Spreading The Word

Livestreaming For Houses Of Worship

And this gospel of the kingdom will

be preached in all the world as a
witness to all the nations.
Matthew 24:14

He alone is poor who does not

possess knowledge. Who is a wise
man? He who learns of all men.

Religious organizations and houses of

worship of all faiths are tasked with spreading
the word and sharing their beliefs. Much of
what our chosen house of worship does
is about community: learning together,
rallying around one another in times of
struggle and lifting each other up. A house
of worship is much more than a place you
come once a week to pray, meditate, and
learn its where your community comes
together.
In an increasingly busy and global world,
weve seen these communities break
down. Faith leaders are constantly in search
of ways to bring in new members, engage
existing members, and expand the reach of
their message. Fortunately, spreading the
word and sharing our faith today is easier
and more accessible than ever before.
Worship has gone digital: in 2015, 3,000
houses of worship in 57 countries used
Livestream to broadcast 121,026 services,
ceremonies, and meetings. According to a
study by Monk Development, 46% of church
attendees say that a churchs website is
important when choosing a church, 64%
say their churchs website is important in
facilitating participation in their church,
and 33% say the internet was the first place
where they learned about their church.

According to Pew research, the religious

community is highly engaged online:
sharing their beliefs on Facebook, asking for
prayer on Twitter, or mentioning in a post
that they went to church. Since 2013, faithbased organizations have seen the greatest
increase in online giving, and churches
increase donations 6X through a custom
donation page.
There is a serious benefit to livestreaming:
The stats are clear that most people check
out your online campus before they come
to your church, writes Andy McMillan on
the Church Production blog. So its an
incredible tool to reach new people and to
connect with those attendees who travel
for business, etc. That being said, creating
a respectable video stream is harder than it
looks.
Every day, Livestream works with religious
organizations to help them connect with
their communities and congregations,
grow donations, and build their digital
audience. We have more customers in
faith-based industries than any other. Since
we hear many of the same questions from
houses of worship eager to get started with
livestreaming, we created this guide to help
you through the process and illustrate how
other houses of worship are succeeding
with livestreaming technology.

Read on to learn:
How to get started with livestreaming.
Untapped opportunities for live video in faith-based
organizations.
How St. Joseph Catholic Church & School found a budgetfriendly, easy streaming solution.
How Champions Centre increased site traffic and receives
70% of donations online.
How The Crossing Church doubled their website traffic and
receives 50% of their donations online.

How to Get Started

Whether the members of your congregation are going off to college
or mission trips, are chronically homebound, or serving our country
abroad, many houses of worship are looking for solutions to connect
their community online. The obvious livestreaming use for your
congregation is to reach community members who cant make it
to weekly services. Livestreaming can also be used for pageants and
performances, religious study sessions, first communions, bat/bar
mitzvahs, or your overflow or childrens room.
5

Equipment
Larger churches may have a full production studio and crew but
you only need a basic recording device and a laptop with a reliable
internet connection to get started.

The difference between recorded video and live video is transcoding.

The video feed from your camera needs to be properly formatted to
go live. You can livestream with any video camera that has an HDMI
output and a product like the Livestream Broadcaster or Livestream
Studio Software. The ability to transcode, upload, and stream is also
highly dependant on your internet connection. Ideally you can use
a dedicated ethernet or wifi connection for your stream. The more
reliable your internet connection, the higher quality stream you will
have. A full list of livestreaming compatible cameras is available here.

Internet Connection
Another thing to keep in mind that a powerful internet connection is crucial for a
successful, clear stream. Always have twice
as much upload speed available as the bitrate you want to stream at. The bitrate you
choose to stream at affects your viewing
quality. If you stream at the mobile bitrate, it
will not look great on a Roku or HD television, but will require less bandwidth. Livestreams HD550 uses adaptive bitrate which
allows you to stream to HD, high and medium quality streams, and mobile. But this requires an internet connection of 5Mbpz per
second at minimum, 10 if you want to be
on the safe side. You can learn what your
internet bandwidth is by checking with your
provider.

Distribution
Once you have your hardware, you need to
think about where your live video content
will live. Livestream offers customers event
pages where they can direct their audience
to watch live and also watch previously
recorded video. Most of our house of
worship customers use the Livestream
player embedded on their own page.
This allows them to increase pageviews,
drive their viewers directly to their owned
online property, and collect information or
donations if desired.

