Kerygma + Your Presentation Software: How They Work Together
No, you don't have to replace your presentation software to use Kerygma. Here's exactly how it fits into the setup you already run, over NDI or as its own output.
No, you don't have to replace your presentation software. Here's exactly how Kerygma fits into the setup you already run.
The first question almost every media team asks me is the same one: "Do I have to get rid of my presentation software to use this?"
No. You don't. And honestly, you shouldn't.
Your presentation software is the heart of your service. It runs your lyrics, your lower thirds, your sermon slides, your countdowns. Kerygma was never built to replace any of that. It was built to do the one thing your presentation software can't do on its own: listen to the preacher and put Scripture on screen in real time, without anyone typing.
So Kerygma sits alongside your existing setup, not on top of it. Here is exactly how that works.
Kerygma is a layer, not a replacement
Think of Kerygma as one more source in your setup, the same way a camera or a lyric feed is a source. It runs as its own application with its own renderer, quietly detecting Scripture as the message is preached and rendering those verses cleanly, ready to go to screen.
Your operator still drives the service exactly like they always have. Kerygma just removes the frantic part: the scramble to find and type a verse the moment the preacher quotes it.
Two ways to connect it
There is no single "right" way to wire Kerygma in. It depends on your room. The two most common setups are:
1. Send Kerygma into your switcher or presentation software over NDI
Kerygma can output its scripture display as an NDI source. If you have used NDI before, this will feel familiar. NDI sends video across your existing network, so Kerygma's output simply shows up as another input your system can pull in, the same as an NDI camera. Many presentation tools can take it as an NDI input, and OBS, vMix and most modern switchers can too. From there your operator composites it however they like.
2. Run Kerygma to its own output and let the mixer combine it
If you would rather keep things separate, Kerygma can render to its own output or screen, and your AV mixer or switcher combines that with everything else. The two systems run completely independently. Nothing about Kerygma touches your presentation files or your run sheet.
Most churches start with whichever they are already comfortable with. If your team lives in NDI, go that route. If your setup is more hardware-switcher based, run Kerygma as its own feed and bring it in like any other source.
Your operator stays in control
This is the part media teams care about most, so let me be clear: Kerygma does not take over. It does not push slides into your presentation software behind your back, and it does not hijack your output. It detects and prepares the verse. Your team decides what goes to screen and when.
That means a nervous first Sunday is low risk. You can run Kerygma quietly alongside your normal setup, watch what it catches, and only send it live once you trust it. (And you will trust it faster than you expect.)
A quick practical note on setup
If you go the NDI route, the one thing worth knowing up front is that NDI works over your local network, so the machine running Kerygma and the machine pulling the feed need to be able to see each other on the same network. If your church wifi isolates devices from one another, which a lot of guest networks do by default, put both machines on the same wired network or the same trusted network and you are set. This is the single most common thing that trips teams up, and it is a five minute fix.
The short version
You keep your presentation software. You keep your workflow. You keep your operator in the driver's seat. Kerygma just adds a live Scripture layer that you bring in like any other source, either over NDI or as its own output.
Nothing to rip out. Nothing to relearn. Just the gap finally closed.
If you want a hand wiring it into your specific setup, reach out. I have helped churches running everything from a single laptop to a full multi-camera switcher, and I am happy to walk your team through the cleanest way to bring Kerygma in.
Try it at kerygma.dev.
— David (Bob) Ukonu, founder of Kerygma