Churches broadcast services 'live' on Internet

From staff and contributed reports

A growing number of churches have found a way to allow people around the world to watch live worship services.

Live "webcasting" or "streaming video" lets churches broadcast their worship services over the Internet at a fraction of the cost of broadcast television, church leaders say.

"I first stumbled on the idea when I was researching how to develop training videos which could be accessed online through our church's web site," said Al Marguerat, education pastor at New Horizons Fellowship in Apex.

Marguerat said New Horizons is one of a growing number of churches that have discovered the extraordinary value of harnessing the Internet to increase and enhance the church's visibility, outreach and ministry - literally, around the world.

"The key to developing a webcast program in the local church is to find a business that will provide adequate server resources to 'stream' the webcast and store the archived services at a reasonable cost," he said. "The necessary hardware is relatively inexpensive, and the software is available for free."

Kay Tallcott, an administrative assistant at Mud Creek Baptist Church in Hendersonville, said that church started offering a live video stream of its Wednesday night worship services in June. The church works through Somerset House Publishing, a company in Houston, she said.

Once the church made the decision, they discussed their plans with company officials and bought the necessary equipment. The company helped the church get the operation up and running, she said.

"It really wasn't a big deal," Tallcott said.

New Horizons signed up with Instawatch, Inc. about one year ago as their host server provider, Marguerat said.

New Horizons members who are in France or anywhere else with Internet access can participate in worship services, he said.

Tallcott said Mud Creek has gotten feedback from people who have watched the services.

"We've actually had quite a few letters from servicemen who said that even though they had to get up in the middle of the night to watch it, it meant a lot to them," she said. "They said it was like being at home to watch the service."

A webcast can also provide a non-threatening way for spiritual seekers to "try out" the church before actually setting foot on the property.

"Sometimes people are a little anxious about attending church for the first time - or returning to church after a long absence," said Ray Wickham, senior pastor at New Horizons Fellowship. "Others may have had a negative experience in church as a child or young adult. The webcast provides a safe way to find out what the service is like-to take a test drive-without leaving the driveway."

When prospective attenders or church members visit the New Horizons website at www.nhf.cc, they can click on a link to a live webcast or an archived services. The preferred media player opens and begins streaming the webcast in either Windows Media Player or Real Audio formats.

Archived services from New Horizons may be viewed or downloaded to their computer or recordable CD. With the growing trend of iPods and other personal audio devices, New Horizons recently began including the MP3 format as an option.

Webcasting at New Horizons is not restricted to just Sunday morning worship services. Other events and activities can be webcast any time during the week, such as weddings, concerts, training seminars and educational courses.

At Mud Creek's web site,www.mudcreekchurch.org, the Wednesday night services are streamed live, but other services are archived for later viewing.

Marguerat, who also consults with other churches, said there are four basic requirements for developing a webcast program: a desktop computer with an audio-video capture card, encoding-publishing software, one or more video cameras, and a host server provider to "stream" and archive the webcast.

"The technical process is really very easy to learn and implement," he said.

"After everything is set up and operational, it takes just a click of the mouse to begin and end the webcast. Following the service - or even the next day - the archived service is uploaded or 'published' to the host server using a simple FTP software," free from several providers.