Andrew Forrest

[Note: this is NOT what my home studio looks like. I wish!]

The following is a handout I prepared to present at a webinar for pastors about how to broadcast worship from home. The webinar was free, so the participants definitely got what they paid for from me!

Download the handout here. The text is also included below. Good luck!

Best Practices for Leading Worship from Home in a Time of Quarantine

I am broadcasting worship live from home on Sundays.

Our music director is also broadcasting from her home piano earlier on Sundays.

It is exhausting!

Key Takeaways

· Clarity, Consistency, and Intimacy Beat Excellence

· Rehearse Everything

· Small Improvements Make a Big Difference

Clarity, Consistency, and Intimacy Beat Excellence

None of us has the ability to produce television-level worship services from home. That’s okay! We’re doing our best to serve our people in this time.

Pick a video platform that offers audio/visual clarity. It may not be the perfect platform, but if folks can hear and see, then it’s good enough. At Munger, we have decided to use Facebook Live. It’s not perfect, but so far it’s been good enough.

Make a plan to broadcast from home, and then keep it consistent. Create a broadcast studio at home, from which you always go online.

I made the decision that the intimacy that’s gained from broadcasting from home—as well as broadcasting live!—gained more with our folks than doing something perfectly produced. My thought is that our emotional connection with our folks is what they most need from us right now.

A quick word on going live: I think the downsides of going live (and there are many) are worth the upside of the sense of immediacy and connection live broadcasts bring.

Rehearse Everything

This point cannot be overstated! Do nothing without rehearsing beforehand, particularly several times.

None of us is any good at this before we start practicing. I scheduled multiple live rehearsals before our first Sunday doing the livestream, and there were lots of subsequent improvements that we made as a result.

Small Improvements Make a Big Difference

Don’t worry about perfection—just try to make some small improvements each time you go live.

Some ideas:

· How can you improve lighting? Should you order some video lights?

· How can you improve sound? Should you record with a mic?

· Do you have a tripod for your phone?

· Are you wearing simple colors that look good on video?

Here’s What We’re Using:

· Facebook Live, through the Munger Place Church FB page.

· We embed that code on our church’s site: www.mungerplace.org

· Folks watch on Facebook or on the church site.

· 13 in. Macbook Pro