It’s been said that video without lighting is just radio. The point being that it takes great lighting to make great video and a story isn’t complete without compelling audio (most of the time, at least). With YouTube stats setting records every year, we’re clearly a video-obsessed culture here in North America.

It is no surprise, then, that churches have decided to leverage this powerful media. Enter online church or, as some call it, church online. From a simple Web stream of a single camera to full-blown online services complete with an online campus pastor, volunteers and a broadcast television quality production, this explosive growth area is one where our industry is clearly suited to serve the House of Worship market well.

Historical Precedent

While church online is relatively new, multi-site campuses  and even missionary teaching videos have existed for decades. Count, too, podcasts and videocasts and it’s obvious there have been a number of do-it-yourself video tools available for years. But when DIY isn’t enough, our industry is clearly poised to offer a wide array of products and services to fit the exact niche of every church.

Many church leaders are unaware of the potential complexities of graduating from DIY video cameras and built-in microphones for shooting in an office or study to capturing and/or streaming entire services online. Any professional understands what’s required to get the kind of results that are often expected in a multi-camera production, but this is still new territory for many — and I’d say most — church leaders. Education is part of the requirement, but so is understanding viable options for creating a scale-as-you-grow approach, limiting technical complexities in favor of creating stepping stones for reaching an online audience.

Church Online Platform

While a relatively small percentage of churches offer online campuses, the leading church in the space, LifeChurch.tv, released Church Online Platform in 2012 as a built-from-the-ground-up Internet campus tool for churches to use.

Bobby Gruenewald is a significant leader in this space, and as the Innovation Leader for LifeChurch.tv, he has a lot of experience with not only the online church toolset, but is also the leader of YouVersion.com, a mobile and Web Bible App that has over 50 million installations on mobile devices. Bobby was listed in Fast Company’s top 150 people to watch, so wide is his influence. Speaking about the Church Online Platform, Bobby said “we’ve been looking forward to this moment for a long time,” when the toolset launched in January of 2012. “Through the partnership of a handful of like-minded churches,” said Gruenewald, “we were able to start over from square one and develop a solution that churches everywhere could use to launch an online ministry.”

The LifeChurch.tv platform is completely free, but that doesn’t mean it’s free to launch a church online. Here is where service providers, online tools, hardware and software all collide. The options are seemingly endless, so systems integrators have an entirely new market to address with their vast experience in production in the context of online church or streaming services. Manufacturers can market existing technologies that serve nearly identical purposes in other markets and adapt the messaging to this growing segment of the house of worship market.

Value Proposition

Rarely has a market opened up that so closely resembles what’s been done on television and through corporate and education market contexts for years. This is the proverbial shoe-in, with the caveat being a different kind of engagement than the other markets require.

Churches are similar to other organizations in that they want to expand their reach, increase their influence and connect with more people. The Internet is the biggest potential audience in the world, but the bigger draw is perhaps the church’s ability to be found by potential attendees online. Where a website is important, allowing a visitor to virtually attend a service is incredibly valuable for those searching for a church home.

From an AVL perspective, the entire gamut of options, from simple streaming options to full-blown online campuses, requires the very technologies served by this industry. Further, the opportunity and potential for repeat business through expansion, multi-site and multi-venue is lucrative for manufacturers and systems integrators alike is substantial.

It is estimated that there are now thousands of churches streaming services online in one fashion or another, but the number of online churches is still a fraction of a percent of the churches in North America. This future trend is ripe with potential and opportunity, and one that the audio, video and lighting industry should notice – and address – now.

A former staff member at three mega churches and church technology consultant, Anthony Coppedge has developed a respected reputation as a leader in technical and communications circles within the church marketplace. Reach him at anthony@anthonycoppedge.com or on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/anthonycoppedge