Dear WCV community – we’ve heard you and we get it. Participating in our Sunday Gatherings remotely is difficult enough. Technical glitches and difficulties amplify the challenge of being connected to the community. It is very difficult to participate in meaningful ways on Sunday mornings when you can’t hear or see very well… or at all. The past two Sundays have had their challenges in this regard.

We are so sorry this has happened and that many of you have felt more disconnected as a result… precisely the opposite of what technology promises and what we’re trying to do.

Lest this be an empty apology, allow me to outline what we’re doing to ensure a more seamless live-streaming experience. Here’s how we’re fixing the problems:

1. We’ve purchased a new camera to upgrade the video quality (no more fuzzy-from-the-back-of-the-sanctuary-view)
2. We’ve purchased other new gear that will improve the overall quality of the experience and will increase the capacity of the system to do things like overlay lyrics onto video, show slides and the speaker at the same time, have multiple camera angles, etc.
3. We’ve upgraded the computing power to run new production software and have ensured we have max available internet speed (and that nobody else clogging the wifi network on Sunday mornings).
4. We are making plans to upgrade the lighting on the stage so that the video quality is more clear, and are looking at further equipment to improve the audiostream for those who broadcast from home.

Our production team is working hard and will have several components of the new system installed for this coming Sunday. This will allow us to test and become familiar with the foundational essentials before bringing in further enhancements for the subsequent Sundays. The aim all along was to come up with a system that delivers consistent quality for those viewing, as well as simplicity and reliability for those running it. We don’t foresee a future without a video component to our Sunday Gatherings so we want to make sure the system is solid and teachable for our video production volunteers.

If you are interested or available to join the production team, please let Andrew in the office know.

Thank you for your patience and long-suffering.

We’ll see you Sunday morning at 10am!

Photos by Jesus Loves Austin on Unsplash and Andre Hunter on Unsplash.