ABCOPAD Online Church Initiative - LiveStreaming

As COVID-19 continues to impact our communities, a number of the churches in the region have made the decision to suspend morning worship for a few Sundays. Even for those churches who will continue to meet, there will be families and individual members who will make the personal decision to stay away from worship to provide some social distancing.

Losing the chance to be together in fellowship at a time such as this, when we need to hear the hope that is ours in Christ and to have the opportunity to encourage one another is troubling for all involved, and so we write today with what we hope is one way to stay connected as a Baptist family of faith.

Even though you may not be able to gather together for worship this Sunday in a physical way, we want you to know that you have the ability to be digitally involved with the family of God through your computer or mobile device. A number of our ABCOPAD congregations around the region offer a streaming platform for their morning worship services, and we would like to encourage you to connect with one of their services if you are unable to be present in your own. A map with links and worship times for those streaming services can be found below, and we hope that you will join in the celebration of the Word with one of these congregations if you can’t be present with your own church family. It’s the Associational Principle and Partnership working in the digital world and we are thrilled we can link the family together in this significant way!

Additionally, we want to remind you of an important reality. Even though your church family may not be able to meet for corporate worship due to COVID-19, the financial needs of the congregation and our wider mission work continue, and so we would ask that you would be generous and consistent in providing your tithes and offerings to your local church. While you may not be able to be physically present to drop your gift in the offering plate, we strongly encourage you to drop your gift in an envelope and mail it to your church family instead. Your pastor continues to serve and ministry continues to unfold, so we hope you will do your part in faithfully supporting the ongoing work of the Kingdom.

ABCOPAD Congregations in the Spotlight: April 19th, 2020

Perhaps your congregation is wondering how you might be able to offer an online streaming option of your own. It can be as simple as using a smartphone and posting to Facebook Live, or you may want to pursue a more intricate solution. Below you will find some information on streaming alternatives that might be something for you to consider, moving forward. If there are ways we can help you think through these options, please don’t hesitate to talk with us.

STREAMING OPTIONS

• A mobile device using Facebook Live.
• Mevo makes cameras which will stream to a number of online services, and can be controlled from a smart phone or tablet.
• A USB web-cam can be attached to a computer and sent through software like ecamm Live (subscription based) or Open Broadcast Software Studio(free, but requires more knowledge).
• To connect a video camera or some higher-end still-cameras to the above software, you will need a capture device to allow HDMI input on your computer.

Finally, our plan is to share a regional Facebook Live video on Thursday afternoon, March 19, including a devotional thought along with updates on regional ministries that are being impacted by COVID-19. We will continue to do this on subsequent Thursday afternoons as long as we believe it can be helpful to our ABCOPAD Family.

Our ministry is all about ‘Partnership’ and while there is no doubt that these are challenging times for all of us, we are honored to walk this road of faith with you.