Podcasts about sermon prep

How do you move from simply reading the Bible to truly understanding its depths?In Session 2 of the Rooted Conference, Pastor Daniel Batarseh shares the "Tool Belt" of hermeneutics he uses for deeper Bible study. This session moves beyond basic reading, equipping you with practical tools to uncover the richness of God's Word—focusing on finding Christ throughout the entire Bible and effectively using outside resources.In this session, you will learn:Types and Shadows: Discover how Old Testament people, events, and symbols prophetically point to the person and work of Jesus Christ.Biblical Allusions: Learn to recognize the thousands of subtle echoes and indirect references the New Testament makes to the Hebrew Scriptures.Essential Study Tools: A guide to using commentaries (Matthew Henry, David Guzik), concordances (Strong's, Blue Letter Bible), and quality historical books (The Puritans).The Power of Community: Why sitting under faithful teaching and discussing the Word with others is essential for spiritual growth.The Emergency Tool: A powerful strategy for when you lack the motivation to read your Bible.Whether you are a new believer or a seasoned student of the Word, these insights will help you rediscover a sense of wonder in the Scriptures and fuel a personal revival of the Bible in your daily life.

A short bonus conversation with CPT fellow Matthew LaMaster on a book that has influenced his preaching ministry and his aspiration to write his sermons six months before they are preached.

What if your role as a pastor is not to produce growth, but to cultivate the conditions where growth might happen?In this episode of the Expositors Collective Podcast, Mike Neglia talks with Matt Erickson about his journey in preaching and how a season of personal and cultural upheaval led him to rethink pastoral ministry. Drawing from his book The Pastor as Gardener, Matt offers a vision of ministry that is both deeply biblical and quietly liberating.Instead of carrying the weight of outcomes, pastors are invited to think more like gardeners than CEOs. Preparing the soil, planting faithfully, watering consistently, and trusting God to bring the growth.Along the way, this conversation gets very practical. Matt reflects on his early experiences in preaching, how his preparation habits have matured, and how a collaborative preaching team can strengthen both the preacher and the church. He also explores how metaphors shape ministry expectations, why seasons matter more than we often admit, and how preaching can move beyond information transfer into genuine spiritual formation.If you've ever felt the pressure to make things “work” in ministry, this episode offers a needed reset.

Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today we're joined by Jon-Michael Sherman and Eric Smith, the team behind SermonDone—an AI-powered platform designed specifically to help pastors with sermon preparation, research, and media creation. Their goal is simple: help pastors save time so they can focus more energy on shepherding people, developing leaders, and delivering impactful messages each weekend. Are you feeling the weekly pressure of sermon preparation? Wondering how new technology like AI could actually support your preaching rather than replace it? In this conversation, Eric and Jon-Michael explain how tools like SermonDone are helping pastors streamline research, develop sermon series, and extend the reach of their messages beyond Sunday morning. Building an AI operating system for pastors. // The idea for SermonDone began during a conversation with pastors at a conference about how they were—or weren't—using AI in ministry. Jon-Michael realized many pastors either didn't know where to start or were piecing together generic AI tools that weren't designed for ministry contexts. The team set out to create what they call an “AI operating system for pastors,” built specifically around the real workflow of sermon preparation. From planning long-term preaching calendars to turning sermons into small-group resources, the platform was designed to support the full lifecycle of preaching. Their goal is to eliminate the intimidating blank page pastors often face on Monday mornings and provide tools that help them think, research, and prepare more efficiently. Saving pastors time without replacing the pastor. // The purpose of SermonDone is not to replace pastors but to free up their time for the things that matter most. Many pastors spend countless hours gathering research before they ever begin writing. SermonDone accelerates that process by compiling detailed research reports in minutes, allowing pastors to move quickly into prayerful reflection and message development. Eric compares it to meal-prep services that deliver ingredients to your door—you still cook the meal, but you don't have to spend hours shopping. In the same way, pastors still craft the message, internalize it, and deliver it with passion; the platform simply helps gather the “ingredients” faster. Deep research and sermon writing tools. // One of the platform's most unique features is its deep research capability. SermonDone deploys multiple AI agents to explore various aspects of a biblical passage or theological topic and deliver a comprehensive research report in minutes. The report can include historical background, theological insights, commentary perspectives, and practical applications—equivalent to the work of multiple research assistants. Pastors can then write directly within the platform using an AI assistant that provides feedback, cross-references, and suggestions as they develop their sermon. The goal is not to automate preaching but to equip pastors with better information and more time to internalize and communicate the message effectively. Extending the impact of sermons beyond Sunday. // Another major focus for SermonDone is helping churches extend the life of their preaching content. The platform can automatically generate sermon clips for social media from a YouTube link, allowing churches to create multiple short videos that highlight key teaching moments. Upcoming features include adding B-roll footage and music to clips, helping churches produce engaging content that keeps the sermon message circulating online throughout the week. The platform also creates graphics and other media resources so churches of any size can maintain a strong digital presence without needing a large communications team. Creating a personalized preaching assistant. // SermonDone includes a feature called “My Library,” where pastors can upload past sermons, documents, or other teaching content. The platform analyzes this material to learn the pastor's theological framework, communication style, and recurring themes. Over time, the system becomes increasingly personalized, offering suggestions and insights based on the pastor's own voice and past teaching. It can even identify patterns in a pastor's preaching—highlighting repeated themes or areas where fresh perspectives might be helpful. Addressing concerns about AI in ministry. // Both Eric and Jon-Michael acknowledge that some pastors remain cautious about using AI in sermon preparation. Their response is that technology has always shaped ministry—from printing presses to radio, television, and the internet. AI, they argue, is simply another tool. Used wisely, it can accelerate research, expand creativity, and help pastors spend more time shepherding people rather than staring at a blank document. To learn more about SermonDone, visit sermondone.com. The team is continually adding new features designed to help pastors research faster, preach better, and extend the reach of their sermons throughout the week. Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Thank You to This Episode’s Sponsor: TouchPoint As your church reaches more people, one of the biggest challenges is making sure no one slips through the cracks along the way.TouchPoint Church Management Software is an all-in-one ecosystem built for churches that want to elevate discipleship by providing clear data, strong engagement tools, and dependable workflows that scale as you grow. TouchPoint is trusted by some of the fastest-growing and largest churches in the country because it helps teams stay aligned, understand who they're reaching, and make confident ministry decisions week after week. If you've been wondering whether your current system can carry your next season of growth, it may be time to explore what TouchPoint can do for you. You can evaluate TouchPoint during a free, no-pressure one-hour demo at TouchPointSoftware.com/demo. Episode Transcript Rich Birch — Hey friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast. So glad that you have decided to tune in I’m really looking forward to today’s conversation. Got some returning friends, returning guests on the podcast, which you know what that means. These are people I like who I think you should be paying attention to. Really excited to have Jon-Michael Sherman and Eric Smith from SermonDone. If you do not know SermonDone, where have you been? You’ve been sleeping under a rock somewhere. It is the premium AI assistant, build just for pastors like you. It’s a tool that helps you with really everything to do a sermon prep from deep sermon research, to planning an entire series, even generating the first draft that’s theologically aligned and sounds just like you. Plus, we’ve got some new stuff that they want to talk about today. But welcome to the show. So glad you’re here today, guys. Welcome.Eric Smith — Thanks for having us, man. We’re super pumped to be here and thanks for having us back.Rich Birch — Nice. It’s good. Eric, why don’t you bring us up to speed a little bit on where has SermonDone been since we last talked? You know, what’s been going on these last few months?Eric Smith — Yeah, so the last few months have been incredibly exciting. We have really almost re-envisioned even the original platform, and have expanded it to be so much better than it was before. Rich Birch — Yes.Eric Smith — It was great before, and it was a great resource. But just like anything, we continued to dream and stretch ourselves and really push ourselves to expand the platform to offer more resources, to save pastors more time, and to help pastors be more effective. Rich Birch — Love it.Eric Smith — And so we’re going to talk about a lot of those different features today and super pumped to share those and excited about all that’s happening.Rich Birch — Yeah, so good. Jon-Michael, why don’t we start with you kind of roll the clock back for people who maybe haven’t been following this story. Friends, I think this is an incredible tool that you should be trying. And actually, you’re going to want to stick around till the end because they’ve got this incredible thing that they’ve just rolled out that you’re going to want to try. Rich Birch — But Jon-Michael, roll the clock back. Tell us a bit of the founding story. What what are you really trying to solve? What’s the problem that you’re lying awake at night wrestling with, trying to to help so many church leaders with?Jon-Michael Sherman — Yeah, first of all, great to be back with you, Rich. And always love listening to the show. Long time listener, happy to be a guest. We started this over a year ago at a pastor’s conference in a breakout session with a bunch of pastors talking about preaching. And we were going around the room saying, how are you using AI? How are you using AI? Another person’s like, I’ve never used it before. I’ve never tried it before. Jon-Michael Sherman — And so we said to ourselves, what would it look like for us to create really the AI operating system for pastors in every aspect of their process? Everything from research, being able to plan a 12-month or 24-month or 36-month or however many months you want to go preaching calendar, right? What if we could help you with that? What if we could help you with your discipleship resources and turning a sermon into small group curriculum?Jon-Michael Sherman — And so we started creating and we created without handcuffs. We just said, if we could be maximalist in our approach, and create the most amazing tools, what could we create? And so we went on this journey and we’ve been listening to so many of you that have been listening to this show, giving us feedback. I know many of the listeners on this show have emailed me personally and said, hey, John, could you make this for me? And I said, I’d love to. I love that idea. That’s a great idea.Jon-Michael Sherman — And so what you’re gonna be seeing now in this latest version is because of the listeners of this show, the feedback that’s come from this show. And pastors, you know, I’ve sat in that seat. I’ve been a lead pastor. Eric’s a lead pastor right now. And so I know the pressure of that Monday morning feeling. What am I going to do? The page is blank again. And I think we can clearly say now as a company, you really never have to start from scratch anymore.Rich Birch — Yeah, I love that. And I don’t know if I ever told you guys this, but you know a year ago when I got to know you a little bit better, you graciously gave me access to the platform and I sent it to some preaching friends of mine. And I said, Hey, like, take a look at this thing. What do you think? And the part that I have found really impressive with what you’ve done is I feel like every time I’m back on the tool, there’s like something new. It keeps growing. It keeps expanding. You’ve, you’ve even from where it was a year ago, it’s like a totally different deal. It’s like, it’s, there’s all kinds of new stuff in there. And I’ve seen you pay close attention. Like you said there, Jon-Michael to, what you’ve heard people say and actually implemented that, which I think is commendable. Rich Birch — Eric, in your this is a part of what you do. It’s not the only thing that you do in life. As Jon-Michael had talked about there, lead pastor at a fast-growing church in Florida, Hope City. I think you’re three locations, if I’m if i’m correct. Rich Birch — One of the things I love that I’ve heard you say is, hey, this tool is going to help pastors save some time. That makes me lean forward. Let’s talk about maybe one or two of the new features that you think is going to help save some time particularly, that’s gonna maybe make this process a little more efficient so that we can focus on whether that’s meeting with people or some extra leadership stuff or what what’s a new new feature that kind of is gonna help us save some time.Eric Smith — Yeah, so everything that we do is all about helping churches grow. We want to help churches grow and we want to help them engage people. And so we believe the way that we do that is by saving pastors time, but not just saving them time, helping them maximize the time that they invest… Rich Birch — That’s good.Eric Smith — …to create better sermons