worship-cameras.jpg

Thanks to technology upgrades made during renovations of Cannon Chapel last summer, anyone with internet access can now experience Candler’s twice-weekly worship services in real time via live video streaming.

The services, which take place on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 11:00 a.m. to noon, will be broadcast online at candler.emory.edu/life/worship/livestreaming.cfm.

Barbara Day Miller, associate dean of worship and music, calls the live stream capacity “a gift” for those watching from other places, and anticipates practical applications for the service as well.

“Our alumni and constituents all around the country can hear music and sermons and prayers based on the texts they are preparing for their own congregations,” she says.

From a teaching standpoint, Day Miller also sees great benefit in students considering this new capability as they craft a worship service.

“This technology has added another dimension of preparation and care to worship planning,” she says. “The attention to detail this requires—the ability to step back and imagine the action and to more clearly understand the flow of the service before it begins—will serve students well as they move into their own churches that may have similar technological capabilities.”

In addition to the chapel services, other events such as Honors Day and Convocation will also be live-streamed, allowing Candler students to share milestone occasions with family and friends not able to attend in person.

Second-year MDiv student Cassandra Henderson, one of three students helping to implement the live stream function, is excited about the ways in which broadening the congregation during worship allows Candler to extend its reach to the Emory campus and beyond.

“Any time you put a message out into the world, it is ministry,” she says. “This virtual experience will help us invite others to enter into a sacred space, allowing us and them to expand our thoughts about who God is. My hope is that anyone who views these services will see God at work here.”

Day Miller says the archive of these recorded services, which is available via Candler's iTunes U albums, will serve as a valuable tool both for those currently studying at Candler and for those already in the field.

“Pastors and other worship leaders can watch at their leisure—learning new music, seeing creative visual designs for the seasons, discovering new resources—all of which they can share with their parishioners as they plan worship in their location,” she says. “And in classes, we can use these videos as examples for preaching, music and presiding and leading liturgy. We are just beginning to imagine the possibilities.”