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A New Home for Our Video Library

by Pam Smith on August 13, 2020


As much as we’ve come to rely on technology—and in these strange times who hasn’t—the continually shifting nature of it all can be exhausting. There is an ever-growing list of logins to remember, and it can feel like someone is telling you about some hot, new platform every five minutes. That’s why we’re always looking for ways to provide you with stable, centralized (pardon the pun) access to the church’s media.

For a long time, our video library has existed on two completely separate platforms: Vimeo and Livestream. One stored all the videos we make or film in-house, and the other handled live-streaming our worship services and select events. A few years ago, Vimeo acquired Livestream and began integrating live-streaming into their service plans. Still, it’s only recently that the two services have reached something like parity in their actual functionality. This meant that we could cut the cost of our video streaming and hosting in half while giving you the same level of service by consolidating on Vimeo.

This summer, we’ve been hard at work moving years of archived services and events over from Livestream, as well as getting the integration of our website and platforms like Facebook switched over. It’s been a long process, but we’re in the home stretch, and we expect to phase Livestream out entirely by the end of August.

And what does that mean for you? If you watch on our website or Facebook, we’ve done all the work, so you don’t have to do anything. If you regularly use the Livestream app on either your mobile device or smart t.v., we recommend downloading the Vimeo app and following Central’s account—just like you did on Livestream. The apps are available for iOS and Android devices, Apple TV, and more.

The main difference you’re going to notice is in finding archived services or events. On Livestream, we had a First Service and Second Service event, as well as events for special services, concerts, etc. You can rewatch the daily devotionals, Children's Church videos, and more. On Vimeo, videos are organized into Channels and Showcases; to keep things as simple as possible, we’ve titled those as descriptively as possible (ex. Concerts or Resurrection Transformation Sermons).

Looking for a baptism in a service from 2017? Simply go to the 2017 Services channel and you will find all the videos in chronological order. If you’re looking for one of Scott Sauls talks from our 175th Anniversary year, go to the Irresistible Faith showcase. We’ve added titles, date recorded, and who was preaching to all the archived services to make finding what you’re looking for as easy as possible 

On the Central Pres website, you will still find our extensive sermon audio archive, searchable by Pastor, date, or sermon series. Beginning earlier this year, this same archive includes video of the sermons as well 

We understand that navigating Vimeo may take a little getting used to, but ultimately we believe it will give you even better access to content from Central. Have questions? As always, we’re here to help!

Tags: worship, sermon, video, archive, vimeo


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