One of five new video cameras in the sanctuary of the Memorial Church that will stream live Sunday services and other events on YouTube beginning this fall. Photos by Jeffrey Blackwell/Memorial Church Communications
By Jeffrey Blackwell
Creative and Communications Lead
Memorial Church of Harvard University
Live streaming of Sunday services at the Memorial Church will kick off when fall term opens this September, capping off a two-year renovation project of the church’s audio-visual system.
The Sept. 3 service represents a significant step in the history of the Memorial Church. At 11 a.m. Sunday, a new array of remote video cameras and microphones will stream the service live on the MemChurch YouTube Channel, opening our Sunday worship to people in the Boston area and around the world who cannot attend in person.
“We are excited to expand the reach of our ministry in this way, and we continue to thank all of you who supported the improvements to our audio and visual system which have made this expansion possible,” said the Rev. Matthew Ichihashi Potts, Ph.D ’13, Pusey Minister in the Memorial Church, Plummer Professor of Christian Morals in the Faculty of Divinity. “We hope that our words, both spoken and sung, will now reach you wherever you may be, and we look forward to joining you from near or far."
The streaming service is an addition to the live broadcast each Sunday on WHRB 95.3 FM. The recorded services and sermons will remain available on YouTube, along with other videos documenting the church community. Audio of Sunday sermons will also continue to be posted on SoundCloud each week. Both audio and video content will be accessible on the Memorial Church website.
“Wherever you are, our church is only a click away, and our prayers and blessings will be even closer still,” Potts said.
Work began in the summer of 2022 on the audio-visual system in the sanctuary and Appleton Chapel, following a year of planning and design by Parsons Audio, a sound design company based in Wellesley. The project included the installation of five remote video cameras, an array of retractable microphones hung from the church ceiling, and a sound system designed and fine-tuned for the challenging acoustics of the sanctuary.
The cameras, microphones, and sound system are all wired to a digital control room in the lower level of the church, where services will be produced and streamed to YouTube. The system is also designed with camera presets to allow one-button recording of events in the sanctuary and chapel.
Jeff Valade, Senior Media Technician, Education Support Services, Harvard Media Production Center, produces a service in the digital control room at the Memorial Church.
Streaming live events at the Memorial Church began before the pandemic but has increased in number since the return from campus shutdown. In 2019, only the Annual Christmas Carols Service was streamed on YouTube. During the 2022-23 academic year, all of the church’s major concerts, and the William Belden Noble Lecture with author John Green, were produced and streamed by the Harvard Media Production Center, which provided and set up video and camera equipment for each event.
Completion of the AV system in the church will lesson or eliminate the need for both costly and labor-intensive set up for streaming and recording events.
Edward Jones, Gund University Organist and Choirmaster, said the reach of the Memorial Church is well beyond the Harvard Campus. Alumni, virtual church community members, classical music fans, and families of Harvard University Choir members, watch concerts on YouTube or listen to streamed Sunday services on WHRB 95.3 FM from around the world.
“Adding video is the latest iteration to amplify the work of the church to a wider public—something that we have been doing with our concerts for almost a decade now,” said Jones. “The family members of our wonderful choristers have cherished being able to watch our students perform in concert, and the same opportunity will now be offered for our worship services. In addition, the significant upgrade to our internal and broadcast sound systems now ensures that the sonic experience is of the highest level wherever you are.”