Sound
Your audio needs to come straight into your
camera or the device managing the stream.
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If you have a soundboard and microphones,

you should get your audio directly from
there. If you are using a product like Mevo
or a small camera at the front of your
congregation, that may be enough to pick
up the audio for your stream.

Your Crew
Youll also need to think about who can
operate the equipment. Your house of
worship may have a tech or A/V team,
but if not youll need a dedicated group
of volunteers who all understand how
to operate the equipment and share the
streams. Depending on your setup, it should
be easy to teach anyone to use. Later in this
guide well walk through some common
workflows and volunteering arrangements
that allow houses of worship to stream
consistently with ease.

Streaming Options
Once you have your streaming setup,
you can decide how you want to stream.
There are many platforms and providers
for houses of worship at a range of costs.
Livestream has more house of worship
customers than any other industry, and our
house of worship experts work with worship
teams, pastors, and faith-based production
teams every day to find the right streaming
solutions for their budgets and goals.
Many churches are streaming on Facebook
Live for free, but this limits your options
when it comes to bringing in revenue
from streaming personal ceremonies like

weddings. Additionally, Facebook Live

limits the length of your stream, which may
cut your service or study group broadcast
short. When you host your stream on your
own site, you drive traffic and pageviews
to where people can explore other
information and remain engaged. You also
have more options in terms of capturing
contact information, donations, and other
information from prospective congregants.
Unlike other services, Livestream is a flat-rate
provider, so youll never be charged extra
for more viewers or the amount of time
your audience watches. Whether youre
a small, tight-knit church community or a
massive temple, mosque, mega-church,
there is a livestreaming solution that will fit
your needs and budget and help you reach
more followers.
See Plan Comparison Chart on p22

Spreading the Word

Once youve selected a streaming platform,
you want to make sure you get the word
out about your livestreaming services in
your worship community. Livestream offers
a feature that allows your audience to sign
up for notifications directly on the site. That
way every time you post a new stream,
they will be automatically notified via email
with no effort on your end. Many houses
of worship also use email, newsletters, and
social media to share their streams and
grow their community. Livestreaming is a
great way for new community members
to try out your house of worship when
looking for a new congregation.
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Donations + Growth
Livestream also offers a feature called
Audience Booster that allows you to turn
your worship videos into native ads on
websites like USAToday, MSN.com, and
ESPN and guarantees a certain audience
viewership boost based on your budget.
Many houses of worship also use their
livestream portal to solicit donations. If
your church offers weddings, baptisms,
funerals or other facility rentals, you can
sell packages with a live video option so
friends and family around the world can
share in the moment. Currently, Livestream
Enterprise customers can solicit donations
through their Livestream account page or in
their video embed on their website. Anyone
watching their live services will be able to
easily donate right where they watch.

Case Studies
Now that you know everything about
how to get started with livestreaming your
services and special events, here are three
examples of congregations who have
broadened their community and exceeded
their goals with livestreaming.

St. Joseph
Catholic Church
and School
Fayetteville, AR
According to TJ Barnes, Athletic Director at
St. Joseph Catholic Church and School, its
time for the Catholic Church to get techy. St.
Joseph has been in Fayetteville, Arkansas since
1844 and serves over 1500 families with mass in
English and Spanish.
In my opinion the Catholics have been so far
behind everyone else on streaming and bringing
tech into the church and thats because of
tradition, Barnes says, But this is a way we can
come into the 21st century.
St. Joseph is a small school and church, and
Barnes thought they needed something to get
more attention from local families. My main
goal was to differentiate ourselves from the
public schools and offer our families something
better, he says. There are events people want
to see but cannot attend. We wanted to make
them viewable live or post-event.
Barnes, and Paul A. Warren, Director of Church
Operations, oversee the tech side of things at
St. Joseph, but neither have a very technical
background. Im not an IT guy at all, says
Barnes.
Warren and Barnes saw other churches
streaming on YouTube, and considered creating

an app for their church and parochial school.

They initially wanted to broadcast sports
games, but also considered streaming
church services. Whatever they used had
to be easy enough that they could teach
their students to do it too. They contacted a
local app developer who worked with small
church communities like theirs. When we
were trying to figure out how to set it up, we
couldnt get their editor to work correctly,
says Barnes. It just became a hassle.

