Ditching the Encoder: How One Church Streamed More with BoxCast Instead of Resi

Resi pushed hardware. BoxCast supported software. Here’s why that made all the difference for River City Church.

The Challenge

Why one production director left Resi behind in search of a more flexible and affordable software-friendly streaming solution.

Not every church tech team is built the same, and not every live streaming solution should be. While some ministries prefer hardware encoders, others are more comfortable streaming through familiar software using open protocols like RTMP.

Matt Lee, full-time Production Director at River City Church in Boise, Idaho, falls into the latter camp. He had trained his team of 10 volunteers to confidently use OBS and was looking for a streaming platform that could easily distribute his stream to multiple destinations via RTMP without forcing him to invest in hardware.

After hearing about Resi from others in the church world, Matt signed a one-year contract to give it a try. But soon after getting started, two persistent challenges emerged. First, he learned that to stream to multiple destinations like Facebook and YouTube, he would need to upgrade to a higher-tier plan. Second, despite expecting RTMP support to be straightforward, he couldn’t get it to work properly. When he reached out for help, Resi’s team continued urging him to purchase one of their proprietary encoders instead of using the software setup he preferred.

Matt found himself back at square one, searching for a solution that didn’t penalize him for wanting to use RTMP or require costly hardware or upgrades to access core streaming features.

The Solution

BoxCast offered the flexibility, support, and simplicity Resi didn’t.

It didn’t take long for Matt to start looking for a streaming provider that made RTMP easy and included multi-destination streaming to social platforms, a website, and even an app, all within a standard pricing plan.

Before signing up for a free trial with BoxCast, Matt got on a quick call with Dan from the BoxCast team to ask a few specific technical questions and confirm that the platform would support his goals. The conversation was straightforward and encouraging, and after just a bit of testing, Matt saw that BoxCast could deliver exactly what he needed using his existing software and preferred RTMP setup.

Even though BoxCast offers hardware encoders and its own custom streaming protocol, there was no pressure to change course. Instead, the team supported Matt’s chosen workflow and offered helpful guidance along the way. He also found BoxCast Streaming’s scheduling tools to be far easier to use than what he experienced with Resi, without the extra layers of complexity. He knew it was time to make a switch.

The Results

Streaming Success with Room to Grow

With BoxCast Streaming, River City’s streaming is unlimited. They’re currently live streaming their Sunday services to multiple online destinations via RTMP, just as they had hoped. And with their unlimited plan, they’re already planning to expand, adding more events in the near future. Matt envisions streaming Wednesday night services and educational resources online to better serve their church community.

Since Matt handles everything himself, he needs a reliable and easy-to-use platform to make it all happen, and he believes BoxCast is that platform. He especially appreciates that even if things change with their simulcast integrations, he doesn’t have to update embed codes or repost content. BoxCast Streaming takes care of it automatically, so he can scale without worrying about extra work creeping in.

Today, Matt’s stream is exactly where he wants it to be. It works seamlessly for his team and reaches more people in more places online, thanks to BoxCast.

In Summary

Streaming Flexibility without the Hardware Lock-In

Matt Lee and his team at River City Church didn’t want to overhaul their production setup just to meet a platform’s requirements. They preferred open source protocols like RTMP and were already comfortable using OBS. BoxCast Streaming gave them the freedom to keep their existing workflow while still offering professional-quality streaming to multiple destinations—all without the pressure to purchase proprietary hardware or upgrade to a higher-tier plan. This flexibility made it easy for Matt to switch and scale his efforts with confidence.

Simplicity and Support that Makes a Difference

As a solo operator managing a volunteer-run team, Matt needed a streaming solution that was intuitive, reliable, and backed by great support. BoxCast delivered on all fronts. From a helpful onboarding conversation to simplified scheduling and seamless simulcasting, BoxCast made it easier for Matt to do more with less. With no need to swap embed codes or constantly reconfigure his setup, Matt is now free to focus on expanding River City's digital presence and serving more people online.