If live streaming the weekend worship services is part of your church's long term strategy to connect with people, here are some ways you can incorporate live streaming and podcasting into ministry beyond Sunday.
Jeanette:
Most churches have some sort of live stream for their Sunday services, but could you be doing more? Are there ways that you can incorporate streaming and podcasting into the ministry of your church? Today we're talking about how you can take your church's podcasting and live streaming to the next level.
Bryan:
Hey friends. Welcome to another episode of the Church Juice podcast. Whatever your title or role is in your church, this show is designed to give you the marketing tools, resources, and community that you need to be successful. My name is Bryan Haley, and I'm joined as always by my awesome co-host, Jeanette Yates. Hey, Jeanette.
Jeanette:
Hi. I'm also highly caffeinated.
Bryan:
That's good.
Jeanette:
Yes.
Bryan:
Caffeine's good.
Jeanette:
Yes. Okay. All things live streaming and podcasting. As you're aware, podcasting is one of my favorite things, so I love talking about that. And we're kind of talking about these things interchangeably, because any... I don't, I'm not want to say anything, but most things that you live stream with video, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, you can also turn into a podcast. So we're kind of incorporating those together today,
Bryan:
Just like we're doing. We have the audio version, the podcast. We also have the video, not a live stream, but it's still kind of the same idea. So a lot of churches use their worship service. Obviously you live stream it. Most churches entered that arena during COVID? Right. But a lot of churches also send that same sermon or sometimes the whole service, and they send it out to Apple, Spotify as a podcast, as an audio podcast. So I feel like Sunday is a given, right?
Jeanette:
Yeah. Most churches are doing some form of that.
Bryan:
So let's just talk real briefly, because we're just going to assume that your church is live streaming, or at least recording, putting out a podcast of the worship service, whatever. What are some ways that we could incorporate those people who are watching or listening into the service?
Jeanette:
Well, I think one easy thing is just remember that you're actually doing that. You're actually streaming or recording and putting that out there. So just a simple... As part of your welcome to the people in the room, make a special effort to welcome the people on the live stream. Some churches do... If you have a bigger system, you can do a combination of the two where... I think I've seen this before at North Point Community Church in Atlanta, where in the background you can see what's going on on stage. But there is a person like backstage speaking to you as someone watching online. So while Pastor so-and-so is doing the welcome to the people in the room, I want to extend a special welcome to you. I think that kind of stuff goes a long way. So anytime you can acknowledge them specifically is really helpful. And then of course, in the comments too.
Bryan:
Right. Yeah, I agree. Just find ways that you can keep people who are watching from home engaged because they are still part of the worship service. But we didn't want to talk a whole lot about ways to use your live stream like that. Really what we want to talk about today are some different ways that you could be podcasting or live streaming in your ministry. So we want to give you the tools. We want to give you the tools to think through, okay, beyond Sunday, what could we do to livestream? Or what other video product content could we be putting out there? What about podcasting? What are some of those different things that we could be doing to take this area of ministry that we're already doing and let's incorporate it into the rest of the life of ministry. So I'm going to kick it back to you, Jeanette, real quick, just to... I think, yeah, just bring up the first idea that we have.
Jeanette:
So since we started talking with the worship service, let's just take that and break it down. So the first thing you could do is use the opportunity of a livestream to go deeper into content. Maybe after a Sunday service, your pastor may hear some feedback or hear some questions that people had, I don't know about at your church, but my pastor stands and shakes hands and gives hugs and stuff like that. And people talk to him. And so I think it would be really neat to just have a pastor just go live later and then we can be like, Hey, I talked to some of you guys. These are some questions you have, or these are some things that you shared with me and I just want to expand on that a little bit or do a little bit more teaching or discussion of that. So I think that's just a real easy step. Step one, livestream service. Step two, do a little deeper dive into whatever the sermon topic is.
Bryan:
Because if you're a pastor watching or listening or a pastor in your church who is preparing those sermons, you have content that didn't make the cut. You could have gone deeper in this area or talk about this topic a little bit more. So you already have all that content readily available. So it's something that you can hop on Facebook or Instagram or YouTube or whatever and do a five-minute live video of something that didn't make it into the sermon or take it to the next step or what that next action step would be. I think that's a great idea. I think too, that kind of brings up the point that you should know the tools that your church uses. So does your church use Facebook well? That's a great way to stream. You should also know what your church is known for. We talk about that a lot. And I think that provides an opportunity for your church to create content that is specific for what your ministry is known for, what your church is known for, and find ways to incorporate that into a live stream or a podcast.
Jeanette:
Chances are, whatever your largest ministry is in your church, it's that large because it's effective. It is reaching people, it is connecting with people, it is building relationships. There are a lot of stories there that you could be sharing with the people that are online. And so taking an opportunity, those ministry wins that we gather over the weeks, months, and years. We don't need to just have those in a file. We need to share those stories. We donate to the food bank down the street, and we've done this for 40 years in the case of my church. We've done this long and these are some of the things that have happened as a result. People coming together, these are how many families have gotten fed, these are how many families got their Thanksgiving meals from there. This was a story that happened. That goes a long way to not only just showing the role that you play and the church being part of the community, but also lets the people on the inside know, oh, this ministry is working. We should give more resources. We should continue to put resources there.