and better, you know, sermon clips and all the other things that we do. And so a couple of the new features that we’ve come out with since the last time we talked is now we actually have a sermon writer. So you go into the platform and you can actually write your sermon inside the platform. And what’s really cool about it is as you’re writing, you have an AI assistant right there beside you and you can, you know, ask it questions, you can get feedback, you can get cross references, whatever. So imagine you’re going through the process and you’re able to do that. Eric Smith — But not only that, as you’re building your slides, you can right click on anything that you have and it’ll immediately start building your slides for the weekend. And then on top of that, one of the other amazing features is after you’re done with the sermon, I wanted to create, I was telling Jon-Michael when we were building it, I said, I want to create something that’s going to help a pastor actually memorize and learn the sermon. Because it’s one thing to write a sermon, it’s another thing to internalize the message and then deliver the message in a dynamic and compelling way.Eric Smith — I think I said this the last time I was on the podcast with you. The way we deliver the sermon is actually just as important or more important than, than writing it. And so we created a feature in there where helps you memorize the sermon and walk through it. It also has a feature where you can preach straight from the platform where, you know, right there from your iPad or from your computer or however you preach.Eric Smith — I’m still old school. I preach on paper, but that’s just me. Uh, but yeah, but that’s one of the features. Another exciting feature is to help pastors, you know, really take the the research to a whole nother level. And so we developed something called deep research. There is nothing like this out there. You can’t do this with generic AI. It’s impossible.Eric Smith — And so I was telling Jon-Michael as we were brainstorming this idea, I want to create something for pastors that will help them get so deep and further ahead that when they sit down to craft the sermon, they have all the research they need. It’s kind of like this: you know, we go to the grocery store, we buy all the ingredients, we bring the ingredients home and we we cook the meal, we prep the meal.Eric Smith — What we’ve done is we’ve said, hey, just like there’s their services now that you can buy and all the ingredients come in a box and all you have to do is unbox it. You still have to cook the meal. Well, that’s the way this is. Deep research is we’re giving you all the ingredients in a research report that’s over 20,000 words. When Jon-Michael and I were building it, we wanted to wrestle with what would the average pastor who’s bivocational want to know, but what would also the PhD want to know?Eric Smith — And so the research, we have 23 AI agents that go out. They have four to 500 words of prompting that we wrote. It does deep research in 23 specific areas, every area you could want to know about a specific section of the Bible or a theological topic. And then it delivers in five minutes, it delivers a report back with all that information. I mean, it’s it’s absolutely amazing. That feature alone would cost you a ton of money. I mean, it’s imagine having 23 master level or doctorate level assistants that are going out and researching these different areas for and then delivering the report back. And now when you sit down, you’ve got all this amazing research to go through as you get ready to to prepare yourself to preach.Rich Birch — Yeah, I love that feature. That’s incredible. I multiple times with, so I’ve been in the executive pastor seat, this you know, supporting some great, incredible communicators and multiple communicators, we have explored And ultimately never pulled the trigger on a research assistant or there’s organizations out there that will do this, that will put together a research brief and they’ll they’ll get a PhD student. And you’ll you’ll pay ah you know thousands of dollars a month for that kind of service. Rich Birch — When I first used your research tool, I was like, oh my goodness, this is exactly like that thing that we were looking at, that that, man, but it’s ah you’re making it available for every pastor, which is incredible. I’ve said in other contexts, preaching is a team sport. Although one person has to get up and do it, I get it. Ultimately, one person’s going to stand up this. What you’re helping do is is bring all that other um support from, other like you say, these 23 other agents.Rich Birch — Jon-Michael, a part of what I love is the partnership between the two of you guys and your whole team. When you’re thinking about the the features that you’ve been adding, one of the things you talked about was like you’ve been listening to people and saying, hey, here’s a change. Are there any of these new features particularly that you’re like, you know, the people are demanding. And so we added this, you know, what was one of those features or a couple of those features that really people have been excited about that you’re looking forward to releasing or maybe are just around the corner to releasing?Jon-Michael Sherman — Yeah, well, we’re really excited about having sermon clips as one of our latest features. Rich Birch — Love it.Jon-Michael Sherman — People are absolutely loving it. It’s this immediate way for you to be able to put your YouTube link in and have incredible viral clips ready for social media. So I’ve led a church marketing agency in the in the church industry for 10 years. And I know the value of vertical video. It’s so important to let your sermon keep preaching beyond Sunday. However, ah you know, right now, you know, a clip alone can be somewhat engaging, but adding B-roll footage really helps it take it to another level. And so we’ll be releasing that here very soon right around the corner. So you’re going to have the ability to do even better edits than ever before.Jon-Michael Sherman — So imagine having 10, 20 clips to look through and then choosing the one that you love and then being able to add B-roll with high level stock footage and engage people in a big way. So people have been asking for it. We said, yes, we’re bringing it. It’s costing us a lot of money and we’re spending it for you guys. So we want you to have it and it’s important to us.Rich Birch — Love it. Yeah, that’s amazing. I loved when I saw that you guys added that to the suite. One of the, a part of the work I do in the coaching/consulting with my churches is around invite culture. And, you know, one of the things we’ll often do is look at their social channels and give them some feedback, really benchmark against what the fastest growing churches are doing. And you would not believe how many times I’ve said to churches, how come you’re not doing sermon clips like that? That is like low hanging fruit. Three quarters of the reason why people attend your church is because of the teaching. And you know, being able to do a clip or two a day you know in the week following is a great way to keep that in front of people. I love that you’ve added that. Rich Birch — Tell me a little bit more about the B-roll, though. That’s kind of interesting. That that feels like that’s going to really punch it up, take it to a whole new level.Jon-Michael Sherman — Yeah, I think, you know, if I were talking to you 10 years ago, the hot thing to do was have a virtual visit video on your website. Remember those days where you would show people a look of, you know, here’s what it looks like in the outside. And this is what kids check looks that like and different things. Well, the beauty with B-roll is you can still put in that stock footage of your church, and clip that in with your sermon.Jon-Michael Sherman — So as you’re preaching, now here’s some B-roll of worship. As you’re preaching, now here’s some B-roll of kids check. As you’re preaching, now here’s some B-roll of the lobby. You can show off your church experience a little bit more and upload your own custom B-roll. Jon-Michael Sherman — Or you can use the stock B-roll that we have. So maybe you’re talking about a specifically emotive subject. You can then clip into some a stock footage that illustrates that emotion or that story that you’re communicating.Jon-Michael Sherman — So it just takes it to a whole nother level. Obviously, like the clips alone, the way they are right now are great. But just having those different tools that you’re able to add on to it. We’ll also be releasing some audio too. So along with that, if you want to choose or use from our our library of of audio, you can use that too. So songs, different things you want to add to your clips, you can really do it all within our within our new release.Rich Birch — That’s amazing. You know, this is the thing that’s incredible about your tool. Really, the suite of tools put together in in one ah you know one environment is, you know, you just keep adding new things. Eric, when you think, though, back to the core of SermonDone, when you think about the the thing that’s kind of getting used the most, what what what is the part of it? Like these, I’m assuming that these new tools, it’s like additive to a core experience. What part of it at its core are you kind of the most happy with or the most proud of? Okay, we keep working on this part of it because this is the piece that is so important to the overall ah kind of SermonDone experience. Eric Smith — Well, I think there’s, um it’s hard to pick one… Rich Birch — Or a couple, a couple. Eric Smith — …but I will we’ll say the unique thing about our platform, unlike anything else that’s out there, is ours has a media component. You know, we have sermon clips. We also do graphics. And so our heart is for, there’s so many pastors out there that that are all alone. They’re by themselves. They’re fighting the fight. And man, we are with you. We built this honestly for you.Eric Smith — And to have a pastor be able to, you know, even if their church is small or they’re a new plant and they’re just getting started to be able to do clips, but then also to be able to create graphics for events, graphics for their sermons. So literally in five seconds, you can have a graphic. And we give even just on our $99 a month lowest version, you get 100 graphics a month. Nobody’s going to probably use that many, but if you don’t like the way it was, you can tweak it, you can modify it.Rich Birch — Right.Eric Smith — And so um on the media side, I love all that. For me personally, using the product, developing the product, I love the ability, even with our sermon builder, to just when I’m sitting, you know, waiting for somebody at a coffee shop to meet and I have a thought or an idea and I type it into my notes on my phone about a specific, you know, devotion I was doing or a text I’ve been thinking about or a topic. And then I’m able to take those notes and throw those into my sermon builder. What that does is it just organizes those and begins to outline that for me.Eric Smith — It’s my words. It’s just helping organize it. And here’s the other thing, because our platform, unlike any other platform, has your personal pastor profile—When you set the product up, you build your pastor profile. You talk about your theological heritage. You talk about Bible translation. news You talk about your your preaching style and you upload sermons if you’d like to do that. And what happens is our AI begins to understand you more. And as does that, it’s going to deliver that content in a way that aligns with you and your theology. And in your delivery. Eric Smith — And so that’s really, really important. But I just I can’t get past the deep research. I mean…Rich Birch — Yeah, so good.Eric Smith — …I was pastoring. I’ve I’ve been blessed to pastor for a long time now, and I’ve been blessed to pastor three different churches that grew incredibly fast. All glory to God. And I was in a church I was pastoring in Alabama. I was it I planted two and I pastored and revitalized one. So I’m a weirdo, I guess, in that way. When we did revitalization, it was it was a