I've been thinking about the copywrite issue. Do the requirements change if you don't do a general broadcast, but only do one that is available to members through a login\password? If the goal of the webcast is to reach a broader community, both local as well as remote, then getting whatever licenses you need makes sense. However, if you are limiting your broadcast to a selected audience, your shut-ins for example, would you need to meet the same requirements?
I was\am not too familiar with "fair-use." After reading through the Wikipedia article, I did a little additional searching. There is an artcle on this up at the US Copywrite Office web site, http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html as well as another helpful article at the Stanford University web site, http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/. These make me lean more towards the idea that there may not be as much latitude on this. The proof in such a case seems to reside with the defendent. This means anyone who see's something of their work that was streamed without prior consent, could take you to court, even if they knew the case was "iffy."
I think I'll need to do more research before we start streaming anything.
From the perspective of church governance, I would suggest taking a look at our church order. There are a number of articles that talk about the duties of the minister, as well as the elders and deacons. Article 52 states:
Article 52
a. The consistory shall regulate the worship services.
b. The consistory shall see to it that the synodically approved Bible versions, liturgical forms, and songs are used, and that the principles and elements of the order of worship approved by synod are observed.
c. The consistory shall see to it that if liturgical forms are adapted, these adaptations conform to synodical guidelines and that if choirs or others sing in the worship service, they observe the synodical regulations governing the content of the hymns and anthems sung. These regulations shall also apply when supplementary hymns are sung by the congregation.
The consistory is the name for the elders as a group. The elders are responsible to make sure that each worship service is just that, a worship service, and one that adheres to Biblical teaxchings. A worship service is not a one man or one woman show. Worship is corporate.
Could you have a worship service without an elder in attendance, sure, but it is not a good practive. An elder or two should be at all worship services.
I had started looking into this a few years ago, but dropped it when other items came up. I had written a note to a neighboring church who does a healthy amount of media work and asked him about how they have their media streaming service set up. He sent me an e-mail which I have pulled pieces from and list below.
The basics seem to be if you want to host this yourself, or use a service. You will need an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to make you basic connection, and the ISP may be able to do the hosting of the web site, or help set up the streaming. Any way, here is a part of my neighbors response:
Live streaming is really not all that difficult. Here are the basics:
·You must have a source. Audio is easy since most churches have some sort of PA system already. Just tap an output from it and plug it into your computer. If you want to do video as well, that requires at least one video camera that can connect to the computer. Most modern digital video cameras have a usb connection that will send the live picture to the computer.
·You will need a computer capable of audio (and video if you do video) input(s) and a high speed connection to the internet. For audio, the computer need not be especially fast. For video, the faster the better.
·You need software to receive the inputs and compress them and send them streaming. Here are two choices, RealNetworks program called RealProducer or the Windows counterpart. More information on this can be found at RealNetworks program at www.realnetworks.com .
·Finally, you need to contract with a service that will receive your compressed upload and rebroadcast it to your subscribers. There are a bunch of folks offering this service, for example, www.streamguys.com.
The alternative to using a contracted service is to load the Helix broadcast server software on your server. Helix is another RealNetworks product.
As far as archiving, the RealProducer software can be configured to not only broadcast, but to also save a file to the hard drive, at the same time. This file can then be used on your website for streaming recordings. The easiest way is to just provide the file as a link and it will download and play on your user’s computers.
Now, if you do not have your very own server with administrative rights for the website, but are contracting with an ISP or something, you may not have the option of loading Helix on the server. In this case, I think you can contract with the ISP or your streaming service to stream your files for you. Having your own server is cheaper and better and just a matter of setting up a computer with Apache and Helix and maybe a mail server like Mercury and your all set.
I am checking with both the web hosting company and my ISP to see what services they can provide or recommend. I'll post what I find!
I know of no program that directly links PowerPoint and scripture other than the copy and paste method. Typically, you could type it in, or you could copy it from an on-line source, ie: http://www.biblegateway.com/, or from a Bible program. In these cases make sure you are aware of and comply with the copywrite rules that should be applied before using the material in a public presentation.
We have set a goal for ourselves to try to have each elder visit the families in his district once every two years. The challenge in part seems to be the schedules that families keep are rather hectic. Finding a date that works can be difficult.
The benefits of doing the visits are worth the scheduling challenge. Families really appreciate having that close contact with someone who wants to know how the family is doing, how their walk with the Lord is going, and if they have any questions for the Elders, or the Council.
The number of families varies a bit, but each elder calls on around 25 families. This in turn may seem low, only one visit per month, but all of the elders sit on at least one of the church committees as a liaison. In addition, all are involved with choir or other church activities such as Household Bible study groups, or teaching catechism. When you add up the number of meetings and other activities the elders have good exposure to the congregation to both listen as well as encourage.
