection feature has been a game-changer," Torres emphasizes. "Our pastor often references scriptures spontaneously during sermons, and now they appear on screen almost instantly. The congregation loves it."

Advice for Other Churches

Torres has three pieces of advice for churches considering the switch:

1. Just try it — WayPresenter is free, so there's no risk in testing it
2. Use the import tools — Don't start from scratch; migrate your existing content
3. Trust the AI — After a few services, the scripture detection becomes remarkably accurate

"If you're a church spending money on presentation software, you owe it to your congregation to try WayPresenter," Torres concludes. "The money you save can go toward ministry instead."