large church and I’m there and I almost hired a company to do research for me.Eric Smith — And I got the quotes back, I got the demo the the sample report. And I was like, oh man, this would be amazing.Rich Birch — Yes.Eric Smith — It was just it was just so much money, even at a large church.Rich Birch — Yes. Yes.Eric Smith — I cannot pull the trigger on this.Rich Birch — Right.Eric Smith — I can’t do it. Just imagine now, in our product, you get 10 deep researches for $99 a month. Rich Birch — Yeah.Eric Smith — To get one deep research with one of those companies would cost you hundreds of dollars and it would take hours and hours and hours for someone to do. Rich Birch — Yep.Eric Smith — Well, now we’re able to deliver that and it aligns with your theological framework. It is absolutely amazing. And so we literally are delivering delivering the ingredients to you. You still got to cook the meal, but we’re delivering it to you.Rich Birch — Yes.Eric Smith — So I love that. That’s amazing.Rich Birch — Yeah. Yeah, it’s so good. And I know um it’s been fun to watch your journey as an organization. And early on, one of the questions that people would ask is like, how is this any different than just a generic AI tool? And and I always from the beginning, I was like, no, it’s so different than just you know going on and having some you know chatbot conversation.Rich Birch — But to me, that question just isn’t even in the orbit anymore. It’s like, there’s so much of this, you know, you could not replicate. The amount of time it would take for you to build all these individual apps and all that just would be insane.Rich Birch — Jon-Michael, could you talk to us about the “My Library”? That’s been up and running now for maybe six or eight months. Maybe it’s longer than that now. What have you seen as users have used that to kind of help your tool be more custom? Because I think that’s one of the advantages that you’ve built in is, hey, this isn’t sounding like some generic, somebody else. It is giving me feedback that is related to things that I’ve preached in the past. How is how is that tool being used?Jon-Michael Sherman — Yeah, it’s really quite remarkable because it really serves as an external brain for those of us who can’t remember what we said 10 seconds ago. And it seems to be that lead pastors all have that same personality.Jon-Michael Sherman — Do we agree, guys? Yeah. No, I mean, it’s, you know, it’s it’s true. And I mean, and listen, like no one in the world has the job that lead pastors have to go and have create 40 plus unique sermons a year and then somehow try not to repeat yourself. Right? Rich Birch — So true.Jon-Michael Sherman — So obviously the memorization of saying, have I said that before? When did I say that? But the beauty of being able to build on what you’ve already said and be able to remember yourself and pull up all the the past content that you’ve said in the past is remarkable. Again, we may write 3000 words of notes, but we’re going to speak 6000 words on the mic. And so being able to have all of those words as well captured within the platform is remarkable.Jon-Michael Sherman — Another really great one, I was working with a pastor in in Phoenix area. We uploaded his sermon library over the past couple of years, and we just said, hey, analyze me, you know, like, what are my, what are my themes? What am I repeating too much? What am I you know, am am I, am I, am I being diverse enough in my communication? You know, and it, it gave a deeply accurate profile of these are things you repeat. These are themes that are, ah that you, that you repeat. And it was just spot on. It was wild. It acted like a doctorate level, homiletics coach in a sense.Jon-Michael Sherman — And so we’re going to be doing some cool upgrades to My Library. Stay tuned.Eric Smith — Oh yeah.Jon-Michael Sherman — Right right now, you’ve got to be a little bit smart in the sense of like thinking about what to say. We’re going to make that a little bit more, click and go moving forward. But I’m telling you, if you upload your sermons in there, there’s a lot of amazing questions you can ask and you can get some honest feedback, maybe more honest feedback than your teaching team gives you. Who knows? So, the most honest one is our wife, right? Anyone else?Rich Birch — Yeah, true.Jon-Michael Sherman — Exactly. Yeah, she’ll tell you, but the AI will tell you too. you’ll They’ll tell you. So it’s great. We love it.Rich Birch — And that in My Librar…oh, sorry, Eric, I didn’t mean to cut you off.Eric Smith — Well, no, I was just going to say, I just want say this so I don’t forget. Maybe if you’ve heard about our product before, and this platform, and you tried it out months ago or a year ago, it’s so much better and so different. So I would just encourage you to jump back in and give it another go because the new features that are available are just absolutely phenomenal. And the reality that you can do the media and the research and the writing, is it’s it’s it’s just so robust in what it can do.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s that’s a good, that’s a good word. you know if I know there’s people that have tried it and maybe for one reason or another, maybe you you know you took ah took the summer off, you weren’t preaching for a few weeks and so you canceled. Hey, now’s a good time to re-up and you’ll be amazed all the different features that have been added and improved. Rich Birch — On the My Library, I just want to there’s a detail there I want to make sure we capture. You can upload. It’s a multimedia upload. You can upload audio, video. What’s that whole list of things that you can upload to that?Jon-Michael Sherman — Yeah, everything from you know your files that you’ve written, your your sermons you’ve written. You can use Google Drive to link in. YouTube link is very popular, being able to you know upload your sermons via YouTube link. Jon-Michael Sherman — So it’s always better if you have the version where the the worship isn’t playing, but just just your sermon, that part, that’d be the good one to use when you upload it.Jon-Michael Sherman — But it is smart enough to know the difference. It’s, it’s wild. But it’s, it’s really amazing. So again, it’s not just every word that you’ve written. It’s every word you’ve, you’ve actually preached from the mic. You know, cause I’ve never written out my full stories. I don’t know about you guys, when you’re doing a sermon, I just say, tell this story, right. Rich Birch — Yes.Jon-Michael Sherman — [Inaudible] my notes. But the actual story I spoke through the mic. So it’s going to capture all of that when you’re in My Library.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s so true.Eric Smith — Well, one of the things on My Library is if you have other theological documents. For example, if it were you, Rich, you could take all your podcast and put there, right? All the scripts from your podcast, you could load up in there. Rich Birch — That’s great.Eric Smith — And so think outside the box. Don’t just think: sermons I’ve written or even sermons I’ve preached. Maybe it’s theological papers, maybe it’s blogs, maybe it’s podcasts. There’s other things that you can put in there as well.Rich Birch — Eric, I want to play the devil’s advocate here for a minute. Because I know there’s people that are probably thinking this. We’re 20 minutes in. They’re maybe interested but a little suspicious of just the use of AI in sermon prep in any way. They’re like, I just don’t know. This is this is this is a bridge too far. I’m just not sure we should be doing that. I’m you know, I’m I’m concerned. I’m nervous. I think you know this is going to be really negative for me. What would you say, not necessarily somebody who’s being combative, but is honestly asking you, is picking up with the phone and saying, Eric, I trust you. But talk to me about that.Eric Smith — Yeah, so I think everybody has to operate in the different convictions they have. Our belief is that we highly trust pastors.Eric Smith — Rich, you know thousands of pastors. We know thousands of pastors. Yeah, there’s a few out there that may not be the greatest, but pastors are amazing and they’re high integrity people. And so we trust you. You you operate with your conviction, number one. Eric Smith — Number two, I would just say this. You were already using it and you didn’t know it. We’ve been using AI for a long time. Google is AI. Rich Birch — Yeah, it’s true Eric Smith — What’s happened is it’s just gone from you know slow speed to super fast. And so really there is no difference in what we’re doing. It’s just delivering content faster. And people say stuff like AI is the devil or whatever. It’s just pulling data. It’s just pulling data.Eric Smith — I mean…So all it’s doing is the computers are so good and so smart that they can ah research and pull data faster than ever before. And so why would we not want to speed up that process? All of us are using Amazon because it sped up the process for me to get the thing delivered to my door. Is that a bad thing?Rich Birch — Right.Eric Smith — No. Rich Birch — Right.Eric Smith — I will say no pastor that we know of that’s ever used our product is just, you know, using AI and then stepping up on the platform and then using it to preach. They’re using it to research. They’re using it to to refine things. They’re using it to wrestle with, I have this statement. How can I say this better? They’re using it for things like sermon clips, and and or uploading your sermon in our discipleship area that we have on our platform, you can upload it. It’ll turn your sermon into kids curriculum. It’ll turn your sermon into small group curriculum. It’ll turn your sermon into small group questions. It does all that as well.Eric Smith — And so it’s taking your content and reorganizing it in a different way. Why would we not use? We’ve done this throughout history where we’ve used things to advance the speed of something. Of course, none of us ever want to get away from praying, seeking the Lord, asking the Holy Spirit to guide us and lead us. This is just allowing us to get the ingredients together faster…Rich Birch — Right.Eric Smith — …so that we can actually spend time on what makes a sermon great. What is it that makes a sermon great? It’s not what’s on the paper. I can preach the same sermon as someone else on Sunday and you could look at our paper and go, wow, that looks just the same. But one of our sermons might be a lot better because, number one, we allowed it to really take root in our heart. We allowed it to simmer in our soul.Eric Smith — And so if I can help pastors move faster through the researching and gathering of the material, so that they can put the sermon together and it really take root in their soul. And then second prep on the actual delivery of the sermon. In the platform we have a masterclass that I put together on, really, sermon delivery. If I can help pastors do that, what’s going to happen is it’s going to save them time, but not only is it going to save them time, it’s going to help them preach better sermons. And as said before, our focus, our heartbeat is to grow the church and to engage believers in the body of Christ. Rich Birch — It’s good.Eric Smith — And so for us, we can help pastors preach better, churches grow. Why? 82% of people choose their church based on the quality—it’s either 82 or 83. I could be off 1%—the quality of the sermon. Rich Birch — Yes.Eric Smith — And so, pastor, you should do everything you can to preach better sermons. And this is a tool that we want to come alongside you and serve you. We are here to serve and make your sermons better. And that’s our heart. So that’s what I would say.