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List of Online Churches and Internet Campuses

Over the last year or so, Multisite Church Revolution, DJ Chuang at Digital Leadership, Cynthia Ware at the Digital Sanctuary, and Greg Atkinson have all posted lists of known internet campuses. I compiled their lists (and comments by their readers) and did some additional research to document the technologies used by many of these churches to create their online campus.

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Webcasting copyrighted songs
Copyrighted songs are used in worship services in several ways. Each use of songs has its own particular copyright issues that need to be addressed.

Songs are performed by the worship team and the congregation
This is the most common usage of copyrights in services. For a church to legally webcast its performances of copyrighted songs, it must secure an internet performance license from song owners. Christian Copyright Solutions (CCS) offers a one-stop annual internet performance license for churches and ministries called WORSHIPcast. The WORSHIPcast license allows churches and ministries to webcast their performance of every song licensed by ASCAP, BMI and SESAC, representing more than16 million Christian and secular songs.

Below is a blog post from my friend, DJ Chuang of Leadership Network:

As the multi-site church revolution continues to grow and mushroom (cf. the Leadership Network book, Multi-Site Revolution: Being One Church in Many Locations) — over 1,500 multi-site churches in the United States (2005 stat, per MondayMorningInsight.com) — not only are churches going to multiple locations geographically into other cities and states, a few are connecting people via Internet campuses! Here’s the ones I’ve found so far [add a comment to keep this list updated]:

• LifeChurch.tv (Edmond OK) has its Church Online (launched February 2006) and also a campus in Second Life. Live worship experiences on Saturdays @ 6:30pm + 8:00pm, Sundays @ 10:00am (GMT) + 10:00am + 11:30am + 1:00pm (Central), Mondays 8:00pm (GMT) + 8:00pm, Tuesdays @ 12:00pm + 8:00pm (Central).
• Seacoast Church (Charleston SC) has Church Online (launched January 2007) with live worship times on Sundays @ 9:30am + 11:15am (Eastern).
• Flamingo Road Church (Cooper City FL) has its Internet campus with live worship times on Saturdays @ 5:00pm + 6:30pm and Sundays @ 9:30am + 11:00am + 12:30pm + 5:00pm (Eastern).
• McLean Bible Church (metro Washington DC) has its Internet campus with live worship times on Sundays @ 9:00am + 10:45am + 5:30pm (Eastern).
• New Hope Christian Fellowship’s internet campus is called an Online Community. Live worship times are Saturdays @ 5:00pm + 7:00pm and Sundays @ 7:00am, 9:00am, 11:00am (Hawaiian Time).
• The Church Group (Jacksonville FL) calls its internet campus called I-Church, with worship times at Wednesdays @ 7:00pm and Sunday @ 10:30am (Eastern).
• Christ Fellowship (Palm Beach Gardens FL) has an Online Campus, Saturdays @ 6:00p and Sundays @ 9:00am + 11:00am (Eastern), having provided live-streaming of worship services since 2005.
• Richmond Community Church (Virginia) has an Internet Campus called HighImpactChurch.tv live on Sundays @ 11:00am (Eastern).
• Northland, A Church Distributed (Orlando FL) has live online worship on Saturdays @ 5:00pm, Sundays @ 9:00am + 11:00am + 6:00pm, Mondays @ 7:00pm (Eastern).
• Victory Life Family Worship Center (Durant, OK) has a Virtual Church where you can watch Duane Sheriff messages 24/7 and Live on Sundays @ 9:00am + 11:00am, Thursdays @ 7:00pm (Central).
• Gracepoint Church (Wichita, KS) has an Internet Campus with live-streamed videos on Sundays @ 9:30am + 11:00am (Central). [ht: Terry Johnson]
• Brand New Church (Harrison, AR) has an iCampus with worship on Sundays @ 11:00am + 5:00pm and Wednesdays @ 12:00 Noon (Central).
• Central Christian Church (Las Vegas) launched its Online Campus in September 2008. Service times on Sundays @ 4:30am + 7:00am + 9:00am + 10:20am + 11:45am + 4:30pm (Pacific) .
• Mecklenburg Community Church (Charlotte) has its Internet campusexperiences on Sundays @ 10:15am (Eastern).
• Pine Ridge Church (Graham NC) has an Internet campus with worship on Sundays @ 10:30am (Eastern).
• Celebration Church (Jacksonville FL) has an Internet campus with worship on Sundays @ 11:30am + Tuesdays @ 9:00pm (Eastern).
• NewSong Church (Irvine CA) has its NewSong Global in beta with worship on Sundays @ 9:00am + 10:30am + 11:49am (Pacific).
• Alive Church (Tucson AZ) has a Web campus with services on Saturdays @ 5:00pm + 6:30pm and Sundays @ 9:30am + 11:00am (Arizona time).
• Liquid Church (Morristown, NJ) launched its internet campus in January 2009, with worship times on Saturdays @ 6:00pm and Sundays @ 11:00am + 6:00pm and Wednesdays 1:00pm (Eastern).
• NewSpring Church (Anderson SC) launched its Web Campus in February 2009, with worship times on Sundays @ 11:15am + 6:00pm (Eastern).
• Voice to the Nations (Griffin GA) launched its internet campus in February 2009, with worship times on Sundays @ 9:00am + 11:15am (Eastern).
• The Ridge Community Church (Oak Ridge TN) has a Ridge iCampus, with worship time on Sundays @ 10:00am (Eastern). Church launch date is April 19th.
• Barefoot Church (Myrtle Beach SC) has its Internet Campus with worship times on Saturdays @ 6:00pm and Sundays @ 9:00am + 11:00am (Eastern).
• Saddleback Church (Lake Forest CA) has an Internet Campus with worship times on Saturdays @ 4:30pm + 6:30 pm and Sundays @ 9:00am + 11:15 am + 4:30pm + 6:30pm  (Pacific).
• Forefront Church (Denver) has an online campus with worship times on Sundays 6:00pm (Mountain).
• Real Life Fellowship (Corpus Christi TX) has a web page to watch live worship with worship time on Sundays 11:30am (Central).
• Zyxter Church (Parker CO) has a web page where you can watch online on Sundays at 11:00am (Mountain). [formerly known as Afterlife.tv with itsCyberchurch.]
• Manmin Central Church (Seoul, South Korea) has Internet Live Webcasting on Sundays 10:00am + 11:30am + 3:00pm, Wednesdays @ 7:00pm, Fridays @ 11:00pm (GMT+9).
• The Church at South Las Vegas (Las Vegas NV) has an online campus — live on Saturdays @ 6:00pm and Sundays @ 10:00am + 11:45am (Pacific).
• Church of the Resurrection (Kansas City) launched its internet campus,Resurrection Live, on July 1st, 2009. Worship times on Sundays 10:45am and 5:00pm (Central).
• Faith Promise Church (Knoxville TN) has an iCampus with worship times on Sundays @ 10:00am + 11:45am (Eastern).
• Buckhead Church (Atlanta) is launching its internet campus, North Point Online, onAugust 16th, 2009. Worship time is Sundays 6:00pm (Eastern).
• Healing Place Church (Baton Rouge LA) has an online community with weekly Bible study and weekly prayer gathering. Live video of worship services are online on Saturdays 5:00pm + Sundays 10:00am (Central). Could a full-fledge Internet campus be just around the corner?

