The Internet has given us the ability to access vast volumes of information across multiple electronic platforms. Most churches have embraced it while others seem to be intimidated by it.
At the moment, there is a lot of hype around churches live streaming their services. I was slacking in the process of finalizing our church’s online campus until I had an experience in a hospital that would change things. Thank God for hospitals and skilled doctors, but let’s face it, no one wants to be in hospital!
The only thing I had to keep me sane after my operation was my iPad. Having watched a service streamed from the America to my hospital bed in South Africa was amazing. Even though it was nothing like being in a live service, I still had the opportunity to listen to the Word and experience a live worship service. Anyone who has been hospitalized for a long period of time faces depression. A church that has the capacity to stream their services would then have the ability to, reach that person beyond the walls of the church.
This is just one example, and a very personal one at that, of how beneficial streaming church services can be.
Technology has changed; streaming a live service isn’t as complex as it was a few years back. Just about every church should seriously consider an online campus.
Does your church stream online services?
What service do you use?
Remember what Mark 16:15 says. “And he said to them, “Go into all the world and proclaim the gospel to the whole creation.” Why not use a live stream to do it?
Wes says
This is SO true. Definitely not a replacement for brick & mortar church but it’s the next best thing, especially when you’re confined in the hospital!
April says
We live stream using My Church Live (http://mychurchlive.tv/) and love it! We started off with Livestream but we didn’t like the ads and we didn’t like that you couldn’t embed unless you used their super expensive service. So after a conference where I met a My Church Live staff member, we gave it a shot during a 30 day trial and not only did we like their service, we were super impressed with their customer service, which in my opinion is bar none! They were willing to fix things for us, even though we weren’t paid members just so we would be able to see if it was a product worth using. Needless to say, we made the switch and I am happy to report, we are still pleased with both their service and their customer service!
Fr. Joshua Wagner says
Hi folks! My name is Father Joshua Wagner, a Roman Catholic priest in Columbus, Ohio. For the last year I have been doing a live weekly interactive Bible Studay webinar on Wednesday evenings at 7:30 PM EST. The response has been fantastic. For most of the year I was using Google Hangouts on Air, a sort of LIVE youtube that they offer via Google Plus. It was free which was nice and you could embed it on your website. But the quality was often poor and it wasn’t easy to use.
So I played around with Livestream, the quality was good and it was easy to use, but $400 a MONTH was outrageous and unaffordable.
Then at a Church Conference in Early September I found mychurchlive.tv It has been a blessing. It has the Quality and Ease of use of Livestream without the pricetag. The guys who run that business are helpful and friendly and respond quickly to my questions. It has really raised the bar in my weekly productions. Check out http://youtu.be/V-Bq3zdODls and http://manage.yourstreamlive.com/events/14771 for a comparison between Google and mychurchlive.tv (That is the second one) They beat Google hands down as you will see.
I recently began to stream Sunday Mass at 9:30 AM Est in the church on Sundays. All I have to do is to push “Start” and BOOM I am live on the web. I had someone watch a wedding they could not attend two weeks ago from Korea using mychurchlive.tv and they could see it perfectly. ( http://manage.yourstreamlive.com/events/16025 go to about 1:15:00 in the index) It was great. I am still working out sound issues in the church which are because I have an echoy church, but that is my fault not the streaming service.
mychurchlive.tv changed my whole broadcast and now more and more people are coming and interacting (via the built in chat) every week. It also automatically archives the broadcasts for download and editing if you want to make a youtube video out of it, or put it on a DVD.
Churches should have this service if they can! I work in an inner city Church and my parishioners come from all over the city- so now, from the comfort of their ipads and their homes can “come” to a bible study with me Live! It is fantastic!!!
Fr. Joshua Wagner
Paul Edison-Swift says
We’re in the process of switching from LiveStream to YouTube for live streaming. YouTube is free; the live stream and the event recording can be embedded in our website; you send a single stream and YouTube creates the multiple bit rates for different viewer bandwidths and devices; events can be public (and benefit from broad exposure on YouTube), unlisted, or private; chat is supported, but only on the YouTube site (not embedded). I think the service is ad-free if you have a Google for NonProfits account. This is different from Hangouts. For info about YouTube Live go to: http://support.google.com/youtube/answer/2474026?hl=en
Patrick Chapman says
What type of camera will you be using?