Streaming

How to add scripture lower-thirds to your church stream

By Mambo Mutinda · Founder & CEO, TajiCast

In the room, everyone sees the verse on the big screen. Online, viewers often watch a preacher teach a passage they can't see — no reference, no text, no context. A scripture lower-third fixes that: the verse sits neatly along the bottom of the frame, readable on a phone, without hiding anyone. Here's how to add one to your stream, and how to make it update itself.

Why lower-thirds matter for streams

The big screen in your building doesn't reach the stream unless you put it there. A lower-third is how you do it without taking over the whole frame — it shows the verse in a strip along the bottom, leaving the preacher and stage visible. For online viewers, that context is the difference between following along and feeling lost. It's the streaming cousin of what you already do on the projector; see how to add Bible verses to your church live stream.

The clean way to deliver it: NDI

You could build lower-thirds by hand in your switcher and type each verse in live — but that's a full-time job during a sermon. The clean way is NDI: a tool sends the verse across your network as a video source, and your streaming software receives it as a ready-made lower-third. New to NDI? Start with NDI for churches: a beginner's guide.

Adding it in OBS

1. Install the NDI pluginOBS needs the free DistroAV (formerly obs-ndi) plugin to receive NDI. Install it and restart OBS.
2. Add the NDI sourceIn your scene, add an NDI source and pick the verse output from the list.
3. Position it lowDrag it to the lower third of the frame and size it to span the width without covering faces.
4. Leave it runningOnce it's in the scene, it updates on its own as verses change — no re-adding.

Full walkthrough: how to add an NDI source in OBS.

Adding it in vMix

vMix speaks NDI natively, so there's no plugin step:

1. Add an NDI inputAdd Input → NDI, and choose the verse source.
2. Put it in an overlay channelAssign it to an overlay so you can bring it in and out cleanly.
3. Match the aspect ratioUse a full-width theme matched to your canvas so the strip spans edge to edge.

Full walkthrough: how to add an NDI source in vMix.

Make it automatic

The last step is the best one: instead of typing verses into the lower-third live, let it follow the sermon on its own. TajiCast detects the preached verse and pushes it straight into the NDI lower-third, so online viewers get every passage automatically while your operator watches the rest of the stream. Your operator can still override any verse by hand.