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Social isolation may be the best available option for slowing down Covid-19, but it is an option that disconnects churches from their congregations.
“The virus situation has slowly brought all church activities to a halt,” says Casey Hawkins, director of video engineering and IMAG [image magnification] operations at the Green Acres Baptist Church Broadcast Ministry in Tyler, Texas. “We had services last Sunday, but with the adjusted CDC requirements, we have cancelled all in-person Sunday services. Sunday Bible Studies have been cancelled, while group meetings, gatherings and special events have been cancelled or re-scheduled.”
Green Acres is naturally ahead of the curve on church streaming efforts, having a substantial broadcast ministry already in place before the virus hit. It is this electronic ministry that is helping Green Acres stay connected to its flock.
Green Acres is naturally ahead of the curve on church streaming efforts, having a substantial broadcast ministry already in place before the virus hit.
“We are essentially not able to have church in the regular way, so we are all video and broadcast until further notice,” says Hawkins. “Until social isolation is lifted, we will broadcast live on our cable channel, on our Roku channel, and regular live-stream service that we have been doing for years.”
Making do with less
The constraints of social isolation are compelling Green Acres to make do with less in its electronic services. “We have no choir and no orchestra; just a small band and sermon from our pastor each Sunday at 10:30 a.m.,” Hawkins reports. “We would normally have five services but now we are only doing one for live broadcast.”
On the technical side, “we are using our normal gear but instead of recording our main Celebration service for later broadcast and live streaming our band-driven Resonate service from our CrossWalk Event Center, we are combining service styles and live streaming it and broadcasting live on our cable channel from the main worship center,” he says. “We still use our main eight cameras with a minimal crew, but instead of separate IMAG and broadcast production streams, we just have one feed for a live audience.”
To get its content out, Green Acres’ broadcast ministry uses Vimeo Livestream and its Livestream Encoder for the one video feed. “We are airing live on our local cable channel and that program is livestreamed to Mediafusion CDN using an AJA Helo encoder, which is presented as a live feed 24x7x365 on our Roku channel,” said Hawkins. “There is also a web link for mobile or desktop viewing of the cable channel program.”
Keeping congregants informed and committed
The lack of in-person church services and activities has motivated Green Acres Baptist Church to leverage technology to the fullest, in order to keep its congregation connected and involved.
Specifically, “we are sending daily emails as well as daily videos of encouragement to our email newsletter subscribers, our social media accounts, our main website and a special website that we have built to house our live stream, weekly bulletin, special ministry information, a live chat feature as well as online giving link and response form for those who desire to communicate with the church staff,” Hawkins says. If any other electronic means of connecting to Green Acres’ parishioners becomes available, chances are the church will use it too.
"... consider recording a normal service during the week and distributing it on Sunday mornings for your congregation to feel like Sunday church is not gone altogether ... just different for a little while.” Casey Hawkins, Director of Video Engineering and IMAG Operations, Broadcast Ministry, Green Acres Baptist Church, Tyler, TX
Mindful that congregant donations help maintain their commitment to the church (as well as keeping the lights on), Green Acres has also found ways to accept donations online. “We have a donate feature on all on-line applications,” Hawkins shares. “Also, on all of our non-web applications, we have graphics that direct viewers to the correct place to donate online or via mail or even text message.”
Benefits of going electronic
Connecting to congregants via electronic means is helping to keep Green Acres Baptist Church going during this socially isolated times. Still, its fast response to this crisis would not have been possible without the broadcast ministry’s infrastructure already being in place.
Now not all churches have access to the range of electronic delivery options used by Green Acres. Still, having the most basic of online options running – even if it is just a live one camera view of the service with audio – gives every church something to fall back on in times like these and afterwards when social isolation inevitably ends.
... its fast response to this crisis would not have been possible without the broadcast ministry’s infrastructure already being in place.
“If you have the ability to provide a quality stream and a quality presentation, and you have the room in your media budget to add it as an additional service of your ministry, then being able to be live has its advantages, especially when a large number of your regular attendees are unable to be at church in-person,” says Hawkins. “Whether they are sick or out of town, your members will appreciate being able to remain connected to their regular church family remotely.”
Hawkins also shares that for churches who can afford it, live low-resolution (compared to broadcast TV) streaming services should be supplemented by properly produced, high-quality weekly recordings to share online and/or for viewing on a television later.
“A live stream is only good while it is live, and while there may be an immediate archival copy that is recorded by your CDN and immediately available after the service, you will definitely be able to distribute and archive a superior quality product if you record a high quality file of the services for editing later,” Hawkins advises. “Also, consider recording a normal service during the week and distributing it on Sunday mornings for your congregation to feel like Sunday church is not gone altogether ... just different for a little while.”