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Podcasting and Streaming for Churches
Will audio podcasting survive as video streaming becomes more common? Stream live or put more time into polished podcast?
It wasn't long ago that most churches were asking the question, "Do we need a website?" Now we agree that virtually every church must have a website - even a pretty sophisticated one.
The next question was, "Do we need an audio podcast?" As podcasting caught on, many churches then asked, "Should we upgrade from an audio to a video podcast?" Now that we have thousands of church podcasts, more advanced production, and multi-campus churches, the next question is how churches will stream audio and video in real-time over the Internet.
The vast majority of churches aren't quite there yet, but many are beginning to think about the technology and process that will be necessary to make these things happen. Online media is a very welcome development for churches. "For us, online media for the church is great," says Jeff Allen, video director and assistant worship director for Christ Church in Fairview Heights, Ill. which is located near Scott Air Force Base. "So many of our members are military folks and some are deployed all overseas. What an amazing way to stay connected to your church family,"
As more churches leverage the Internet, the technology continues to advance, raising the bar constantly. Churches that wish to provide the most up-to-date online worship experience must dig in and research the technology and develop the practices to make it happen.
I gathered input from several churches and technology providers to get a handle on the state of church podcasting and streaming going in to 2010. I found it is common for a church to dip a big toe in the water before jumping into new technology completely, and the initial step for most churches is an audio podcast. Audio podcasting is comprised of two key tasks, production and hosting. Production is the creation of the podcast usually with the recording being transferred to a computer where basic editing is accomplished. Editing can be simple, with everything before and after the sermon is removed. Software, even freeware, can then convert and encode to an MP3 file.
The second task is publication or upload to the Internet---typically done in one of three ways. One is to upload podcasts directly to the church's website. The second is to upload to a free podcast hosting service -typically with some advertising on the landing page. A third option is a paid podcast host - with no ads on the landing page. Depending on your church's ISP (internet service provider) church members may find downloading from the church website to be a tedious task. If downloads are slow, they're less likely to stick around, and most likely won't be back next week. Podcast hosting services are designed with additional bandwidth to alleviate the bottle-neck slow down from multple, simultaneous downlads.
Some churches enhance podcast production with music and professionally voiced intros, but the vast majority simply upload the message itself. The principal reason is money and time. Unpaid volunteers usually do this work, and getting the podcast online in a timely fashion is a higher priority for most churches than an elaborate production. Production values will improve the longer churches are producing podcasts, and this raises the bar for other churches.
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John McJunkin is the CEO of Avalon Podcasting in Chandler, Arizona, which offers high quality podcast production and consultation services to a broad range of clients. He’s also the host of the Podcast Pro Tech & Tips Podcast at www.avalonpodcasting.com.
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