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s so good. You know, I know that people have a concern anytime there’s new technology, but I love how you frame that, Eric, that it’s, in you know, it’s, We’re already using parts of this. It’s a part of all of our everyday lives. And how can we use it in a way to really accelerate the mission to try to get, you know. And I think that if I would say the only thing I would add, if I was listening in today and I had that hesitation, I would just take a step towards it and to learn about it, to actually try a tool like or try SermonDone specifically, ah you know, like and and see, hey, maybe there’s a way that this could help.Rich Birch — And I would agree with you. It’s not, you know, it’s not a, you don’t go in there and be like, hey, give me a great three-part sermon on John 3:16. You know, that’s not what this is. It’s, hey, I’m working on this. It’s a bunch of tools to help you think through and to process all of this and then to ultimately give you the the time to to prepare it.Rich Birch — Jon-Michael, what anything you’d add to that kind of the, maybe the hesitant pastor who’s who’s a little bit worried about this and is, you know, yeah doesn’t want to go left behind, but is also concerned about it?Jon-Michael Sherman — Yeah, you know you know me, I’m probably going to be a little bit not as nice as Eric. would I’ll try to but i’ll try to be nice, but I’ll just put it this way. You know, look, it’s just the way it goes. When new tech comes into the church world, we go through five phases. The first phase is it’s demonic.Jon-Michael Sherman — You know, ah the Nephilim came down into spacecraft and and handed AI to, you know, Peter Thiel and he’s bringing the Antichrist and it’s over… Rich Birch — Right. Right. Jon-Michael Sherman — …you know, the the military is going to listen to me through SermonDone.com. Rich Birch — Yes. Jon-Michael Sherman — You know, like that’s, what’s I’ve had, I’ve talked to guys on the phone that have thought that, okay, that’s real life. Rich Birch — Right. Right.Jon-Michael Sherman — Even it’s funny, but it’s true. It’s demonic.Rich Birch — Right.Jon-Michael Sherman — And then it goes, well, that evil mega church down the road is doing it, but I would never. I would never we grab our pearls and we clutch up.Rich Birch — Right. Right. Right.Jon-Michael Sherman — And then it goes to, well, I’m using it secretly, but I can’t tell my pastor. I can’t tell anybody you know I’m using it secretly.Rich Birch — Right.Jon-Michael Sherman — And then it goes to, well, of course we’re using it. And why isn’t everyone on staff using it? If you don’t use it the next 30 days, you’re getting fired. And then it goes from that to like, hey, welcome my breakout session here at Exponential. I’m going to be teaching you how I use AI. Well, 10 minutes ago, you thought it came off a spaceship, you know. But this is how we are, okay?Rich Birch — Right, right, right.Jon-Michael Sherman — Like this is just how we are. So we’re somewhere in the mix right now, depending on who’s listening. Okay, you know, it’s fun. But here’s the real issue is this. It truly is this. It It depends on which tribe you’re coming from. But there we, all of us, as lead pastors, guys that get in the pulpit, we all have one sin that we struggle with, and it’s pride. And we have to realize that we have this treasure, the gospel, it’s in a jar of clay. And you know what? Like we are broken vessels and we ah we we are a broken you know medium and the message is pure. The message is the gospel. The message has to go out. Jon-Michael Sherman — And so whether we’re using radio, television, artificial intelligence, you know, we’re streaming online right now using ah the Internet. The medium is is is not the thing that I’m worried about. It’s the message, is the gospel. And so whatever a tool the Lord gives us, let’s use it for his glory and our good. But let’s not let pride get in the way.Jon-Michael Sherman — So I’m going to speak into the Pentecostals because I grew up hanging from a chandelier. OK, I had a binky in one hand and a chandelier in the other. OK, I grew up Pentecostal holy roller.Jon-Michael Sherman — We have man-of-God complex. And this is what we do. Saturday night, the Lord speaks okay to pastor. And then he comes down from the mountain of God and he delivers the tablets, you know. Common phrase growing up was, I got woken up two in the morning. The Lord, the lord changed it up.Rich Birch — Right.Jon-Michael Sherman — Dude, you didn’t have a sermon until two in the morning last night. I know you’re you’re golfing all week.Rich Birch — Right, right. It’s called pressure. Last minute pressure. Yes.Jon-Michael Sherman — Exactly. Okay. And and it’s We struggle with that because we want to be the man of faith and power for the hour, Pentecostals.Rich Birch — Yeah.Jon-Michael Sherman — We do. And so like all of a sudden AI can help me do this faster and better. And what will my congregation think, led by the holy demon in Silicon Valley, you know, whatever. I’ve heard, I’ve seen the comments, right? It’s, but that’s, you know, it’s about humility. Like we have no new truth here. This is the truth that God gave us. Rich Birch — Yep.Jon-Michael Sherman — And we have to be faithful stewards of that truth. So we we can have nice outfits, but we better be true to the gospel. That’s my Pentecostal friends. Jon-Michael Sherman — Now to my Reformed friends, who I’m very close with. I had a very long conversation with a friend who’s deeply Reformed about our product. There’s a different pride issue because knowledge puffs up. And a lot of us in the Reformed world, man, we have gotten these badges of check out my master’s, check out my doctorate, check out my library. And, you know, and no one can orate or exegete the way I can.Jon-Michael Sherman — Well, hold up. AI can exegete pretty well, actually. And so there’s a pride issue there. And so I’ve seen that tribe having pride problems, too. But if we can make it not about the medium or the messenger, but make it about the message, it’s about the gospel of Jesus Christ.Jon-Michael Sherman — And so, unfortunately, I’ve just seen AI bring out a little bit of pride in every tribe. And I think we all just need to humble ourselves and say, this is just a tool. We are just messengers and ambassadors of Christ. Right. You know, like we have this message of reconciliation. And so the message is still the same. The messengers were still full of pride and we need to be humble before the Lord every Sunday.Jon-Michael Sherman — You know, there’s nothing more humbling than preaching, I would like to hope, but sometimes we get it twisted. So that’s my fun anecdote on that one for those are that are struggling in the midst of it. And and for those of that are still struggling, I did write a book for you. It’s called Pastoral Intelligence. It’s a book to help you figure out some of these big questions like, what is AI? How does it work? How do I make it work in my team? Jon-Michael Sherman — And maybe you don’t want to read the book because you don’t like reading because you have ADHD like me. I have memes in here. I’ll just teach you through memes. So you can use a meme and it’ll tell you what you need to know about AI.Rich Birch — Yes, that’s hilarious.Jon-Michael Sherman — But I want to encourage you to get that you if you’re struggling through it.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s that’s fantastic. And I would say, you know, my heart similarly, you know, I’ve spent, like I said this earlier in the podcast, I’ve spent most of my career in the second seat supporting incredible communicators who spend a lot of time, effort, energy, blood, sweat, tears on this. And I saw that my job, a part of my job was to remove barriers from that person’s life to try to make that part of what they do easier or so they could focus on that more. One of the lead pastors I worked to, incredible guy, His process, his sermon process, he would read about a thousand pages a week. That was pretty typical for him. And he would start writing after dinner on Saturday night.Rich Birch — He would write all Saturday night, finish his slides at two or three in the morning, email them to our team. We’d get the slides made up early morning. And we tried to change this process. I’m like, I’m not sure that this is super healthy for you. He had been doing it for 20 years or 15 years by the time I had got and interacted with him. And I’ve often thought about Sermon Don. I thought, man, if we had this tool back then, we could have saved a lot of you know blood, sweat, and tears. There’s you know there’s a part of that research that we just didn’t need to be doing.Rich Birch — So anyways, I’m glad, heartily endorsed, excited that you guys are are doing what you’re doing. As we come to to land the plane, Eric, any kind of final words from you that you would say to a pastor who’s listening in today? I want to make sure pastors actually go to sermondone.com and actually try it out. Anything else we want to be saying to people as we land the plane today?Eric Smith — Yeah, you can tell Jon-Michael’s, the one that’s the most fun in the group, right?Rich Birch — Yeah!Eric Smith — Now, I would just say, you know, you should give it a shot. And it’s it’s it’s not even doing, you still have to read the research it gives you. It’s just gathering the content for you. And for me, I’m like, I don’t I don’t really let the noise bother me of the culture or what this person or that person is saying, I’m trying to serve the people that God has has called me to serve. And so if I can more effectively do that in a way that honors the Lord and reaches people…Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s great.Eric Smith — …that’s, that’s my heart. And I know that’s every pastor that’s on here. That’s what they’re doing too. And so, uh, yeah, I would just invite you to give it a shot. Doesn’t hurt. Uh, when you sign up too, I think we have a code RICH20 to give 20% off because we love Rich Birch and the unSeminary podcast.Rich Birch — That’s great.Eric Smith — I guess Rich brings so much amazing content to the church world and God has used him in such a just a special way helping churches think through growth and strategy and systems and how to scale and you know the right things to do and so we’d love for you to try that out. And thanks, Rich, for all your time and what you meant to us.Rich Birch — No, I appreciate that, Eric. And we we keep saying this. We’ve got to have you on to just talk about the church side of your world at some point. We’re always like, well, we could get to that, but there’s always so much good stuff to talk about on SermonDone. We’ll have to have you back just on that. Jon-Michael, any any final words from you?Jon-Michael Sherman — Yeah, you know, I think it’s aptly put right now that no one here is is going to be replaced by AI, but maybe, you know, you might be replaced by someone who knows some of you as AI well. And I think it’s it’s a it’s a skill and a tool that you have to be embracing right now. And I think everyone needs to do that. Jon-Michael Sherman — Now, in three years, there’s a very good chance you know we’ll be back on the podcast and we’ll be talking about you know how to replace a staff member with an optimist robot, you know. I can imagine you know, I like you know youth pastors, optimist robot. You know, youth leader at camp, optimist robot. No one wants to be with a fourteen year old bunch of 14-year-olds at youth camp, you know optimist robot. With security at church, optimist robot with a gun. There’s a lot of great opportunities here in the future.Rich Birch — Oh, gosh. Oh, my goodness.Jon-Michael Sherman — But I will say this, I’m just teasing, but like AI is so great. It’s a wonderful tool for God’s glory and our good. Let’s embrace it. Let’s like shake off the naysayers, enjoy it, love it. And we’re so glad we built this. We made this for you and we want you to have it and try it. And we’d love to have you jump on.Rich Birch — That’s so good. So again, that’s just SermonDone.com. You can use that code RICH20. I really would encourage you to, to try it friends. I think it’s a great tool. It can save you so much time. And so that you can focus either on, you know, working on that delivery piece of the puzzle or more time leading your teams, more time connecting with people, you know, counseling folks, whatever, you know, there, I just think it’s a huge tool for you. So yeah again, that’s just SermonDone.com. Thanks so much. Really appreciate you guys being here today.Eric Smith — Thanks.Jon-Michael Sherman — Thanks, Rich.

