People are always out of town more often during the summer months, and that is likely to be
especially true this summer, after two years of curtailed travel plans and postponed family
gatherings. There’s pent-up demand for travel, and your church families are sure to be hitting the
road multiple times this summer. So like never before, live streaming needs to be part of your
ministry plans in the months ahead.
Where Will Live Streaming Take Your Church Families This Summer?
Elexio is ready to share three ways you can connect with your congregation via live streaming
during the busy summer months. Ready to keep your church connected? Let’s go!
1. Continue and Expand Your Sunday Live Streams: Sunday services are the first thing
most churches think of when it comes to live streaming, and it’s likely you have at least
some experience with broadcasting your weekend services. That’s good! The more open
and accessible you can be to those who want to join you in worship, the better.
Let this summer be a time to do more with live streaming. Are you taking prayer requests
during your live streams? Do you have online visitor cards first-time participants can fill
out to learn more about your church, or text options where guests can request
information? How about your giving options – are people able and encouraged to give
during your streaming services? Elexio lets you personalize and expand your live stream
options and heighten your connection with virtual guests. Why not make the most of it?
2. Go Live with Bible Camp: Even as restrictions are lifted, there will still be families in
your church who are not ready for their kids to go full blast back into big groups. Some
children are more vulnerable, or they may live in close proximity to an older family
member who must take precautions – there are still so many variables where COVID is
concerned. (And again, lots of families will be out of town a lot this summer!)
But no matter what, no child or family needs to feel shut out from your summer
ministries. Live streaming programs like Bible Camp is a way to keep kids connected,
even if they can’t attend in person. The children who are attending would not be on
camera, of course. You’ll keep the focus on adult leaders who are instructing a Bible
lesson or demonstrating a craft. And access to live streams can be password protected or
controlled by a staff member for security. It’s a safe, fun way to let kids be part of your
Bible Camp, even if they can’t attend in person.
3. Think “Live Stream” for All Your Summer Programs: What’s on your calendar this
summer – men’s bible studies? Special speakers for your women’s ministries? Bible
classes for parents or seniors? A retreat or conference for your entire church community?
You can make sure everyone who wants to be involved can take part by offering live
stream opportunities for these summer gatherings.
Engaging your congregation and guests via live streaming for popular summer events is a
great way to build connections that will last throughout the year. If you offer guest
information cards during your live stream and follow up with those who respond, you
will likely see many of these virtual attendees in-person at your Sunday services and fall
ministries. This makes live streaming a great investment in your church’s growth.
You Can Learn a Lot from a Summer of Live Streaming
Now is the time to rethink and accelerate your live stream offerings. As we all agree, summer is
a busy time for travel so this is the season to make your services and ministries more available to
those who can’tattend in-person. And whether you have a lot of live streaming experience or
just a little, changes you make now can be tested and perfected over the next few months so
they’ll be ready for the busy Christmas season that will be here before we know it. It always
makes sense to think ahead!
How can you expand live streaming this summer? There are plenty of options with Elexio. As
always, you can embed live or archived videos on any website or mobile application, and we can
help with designs that ensure your videos live seamlessly within your other web properties. Live
streaming can integrate with other video accounts like Vimeo, Facebook Live, or YouTube,
which lets you easily and automatically distribute videos in multiple places.
Ready to take your video streaming to the next level? Elexio can build custom Apple TV and
Roku Channels for your church – or if you already have an existing channel, we can connect
your live stream.
And the end of a livestream event is just the beginning. Elexio offers detailed viewing statistics
that show you what members are watching, as well as viewer locations, how long they watch,
and what devices they used. This is information you can use to customize your live streams to
what your congregation wants and build even better engagement for your ministries.
There’s still time to make this your best summer of live streaming ever. Reach out to us
here to learn more about how Elexio can help you find the specific solutions you need for
your summer programs and beyond!