My wife, Nicole, and I immensely enjoy our DVR courtesy of our U-verse subscription. Some of my favorite shows are The Daily Show, The Colbert Report and The Office. It is great to be able to watch whenever we want.
Is this the right thing for the church?
At Resurrection we recently began live streaming of two of our worship services at live.cor.org. This is a live stream of the worship experience that is actually happening at our central campus. But what if it was not happening live physically? One approach is to have the worship service being broadcast online taped from a previous service. This lowers a technological barrier and makes worship “live” in that it is being experienced at the same time by people via the internet.
Is this the thing to do?
I keep going back and forth as to whether this actually matters or not.
Rev. Andrew Conard 
4 replies on “DVR Church (1 of 2)”
I honestly don’t think it matters. I think I prefer live to simulated live, but overall if the word is good and you present it with a “live” mindset, there will be very little difference in reaction.
LC.tv uses simulated live for the internet. This allows us to do more experiences throughout the weekend and some on Tuesday. We are also able to offer experience times for GMT so that others across the pond and the pacific can experience God in those times that are more convenient for them.
We know that prayer/worship/the Word of God knows no boundaries and is not any less able to perform or lose any power based on the live factor.
What people I think really want to know is are they being cared about, are they able to connect in a live environment, etc.
hope that was coherent. I am not having a very good track record with that today =]
Disclaimer: I work for LifeChurch.tv, but this doesn’t mean it reflects their views or theirs are mine.
A few things to ponder…
How would that work for the 10:45 service? Would you tape the 9am service and show that? I assume for the 5pm service you would show Saturday’s service, right?
Would these taped services be available for viewing at your convenience? I know you can already watch previous sermons whenever you want, but it would be nice sometimes to watch the whole service.
Personally, I find it kind of thrilling to know I’m seeing what the people in the sanctuary are seeing at that very moment. That being said, I really don’t think it matters either way as long as people still have a traditional and contemporary choice.
I will say this, I’m thrilled that we’re broadcasting live online now! I wish this had been in place last winter too (this will be our second and final winter of keeping the boys home so as to avoid RSV). My computer will get a good spiritual workout this winter 🙂
Mark- Thanks for your thoughts and perspective from lifechurch.tv. The flexibility for different time zones is definitely an opportunity that is limited with actual live services. I particularly appreciate the perspective of the power of prayer and worship. I had not thought about this before, and had assumed that it would make a difference if it was live, but perhaps not. You may be right – the power of God’s word can be felt and experienced whether or not it is a live event.
Helen – I think that you have good assumptions about the 10:45 and 5:00 PM services broadcasting the previous service. I do not think that it would be possible to have the entire service available on demand. For copyright reasons first of all, but I also think that not experiencing something as a community would not be categorized as worship. I would like to hear more of your thoughts here… I am glad that it will be helpful for you this winter 🙂
I believe we should worship as a community in a “Holy” sanctuary. Lifechurch.tv is an alternative for those who find it impossible to worship at COR because of distance, limitations of time, illness, unavailable transportation, etc.