In Episode 329 of the 95 Podcast, Dale Sellers and Joseph Bennett interview lead pastor Kevin Robinson about building a repeatable sermon prep system, getting weeks ahead, using feedback between services, and setting boundaries so ministry does not sabotage marriage and family life.Pastor Kevin and his wife Katie met in a small group at Foothills in 2011. Today, they are happily married with three children, Hayley, Anna, and Caleb. Kevin has served in various roles at Foothills over the years before becoming lead pastor and also served at a church in his hometown, Franklin, TN. They have made it their lives' mission to help people find and follow Jesus and are thrilled to continue that mission through Foothills, in the upstate and beyond!Show Notes: https://95network.org/sermon-prep-for-pastors-process-feedback-loops-and-boundaries-that-keep-you-healthy-w-kevin-robison-episode-329/Support the show

Dr Roy Collins is the kind of man many churches would love to have in their congregation: a retired pastor and professor who faithfully teaches the adult Sunday school class and serves as a steady, encouraging presence among God's people. His influence is not loud or flashy, but marked by wisdom, warmth, and a long history of loving the local church.In this episode of the Expositors Collective podcast, Dr Collins shares a message on Sermon Prep Essentials, recorded live at an Expositors Collective training event in 2024. Drawing on decades of experience in pastoral ministry and as a professor of Biblical Interpretation at Colorado Christian University, he offers thoughtful, grounded counsel for those tasked with preaching the Scriptures week after week.Throughout the message, Roy reminds preachers that they are called to speak God's words, not their own. He emphasises the importance of slow, careful reading of the text, encouraging listeners to read and reread Scripture until it has time to settle and shape their thinking. He also highlights the value of humility in sermon preparation, urging preachers to learn from others and to allow their ideas to be refined within the context of the church.At the same time, Dr Collins offers gentle but firm warnings about common dangers in preaching, including the temptation to chase novelty or to elevate “new insights” that have not been tested by the wider church. In a culture that prizes originality and self-expression, he calls preachers back to faithfulness, reminding them that the gospel does not need reinvention, but clear and careful proclamation.Dr Collins is a member of White Fields Community Church, where his ongoing service reflects a lifetime commitment to Scripture, teaching, and encouragement. This episode will be a timely help for pastors, Bible teachers, and anyone seeking to grow in patient study and faithful proclamation of God's Word.Resources Mentioned: Logos Bible Study Software: https://www.logos.com/ Roy Collins' episode on Theology for the People: https://nickcady.org/2021/08/27/guidelines-for-biblical-interpretation-with-dr-roy-collins/comment-page-1/ConnectFor information about our upcoming training events visit ExpositorsCollective.com Join our private Facebook group to continue the conversation: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ExpositorsCollective

