Presentation

How to add a countdown timer before your church service

By Mambo Mutinda · Founder & CEO, TajiCast

A countdown timer is a small touch that does a surprising amount of work. In the room it settles people and signals worship is about to begin. Online it holds early viewers, showing them the stream is live and the service is starting soon — instead of a blank screen they'll click away from. Here's how to add one.

What a countdown does

The few minutes before a service are restless — people chatting, finding seats, online viewers wondering if anything's happening. A countdown answers all of that at once:

• In the room, it draws attention to the screens and gently signals "we're about to start."
• Online, it reassures early viewers the stream is working and worth staying for, rather than a frozen or empty frame.
• For your team, it's a shared clock — everyone knows exactly when things begin.

Where to show it

The key is to show it in both places at once — the in-room screens and the live stream — so everyone gets the same cue.

• On your projector/screens, run the countdown from your presentation software as the final pre-service slide.
• On your stream, make it your opening scene in OBS or vMix, ideally with calm music. See how to set up OBS scenes for a church service.

Keep it simple and readable

A good countdown screen is calm and clear:

• A large, readable timer counting down to the start time.
• A short welcome line, and optionally your church name or the message title.
• A clean background and, on the stream, gentle music.
• The same design habits as your other screens — big text, strong contrast.

How to set it up

1. Create the countdownUse your presentation or streaming software's countdown feature, set to your start time.
2. Add it to the screensMake it the last pre-service slide on the projector.
3. Add it to the streamSet it as your opening scene, with calm music underneath.
4. Start it earlyGet it running as people arrive and as the stream goes live.

From countdown to the Word

When the countdown hits zero and the service begins, your screens shift to their real job — lyrics, then the sermon. With TajiCast running, the move from "starting soon" to showing the preached verse is seamless: as the preacher speaks a passage, it appears on screen automatically, no manual deck-swapping required.

Pair this with a strong pre-service announcement loop.