This is absolutely perfect. We

were looking for a way to get our
product out there and this was
the easiest to access for a wide
variety of people and more userfriendly.
Some people suggested the church try a
free webcast service like Skype, but that
didnt work either. There is a lot of delay,
even with a good connection, says Warren.
We have several people with dial-up still
that live in rural communities and some of
them have satellite internet. Theyre just not
high speed.
After striking out twice, they realized a
parent of one of their students was using
Livestream to broadcast basketball games
to his mother who lived 100 miles away.
He basically sold it to us, says Barnes. He
said: its perfect, his 70 year old mother can
get online and watch. I was thinking, why
are we doing all of these steps with this
other service? Lets go with the easy one.
Warren used Livestream on his own the first
time with some instructions from Barnes.
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The first time everything worked great,

he says. Once its plugged in its pretty
straight forward. You dont have to be too
technically oriented to use it.
Warren was also relieved that Livestream
still worked for families with slower internet
connections. Barnes went back to the app
developer to show him their new set up:
When he saw how easy it was for us to
use as a school they decided to pursue a
Livestream compatibility with their app.
The best thing about Livestream for St.
Joseph? Having an easy setup means its
easier to recruit help. I needed something
I could teach a seventh or eighth grade
student to do. If we can create the event
ahead of time all we have to do is go live
and post it when they stop, says Barnes.
This is absolutely perfect. We were looking
for a way to get our product out there and
this was the easiest to access for a wide
variety of people and more user-friendly.

Keeping Streaming
Affordable
Barnes and Warren have also been able to
monetize the streams. I had a parent and
someone in the church ask what I was doing
and when I explained he wrote us a check,
Barnes says. I never solicited money, but
people enjoy it so much.
Theyre now focused on selling printed
advertisements in the gym with the promise
that theyll be seen on camera. Everytime
the camera swoops by, you prominently

see the business on the stream, says

Barnes. When I pursue advertising Ill say:
we get 1000 people a year that watch this
on Livestream, your business is getting a
view every time the camera is on the court.

Friends and family can watch

or rewatch a funeral or wedding
from anywhere in the world.
The school now broadcasts First
Communions, Good Friday, and Stations of
the Cross services, as well as sports, musical
performances, and graduations. That way
grandparents and aunts and uncles across
the country can watch and say: Theres
little Johnny walking across the stage! says
Warren. The original thought was just to
broadcast sports. Once we got Livestream,
we played with it and realized it had more
applications.

Connecting Their
Community
With such a busy world, it is difficult to
be everywhere for everything, Warren
says. Livestream offers our people an
opportunity to be there when it matters:
dads on business can watch their kid on
the court, friends and family can watch
or rewatch a funeral or wedding from
anywhere in the world. We see it as a live
or playback opportunity for important,
meaningful events.
Barnes has parents contact him all the
time now to ask about the stream. I have

12

parents who text me saying: Dad is stuck in

Omaha or couldnt get on a plane, can you
send him a link so he can watch the game
in an airport? We have it set up so we can
do that. With so much interest, Warren and
Barnes are trying to think of ways to make
the content more interactive.
My goal for next year is to make sure
everyone who wants to watch something
we do is signed up to get the your event
is now live email, says Warren. That just
saves me time communicating which is
what we spend most of our time doing.
Thats another thing I personally like about
the service. Warren also appreciates the
Livestream support team: The customer
service department was unbelievable, he
says. A lot of help.
Ive been pretty surprised our church
events get the views they get, but weve
really just scratched the service of what
we know we can do, Warren says. Wed
love to do weekly broadcasts for shut-ins or
special events and talks it would be great
to stream or have on demand. I love that
we have our events archived. That is a key
benefit.
Barnes still cant believe they waited so long
to get started: Most definitely, this is a very
cost effective way to reach the school and
church audience. The feedback has been
VERY positive.

