The Making of Virtual Church

Update:
Now that we have equipment for live streaming, we have started using that capability for Sunday Services. A thorough explanation will follow. In the meantime, here are two volunteers who have joined our team: Stunt Doug 1 and Stunt Doug 2.
In the absence of the real Doug, they stand in showing how tall he is. That way, when we zoom in, we can avoid cutting off his head. They are pictured here faithfully doing their work.
Now that we have equipment for live streaming, we have started using that capability for Sunday Services. A thorough explanation will follow. In the meantime, here are two volunteers who have joined our team: Stunt Doug 1 and Stunt Doug 2.
In the absence of the real Doug, they stand in showing how tall he is. That way, when we zoom in, we can avoid cutting off his head. They are pictured here faithfully doing their work.
People have asked, "How'd you do that?" Here's how the Sunday recordings are made.
1. Prelude, Chalice Lighting, Chalice Extinguishing: These parts were recorded in March once church was closed. They are reused as appropriate. Occasionally additional recordings are added to the repertoire.
2. Hymns are recorded at the church, often on Wednesday evenings. See pictures below.
3. Remarks by the ministers are recorded at their homes using their personal equipment. Beth records using her iPad. Budd records using Zoom on his computer. The recordings are sent to Douglas Caldwell to be compiled into the finished service video.
4. Recordings by others are youtube or other videos used with permission. Doug or Klaus Obermeit download them for use.
5. Editing and uploading: All the elements are recorded by Doug or sent to him for inclusion in the final video. He pastes the recordings together, adds the text overlays for the announcements, hymns and readings, inserts the still pictures, and checks the sound levels. This process is usually finished sometime on Saturday. Doug then posts the final recording to his Vimeo site for Klaus to download. Klaus then uploads it to our website and tests it, Late Saturday evening Klaus moves it to the home page so it's ready to view Sunday morning. It stays on the home page till Tuesday, when it is moved to the Virtual Church page. Klaus also helps with the recordings, organizing the various elements and seeking permissions to publish.
1. Prelude, Chalice Lighting, Chalice Extinguishing: These parts were recorded in March once church was closed. They are reused as appropriate. Occasionally additional recordings are added to the repertoire.
2. Hymns are recorded at the church, often on Wednesday evenings. See pictures below.
3. Remarks by the ministers are recorded at their homes using their personal equipment. Beth records using her iPad. Budd records using Zoom on his computer. The recordings are sent to Douglas Caldwell to be compiled into the finished service video.
4. Recordings by others are youtube or other videos used with permission. Doug or Klaus Obermeit download them for use.
5. Editing and uploading: All the elements are recorded by Doug or sent to him for inclusion in the final video. He pastes the recordings together, adds the text overlays for the announcements, hymns and readings, inserts the still pictures, and checks the sound levels. This process is usually finished sometime on Saturday. Doug then posts the final recording to his Vimeo site for Klaus to download. Klaus then uploads it to our website and tests it, Late Saturday evening Klaus moves it to the home page so it's ready to view Sunday morning. It stays on the home page till Tuesday, when it is moved to the Virtual Church page. Klaus also helps with the recordings, organizing the various elements and seeking permissions to publish.