In this RSM Archive Room episode (originally published April 10, 2020), Evangelists Greg Strickland and Tom Weaver discuss maintaining a personal devotional life. They share practical habits, tools, and examples from their own ministry experiences. The program covers daily routines, prayer practices, journaling, devotional books and reading plans, husband-and-wife devotions, and how to keep devotion time separate from sermon preparation, followed by a live Q&A.

In this week's podcast, Chad sits down with Pastor Jacob Simmons to hear about his approach to sermon preparation and improvisation. 

Welcome to The Weekly, produced by TAB Media Group, which publishes The Alabama Baptist and The Baptist Paper. Each episode features news headlines read by TAB Media Group staff and volunteers. New episodes are released weekly on Wednesday mornings. To hear Jennifer Rash's full interview with RaShan Frost, director of research with the Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission of the Southern Baptist Convention, find it on TAB Media Group's YouTube channel here. To download the workbook, visit erlc.com. Visit TAB Media HERE Subscribe on iTunes HERE

AI tools are changing the way people work, think, and communicate. And now they are showing up in the last place many expected: the pulpit. Some pastors are using tools ... Read More

This week we discuss a viewers concern about the potential Islamification of America, sermon prep where Chat GPT and other perspectives are concerned, and how often we use the cajón in worship.

It's a special Mailbag Monday! You've got questions, we've got answers. T oday we discuss wise involvement in teens' sports, whether quick sermon prep is solid or shallow, Christ-first fatherhood, and guiding cohabiting new believers with grace + truth. Segment 1 • How involved should dads be in their teen kids' sports lives? - David Segment 2 • How long should I spend preparing a sermon? If sermon prep feels too fast, is that a red flag? - Zachary Segment 3 • How can I avoid idolizing my kids as a new dad? - Ryan Segment 4 • How should Christians respond when an unmarried couple gets saved and joins a small group? - Heather ___ Thanks for listening! Wretched Radio would not be possible without the financial support of our Gospel Partners. If you would like to support Wretched Radio we would be extremely grateful. VISIT https://fortisinstitute.org/donate/ If you are already a Gospel Partner we couldn't be more thankful for you if we tried!

In this episode, Josh and Sam explore five practical ways pastors can use AI to improve their sermon prep. How should you balance being efficient with being ethical? If you've ever stared at a rough draft and thought, “Something's off,” this episode will give you new ways to sharpen your message and preach with clarity. The post How We’re Using AI in Sermon Prep Ethically and Efficiently appeared first on Church Answers.

Karl Vaters talks with Darrell Stetler about a new AI program Darrell has created, called Sermon Illustrator.After a short introduction to what AI is, and some of the advantages and dangers of using it, they narrow in on this tool that helps pastors with a very specific task – finding illustrations (stories, metaphors, historical events, and so on) that can give your well-prepared sermon a story, a photo, a video, or another illustration that will help your content connect in a memorable way.Podcast Links:Sermon IllustratorGet the AI Training Course ($27 offer for podcast listeners!)Ep 038: A Discipleship Strategy Small Churches Can Actually FollowEp 084: Second was Trunk-or-Treat, with Darrell Stetler Also from Darrell Stetler:NewStart Discipleship curriculumFree New believer Bible reading plan (1 Page PDF)Free audiobook on discipling your childrenFree NewStart Discipleship Journal: A 54-page discipleship Bible study for new Christians.Free one-hour discipleship training workshopFree 23 Page Planning Guide with Trunk or Treat Ideas for ChurchesThe Gospel Trunk or Treat Planning SystemSocial media:facebook.com/darrellstetler2facebook.com/newstartdiscipleshipyoutube.com/@newstartdiscipleshiptwitter.com/newstartdiscBonus ContentSome Strengths and Dangers of Using AI for Sermon Prep, with Darrell StetlerKarl Vaters interviews Darrell Stetler about what AI is good for, and some of the dangers AI poses, specifically when it comes to prepping Sunday sermons. To get Bonus Content every week, click here to become a Financial Partner, or here to subscribe to the Free Weekly Newsletter.

