Easter Service

We had some audio problems during the Bethany Lutheran Worship service. I learned afterwards that it was probably the computer calendar program trying to remind me of a date. And you thought noisy kids were the worst problem in church!

We had 51 households viewing at one point. That indicates far more interest than I would have imagined. Our technology team is stunned.

Fellow pastors, I suggest doing this. The shut-ins and scattered members can watch, no matter what the weather. The broadcast can be saved and viewed later. I am learning how to use those files on a separate website.

Independent pastors - this is ideal.

The congregation needs a fairly recent computer. Our broadcast computer is a laptop, about five years old. It works fine. The congregation also needs a webcam ($100) and broadband (DSL or cable). Viewers will do better with broadband but can get by with 56k. How many grannies have Internet? Plenty. The alternative is an audio service through a telephone teleconference bridge.

Anyone can view the service. A 56k phone line will mean that the live service will be out of sync, as one viewer told me. Perhaps the downloaded file will view better than live. The trouble is, downloading video at 56k can be troublesome.

I used to wonder why I got into computer science just in time for the boom to collapse. The technology I have learned has been useful ever since, but I have a lot to learn. I hope to keep up with my grandson. His father will probably teach him to count in hexadecimal. 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-a-b-c-d-e-f. ff= 255 or 11111111.