Because of the current pandemic, many churches are looking for ways to reach their congregation in a world where our physical touch is limited. Often churches don’t have a large budget to carry out this task, or they don’t have a technical staff to assist with equipment, training or the streaming aspects of going online. Even after the pandemic ends and life goes back to “normal,” there is still a generation of people who want more than the Sunday experience.
People want connection.
Today’s world has more marketing, content, and social media posts than ever before, and we have an entire generation of people who depend on this connection through this virtual means. This generation wants information and content delivered to them at their convenience when they are on the go, at work, or home. They want to be able to access their “church” both in realtime and on-demand. This is the new church.
I believe if Paul had social media, YouTube, video editing, and the Internet, he would have worked tirelessly to spread the good news. We see in the New Testament how hard he worked to further the gospel message, and he had to write letters and walk long distances to his next sermon. At the same time, I understand there are some churches without the budget or technical know-how to complete this task. Therefore I’m going to dedicate a series of blog posts to provide a guide for churches at this time. This post will not be an exhaustive how-to but rather the basics to get you started.
Enter OBS Studio.
OBS Studio is a video mixer that allows you to create scenes and inject multiple camera sources, audio sources, and media. The interface is immaculate, and it pretty easy to learn and get up and running. The best part about OBS Studio is that it is free. You can download the software from www.obsproject.com. With this software and a USB webcam, you can begin producing content or recording a sermon. Most church soundboards have a way to output 3.5mm audio that would plug into the microphone jack on the PC or MAC running OBS Studio. Now, the quality of the stream and sound will get you by if you are on a shoestring budget.
If you already have a computer, the webcam and software will run you about $100.00. When you’re not using the camera to stream a sermon, you can use it to build content that you can stream to Facebook, YouTube, and a bunch of other streaming services without incurring any hosting or streaming fees.
Step it up a notch.
If you have a little bit of a budget and already own a computer with a GPU capable of encoding the OBS Studio video well, then I would suggest picking up a Blackmagic DeckLink Reorder ($125.00). It allows you to ingest an HDMI video source into OBS Studio at resolutions up to UltraHD. You could later upgrade to a video switcher and have multiple cameras down the road.
OBS Studio, however, will give you the final polished look with overlay graphics and transitions between multiple sources. It will also allow you to create scenes and assign hotkeys to switch between scenes easily. It is a great way to take your video stream to the next level without incurring a monthly or annual streaming fee or pay a service to handle your live stream traffic. Also, there are hundreds of YouTube tutorials out there (see below for a couple of links to get you started) that will take you from novice to master in no time.
YouTube Links:
Building a Better Church Livestream with OBS