Covenant News
Annual Meeting: Services Broadcast on Web
MINNEAPOLIS, MN (June 9, 2004) - There will be live Internet-based broadcasts of the three evening worship services that are part of the 119th Annual Meeting of the Evangelical Covenant Church June 20-23.New technology is being employed in this year's broadcasts that will allow both audio and video online options, notes Don Meyer, executive minister of the Department of Communication. The services, all to be held at First Covenant Church, will begin at 7 o'clock on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday evenings. Services will be broadcast in their entirety.
Those desiring to listen to or view the services should go to www.covchurch.org and select the "Annual Meeting" link under the events section of the home page. A special broadcast link will provide specific instructions for logging on to one of the two options – a video and audio transmission or an audio-only signal. Broadcasting will begin approximately 10 minutes prior to the scheduled start of each evening service under the direction of Joel Pearson, the department's Internet Services manager.
"Older technology used in the past limited access to the video signal to the first 25 viewers logging into the system," Meyer noted, "with an additional 25 individuals capable of logging into an audio-only signal. There are no similar limitations under the new approach that will utilize three separate computer-servers. Joel has done a superb job in finding technology that is both affordable and useful," Meyer added.
While worship services will be conducted at First Covenant each evening, the regular business sessions will be conducted at the Hyatt Regency hotel, 1300 Nicollet Mall, which is located about one mile from the church. News coverage of business sessions will be provided by a six-member Communications team who will write stories and post photographs throughout each of the three days of business sessions. That coverage will be found by visiting the Covenant website and the online news report of Annual Meeting activities. The onsite work will be complemented by the work of other staff members working out of Chicago to assemble picture pages and other special features.
"The Internet has provided the church with one of the most powerful communications tools imaginable," observed Meyer, who noted that in many instances, viewers at home will be reading stories and seeing images that are only minutes old. "It not only informs, but it connects us in important ways," Meyer added.
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