Bryan:
And another way to do that too is to highlight... Go behind the scenes of some of the different ministries in your church. So obviously you have the things that you're known for, and you also have in conjunction with that, things that happen every week. So you could easily go behind the scenes and talk about what sermon prep looks like for the pastor, or what does kids' ministry look like preparing for a Sunday? Or what does rehearsal look like for the worship ministry? That could also be used for volunteer recruitment, but it also gives the rest of the church a better idea of what's happening throughout the week, beyond Sunday.
Jeanette:
It's really good to showcase just some of that hard work that goes into it because you know, show up on Sunday mornings as a member, or you watch on online and you just see the final product. But knowing that the pastor, did I follow this lectionary from this place? And you can see it to here, this is the resource I use, this is the concordance, this is how I prepare. Show some of the favorite resources that you use. I think behind the scenes with the worship team would be cool. Just tell me about your instrument. How long have you been playing? What's going on? And then show a little bit of rehearsal, something like that. Just kind of keep it light and casual done. So I think those are good. I also though, do think it's okay to use livestream or podcasting, and maybe this isn't livestream. Maybe you record these and upload them sometimes.
But if you're church... In our last episode, we talked about difficult conversations or issues in the church sometimes come up or maybe there's issues that you want to address beyond the Sunday service, or something that takes more conversation than a quick walk by after church. Use the method of podcasting, use the method of live streaming or a video to do a deep dive on some of those things. Either a devotional series or a Bible 101 series or whatever you feel like is appropriate. Or maybe just have conversations. Maybe show your congregation how to have difficult conversations by modeling that on a live stream, or recorded. You can do that too, but that's another thing too. So yes, you can keep it light, fun behind the scenes. You can also do a little bit of... We want to demonstrate what it's like to discuss important issues with people that may not agree with us in a way that's grace filled. And I'm here with my friend today, we're going to talk about X, Y, Z. That Kind of stuff.
Bryan:
And I see too that there are these relevant issues that we can create a limited series on in a podcast or livestream form or whatever that looks like. But I think there's also the opportunity with those earlier ideas that we talked about to basically create just a show. So you're creating a podcast or you're creating a live stream that you're doing consistently, not necessarily that it has to even be every week, but you're doing something consistently that you can rotate through types of content or different ideas that it doesn't have to be the same all the time, but it's something that people can subscribe to or watch along with, and they'll know they'll get something valuable out of it and you can change it up. And that gives you a little bit of freedom too. So I think there's tons of opportunity there for churches to probably less on the outreach side using livestream and podcasting, but really dive into the life of your church and give people a better connection point throughout the week. I think there's tons of ways to do that.
Jeanette:
But I will say we're giving out all these ideas and we could keep going. Because the ideas are... The possibilities are unlimited. Get creative and we'd love to hear some of the things that y'all come up with. So hop on and let us know what you do with your livestream. There are some people listening going, those sound like great ideas, but that means I actually have to get on camera and that makes me... I don't want to deal. Yeah, that's too complicated. I don't know, whatever. So let's talk a little bit about just some of the basics, some of the things people need to know to get started.
Bryan:
I think that there is a lot of this apprehension towards starting something like a podcast because it seems like it's real techy, but the reality is it's very simple. It doesn't need to be super complicated. You don't have to build in a four-month process of editing and publishing your podcast or whatever. There are apps out there, there are services where you can literally just talk into your phone and that's your podcast. Or you can hop on... The way that we record our podcast here is we just have a website, we go to, we record and then we send it off to our editors. That apprehension doesn't need to be there. Podcasting or live streaming has come a long way and is so much easier now than even just a few years ago.
Jeanette:
I agree. And I do think that also people are more familiar and at this point, live is something that people understand and they understand that you're not going to be perfect. So if it's live, you're going to make mistakes or you're going to mess up your words, or a leaf blower is going to come by or something like that. So you can forgive yourself because other people will too. And if you're content is good, then messing up your words is not the end of the world or something like that. I remember one of the first Facebook Live when Facebook Live came out, I was all over it. I loved it,
But well, one of my mentors and I've talked about him a ton of times, Dave Shrine, he said, you're going to stink at it the first time you do it, so just do it. Because it's going to stink. Once I got, gave myself permission to just be really bad, I did it. But there were so many things... And what I would do is I would actually just make that part of the thing like after it was shared, I would be like, oh my goodness. There would be one time where I would swayed back and forth in my swivel chair the whole time. I was doing the... Just back and forth. Things like that. Or I was holding my phone and I dropped it and I just picked it up and kept going. And that was just part of what... That was part of the deal. And it was almost like, what's our communications director going to do this time that's going to be... And so it can just be part of what's happening. And worst case scenario, you just go delete that thing.
Bryan:
That's true. Yeah.
Jeanette:
Then only a few people saw it. It's fine.
