In the past six weeks First Lutheran has shown what is means to be church. How we are the church may have changed, but who we are as a church has not. So much continued to happen and needed to be communicated, that I completely forgot to promote in the April newsletter our move to live streaming!

So first, the how-to: A good starting point is our website. The easiest way to find our live streaming page is to go to 1stlu.org/live. On this page you’ll find several things, but the main thing is this: you can actually watch the live stream right there, on our site. No need to have an account on another social media platform, the live stream is right there for you to watch. But part of worship is the social aspect of it, so if you do have an account on Facebook or YouTube, you might want to watch there, as you can chat with other members who are watching. 

Options

That’s another thing you’ll find at 1stlu.org/live: a list of all the options of where to watch. Currently we are trying to broadcast to our site, to Facebook, to YouTube, to Twitter/Periscope, and to Boxcast. So not only can you use their websites for watching the live stream, you can also use their apps on your phone or tablet. Some of them even have apps on smart TVs, so you could check those out as well; search for “First Lutheran Onalaska” and make certain to follow us on those platforms so you are alerted when we go live. 

It’s nice to have options, because some platforms don’t always work, whether they are struggling to keep up with demand on a given Sunday morning, or if someone flagged our stream as “inappropriate” (that happened to us on YouTube a couple weeks in). So if you are having issues with one platform, try another one.

On Demand

In addition to watching the live stream at our usual worship times, you can also watch them on demand later in the week. Again, you have some options: previous services can be found on our site at 1stlu.org/live, under the embedded video player in a list titled “Related Videos.” There are also archives on Facebook and YouTube.

Ministry

Keep in mind: the live streaming at First Lutheran is a ministry. And to that end, it will need members to help it continue. Just as we need members to lead worship by running the projection slides, we will need someone to run the video switching required for the live stream. Training will be provided; it will be a great way to serve and help First reach everyone who is out of town or who is homebound. (Which is currently all of us!)

Want to support this new ministry? The best way to do that is to support the church with your weekly or monthly giving at 1stlu.org/giving.

Question about the live stream? Feel free to contact Andy at andy@firstlu.org.