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📡

Live Streaming

Everything from your first test stream to professional-grade Sunday productions.

Going Live: Your Sunday Service Checklist

This is the exact sequence to follow every Sunday. Running through it in order prevents 95% of common stream issues.

30 minutes before service

  1. Log in to app.growcongregations.com and go to Live Stream in the sidebar.
  2. Click Open Producer Window — it opens in a new browser tab. Keep both tabs open.
  3. Confirm your streaming destinations show green dots in the Destinations bar (Facebook Live and/or YouTube). If any show red, reconnect them in the main portal under Live Stream → Destinations.
  4. Select your opening scene from the mixer buttons: Camera 1, Camera 2, Screen, or Slides. Camera 1 is typically a wide stage shot.
  5. Check your preview screen — you should see live video. No video? Check that your camera is powered on and connected via USB or HDMI capture card.
  6. Enable your pre-service overlay if you have one (e.g., "Service begins at 10:00 AM — welcome!"). Toggle it on in the Overlays panel.

When service starts

  1. Click 🔴 Go Live. The button turns red and your preview screen shows a live pulse indicator.
  2. Switch scenes using the mixer buttons as your service progresses — between camera angles, slides, or screen share.
  3. Toggle overlays on/off as needed: Scripture Reference during Bible reading, Offering CTA during the offering, Lower Third for speaker introductions.

When service ends

  1. Click ⏹ End Stream.
  2. The recording processes automatically (5–10 minutes). You'll see it appear in Courses as a Draft — ready to publish.
  3. Close the Producer Window tab.
💡 Tip: Open the Producer Window at least 15 minutes before you go live. The most common cause of a failed stream start is opening it too late — give it time to establish the connection to your streaming platforms.
⚠️ If your stream drops mid-service: Click End Stream immediately, wait 30 seconds, then click Go Live again. Most platforms will resume the same stream. Don't close the Producer Window — just restart from the same tab.

Connecting Facebook Live & YouTube

Your portal streams simultaneously to multiple platforms with one click. Here's how to connect each one.

Connecting Facebook Live

  1. Go to Live Stream → Destinations in the portal.
  2. Click + Add Destination → Facebook Live.
  3. Click Connect with Facebook — a Facebook auth popup appears.
  4. Log in with the Facebook account that manages your church Page.
  5. Select your church Page (not your personal profile — streaming to a personal profile is against Facebook's terms for organizations).
  6. Grant the requested permissions and click Continue.
  7. Back in the portal, Facebook Live shows a green Connected badge.

Connecting YouTube

  1. Click + Add Destination → YouTube.
  2. Click Connect with Google — authorize with your church's Google/YouTube account.
  3. Select your YouTube channel from the dropdown.
  4. Click Save. YouTube shows a green Connected badge.

Testing the connection

  1. Open the Producer Window.
  2. Click Go Live, then immediately click End Stream.
  3. Check Facebook and YouTube — you'll see a very short private/unlisted stream. If it appears, your connection is working.
⚠️ Facebook note: You must stream to a Facebook Page, not a Group or personal profile. If your church only has a Group, create a Page at facebook.com/pages/create before connecting.
💡 Tip: Reconnect your destinations every 60 days. Facebook and Google OAuth tokens expire — if you get a red dot before a Sunday service, simply disconnect and reconnect the platform. It takes less than a minute.

The Producer Window Explained

The Producer Window is your live streaming control room. It runs separately from the main portal in its own browser tab so you can switch scenes and manage overlays without navigating away.

Preview Screen

The large dark area at the top shows exactly what your audience sees in real-time. Before you go live, it shows what will go out the moment you click Go Live. Watch this — not the camera itself — during your service.

Mixer Buttons

The row of buttons below the preview (Camera 1, Camera 2, Screen, Slides) controls which video source is active. Click any button to instantly switch. The active source is highlighted in purple.

  • Camera 1 / Camera 2 — physical cameras connected to your streaming computer via USB or HDMI capture card
  • Screen — shares your full computer screen (use for lower-thirds software or your desktop)
  • Slides — connects to your presentation software (ProPresenter, PowerPoint, etc.) running on the same machine

Destinations Bar

Shows which platforms you're streaming to. Green dot = connected and ready. Red dot = connection issue — go to Live Stream → Destinations in the main portal tab and reconnect.

Go Live / End Stream Button

The big button at the bottom of the preview panel. When offline it shows "🔴 Go Live" in purple. When live it shows "⏹ End Stream" in red. There is a 3-second countdown when you click Go Live — this gives you a moment to compose yourself before the stream actually starts.

Overlays Panel

Below the main controls. Each overlay has a toggle switch — click to turn on/off without interrupting the stream. Overlays appear as graphics on top of your video. See the Overlays article below for customizing each one.

💡 Tip: Put the Producer Window on a second monitor if available, with the main portal on your primary monitor. This lets you switch scenes on one screen while managing People or Email on the other during slow parts of the service.

Using Stream Overlays

Overlays are graphics that appear on top of your stream video — lower-thirds for names/titles, scripture references, offering prompts, and event promos. They toggle on and off without interrupting your stream.

Default overlay types

  • Lower Third — Welcome — a name/title band at the bottom of the screen. Use for speaker introductions and worship team credits.
  • Scripture Reference — displays a Bible verse and reference. Use during scripture reading and sermon points.
  • Offering CTA — shows your giving URL with a "Give Now" prompt. Toggle on during the offering moment.
  • Event Promo — announces an upcoming event with date and details. Toggle on during announcements.

Customizing overlays

  1. In the main portal (not the Producer Window), go to Live Stream → Overlays.
  2. Click Edit on any overlay.
  3. Update the text, colors, and position (bottom-left, bottom-center, bottom-right).
  4. Click Save.
  5. The next time you open the Producer Window, your changes are live.

During the service

  1. In the Producer Window, scroll down to the Overlays panel.
  2. Click the toggle next to any overlay to turn it on (it appears instantly on your stream) or off.
  3. You can have multiple overlays active at the same time — but keep it to 2 or fewer to avoid cluttering your video.
💡 Tip: Pre-enter your scripture references before the service starts. Go to Live Stream → Overlays and update the Scripture Reference text for each point in your sermon. During the message, just toggle it on when you reach that passage — no typing required mid-stream.

Auto-Archive: How Streams Become Courses

Every time you end a live stream, the recording is automatically processed and added to your Courses library as a draft. Your congregation can access the sermon replay the moment you publish it — no manual uploading needed.

How the auto-archive works

  1. You click End Stream.
  2. The recording processes in the background — typically 5–10 minutes depending on stream length.
  3. A new Course is created automatically, named with the stream title and date (e.g., "Sunday Service — Apr 27").
  4. The full recording becomes Lesson 1 of that course.
  5. The course is set to Draft — invisible to students until you publish.

Publishing the recording

  1. Go to Courses in the sidebar.
  2. Find the auto-archived course — it has a small "Auto-archived" tag.
  3. Click Manage.
  4. Optional: rename the course to something more searchable than the default date-title (e.g., "Easter Sunday: He Is Risen — April 20").
  5. Optional: add a cover image, description, and any supplemental lessons (notes, slides, discussion questions).
  6. Click Publish. Students can now enroll and watch.
💡 Tip: Rename every auto-archived course before publishing. The default name ("Sunday Service — Apr 27") is hard to search and meaningless three months later. Name it after the sermon title — people search by topic, not date.
⚠️ Note: If your stream drops and reconnects mid-service, you may get two separate recordings. Both will auto-archive. You can combine them into one course by adding the second recording as Lesson 2, or delete the shorter clip if it was just a dropped reconnection.