How to Run In-Person & Live Stream Church Services Simultaneously

Some churches these days are running in-person and live stream church services at the same time, with the same singing and sermon. So why does running them at the same time feel like double the work?

It doesn’t have to. 

Here’s how to run engaging live stream and in-person church services concurrently with just a few extra clicks.

1. Decide what you want people to see when they come to church online. 

You could show only the camera feed during your service’s live stream. Or you could make your live stream service feel as much as possible like your in-person service, giving those who can’t be there encouragement to sing along in worship and follow along with the sermon.  

Creating a live stream presentation that helps turn viewers to participants is simple with Faithlife Proclaim Church Presentation Software. (And when you pair Faithlife Proclaim with Faithlife Live Stream, several ways to engage your live stream viewers are built right in.)

2. Determine how you want your live stream and in-person presentations to look. 

How will you use lower-thirds, your camera feed, and full-screen slides? 

Here are a few options:

• Lower-thirds slides for both live stream and in-person services, so what’s happening on stage will always show
• Full-screen slides for your in-person service, but lower-thirds for your live stream
• A mixture—like lower-thirds for live streaming songs, but full-screen slides for everything else 

Or here’s another option for your live stream view:

Show a camera feed and slides simultaneously using your software encoder. Learn how to do that with OBS in this Proclaim and live streaming video training. 

As you think about those options, here’s a tip: you can easily convert full-screen slides to lower thirds in Proclaim. (Smart Media automatically repositions text for you when you switch slide designs.)

3. Set up your equipment. 

If you decide to show a live stream view like the one above—or the same presentation and camera feeds for both those in the sanctuary and those at home—you can skip this step! 

Otherwise, here’s how to do it:

• If you have a presentation switcher

You can switch the live stream feed from camera to slide and back again (while your sanctuary’s screens remain on your slide).

• If you don’t have a presentation switcher

You can set a software encoder to switch views instead. Instructions vary based on which software encoder you use, but here’s an example of one way you might do it: prepare two scenes, one with your on-screen camera and one with your Proclaim presentation. Then, set up quick commands or “hotkeys” to switch between them when you’re on air. 

You can serve those watching from home and those there in the service—without having so much to do that you can’t worship and hear the Word yourself. 

If you don’t yet have Faithlife Proclaim, try it free for 30 days. It’s easy to use and cloud-based, so you can collaborate with your team from anywhere.

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