Streaming live audio of your worship service can be a great service to people who can’t physically make it to church on Sunday.  Missionaries, shut-ins or even members who have to stay home with sick kids.

Here are 3 simple steps to free audio streaming at your church.

1. Audio source
You need a way to feed audio in to a computer that is internet connected.  You could probably use the built in sound card, but I’d recommend using an external USB audio device for better sound quality.  You may already have these kinds of things laying around your church.

2. Encoding Software
You need to download the free Windows Media Encoder.   This program will take your source audio and encode it to an mp3 stream that can be sent to a streaming server.

3. Streaming Server
You need a streaming server for people to connect to and listen to your audio.  You can obtain this service, free for churches, from www.netbroadcasting.tv.  By sending them an email with your church website, they will setup an account for you.  Its quick and easy and once your account is setup, they will send you an email with simple step by step instructions on how to configure Windows Media Encoder, and also how to get the streaming content placed on your church website.

Thats it!  Happy streaming.