Part 2: Recreating the FreeShow Setup for Your Church

Mastering Styles and Templates for Bold, Beautiful Worship Displays

By Garry B. Jr., Media Consultant

Once your FreeShow outputs are set up, the next step is all about visual consistency—what your audience sees week after week. That’s where styles and templates come in.

In this part of the series, we’ll explore how to set up powerful, easy-to-read slides that reflect your ministry’s personality and goals. Whether you’re displaying scripture, sermon points, or song lyrics, the way it looks matters. Here's how to get it right.

Step 1: Identify Your Style Goals

The ministry we’re working with wanted the following:

• Video motion and photo backgrounds

• Song lyrics with bold, large text

• Graphic overlays and scripture references

• No current theme colors (which is totally fine!)

Before you get into templates, ask:
What do I want the audience to experience visually?
Do you want your slides to feel modern? Bold? Minimal? Multilingual?
Answering these questions will guide your template and style choices.

Step 2: Browse Pre-Made Resources

If you’re not ready to build from scratch, check out my Products page. There you'll find:

• Free Bibles to download

• FreeShow Quick Tip Guides

• Free and paid Templates (including Lower Thirds)

• The Beginner’s Guide to FreeShow

• Scripture and Multilingual Slide Templates

Start with the Basic Lower Third Template or explore premium transparent templates like Dual Scripture Lower Thirds (great for bilingual churches).

Step 3: Working With Templates in FreeShow

In FreeShow, navigate to the Templates tab. You’ll see built-in default templates with a shield icon. These can’t be changed—but you can right-click and duplicate them to make your own version.

For example, if your verse text is too large and running off the screen:

• Duplicate the template

• Adjust font size, alignment, and spacing

• Save it with a name like “Bold Scripture Left Align”

Different templates can be dragged onto individual slides, or applied across entire shows.

Step 4: Apply Templates to Slides

If you have a mixed show with:

• Talking points

• Scriptures

• Song lyrics

…then drag the desired template onto each slide. Example:

• Apply a big bold centered template to scriptures

• Apply a left-aligned format to sermon points

If you're working with a single type of content (e.g., all scripture), simply click the template once and it’ll update every slide in that show.

Step 5: Set Up Your Output Style

To make things even easier long-term, create a custom output style:

1. Go to Settings > Styles

2. Click “New Style” and choose Normal

3. Name it something like “Fruit of the Spirit” or “Sunday Style”

4. Set:

   • Background color (black is great for clean fades)

   • Transitions (simple fades or none at all)

   • Text transitions (usually best to turn off for clarity)

   • Aspect ratio (usually 16:9)

   • Max lines per slide (optional, useful for lower thirds)

Step 6: Lock in Overrides for Consistency

You can override templates at the style level. This means every time you display:

• A scripture → it uses your preferred scripture template

• A slide → it uses your preferred bold text template

In Settings, under your new style:

• Select Override Slide with Template (for sermon notes or lyrics)

• Select Override Scripture with Template (for verse consistency)

• Choose your favorite templates for both

Now, every show will follow your visual identity—automatically if you apply this style to your output.

Bonus: Multilingual Consideration

If your church uses more than one language, you can set up dual scripture templates. For this church, they only speak Spanish, so no dual setup was needed.

But if you do:

• Choose templates like “Two Scripture Lower Thirds”

• Use two different Bible versions (e.g., NIV and NVI)

Final Thoughts

Styles and templates might seem cosmetic—but they’re vital. They communicate excellence, reduce visual clutter, and help your congregation focus on the message. Whether you're using a $5,000 LED wall or a 12-year-old TV, the right style makes your message shine.

If this helped you, I invite you to:

• Comment below with your questions or what you tried

• Share this with someone starting with FreeShow

• Help grow a community of media leaders learning together by subscribing to my Youtube channel @thegarrybjr

• Need More Help: Get the No-Nonsense Beginner's Guide to FreeShow