Church Case Studies, MSA Case Studies
How one Texas parish simplified an outdated streaming workflow and turned a "just press Go Live" volunteer role into a real ministry.
An outdated streaming workflow held back both reliability and volunteers
For many ministries, it's hard to determine the right time to upgrade their tech. After all, they can remember when a lot of care, thoughtfulness, and financial resources went into setting up their soundboard, switcher, cameras, connections, and Sunday morning workflows.
But as time passes, even though that longstanding setup still technically works, things reach a point where something needs to be updated, whether through a total overhaul or incremental changes.
As Saint Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in The Woodlands, Texas completed a major audio and video renovation, they knew their live stream workflow had to change too.
"We had streaming issues, video issues, and a lot of things that needed to be addressed," said Phillip Cooper, Sound Engineer at Saint Anthony of Padua. "Our old system began to feel a bit clunky."
Before BoxCast, their streaming workflow relied on equipment that had been in place for decades. "We had cameras feeding into an old Rushworks switcher, then Streamlabs as the encoder, then Vimeo, then we'd send everything out to YouTube and Facebook," Phillip explained. "It was getting to be a mess."
Getting their stream up and running eventually started taking too long, and reliability became a constant concern. At the same time, Phillip wanted to better utilize the church's volunteer broadcast team. Previously, the broadcast volunteer's primary responsibility was simply pressing the Go Live button. "There wasn't much for them to do," he said.
A simpler workflow that gave volunteers a real mixing role
As the parish evaluated new streaming solutions, simplicity quickly became one of their biggest priorities. "Our music director, Chris, found BoxCast and asked me to look into it," Phillip said. "Honestly, it almost sounded too good to be true." After researching the platform together, they decided BoxCast was the right fit. "It was really simple getting everything set up," Phillip said. "In the audio world, things are never easy. There's always something that goes wrong. That really wasn't the case here."
That ease of use also meant they weren't creating a system that only an experienced engineer could operate. "It's a great option for churches that don't have an audio engineer or dedicated AV staff because a lot of this can get really complicated. BoxCast just wasn't."
One unexpected benefit was how BoxCast's Mixing Station Anywhere transformed the volunteer experience. Instead of simply monitoring a live stream, broadcast volunteers at Saint Anthony of Padua now mix the online audio independently from the Front of House mix. Using Allen & Heath's Avantis console alongside Mixing Station Anywhere, they can adjust the live stream mix remotely throughout services without affecting what is heard inside the sanctuary. "It kind of takes that responsibility off of me so I can focus on what's happening in the room," Phillip said.
Team training was also surprisingly straightforward. Phillip held two volunteer sessions, walking the team through stream scheduling, monitoring broadcasts, and using Mixing Station Anywhere. "The equipment was easy to learn," he said. "Now we're really just training their ears."
To make things even easier, Phillip grouped audio channels into simple categories like vocals, band, and sanctuary, allowing volunteers to make adjustments via the "Virtual Groups" feature without feeling overwhelmed. One volunteer with a broadcast background especially appreciated having a more active role. "She loved it," Phillip said. "She felt important because she was actually doing something. Before, it was basically just hitting a button to go live."
The church also needed a better solution for special events like funerals, making the ability to schedule private live streams one of BoxCast's most valuable features. "We can schedule a funeral live stream ahead of time, and nobody has to be there just to start it," Phillip said. "Then we can send a private link to family members who couldn't attend." Their first funeral live stream reached over 700 viewers who otherwise wouldn't have been able to participate.
Saint Anthony of Padua Catholic Church serves more than 30,000 parishioners and regularly fills its 1,200 seat sanctuary for weekend Masses. The church holds up to seven services throughout the weekend but live streams its 9:00 AM English Mass and 1:00 PM Spanish Mass for members who can't attend in person.
The Woodlands, TX
7
1997
Simpler technology, more engaged volunteers, and a stronger online reach
Today, Saint Anthony of Padua typically sees between 200 and 500 online viewers during each live stream, with even larger audiences for special services like Ash Wednesday. As Phillip continues coaching volunteers and refining their live stream audio, he is excited about building an even stronger online experience.
The technology has become simpler, the volunteers have become more engaged, and instead of fighting with their streaming setup every weekend, the team can spend more time focused on serving their congregation.
“When we set everything up, it was honestly just really simple.”
Phillip Cooper
Sound Engineer
Saint Anthony of Padua Catholic Church
A Workflow That Finally Fits
Saint Anthony of Padua replaced a patchwork of aging equipment and mismatched software with a single, reliable streaming workflow, without needing a full-time audio engineer to run it.
Volunteers With Real Ownership
By giving broadcast volunteers their own stream mix through Mixing Station Anywhere, Saint Anthony turned a passive "press the button" role into a meaningful part of the ministry, one volunteers are proud to be part of.
