Has the era of churches treating livestreaming as the great secret to growth finally run its course?
That was one of the more provocative ideas raised by Stephen Shepherd, a former Elevation Church production leader, during a recent Churchfront presentation titled How Smart Churches Are Rethinking Broadcast. The video was published August 13 and quickly attracted attention from church production workers debating what Sunday broadcasting should actually accomplish.
Shepherd knows the mega-church broadcast world from the inside. He said he spent years connected with Elevation Church, eventually working across its campuses and overseeing broadcast at the location where Pastor Steven Furtick preaches.
But his message to churches was surprisingly simple: don't assume an online service is going to grow your congregation.
"Sorry if I upset any of you," Shepherd began before arguing that the online-church market has become "too saturated." He said churches can no longer simply assume that launching a livestream will bring people through the doors. Instead, he believes the emphasis is shifting back toward discipleship and getting people genuinely connected to a local church.
That doesn't mean Shepherd wants churches to unplug the cameras. Far from it.
His argument is that churches may need to rethink what those cameras are actually for.
Rather than pouring all their energy into making Sunday morning an elaborate live television production, Shepherd suggested churches should think about how a pastor's message can continue reaching people throughout the entire week.
And this is where things get interesting.
Shepherd said he would be comfortable keeping a livestream, but his priority would be getting sermons turned into clips and other content that can repeatedly reach people after Sunday is over. He recalled watching church traffic on YouTube while working at Elevation and observing that many viewers gravitated toward Steven Furtick's content.
In other words, the Sunday sermon might be only the beginning.
Shepherd even floated a phrase that could make some traditional church leaders uncomfortable: using Sunday as a "content space."
The idea, he explained, is to think strategically about how Sunday's preaching can become material that reaches the greatest number of people during the week, ultimately drawing them toward the local church where they can be welcomed, discipled and connected.
He also thinks pastors should consider getting behind another microphone.
"I think every pastor should do some version of a mini podcast," Shepherd said, arguing that proclaiming the Gospel through different formats can expand the reach of a pastor's teaching beyond a single Sunday sermon.
And if a church has six cameras sitting around, Shepherd has another opinion: don't save the good stuff only for worship.
He argued that the sermon deserves the same production attention as the music because it is the preaching of God's Word. In churches where camera operators disappear or disengage once the worship set finishes, Shepherd's response was essentially: too bad. The sermon deserves to be captured properly too.
His wider message amounts to a significant rethink of the post-pandemic church media boom.
In 2020, livestreaming suddenly became non-negotiable for countless congregations. Six years later, Shepherd believes the equation has changed. Churches may still broadcast services, but simply being "online" is no longer enough to distinguish one congregation from thousands of others competing for the same viewers.
The reaction in Churchfront's comments showed that the subject remains contentious. Some viewers praised the renewed emphasis on capturing the sermon, while others worried that churches were becoming too focused on entertainment and production. One homebound viewer also pointed out that livestreaming remains essential for people physically unable to attend church.
That may be the tension churches now have to navigate.
The livestream isn't necessarily dead. But according to Shepherd, the days when churches could hit the "Go Live" button and expect online church to become their growth strategy may be over.
The new battle isn't simply getting Sunday morning onto the internet.
It's figuring out what happens to the message after Sunday morning is finished.
