How do I start an app. in the background

The problem I am having is a batch file I use executes a line to run the program I want it to, then it waits until the program ends to finish executing the rest of the batch file. I think I way to get around this problem would be to have the batch file start the program in the background, but I am not sure how, or even if this will solve my problem. Basically, I want the batch file to continue executing the rest of the lines in the batch file, and not wait until the program it has opened has been closed, like it is doing now.

Thanks for any help you can provide.