Helping Houses of Worship Live Stream Before Easter Holiday

THIS IS A PROMOTED POST FROM PTZOptics

Worship Summit Live to Be Held April 2

By Paul William Richards
Chief Streaming Officer, PTZOptics

PTZOptics is announcing a full day of worship technology education that will happen on April 2nd. According to an April 2019 Gallup poll, half of Americans are church members. Like AV insiders have known for quite some time, a tremendous opportunity exists in the house of worship market. Houses of worship are facing challenges with aging members and shut-ins unable to attend regular services. By integrating technologies for live streaming, houses of worship can broaden their audiences and reach these groups who otherwise wouldn’t be able to attend services. Helping worship leaders and volunteers connect their churches with online audiences is a rewarding experience. Helping churches to spread the message of God with video production tools requires audiovisuals that can bridge the gap between powerful video communications and intuitive end-user controls. The team at PTZOptics has become one of the top solution providers for the HOW market, by making PTZ cameras, joystick controllers, and complete live streaming systems that are designed for entry-level users. A recent case study by PTZOptics shows that over time, live streaming technologies have helped these houses of worship attract younger members and expand their appeal.

The video above shows Olivet United Methodist Church, in Coatesville, Pennsylvania, a city that has struggled economically over the past several decades. Many people in this city are devout churchgoers. After just two months of live streaming, Olivet was able to connect with church members from all around the world, including some who had moved away and others who were temporarily homebound or on vacation. Their new live streaming system was in place just before Christmas of 2018 and, in that time, the church media team was able to live stream a candlelight service, the 2018 Christmas service and a special baptism. The live streaming system has connected housebound parishioners like Tori Parker, who said, “Glad I can be here, even from my couch as I recover from surgery.” The church uses a PTZOptics Producer Kit which leverages two 20X-SDI cameras with a PTZ joystick controller.

In 2019, I wrote a book called “Helping Your Church Live Stream,” which we made available for free to any house of worship. It outlines important topics that surround live streaming technology such as accepting donations online. In January 2020, the PTZOptics team hosted an online conference called Worship Summit Live to share the experiences from houses of worship like Olivet.

Little did we know or could we imagine that the COVID-19 pandemic was about to disrupt several countries, sickening thousands of people and preventing us from leading our daily, normal lives. To continue our teaching momentum and to help ensure that people can still have a faith experience, we are hosting Worship Summit Live 2.0 April 2, 2020, from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET, immediately prior to Holy Week. Worship Summit Live will offer a full day of education to those engaged in technologies for houses of worship. The completely virtual summit will bring together church production experts who will lead instruction on the best communications and audiovisual tools for houses of worship to better connect with the communities they serve. Dr. Barry Hill will be our keynote speaker. Hill, a professor of audio engineering and an expert in musical ministry, is the author of “Mixing For God: A Volunteer’s Guide to Church Sound.”

As live streaming technologies allow worship services to be brought to worshipers directly, we can help provide a sense of normalcy and community amidst these uncertain times. Worship Summit Live virtual attendees will also have the opportunity to participate in a trivia game, with the chance to win a PTZOptics live streaming camera.

To learn more about Worship Summit Live, go here. To reserve your free or VIP tickets, go here.