St. Josephs Solution

Livestream Subscription
Ad-free
Live chat on video
Video-on-demand archive

SONY HD Camera
Livestream Broadcaster Pro

Champions
Centre Church
Tacoma and Bellevue, WA
Champions Centre began as Meridian Christian
Ministries in 1986 with a congregation of 70 in
the Pacific Northwest. In 2000 they rebranded
as Champions Centre after combining with
other congregations and building a robust
worship center. While rebuilding their physical
worship center, they also invested in their online
properties building an Online Campus.
Sometimes in life there are seasons where
its hard for whatever reason to get to a local
church campus, says Mickey Elliott, Web
Developer and Online Campus Media Director
at Champions Centre. Its in these moments
we believe that there is still opportunity to serve
the house and serve others. Champions Centre
set out to break down this barrier and created
what we call our Online Campus.
Champions Centre knew that they needed a
partner in growth for their Online Campus. We
livestreamed on another platform for a couple
years leading up to the switch to Livestream,
says Elliott. As we became more intentional
in our approach to connect with our online
audience, we needed a platform that would
allow us to continue to grow. Livestream has
given us the platform and tools needed to
integrate our current production on campus
and share it with the rest of the world.

Bringing the Church

Online
We do our best to give our viewers the
Church experience wherever they are, says
Elliott. In addition to weekend services, they
also broadcast related messages based on
whatever topic the church community is
currently discussing.

Many of our viewers have

connected with us during the life
of our livestreaming to share how
their lives have changed for the
better.
Streaming on our Online Campus has
created approximately 20% extra traffic to
our site and were just getting started, says
Elliott. Since we have given our attendees
the ability to give online we have seen
approximately 70% of our total giving via
online. Our Online Platform allows our
viewers to stay connected, grow their faith,
and help others anywhere and anytime.
Elliott thinks the key differentiator in their
success is the high quality of their live videos
and the platforms ease of use. Quality is
the most important part of a successful
broadcast, says Elliott. Numbers are
relative. Whether youre just starting out
with no followers or you have many, being
able to deliver your content professionally
really makes the difference in whether or
not people will come back. Our focus as
a church is to move peoples lives forward,
and being able to focus on our promises
without the distraction of technology
is ideal.
15

Touching Lives Through

Livestreaming
In the Fall of 2015, Champions Centre
hosted the Good Things event around the
launch of their Pastor Kevin Geralds book
of the same title. Using the Livestream
Studio Software interview feature, they
were able to remotely interview New York
Times bestselling authors from around the
world live at the event. That was just one of
the many doors this platform has opened
up for us, says Elliott.
Live video has had such an amazing amount
of success and engagement for Champions
Centre that they have developed a way
for online viewers to connect with each
other, volunteer online as prayer partners
in real time, and serve in many other ways.
According to Elliott, their live traffic is the
equivalent of serving an extra congregation
per day.
Many of our viewers have connected
with us during the life of our livestreaming
to share how their lives have changed for
the better, says Elliott. The stories and
connections we receive are the biggest
reason why we keep doing what weve set
out to do.

Love this livestreaming when you just cannot get to

Church. Today was a special blessing.
You are my church now. I have watched online more
than coming since I had to move. God bless you all.
- Champions Centre online viewer testimonials

Champions Centre
Solution
Livestream Annual Plan
Password protection
Video embedding
Tracking and analytics
Advanced customer support
Ad-free
Live chat on video
Donation options on live video

2 static stage cameras

1 jib camera
2 walk arounds
4-5 camera operators
1 media director
1 technical switching director

The Crossing
Church
Ruskin and Tampa, FL
The Crossing Church, led by Pastors Greg and
Tamara Dumas, has a congregation of 4000 and
stream their multiple weekly services online to
reach the maximum amount of people possible.
We really want our people who cant physically
come to the church to feel like theyre a part
of it, says Stephen Robles, Creative Arts and
Technology Director at The Crossing Church.
Watching live is a huge part of feeling like
youre part of that church. All over the world,
people in the military service thank us because
they can tune in live from the Middle East. We
have missionaries watching. The livestream is a
huge part of helping them stay connected to
the church even if they cant be here.
The Crossing Church had previously tried using
Ustream and YouTube but neither offered an
appropriate solution for their ambitious needs.
They needed multiple, high-quality streams
as well as an embedded player in multiple
definitions. They also quickly fell in love with the
features of Livestreams Producer Software.

The livestream is a huge part of

helping them stay connected to the
church even if they cant be here.
For Robles, the key priority is a successful
broadcast: Once I hit go live, I know I dont
have to worry about it starting and stopping.
Its peace of mind for me knowing that the
people on the receiving end are having a good
experience.

That peace of mind is important because

The Crossing Church streams so often: five
services every weekend, a weekly prayer
service and youth service, as well as special
events and holidays.