I agree with Henry. The position of elder is one the includes ordination. Anyone serving in the capacity and/or function of elder needs to ordained into the position.
What other "work" do your elders do? If any of the tasks your elders perform do not require an elder than that might be one way of lightening the load. For example, we have an elder sit on each of the four main committees to act as a council liaison. While this does mean one more meeting per month, that elder is not to serve as the chair person of that committee.
If this has truly been your experience either as the elder making the visit, or the person receiving the visit, then you have my sympathy. As an elder who has made, and continues to make visits, as well as having received visits, I have found them to be an excellent way of getting to know folks better.
There have been visits were there may have been a moment of silence, but most of the time, each visit is a time of conversation. For newer members or families that are regular visitors the conversation is largely about getting to know the basics. For families that have been in the congregation a while, we still talk about family, but we also talk about our congregation, as well as our church vision, and the role each of us are or can play in that vision.
Family visiting is a conversation. It involves two parties looking forward to talking about the way God is working in their lives.
I agree that the privacy of individuals with regards to posting bulletin content is important. Currently we post the entire contents of the bulletin without any password protection. I have found through feedback that former members, and friends of members read the bulletin weekly to keep up to date with the activities of the congregation. They have even commented that we need to include notes about when issues are resolved otherwise the distant readers don't know the outcome.
Thinking about this, I would lean more towards leaving certain material out of the bulletin rather than restrict who can read it. Again the life of a congregation as relayed via the bulletin announcements helps web site visitors learn more about what kind of people that make up our congregation, including sharing our joys and sorrows. Figuring out what to leave in and what to leave out leads to me to think we'll have to kick this one around a bit.
Thanks for the topic!
Now that you mention it, my wife and I were just looking over the sessions for Symposium this year. I noticed at least three that looked like they might help with what we've been looking into.
Don't worry about the presentation part. Remember, you'll be among friends, the room will be full of folks who are interested in the same subject you are, and we will be there to listen, share and learn. You're going to enjoy this! Trust me!
Posted in: Were can I find guidelines and procedures for streaming worship services?
I've been thinking about the copywrite issue. Do the requirements change if you don't do a general broadcast, but only do one that is available to members through a login\password? If the goal of the webcast is to reach a broader community, both local as well as remote, then getting whatever licenses you need makes sense. However, if you are limiting your broadcast to a selected audience, your shut-ins for example, would you need to meet the same requirements?
Posted in: Were can I find guidelines and procedures for streaming worship services?
I was\am not too familiar with "fair-use." After reading through the Wikipedia article, I did a little additional searching. There is an artcle on this up at the US Copywrite Office web site, http://www.copyright.gov/fls/fl102.html as well as another helpful article at the Stanford University web site, http://fairuse.stanford.edu/Copyright_and_Fair_Use_Overview/chapter9/. These make me lean more towards the idea that there may not be as much latitude on this. The proof in such a case seems to reside with the defendent. This means anyone who see's something of their work that was streamed without prior consent, could take you to court, even if they knew the case was "iffy."
I think I'll need to do more research before we start streaming anything.
Posted in: Are elders needed for worship services?
From the perspective of church governance, I would suggest taking a look at our church order. There are a number of articles that talk about the duties of the minister, as well as the elders and deacons. Article 52 states:
Article 52
a. The consistory shall regulate the worship services.
b. The consistory shall see to it that the synodically approved Bible versions, liturgical forms, and songs are used, and that the principles and elements of the order of worship approved by synod are observed.
c. The consistory shall see to it that if liturgical forms are adapted, these adaptations conform to synodical guidelines and that if choirs or others sing in the worship service, they observe the synodical regulations governing the content of the hymns and anthems sung. These regulations shall also apply when supplementary hymns are sung by the congregation.
The consistory is the name for the elders as a group. The elders are responsible to make sure that each worship service is just that, a worship service, and one that adheres to Biblical teaxchings. A worship service is not a one man or one woman show. Worship is corporate.
Could you have a worship service without an elder in attendance, sure, but it is not a good practive. An elder or two should be at all worship services.
Posted in: Were can I find guidelines and procedures for streaming worship services?
I had started looking into this a few years ago, but dropped it when other items came up. I had written a note to a neighboring church who does a healthy amount of media work and asked him about how they have their media streaming service set up. He sent me an e-mail which I have pulled pieces from and list below.
The basics seem to be if you want to host this yourself, or use a service. You will need an Internet Service Provider (ISP) to make you basic connection, and the ISP may be able to do the hosting of the web site, or help set up the streaming. Any way, here is a part of my neighbors response:
Live streaming is really not all that difficult. Here are the basics:
·You must have a source. Audio is easy since most churches have some sort of PA system already. Just tap an output from it and plug it into your computer. If you want to do video as well, that requires at least one video camera that can connect to the computer. Most modern digital video cameras have a usb connection that will send the live picture to the computer.
