Monday, August 4th, 2008...4:46 pm
How To Live Broadcast Your Event or Church Service Online For FREE
There is a fantastic new service that makes it VERY easy to live broadcast your event through the internet. One of the particularly neat features is that it allows you to broadcast through multiple websites at once. That means you can put live streaming video in a blog, website, Facebook page or anywhere else that allows you to embed a video.
A Few Quick Steps to get Setup
1. Setup a camera that can be fed directly into a computer.
This can be the web camera on your laptop or even a multi-camera system at a big church. Don’t worry about having the camera setup perfect the first time, just do it and work out the bugs later.
2. Sign Up for a USTREAM.tv account
You will get a profile and access to all the code you need to embed it into other sites here.
3. Hit Broadcast Now
You are going to flip when you realize how easy this is. It took me maybe 5 minutes to setup on my laptop.
Do You Pass Rattle Snakes, Dance Around with Flags or Knock People Out with the Palm of Your Hand? Let Me Know Upfront…
Its definitely courteous to explain to people the flow and activities of your service before they get there. What better way to show it than through live video? Live Streaming Video could also be beneficial for folks who are home sick or people working in the nursery.
Aaron Marshall is the founder of a Louisville KY based company 
10 Comments
August 4th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
great post!
An idea we have for Ustream (or other broadcast sites) is to stream member meetings, new member classes, training, etc (especially since these sites can save the stream and post to YouTube).
Very valuable resource!
a-ron
August 4th, 2008 at 10:40 pm
Now if I could only get wifi access at the school we meet at. Someday…
Seriously, good post. I think you are right when you say that live video is a courteous way to show people the what your church service is about especially when it comes to people who have never stepped foot into a church before.
August 5th, 2008 at 6:44 am
Thanks for another great tip! I can’t thank you enough for the stuff you pass along!
August 15th, 2008 at 3:29 am
Aaron,
You are truly a very cutting edge leader and I commend you for your work and research. However, I hope you don’t mind if I don’t get real excited about Ustream and other such free sites and offer you and your readers another perspecitive for prayerful consideration and reflection. I have been in the streaming business for over 3 years as a ministry leader and I can tell you one thing for sure. Nothing is FREE! Granted you and many others may not spend money to use a service, but someone is paying for the bandwidth and storage and that is usually the advertizers. Of all the free sites out there, the only sites that comes close to holding up a value that embraces good advertisement values without concern is GodTube and MyPraize that are free and ad driven. I wrote an entire blog article about this that is located at this linkhttp://tinyurl.com/6dye6e if you or any of your readers want another perspective on the Dangers of free with a true story and more details.
Thanks for staying on the cutting edge, but do be aware that I have stumbled upon soft porn and other objectionable material on more free sites than I wish to admit. I was not looking for it, but it was just a click away and the images can often be found right next to a good video when people post content with Christian words so that their entrapping content is seen by default and viewed by a Christian Audience at good content.
What stirred me to comment on this was: when I clicked on your UStream link in your blog post I was viewing some guys drinking beer and using some foul language and it took me a minute to realize that it was not your broadcast or site per see, but I found that content from your link and blog. So all things considered If I can ever provide the longer I am online within the social arena I am beginning to not value Free for driving a Christian audience to as much as using it to win the lost from a ses pool of filth.
Cheers!!
From a pastor dude with a different perspective!
Peter
God Bless
Peter
August 19th, 2008 at 10:31 am
Peter, you raise a good point! for those of you who didn’t read his post go here and see it http://tinyurl.com/6dye6e
I would love to see someone else weigh in on this. I have not fully developed my position on this yet.
One thing I will say…
Too many people are scared of technology. I won’t be the guy telling people to be cautious. This blog is about pushing the envelope for the Gospel, aimed at ministry folks who are led by the spirit and can make their own right judgments.
The pendulum has swung for far to long towards “caution”.
But like I said I haven’t fully developed my position here yet
Thanks for your perspective Peter!
August 20th, 2008 at 1:01 am
Aaron,
I agree with pushing into tech. I am all about it. But indeed finding a health holy balance is needed. I enjoying your post!~
Keep at it!
Cheers
Peter
August 28th, 2008 at 2:58 pm
[...] this afternoon. I’m actually thinking about a way to impliment this service in ministry (see this post over at CHURCHSMO), not just my blog, so there is a reason for me doing [...]
August 29th, 2008 at 11:59 am
[...] USTREAM [...]
September 4th, 2008 at 3:24 am
I agree to a certain extent about watching your back on the free sites. For two reasons:
1.) You can’t choose what shows up around your videos/broadcasts, and what does show up could be questionable. They don’t match up advertisements with the morals and ethics of the broadcaster. Just can’t be done.
2.) Look closely at the contract you are agreeing to when you choose almost any broadcast site (free or paid). That company can use your media however they want. They can edit or even sell it. They can actually turn your wholesome video into something not so wholesome and you can’t do anything about it because you signed the contract.
With that said, here’s another point to ponder, and the reason we are choosing UStream.tv. Our church uses live broadcasting as a ministry to reach souls within and outside of our community. We aren’t merely using the broadcast as a convenience for a sick or traveling member of the congregation. We are trying to reach out. You don’t go out knocking on doors of fellow church members as a ministry. You knock on doors that you do not know. You go to prisons, shelters, or even bars. So, why broadcast only on christian based sites and wait on the lost to come to YOU? Get out there, take the risk of being next to beer guzzling ads because that is where you’ll find souls to win to Christ. So, before you choose a place to broadcast through, think about your goals and purpose of your broadcast. Who is your target audience? Are you merely wanting to use the broadcast as a convenience to members of the congregation or other churches/Christians? Or are you wanting to use your broadcast as a ministry, reaching out to the lost? (I realize that lost souls can be on christian based sites too, but the masses will likely be on the sites that offer other genre’s).
Just my two cents…..
September 25th, 2008 at 11:54 am
With all due respect to Peter’s position and concerns, I will advocate the exact opposite approach. For years now, the church as built “gated communities” to eliminate things that we don’t want to have bumping up next to us (or to our content).
In sharp contrast, my current church (roughly 1 year old now) is constantly looking for ways to push ourselves out into the community. We worship in a movie theater, and no, we don’t get into a fight with the theater owners over what movies are being shown, even in the theater that we occupy.
To be sure, he risks from places like MySpace are very real, but are just as real regardless of whether or not people of faith hang out there or not. However, there’s a huge difference between giving your blessing (implicit or not) to a space, and invading that space with a higher purpose. You don’t go in without knowing what you’re getting into, to be sure, but simply retreating to a “holy space” is to me, the wrong approach.
We currently don’t own a building, and have no plans (at this time) to do so. Why keep the church within the walls, and not push it out into the world? Consider me a contrarian. - Tim
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