Building a Following
While The Crossing Church uses social
media to engage with their audience, they
believe having the audience watch on their
page and owned web properties is crucial.
We wanted to keep people on our website,
says Robles. We also have several buttons
underneath that pertain to people who
want to watch online, give online, ask for
a prayer, or download our app. We assume
that if someones watching live, they would
like to interact with other content.
The Crossing Church has around 1400
viewers any given weekend. Thats huge
growth over several years, says Robles.
We treat our online audience as another
campus of the church. Livestream is
compatible with any device and a lot of
people watch on their phones or their smart
TVs at home. Thats really helped grow our
online audience.
Theyve also seen a growth in digital
donations, as well as physical attendance
alongside their streaming efforts. A little
over 50% of contributions are done online
thats huge for us, says Robles. When
people are traveling they might stop
thinking about giving. We let them know
they can still watch live, participate, and
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donate online. Thats helped boost our

online contributions.
In the past five years, The Crossing Church
has doubled their page views. When you
look at the pages that are visited more
frequently, Watch Live is visited more
than any other page on our website, says
Robles. Its our most popular, most visited,
most regularly growing page.
Robles team gets this amazing engagement
by pushing their livestream out to their
audience across multiple channels. Each
livestream is announced across social
media, on their homepage, and via email.
They also have an app that has been
downloaded over 3400 times that features
their livestream. Most of their online
viewership is from mobile.

Its a great outreach tool, a great

way for people to learn more
about the church. We want to
make it as easy as possible to hear
the gospel. Livestream is critical to
that.
We know a lot of current church members
who are traveling or cant make it to church
watch online, says Robles. But it also allows
new folks to check out the livestream first
before coming physically to the church.
They can find us and watch us and continue
watching and consider themselves to be a
part of the church without ever coming in.
No matter the size of the church, Robles feels
livestreaming is an important investment to

Livestream is the best value

on the market and the most
reliable.
reach as many followers as possible. The
last church I was at was much smaller and
when we started livestreaming, about 30
people watched, says Robles. But when
people are in the hospital, or they cant
physically get to church, they still want to
go to church. They are able to do that with
livestream.
Robles doesnt necessarily see livestream
as a means to get more people through
the church doors all that matters is that
people are watching. You dont need a
huge set up to start out, it can be something
simple, he says. Its a great outreach tool,
a great way for people to learn more about
the church. We want to make it as easy as
possible to hear the gospel. Livestream is

19

critical to that.
The Crossing Church recently streamed a
six-hour webinar live. I was unsure how
the livestream and the hardware would
hold up. Every product Ive used in the past,
you hit a certain time streaming and it fails
on you, Robles says. We streamed for six
hours straight, and the quality remained
the same. I trust it. I love Livestream.
Robles considers Livestream the best
choice for houses of worship. Whenever
a church or organization asks me to
recommend a livestreaming platform,
I dont even think twice about it, says
Robles. There are other streaming
services out there that say theyre geared
toward houses of worship, but theyre very
expensive. You dont need to spend that
much. Livestream is the best value on the
market and the most reliable.

The Crossing Churchs

Solution
Livestream Annual Platform
Video embedding
Tracking and analytics
Advanced customer support
Ad-free
Live chat on video

Livestream Producer
Several SDI distribution boxes
Apple Xserve
BlackMagic card
3 Volunteer Camera Operators
1 Volunteer Backstage Manager
1 Volunteer Video Switcher
1 Volunteer CG Operator
3 Staff: Sound, Light, Producer

For houses of worship large and small, livestreaming is a great

way to grow your community, introduce new members to your
congregation, expand your offerings, and bring in donations.
Remember these key lessons:
Once you decide on equipment and workflow, make sure
you have a dedicated full-time or volunteer staff to assist in
production and streaming.
Think beyond streaming weekly services what other
performances, study sessions, or special events can you
share with your online community?
Where will your broadcast live and how will people see it?
Decide if you want to share your streams on social media or
embed them in your organizations website or app.

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Platform Comparison

22

Platform Comparison

23

Interested in taking your church

community online?
Livestream has a variety of solutions that can fit every need and
budget. Talk to a house of worship streaming specialist today to
grow your congregation online and off and spread your message
with the world.

Contact our sales team today

to find the Livestream solution thats right for you.

+1 (646) 490-1679
sales@livestream.com