by Jeff Reed: With the reductions and restrictions of large gatherings over the past week, churches all over the world have been forced to create a space for their church family to gather together on the weekend, without physically being next to one another. For portable City Light Church in Rochester Hills, MI, this meant immediate action of creatively deciding how to continue meeting after being asked to vacate the school they were meeting in until the threat of the coronavirus has subsided.
Not ever having live video streamed their weekend services before, and after seeing the release of the portable live streaming kits (CODE Series) announced just over a week ago by Portable Church® Industries and Living As One, the leadership at City Light decided the NCODE Series 1 was exactly what they needed to continue their weekend gathering online.
“On Wednesday, March 11th, I received a call from our school telling us that due to the virus they were canceling all reservations and outside renters effective immediately,” Lead Pastor, Jason Rollin, says. The school has not given City Light Church a return date, nor an exact process of how they will be notified of a reinstatement of their rental agreement. Since the school is complying to state and federal requests to temporarily shut the school down, once those authorities give the ‘all clear’, City Light will be allowed to return.
When asked what his initial thinking and plan was after the school informed him of the shut down, Pastor Jason explained, “My initial thinking was simple… how can we still have church? I remembered getting emails from Portable Church® Industries about their new live streaming solution in the beginning of March. I never thought we were ready or in a good place to begin live streaming yet, so I didn’t give it much thought at the time. But when everything happened with our school, I immediately remembered the emails from PCI.” Pastor Jason goes on to explain how he immediately called Portable Church® Industries after being notified of the shut down and asked if the new CODE Series streaming solutions would work for them. “They were very confident this could be an answer to prayer. After checking to see how many they had left in stock, they discovered there was only one more unit available at the time. I said yes, I’ll take it!”
Within 48 hours of being notified to vacate the school they were meeting in, City Light Church received their NCODE Series 1 live streaming solution on Friday, March 13th from Portable Church® Industries. After receiving the NCODE, they were given an on-board training call from Living As One that same day for assistance and guidance in setting up and learning the Living As One streaming platform. Within minutes, they were operational and prepared to live video stream their worship service for that Sunday.“Our church was so excited when they heard the news that we would still have church on Sunday! They couldn’t believe that even though we are a portable church, and a fairly young church, that we could have the capability of doing this in spite of everything going on in the world. Our people got so excited that they started organizing ‘watch parties’ at different homes throughout the community where they would watch service together and still have limited fellowship,” said Pastor Jason.
By using a CODE Series live streaming solution alongside the Living As One streaming platform, City Light Church was able to simultaneously live video stream to their website, Facebook, and YouTube on Sunday, March 15th. With an average weekly attendance of 400, Pastor Jason estimates their online attendance on Sunday reached 358 viewers via their website, 1,286 viewers via Facebook, and 110 viewers via YouTube. 1,754 people not only viewed City Light’s livestream on Sunday, but virtually worshiped our Lord together through the internet.
When asked how easy the NCODE Series 1 was to setup and use, this is what Pastor Jason had to say… “The CODE was incredibly easy to setup and use. The on-boarding call from Living As One was so great and easy to understand. They really made it user friendly for people to get started right away and their customer service team was amazing. They answered emails within 10 minutes and their tech support on Sunday was simple. No wait, answered my questions, just perfect. One of the features I love about the solution is after we film our live service, we can then rebroadcast that message as many times as we want that day as if it were live. It gives people multiple opportunities to watch the service. You can still preach the Gospel to your congregation through the internet even if you’re not the biggest tech guy or don’t have a big tech team.”
The easy-to-use and portable NCODE Series 1 live streaming solution allowed City Light Church the ability to broadcast their worship service from a remote location (a warehouse), and gave their church family the opportunity to gather together via live video streaming online. With the situation we as a society are currently facing, there is much uncertainty and fear. But we as a body of Christ have hope and know that God is bigger than any sickness. Ministry does not need to stop just because the world has. Pastor Jason says it best, “Portable Church® Industries and Living As One have made the CODE Series so incredibly simple to live stream that I truly believe anyone and any church can live stream on Sunday mornings. Because of our displacement, we are literally filming our service from an old warehouse. If we can do it, you can too. This is a unique time in history. People in the world are looking for hope, and we have the opportunity to continue to share that hope. Church might look differently for a few months longer, but embrace technology and watch what Jesus does!
For more information on Portable Church® Industries and Portable Church® solutions, please visit portablechurch.com. To learn more about the Living As One streaming platform, please visit livingasone.com.
To view all CODE Series streaming kit options, please click here.
Source: Church Live Video Streams Weekend Service from Remote Location