Fellowship,
As of this past weekend, all our congregations have moved to a different plan for experiencing services. The services are recorded in our buildings and give worshipers the opportunity to gather “online” at the same time for worship. Simulated livestream services add the new dimension of a “community feel” to our celebrations and give worshipers the ability to “connect” during the worship experience. Before March and the pandemic, we didn’t consider this format because most people who did not attend a worship service listened to Fellowship services via podcast. We really didn’t think that a livestream option would be something many people would utilize. But in this new season, it has become essential.
It has taken awhile to initiate this new facet of Fellowship’s outreach. First of all, we didn’t have the equipment needed and because so many churches were also playing catch-up, the cameras and necessary audio components were backordered for months. Then the equipment had to be installed, which is no easy task. And finally, our staff had to learn to use the equipment and coordinate production with the graphics, audio, video, music, and teaching teams…for four congregations.
All this to say, it was no simple task and our teams continue to work out the kinks and learn new things every day. I want to express my thanks to them for working so hard to get this done. Several members of our Media Resourcing team, led by Russell Dorch, have worked long hours to make our livestream services possible.
Thank you for your patience as we continue to learn and grow during this time. We will continue to stream our services LIVE even after large group gatherings resume. So, even if you are traveling, you will still be able to attend a Fellowship worship service via the internet.
This week on The Ride Home, I interviewed Seth Primm who was key in uniting our teams to record the video of Andrew Peterson’s song, “Is He Worthy.” As of today, over 945,000 people have viewed this video and it will likely reach over 1 million people soon. Seth takes us behind the scenes to learn more about how this video was created. I hope you will join in and listen to our conversation.
Mickey