As the barrier to entry to live-streaming decreases, more churches are joining in. So how can your church separate itself from the pack?
In the past public access television opened up at least one channel in each community that many churches could afford to be on. Now, the whole internet is open to churches trying to get the message out.
By rushing to take advantage of every opportunity, many churches add to the poor reputation of Christian media.
There are churches that make compelling video. There are churches that separate themselves from the crowd, but sadly, they're too few.
So, now that the barrier to entry of live-streaming is so low, more and more churches are embracing it. Are we about to see a rerun of the public access follies of a few years ago?
Yes.
Church after church is asking, "What can I get by with using?" They're wondering about the bare minimum.
The tragedy in this way of thinking isn't that they're trying to be frugal or good stewards. The tragedy is that the thinking translates from equipment to implementation.
What can your church do to avoid falling into this trap?
These are all limitations that fit into two categories: money and people. On the money side, churches often use limited equipment, slow internet, and free hosting providers. On the personnel side, they use either too few, untrained people, or those with limited ideas.
A live-stream can be something that people think is something that you "bolt-on" to your current tech ministry. You might hear someone say, "You just add a web cam in the back of the sanctuary plugged into the lyrics computer, right?"
As with many things in the church, the difference isn't always what's done, but the heart behind it.
Imagine two churches. They both start by adding a web cam in the hopes that people who are home sick or on vacation will watch.
In one church, it stops there. The person who is in charge knows what's possible, but can only see the limitations of why it won't work. "Our internet is too slow here," or "our congregation is too small to make a big investment," he'd say.
In the other, the leader of this nascent ministry is always thinking about ways around these problems. "I've got a 4G hotspot that might work" or "Is there way to adapt my DSLR so that I get a better picture than from this web cam," she'd wonder.
If the second church isn't able to use these ideas, they will likely figure out others that they can.
Going back to our example of the web cam-only live stream, how can these churches get more out of what they have?
Perhaps they could move the camera closer to get a better shot. Maybe they could connect audio from the sound board into the computer to get better sound. Perhaps they could put the camera in a location that's harder to bump by accident.
Maybe the camera shot can look better with more light. Maybe you can tweak the settings so that its white balance stays constant. Maybe you can adjust the shutter speed so that motion looks smoother. Maybe encouraging the pastor to wear a light-grey shirt (instead of white) would keep it from glowing when his skin is properly exposed.
If you're using a free streaming host that interrupts your stream with ads, you have an area you can improve too. Look into upgrading that service, trying another free service, or perhaps you could find a paid service that will work.
Streaming video is an art. Great art requires practice and experimentation.
People without a video background might center the pastor in the middle of the screen. Tilting down to frame the shot according to the rule of thirds would greatly improve the video.
Anyone involved should seek out training to fill in their limitations. This could be as simple as joining one of the many church tech forums. Some won't be content with that and will start buying books and taking courses.
You want a leader who isn't content with how things are, who isn't content not to know the best ways to do things. With this kind of leader, the ministry is poised to take advantage of new opportunities.
Sometimes, little changes make a big difference. Sometimes, it will actually take more equipment, but maybe it's less than you think.
Make a plan to augment each piece as soon as you can. If the lighting is bad, start planning for ways to make it better. Maybe your existing lights can be better aimed. Maybe you need professional lighting instruments. Maybe you can buy used from a community theater or the local high school.
Better production quality is one way to separate your live-stream from others. There's still another strategy for getting noticed, though. Most churches are using the weekend worship service as their exclusive live-stream.
What if you also included other events or special content targeted to the web audience? This could be any number of things.
You could have virtual Sunday School classes or create classes on parenting. Grab the attention of students with a talk show aimed at them or talk through retirement planning for adults. The possibilities are endless. These ideas could cause a "halo effect." People might start engaging with your church in new and different ways. Often, though, they'll end up attending services online and in person.