[ count = 33; last updated: 07/13/09 ]

Granted, a video podcast feed allows people to view a sermon message from the archives on-demand, or you could watch a worship service via streaming live video or Cable TV broadcast, e.g. Tenth Presbyterian Church’s live webcast or Bell Shoals Baptist Church’slive webcast or watch live service from C3 Church in Sydney, Australia(!).

But an Internet campus is more than having a live streaming video — it’s adding live interactive features like lobby chat room, message notes, communication card, raise a hand, say a prayer, and even online giving. Some have on-going ministry during the week with attenders by forming small groups or service projects. I’d imagine more features will be added as these campuses grow and technologies mature. (I’ve already participated at 2 of the above Internet campuses — once when I was homebound during a snow storm, and we had family worship at home with my wife and son online!)

These Internet campuses are reaching hundreds and thousands already! One prediction projects that 10% of Americans will rely exclusively on the Internet for their religious experience by 2010.

So, what do you think? What would it take to launch an Internet campus at your church?

[update] Other churches preparing to launch internet campuses:  Liberty Church(Pensacola FL) has what it calls its internet campus using Ustream.TV, C3 Church(Clayton NC) has a live feed, and Manna Church (Fayetteville NC) planning to launch one cf. link; Gateway Church (Austin) has an internet campus pastor who will be preparing the way for their internet campus. Discovery Church (Orlando FL) has live video from its Orange Avenue campus services and has an Internet campus pastor in place. Discovery Church (Voorhees NJ) offers Discovery LIVE for live-stream video. New Hope Family Church (Sioux Falls SD) has a live-streamed video of its worship service. Church of the Redeemer (Gaithersburg MD) has live webcast of its services in English and Spanish. The River (Little Rock AR) has live webcast on Sundays 11am (Central).

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