·You will need a computer capable of audio (and video if you do video) input(s) and a high speed connection to the internet. For audio, the computer need not be especially fast. For video, the faster the better.
·You need software to receive the inputs and compress them and send them streaming. Here are two choices, RealNetworks program called RealProducer or the Windows counterpart. More information on this can be found at RealNetworks program at www.realnetworks.com .
·Finally, you need to contract with a service that will receive your compressed upload and rebroadcast it to your subscribers. There are a bunch of folks offering this service, for example, www.streamguys.com.
The alternative to using a contracted service is to load the Helix broadcast server software on your server. Helix is another RealNetworks product.
As far as archiving, the RealProducer software can be configured to not only broadcast, but to also save a file to the hard drive, at the same time. This file can then be used on your website for streaming recordings. The easiest way is to just provide the file as a link and it will download and play on your user’s computers.
Now, if you do not have your very own server with administrative rights for the website, but are contracting with an ISP or something, you may not have the option of loading Helix on the server. In this case, I think you can contract with the ISP or your streaming service to stream your files for you. Having your own server is cheaper and better and just a matter of setting up a computer with Apache and Helix and maybe a mail server like Mercury and your all set.
I am checking with both the web hosting company and my ISP to see what services they can provide or recommend. I'll post what I find!
Posted in: What are the best and quickest ways to enter scripture passages into PowerPoint?
I know of no program that directly links PowerPoint and scripture other than the copy and paste method. Typically, you could type it in, or you could copy it from an on-line source, ie: http://www.biblegateway.com/, or from a Bible program. In these cases make sure you are aware of and comply with the copywrite rules that should be applied before using the material in a public presentation.
Posted in: How Do You Conduct an Effective and Useful Home Visit?
We have set a goal for ourselves to try to have each elder visit the families in his district once every two years. The challenge in part seems to be the schedules that families keep are rather hectic. Finding a date that works can be difficult.
The benefits of doing the visits are worth the scheduling challenge. Families really appreciate having that close contact with someone who wants to know how the family is doing, how their walk with the Lord is going, and if they have any questions for the Elders, or the Council.
Posted in: How Do You Conduct an Effective and Useful Home Visit?
The number of families varies a bit, but each elder calls on around 25 families. This in turn may seem low, only one visit per month, but all of the elders sit on at least one of the church committees as a liaison. In addition, all are involved with choir or other church activities such as Household Bible study groups, or teaching catechism. When you add up the number of meetings and other activities the elders have good exposure to the congregation to both listen as well as encourage.
Posted in: Job Sharing Elder Position?
I agree with Henry. The position of elder is one the includes ordination. Anyone serving in the capacity and/or function of elder needs to ordained into the position.
What other "work" do your elders do? If any of the tasks your elders perform do not require an elder than that might be one way of lightening the load. For example, we have an elder sit on each of the four main committees to act as a council liaison. While this does mean one more meeting per month, that elder is not to serve as the chair person of that committee.
Posted in: How Do You Conduct an Effective and Useful Home Visit?
If this has truly been your experience either as the elder making the visit, or the person receiving the visit, then you have my sympathy. As an elder who has made, and continues to make visits, as well as having received visits, I have found them to be an excellent way of getting to know folks better.
There have been visits were there may have been a moment of silence, but most of the time, each visit is a time of conversation. For newer members or families that are regular visitors the conversation is largely about getting to know the basics. For families that have been in the congregation a while, we still talk about family, but we also talk about our congregation, as well as our church vision, and the role each of us are or can play in that vision.
Family visiting is a conversation. It involves two parties looking forward to talking about the way God is working in their lives.
Posted in: Any Current or Past Elders?
Hello!
Posted in: Suggestions for Topics / Content
I agree that the privacy of individuals with regards to posting bulletin content is important. Currently we post the entire contents of the bulletin without any password protection. I have found through feedback that former members, and friends of members read the bulletin weekly to keep up to date with the activities of the congregation. They have even commented that we need to include notes about when issues are resolved otherwise the distant readers don't know the outcome.
Thinking about this, I would lean more towards leaving certain material out of the bulletin rather than restrict who can read it. Again the life of a congregation as relayed via the bulletin announcements helps web site visitors learn more about what kind of people that make up our congregation, including sharing our joys and sorrows. Figuring out what to leave in and what to leave out leads to me to think we'll have to kick this one around a bit.
Thanks for the topic!
Posted in: Media Workshop
Now that you mention it, my wife and I were just looking over the sessions for Symposium this year. I noticed at least three that looked like they might help with what we've been looking into.
Don't worry about the presentation part. Remember, you'll be among friends, the room will be full of folks who are interested in the same subject you are, and we will be there to listen, share and learn. You're going to enjoy this! Trust me!