(Live)Streams of Living Waters

Today's e-news is written by Andrew Del Rio and Will Clegg, who have both been doing wonderful work with our live-stream. They wanted to give an update about some of the technical challenges and developments behind the scenes. Among staff and leadership, even as we continue to discern the Lord's call in light of the pandemic and these past weeks where racial injustice has been such a national issue, we are continuing to learn and develop in making worship possible online. Thanks for your patience and perseverance. - Peter+ 

Dear Church, 

We want to acknowledge the problems we have had with the live stream on Sunday mornings. We know this is frustrating for all those trying to participate in worship from home. Outlined below are the steps we're taking to remedy the situation. We’ve come a long way (believe it or not!), and we feel that we are very close to reliable, high-quality live streaming. Still, we want to provide a non-live streamed service until we've attained greater consistency.
 
First, I'll mention our path thus far:
 
Back in March we were thrown into live streaming our service with zero experience. Since then we’ve progressed from streaming exclusively from one iPhone, to a couple of phones, to now utilizing several cameras with media inserts, all streamed through a PC. Almost every week, something new has been added, lighting has been adjusted, settings have been tweaked. We’re continuing to learn new things and refine the process.
 
However, when the internet fails us (last week's problem) or the computer crashes (this week's problem), all the progress means nothing. If you can't get a reliable stream at home, then it's all for naught. 

In response to recent issues, here is our plan moving forward:
 
First, we are changing internet providers and upgrading to their fastest fiber plan. This means we should be getting 200 times the speed that we actually need to stream. Our current plan provides 10 times the speed we need. But the speed that we actually can get on Sunday morning at 10am is always fluctuating and significantly less than our internet plan specifies. Hopefully 200 times the speed we need will never drop below what we need!
 
Second, we are creating a checklist to finalize the parameters of our new setup. This sounds small, but since our setup has been evolving almost every week, we are just now reaching the point that we can establish a consistent setup process. As we solidify our understanding of new equipment, we are explicitly defining the process for successful streaming. Our new setup now includes what amounts to a full secondary video setup in case of any failure on the primary setup.

Third, and most importantly, we are pre-recording the service and posting it publicly on Sunday morning at 10am. This means that you can participate in the service while avoiding any of the bugs that we are still working out of the stream. We will continue to live stream to a small group of volunteers on Sunday mornings while you are participating in our pre-recorded service from the day before. This allows us to continue refining our live stream without demanding that you participate in our learning process. 
 
Our plan is to continue to pre-record the service until our setup is established and we have streamed without issue for a couple weeks in a row
 
Sidebar: Why continue live streaming at all? We think there is value in the community fostered by joining in live, sharing the peace live, praying/worshiping simultaneously, etc. That value is overwhelmed by a glitchy stream, but if our stream is reliable, we think these are advantages to live streaming. When we are worshiping back in the Philips Event Center we will also broadcast a service for those who cannot be there in person. So getting to the point that we can consistently deliver a quality stream is important.
 
Sidebar: Will a pre-recorded service fix all the problems I have watching the video? It might. But likely some of the problems you may encounter are due to your home internet connection. We frequently hear from folks that they are experiencing problems at the same time that other folks are saying the stream is working great! Internet service providers have been overwhelmed by the new demand during the pandemic. The reliability of the internet on Sunday mornings suffers for it. If you are experiencing trouble, even watching pre-recorded video, here are a couple things to try: (1) connect the device you are watching to the internet via ethernet (a cable from your modem), (2) remove as many other devices as you can from your network (for example, turn off your wireless router to remove all wifi devices), (3) run a speedtest on your internet and check with your provider to be sure you are getting the appropriate speeds for your plan.
 
We hope this communication builds your confidence in the viability of worshiping in this peculiar way. The church has persevered through some very difficult circumstances, treasuring any opportunity to worship and pray together. Even today, many church communities covet the freedom to have the kind of church experience that we have over the internet. Let us not grow weary now in doing good, nor in gathering as we can together in worship. Our God reigns and He is worthy of our greatest affection, no less when we're home than when we're in a sanctuary. It is our goal that these services would be means by which we can honor God together and take heart! 
 
Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions, comments, or concerns!
 
Andrew 
Director of Music 
andrew@cotcaustin.org
 
Will Clegg
Audio Engineer