An Update About Our Livestream

When COVID-19 shut the world down in March of 2020, it changed the way we did church. I can still remember the hours spent recording and editing virtual church services, preaching to the selfie camera on my MacBook. Once we knew it was safe for a handful of people to gather together, we switched to livestreaming our services. That eventually gave way to hybrid worship and then a weekly livestream.

The livestream has been an incredible blessing. For more than three years, it has kept us connected while enabling countless people to discover our church online. It is with incredible gratitude for this technology and a sober awareness of shifting dynamics that church leadership has decided to discontinue the livestream at the end of December.

Why Is the Livestream Going Away?

The decision to discontinue the livestream was not made lightly. I have sensed the end of this era coming for a few months now and some recent developments have brought church leadership to the conclusion that now is the time to discontinue the livestream.

The first of these developments is the diminished quality of our livestream over the last year. As a small church, our livestream has always been a shoestring operation. At the start of the pandemic, we invested in a new computer and a snazzy camera to make the livestream possible. But that new equipment was incorporated into an existing system made up of dated technology and an unstable internet connection. As anyone who has watched the livestream can tell you, the feed is notoriously unreliable—prone to dropping out right in the middle of worship. Our audio quality also leaves much to be desired. We have a small soundboard in our sanctuary that was never designed to capture all the audio of the service for online distribution. Couple that with the need to mount our camera in the balcony at the very back of the sanctuary (about the farthest it could possibly be from the action at the front of the room) and you’ve got a grainy picture that is further degraded by our slow internet connection.

Some have suggested upgrading our equipment. We could buy a new soundboard, new microphones, pay for a faster internet connection, and even relocate our tech room to the main floor of the sanctuary. But the cost in time, money, and energy that would take is not justifiable due to a second development—the reduced usage of our livestream. When we first went virtual, our livestream recieved 60-80 views per week. Most of those were watching live and the average view time was 30 minutes (we see you folks who skip right to the sermon 😉). In more recent months, our livestreams have averaged less than 12 views a week, with an average view lasting 6 minutes and less than 5 people watching live. On the bright side, this has coincided with increased attendance for in-person worship. But as much as we value the livestream for those who cannot be present with us in church, the investment is not worth it for a service that so few now use.

A third development is a recent shift in manpower that will make it difficult to sustain the livestream. Max Young has been our tech guru since the pandemic began—faithfully running the livestream nearly every Sunday. I am extremely grateful to Max for their hours of service and hard work. But after three long years, Max has decided to step down and I fully support their decision. Running the livestream is highly technical work that makes it very difficult to engage in worship and no one should need to serve in that capacity every single week. We could recruit and train more volunteers to pick up the slack, but with the highly specialized nature of the role and our already small volunteer base, we would rather see that energy focused elsewhere.

What Will Replace the Livestream?

I know this news comes as an unwelcome change to many of us. Whether you live out of state, have a physical ailment keeping you from attending worship in-person, or just like to kickback and worship from home in your pajamas on occasion, we are all going to miss the livestream. But never fear—we’ve got you a covered with a few different ways you can stay connected, even from a distance.

This first is to join us for worship in person. For all the blessings virtual worship has brought, one negative side effect is that in-person attendance has become less regular. Just about every week, I hear from someone who won’t be at church this Sunday, “but don’t worry—I’ll catch the service online!” While I am glad we’ve had that option, I have to admit that virtual worship is a poor substitute for the real thing. A lot is missed when we watch church online. In addition to all that we can’t hear (see point #1 in the previous section) we miss out on the embodied, communal aspects of worshipping together. And it’s not just the person worshipping from home who suffers—the congregation gathered in-person misses out as well. If you’ve been worshipping from home for the sake of convenience, it’s time to come back to church. We miss you! And we can’t wait to have you here with us, in-person.

Of course, for many, getting to church every week simply is not an option. Whether you’re a shut-in, sick, traveling, live outside of the area, etc. there will be times when in-person worship is not an option. We’ve got you covered with a service our church has offered for years—the weekly audio recording of our sermons. The sermon audio is uploaded to our website every week, usually by Monday morning. You can listen on our website or subscribe on the podcasting app of your choice—just open the app and search for “Brockport First Baptist.” We have also started uploading a weekly audio recording of the full service on the same feed. So, if you want to hear to the entire service, it’s there for you!

We are also going to experiment with other ways to share portions of our worship services via social media and the newsletter. I am hoping to get higher quality recordings of special music pieces, sermon snippets, and other fun content distributed virtually in the coming months. Subscribe to the First Forward and follow us on Facebook and Instagram to stay connected virtually. If you live locally and want a more personal touch, please reach out and let me know! I am always happy to grab coffee, stop by for a visit, or chat on the phone. I just need to know who’s looking to get connected. Don’t fall through the cracks! Contact the church or shoot me an email and we will get together.

Last but not least, let me speak to all of our non-local friends. Whether you’re a longtime friend of the church who moved out of the area or someone who stumbled upon our livestream during the pandemic, we value your presence in our virtual community. If you are happy to stay virtual, I would invite you to switch to the audio recording of our worship service. But for those who are looking for something more, perhaps this is an opportunity to connect with another congregation that is local to you. There are so many small churches like ours that would be blessed by your presence. I’ve heard from many folks that it’s hard to find a community like ours in other parts of the country—but I promise you, they’re out there! If you’re looking for a church with similar values, I would encourage you to begin with the Mainline Protestant churches (ABCUSA, ELCA, Episcopal, PCUSA, UCC, UMC) in your area. There are also great websites like AWAB and GayChurch.org where you can search for progressive churches near you.

In Closing

Thank you for reading this message and for showing us grace through this transition. Please pray for wisdom for church leadership as we navigate this transition and discern what our church’s virtual presence will look like moving forward. And please pray for everyone who will be impacted by this change. If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to share them with me directly: pastordanbrockway@gmail.com.  

Grace & Peace,
Pastor Dan