[UPDATE 2/21/09]
I’ve made some changes to the timer. Here is the updated version. You can download the flash file here: Stage Countdown Timer.
—Original Post Below—
Earlier this year I was trying to figure out how to get a countdown clock setup for Barry, the preacher at our church. I did a lot of searching around trying to find a software program or an inexpensive decent clock. The best ideas I could find were using a clock that we use for our children’s basketball league. I didn’t really like that idea, but it was the best idea we could come up with.
Since necessity is the mother of creativity I decided I needed to make the countdown clock myself. I already had a program called SwishMax, which is basically a Flash animation program. I did some searching on some forums, made quite a few unsuccessful attempts, but finally was able to get the clock to do everything we were looking for. It’s a simple Flash animation that we run on an old laptop in the back of the Worship Center hooked up to an LCD monitor sitting on the front pew that only the people on stage can see. There are buttons to set the clock to different times. It also changes color to yellow when there are three minutes left, red with under a minute, and flashes at 30 seconds until zero.
It’s been helpful. I’ve uploaded it and you are free to download it and use it however you please. If you already have SwishMax you can download the swi file to edit the clock if you want.
Download Flash file (swf): Countdown timer
Download Swish file (requires Swish program): Countdown timer (original file)
Here is a mini-preview of the clock:
If you are looking for custom countdown timer graphics please take a look here:
http://www.jmdesignco.com
thank you very much. The timer works GREAT! I modified the code and text the way I want it. I gave to my boss… and then. he said.. that was cool… now he wondered if I could give him a cout up timer!!..
Dang it!!
It worked. Thank you!
Check these out.
http://www.worshipmediapro.com/vol1-countdowns.php
Hey Kevin, Our little church in CA is looking for a clock timer to help us keep on schedule as we are running 3 services back to back. I googled these timers and they are EXPENSIVE!! Your blog came up. I have a question. Is it possible to program your set up to do sequential timing depending on where we are in the service. Like 3 mins. for Welcome, 17 for worship, 15 for Communion, 35 for sermon, etc. Can we make these times come up one right after the other? This is probably a silly question, but I am just a Jesus lovin' little old lady who's excited to bring this technology into our contemporary services. The gizmo you put together seems like a very cost effective option. Thanks for your help and kudos on your inventiveness.
Hi Sara,
The way we use the timers is similar to what you're looking for, but we have a person running the timer live. You're able to add minutes with my setup for each time, which is similar the times you're looking for. I've actually done an update of the time, which I'll upload to my blog soon, that makes it easier to adjust times during the service.
In there anything else I can help you with about the timer?
IS there a way to make a countdown timer with Windows Movie Maker?
Ctymouse@aol.com
My church uses a piece of software that was written specially for this purpose. It makes running a countdown timer really easy and is completely flexible, and has loads of other useful features.
You can see it here: http://www.danielgothard.co.uk
thanks so much for this – was looking for a 5minute countdown script to start making my own countdown vids for kid's church – this is exactly what i needed – thanks again!!!
hey looking for good free or cheap timer to open our church service with. this looks perfect and fee but i cant figure out how to download it. not very technological. tried to download it just went to the clock again.
Try this website!
http://www.danielgothard.co.uk/
It great for £40.00 and it’s what Hills and places like that use! There is a free trial… it’s easy to use and good so give it a go.
Cheers
Steve
Hi Steve,
How long has your church been using that timer? What are some of the things you like best about it? I’m considering updating my timer, but it will probably be later this year before I get to it.
Gee, I wish I could use this for confrence calls, maybe it would not go 2 hours sometimes….
If you can share your desktop on those calls you could definitely use it. I hadn’t thought of that.
Great stuff! We’ve been looking for this! I ran the flash and it worked perfectly. Only problem is that our internet during services is a hit or miss. I tried downloading and no success. Any pointers on how to use this without internet?
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Is it possible to get a timer tht doesn’t stop at zero? Maybe just starts cou ting I to negatives?
I couldn’t figure out how to make that happen with the program I was using, sorry.
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Thanks kevin for this, but how can i download it to work on window 7,i have downloaded it but it refuse to work on my system
can you help please out
Great work, it works perfectly but i would still want to see more updates to it, such as timer displaying “TIME UP” when time elapse.
I’m also looking for a count down clock that can be manually restarted for each section of the service (music set, announcements, preaching, etc.). Would love a clock that starts running into negative numbers instead of just stopping when time runs up. We are also a mobile church so a physical clock or monitor situation that doesn’t require wifi is ideal for us. Anyone have any ideas out there? Thanks for your help and ideas.
To address your needs and more, Check out Schedular: https://quibos.net/schedular-countdown-timer
Disclaimer: Main developer here.