Bryan:
Yeah, I think there's... Especially outside of Sunday, there's that freedom with something that's live, that it's raw and unedited. So I think you have a lot more freedom when you're just hopping on Instagram or Facebook to be real. And that gives you a lot of opportunity for, like you were saying, trial and error and just mess up. It's not going to be great the first time. It's all right. You just keep at it. And with anything, you get better, right?
Jeanette:
Yeah, hopefully.
Bryan:
Hopefully. I guess I know that a lot of communicators... Well every communicator I know has a lot on their plate. Everyone feels overworked. There's a million things that they could be doing. So how do they spend their time? How do I add this podcast or this livestream idea into my regular work? And I think the answer there is that this should be a way that you are repurposing the content that you have. So beyond the sermon or whatever, behind the scenes of the sermon, preparing for the sermon, that's content that's already there. The other things that you could be doing with your podcast or your livestream, those are ways that you could turn into blog content or take your blog content and create audio or video out of it. So find ways to repurpose the content that you're creating here.
Jeanette:
Exactly. I think especially if you're just dipping your toe in the water of this, do the stuff that you... Just use the stuff that you already have, the sermon, the sermon prep, the worship prep, all that stuff is already going on. Just open up the live stream on it. Right? And then there's a few basics though. We struggle with some of these. So I just wanted to hit... Actually Facebook had an article I found just about these are just some basic things that you want to think about. And so I thought I'd just real quickly as we start to wrap up here, just kind of hit some of the things. We always do this, Brian and I do this whenever we get logged in here every week, is like, are we on do not disturb? Are the notifications on our side turned off so that we're not getting dings and phone rings and stuff?
So that kind of stuff, of course, make sure you have a strong connection. I mean, that's obvious. One of the things they say is stay. When you open a live stream, you need to stay for a few minutes. You need to stay and kind of hang out there, right? So, because what happens when you go live, anybody that's following your page, or if you're going live in your Facebook group, anybody that's following your Facebook group or if you're on Instagram, anybody that's following you, it's going to get a notification that you're live. But it's going to take a few minutes for them to get notified and then give it a few minutes. So that's one thing they say. And then I always try to... I don't want to click bait anybody, but I try to let people know there's a place where you can put a little description of what's... And is this, we're just doing birthday shout-outs or is this your advent devotional for this week.
Bryan:
What to expect.
Jeanette:
What to expect. So put something in there if you, it is a more relaxed behind the scenes kind of fun thing, maybe make it a little bit like, oh, I wonder what's happening. If it is something that they've grown to expect, then you want them to know this is your daily devotional or this is whatever. And then I always like to make sure as I'm closing out any lives that I'm doing, that I'm actually giving people a CTO course. We do that when we do a podcast or when we're doing our video for YouTube. We do that, but also tell people like, do you want them to leave comments? Do you want them to sign up for something? Do you want them to donate? If you're talking about the behind the scenes of some ministry, do you want them to be involved in that in some way? Tell them something that you want them to do and give them a call to action so that they know how to interact and how to connect with you further.
Bryan:
Well, that's a great point to end on too. I think that everything that we talk about in the church should have a clear next step. So every announcement that we make, there should be a clear next step what you want me to do when we end the sermon. What do you want me to do with that sermon? When we communicate anything, there should be a clear next step and your podcast or your live stream or whatever is no different. Always give somebody that call to action, that next step that you want them to take and explain what's going to happen too. I think that's a great idea and something that I think a lot of, not just churches, but a lot of organizations miss out on too.
Jeanette:
And one last thing I did... And the only reason I put this at the very last thing on our list, because this is something that I need to do because I did a live stream yesterday. I did a live stream yesterday, and there were people in the comments and I was responding to them and engaging with them during the livestream. But of course, people are going to watch that later. They're going to check in, they might put a comment. You need to circle back to any comments that you have during livestream after the fact periodically, just to make sure you didn't miss one or something. Because a lot of times people may ask a question. We had several people asking questions after the fact that we need to circle back and answer. And that's just furthering that engagement on that particular [inaudible 00:19:18].
Bryan:
And it keeps the content going beyond the five minutes that you're actually live or whatever. So that's great. Thanks for sharing those ideas. I appreciate it. So it gives me some ideas too for my own church, and I hope that as you're watching or listening that this was something that you've been thinking about maybe, or just trying to come up with some ideas and brainstorm a little bit and hopefully that conversation we just had is helpful to you.
Thanks for listening to the Church Juice Podcast. If you haven't already, make sure to subscribe wherever you are listening today. It would mean a lot to, if you took the time to leave us a review. That helps other church leaders find the podcast so we can continue to serve and support churches by energizing communications. By the way, we'll continue today's discussion in our Facebook group. You can find the link to our group along with today's show notes @ churchjuice.com/podcast.
Jeanette:
The Church Juice podcast is a listener supported production of Reframe Ministries, a family of programs designed to help you see your whole life reframed by God's gospel story. Church Juice is produced by Bryan Haley with post-production by Minimal Media Company in Grand Rapids, Michigan. For more information about Church Juice, visit churchjuice.com. For information on Reframe Ministries and our family of programs, visit reframeministries.org.