Why your church should continue to stream despite returning to in-person worship

The COVID-19 pandemic brought about an unprecedented change around the world. For the first time in our lifetime, the entire world was shut down. Life as we knew it was forever changed. Businesses closed. Schools were forced to move to online learning. Churches across the nation, empty. For those congregations who were already using some type of streaming platform, church went on as usual. The location might have changed to the pastor’s home office, but they didn’t miss a beat. For those who did not have technology in place, they were left scrambling trying to figure out how to continue having service without being in-person. This left many resorting to using phones and computers to stream worship service.

I first started streaming in 2010 using the Livestream platform. I lived in Maryland at the time and if you know anything about Maryland, it snows very frequently. We had to find a solution to continue to have church despite snowy conditions. Let’s face it, people are not coming out in the snow for church. Even though Maryland gets snow frequently, they are still ill-prepared for it. The area officials tend to close or recommend two hour delays when it snows. We needed to be able to still have service and still receive tithes and offerings. Back then, Livestream was virtually the only way to stream to your website. I remember we got so excited we could stream to both our website and to Blackberry phones for free! That year, it snowed almost every Sunday in the DMV area, including a blizzard that dumped 20 inches on snow in Maryland. After that, I made sure every church I was the media director at streamed service.

Fast forward to 2017 and my fiance had just started pastoring a small church in rural South Carolina. They had recently upgraded their A/V system and unfortunately, got hustled from the system integrator. I’ve never seen such a poorly planned A/V install in my life. Instead of purchasing one 8 channel switcher, they had two four channel switchers running into one another. The cameras were placed in the oddest locations, resulting in three crooked angled shots. Streaming wasn’t even considered in the buildout. I was appalled, but then I realized that no one in the area streamed their services. Not one single church. I looked at it as an opportunity. I streamed every Sunday using my iPhone and a gimbal stabilizer directly to the church’s Facebook page. Word spread about the new pastor at Mt. Moriah. Views and watch time soared. More and more people started to join the church. We looked up one day and the church went from about 100 people a Sunday to close to 300 a Sunday. Streaming service worked. Then came March 2020…

We didn’t skip a beat, but we had to change what we were doing. Thankfully, Blackmagic Design began offering their new line of Blackmagic ATEM switchers. Making this upgrade changed the production quality of our once streamed on iPhone services. What I love about our Blackmagic ATEM Mini Extreme is that you can stream and record on the device without any extra hardware. Tied in with our PTZ camera system, it makes our media ministry a one-man band. During the height of the pandemic, my husband preached to empty pews, but had a faithful online audience.

We recently went back to full-time, in-person worship services. Speaking with other media directors in the area, the question has come up “Are you going to continue to stream?” You would be surprised that some churches do not want to continue to stream as they feel that it is an excuse for people not to come to church. To me, streaming services compliments your in-person worship. If people are unable to make it to church, they can still participate in worship online. Some people watch several churches during the week. I watch Alfred Street, Wheeler Ave, and The Potters House just to name a few. Why would you not give someone who may not be a member of your church, the opportunity to participate in your worship service?

Lastly, streaming is here to stay. At this point, make the proper investments and stream every time you come together for worship. Use it as a tool to market your church and gain new members to your congregation. Change your perspective and see streaming as an evangelism tool instead of a necessary inconvenience.

About Andrea Gray

Wife, dog mom, lover of all things creative. Her passion for equipping media ministry volunteers and leaders has spanned over 20 years. She has served in churches large and small, traditional and contemporary. She serves as Director of Media alongside her husband Rev. Charvis Gray at Mt. Moriah Baptist Church.