What This Livestream Moment Means for the Church

Quick to Listen

Christianity Today

Religion, Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.3 • 622 Ratings

🗓️ 25 March 2020

⏱️ 48 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Transcribed highlights of the show can be found in our episode summaries. Within a matter of weeks, COVID-19 government restrictions have led thousands churches to livestream their services. This week, the Church Online Platform announced that it had reached a record-setting 7 million in church attendance worldwide, about seven times the attendance from just two weeks before. But for some pastors and church leaders, transitioning to this new normal has been challenging or at times painful. “I’m not going to tell you our service today will be awesome and unmissable, or the best online service that will change your life. I was sick and the sermon was just ok,” tweeted New York City based pastor Jon Tyson. “In fact I have found this online stuff sad and hard. Preaching to a camera is not what I was made for.” As pastors and church leaders with little livestreaming experience transition to this mode of communication, they should avoid getting too caught up with perfectionism, says Daniel Fusco, the lead pastor of Crossroads Community Church in Vancouver, Washington, whose church has years of livestreaming experience. “For every church, you need to do whatever you're doing in a way that is authentic to who you are,” said Fusco. “...People attend a specific church because it speaks to them.” Fusco joined digital media producer Morgan Lee and editorial director Ted Olsen to discuss livestreaming best practices, how to think creatively in this medium, and what it's like for church leaders to prepare for a livestream v. a traditional Sunday morning service. What is Quick to Listen? Read more Rate Quick to Listen on Apple Podcasts Follow the podcast on Twitter Follow our hosts on Twitter: Morgan Lee and Ted Olsen Visit our guest’s website: Daniel Fusco Read Daniel’s Preaching Today articles: Preaching, Technology, and COVID-19 Leading a Digital Church Music by Sweeps Quick to Listen is produced by Morgan Lee and Matt Linder The transcript is edited by Bunmi Ishola Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This episode is brought to you in part by The Apologetics Guy Show, the podcast that helps you find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity.
0:11.1	Learn to explain your faith with courage and compassion. Join Moody Bible Institute professor Dr. Mikhail del Rosario at apologeticsky.com.
0:23.3	Within a matter of weeks, COVID-19, government restrictions have led thousands of American
0:29.3	churches to live stream their services. On Sunday, March 8th, the church online platform
0:35.0	streamed worship to more than 4.7 million devices, which is more than four times its typical reach.
0:40.8	The ministry also said that in a seven-day span, 8,800 churches had joined their platform.
0:48.0	But for some pastors and church leaders, transitioning to this new normal has been challenging or at times painful. I'm not going to tell you
0:55.9	our service today will be awesome and unmissable or the best online service that will change your life.
1:01.0	I was sick and the sermon was just okay, tweeted New York City based pastor John Tyson. In fact, I have
1:06.5	found this online stuff sad and hard. Preaching to a camera is not what I was made for. In a later tweet,
1:12.4	he wrote, tomorrow I'll set my heart, lean into a new reality, embrace the opportunity,
1:17.1	leverage technology, build for the platforms. Get a black belt and using Zoom for pastoral care,
1:22.6	all the online things. We wanted to spend this week focusing on churches who are reaching a digitally engaged
1:28.3	population. Next week we'll talk about churches who pastor congregations who are less connected.
1:33.1	To that end, we wanted to discuss best practices and creativity and church service live streams,
1:37.5	but also how church leaders' headspaces are changing as they try to meet their congregations
1:42.3	digitally. Today is Wednesday, March 25th,
1:46.8	and you are listing to Quick to Listen,
1:48.8	where we go beyond hashtags and hot tags to discuss a major cultural event.
1:53.2	I'm Morgan Lee, digital media producer here at Christianity Today.
1:56.6	And I'm Ted Olson.
1:57.8	I'm editorial director at Christianity Today.
	...

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