If you have dual-display capability, powerpoint does offer limited dual display functionality. It may only be with Powerpoint XP and the latest powerpoint release though.
When powerpoint is in dual display mode, you have a different screen on your computer monitor from the one that will be projected. You can preview the next slide coming, and see presenter's notes. I think you can change the order of the slides on the fly if you need to as well.
I'm a little fuzzy with the powerpoint dual display functionality, haven't used in a while. But if you open powerpoint, just type dual display in the help screen and it will give details. Give it a try and play around a bit.
We've currently switched to media shout and it's' working out great so far. I has a lot more features than PowerPoint, as well as several bible translations built in making it really easy to put verses up on screen. We are still new with it though, so we are still learning.
Check out this website about PowerPoint and dual display.
office.microsoft.com/en-us/assistance/HA010565471033.aspx
(Sorry, I don't have enough posts to directly link to the site so you'll have to copy and paste
)
Oh and if your laptop does not have dual display, you can buy an a video card that plugs into the PCMCIA slots in your laptop (I think all laptops have these...mine is 3 years old and it has them). But they are quite expensive and I just noticed that media shout are no longer recommending their use.