Karl Vaters talks with Darrell Stetler about a new AI program Darrell has created, called Sermon Illustrator.After a short introduction to what AI is, and some of the advantages and dangers of using it, they narrow in on this tool that helps pastors with a very specific task – finding illustrations (stories, metaphors, historical events, and so on) that can give your well-prepared sermon a story, a photo, a video, or another illustration that will help your content connect in a memorable way.Podcast Links:Sermon IllustratorEp 038: A Discipleship Strategy Small Churches Can Actually FollowEp 084: Second was Trunk-or-Treat, with Darrell Stetler Also from Darrell Stetler:NewStart Discipleship curriculumFree New believer Bible reading plan (1 Page PDF)Free audiobook on discipling your childrenFree NewStart Discipleship Journal: A 54-page discipleship Bible study for new Christians.Free one-hour discipleship training workshopFree 23 Page Planning Guide with Trunk or Treat Ideas for ChurchesThe Gospel Trunk or Treat Planning SystemSocial media:facebook.com/darrellstetler2facebook.com/newstartdiscipleshipyoutube.com/@newstartdiscipleshiptwitter.com/newstartdiscBonus ContentSome Strengths and Dangers of Using AI for Sermon Prep, with Darrell StetlerKarl Vaters interviews Darrell Stetler about what AI is good for, and some of the dangers AI poses, specifically when it comes to prepping Sunday sermons. To get Bonus Content every week, click here to become a Financial Partner, or here to subscribe to the Free Weekly Newsletter.

Episode Summary: In this episode, the team unpacks a listener-submitted question about what study tools and commentaries they “always use.” The conversation explores how a pastor's library should grow over time, the difference between commentary types, and practical advice on choosing the right tools for preaching through books of the Bible. Whether you're just getting started or years into ministry, this discussion will help sharpen your study habits and strengthen your sermons. bible-truth.org is a great web resource mentions in our show.

Sometimes, good ministry vs. bad ministry isn't decided by the contents of a message, but it's decided by someone's preparation.This is my sermon preparation process. Much of the process is preparing myself... as you will hear in this episode.For thirty years, I have witnessed ministry, studied the Bible about ministry, ministered some myself, and learned some ways that ministry should and shouldn't look. I haven't arrived at a final destination, but the things I share in this are part of my pursuit to be His vessel of honor. Follow us for other forms of content:-⁠ Instagram⁠:  / theflow.podcast  - Substack⁠: https://theflowpodcast.substack.com/- ⁠X⁠: https://x.com/jchart4

Pastor Scott and Jeremy talk about Sermon Prep, how God has used open homes to shape us, and more nonsense about crokinole... maybe

Ever wonder how powerful preachers prepare? Discover 10 hacks, including a colorful secret and the power of listening, that will transform your sermon prep from frantic to focused.Subscribe to the Cutting It Straight magazine at https://CutStraight.orgGet a new website, unlimited custom graphics, & full-service podcast production services at https://IncreaseCreative.Co/HBConnect with H.B. and access more resources at https://HBCharlesJr.comThe On Preaching Podcast is dedicated to helping you to preach faithfully, clearly, and better.Hosted by H.B. Charles, Jr., Pastor-Teacher of Shiloh.Church in Jacksonville, Florida Produced by Luke Clayton and the team at IncreaseCreative.Co

Ever wonder how powerful preachers prepare? Discover 10 hacks, including a colorful secret and the power of listening, that will transform your sermon prep from frantic to focused. Subscribe to the Cutting It Straight magazine at https://CutStraight.org Get a new website, unlimited custom graphics, & full-service podcast production services at https://IncreaseCreative.Co  Connect with H.B. and access more resources at https://HBCharlesJr.com Sermon Preparation Hacks: Print Sermon Text: Use a Word document for active engagement. Slow Down: Prioritize deep and clear thinking. Read Study Bibles Early: Gain initial insights and consider lay perspectives. Read Different Levels of Commentary: For varied insights (exegesis, homiletics, application). Listen to Sermons on the Text: Immerse in the passage through others' preaching. Memorize Cross-References: Enhance preaching with integrated Scripture. Look for Quotes as Illustrations: Use impactful, concise quotes. Don't Fully Write Out Application: Allow for Spirit-led application in the moment. Color Code Sermon Manuscript: Visually organize for effective delivery. Read Your Manuscript Multiple Times Aloud: Internalize the message for confident delivery. The On Preaching Podcast is dedicated to helping you to preach faithfully, clearly, and better. Hosted by H.B. Charles, Jr., Pastor-Teacher of Shiloh.Church in Jacksonville, Florida  Produced by Luke Clayton and the team at IncreaseCreative.Co

Do you love to preach but at times loathe sermon prep? Do you find preaching incredibly fulfilling yet preparation frustrating or even overwhelming? If so, you're not alone. Many pastors struggle with the inefficiency of sermon prep—feeling bogged down by research, unsure how to faithfully interpret Scripture, or intimidated by today's hot-button topics like politics, gender, and race. Dr. Bruce Clark (PhD. in Biblical Studies, University of Cambridge) from Interpret Consulting joins the show to discuss the common frustrations of sermon prep and explore practical ways to streamline the process while strengthening your preaching skills. Interpret Consulting aims to come alongside busy faithful pastors (in churches of all sizes and stages) and assist them in sermon preparation by helping them strengthen their exegetical skills and tackle today's seemingly endless sensitive “hot button” issues. The post The Pastor's Dilemma: Loving Preaching, Loathing Sermon Prep appeared first on Church Answers.

In this episode of the Vanderbloemen Leadership Podcast, Jared sits down with William Vanderbloemen to explore how church leaders can wisely navigate the rise of AI and other emerging technologies. From sermon preparation to staffing decisions, they discuss where AI fits into ministry—and where it doesn't. Key discussion points include: AI in the Pulpit: Should pastors use AI to help build sermons? What's ethical and what's helpful? Human-First Ministry: Why the future of the church will depend on real human connection more than ever before. The Echo of Worship: What makes in-person ministry irreplaceable, even in a digital world. Hiring in the Age of AI: How churches and values-based organizations can future-proof their teams by investing in relationally gifted leaders. Tech-Savvy Leadership: Why every senior leader needs someone on their team who understands the digital landscape—and how to protect your data. Whether you're excited about AI or overwhelmed by it, this conversation will help you stay grounded in your mission while adapting to the future.

In this episode, Dr. Andrew Itson, preaching minister at Madison Church of Christ in Madison, Alabama, shares practical advice on sermon preparation, preaching strategies, and the tools that can help ministers craft impactful messages. With experience as both a campus minister and pulpit minister, and holding a PhD in Leadership in Ministry and Religion, Andrew offers insight from years of study and ministry. Whether you're new to preaching or looking to sharpen your approach, this conversation will provide useful tips, tools, and encouragement to help you preach God's word effectively.   To learn more, visit  https://www.fhu.edu/dearchurch   To check out Cobb Publishing, visit https://cobbpublishing.com   Connect with Us: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dearchurch_podcast/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61564673680147 YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@DearChurch   Website: https://www.rippleoflight.org/ ROL Facebook: http://facebook.com/rippleoflight ROL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/rippleoflight ROL YouTube: http://youtube.com/rippleoflight ROL Rumble: http://rumble.com/rippleoflight   Have a question? Email Chris at chris.mccurley@rippleoflight.com.   #PreachingPrep #DearChurchPodcast #SermonPrep #HowToPreach #PreachingTips #SermonWriting #CraftingSermons #PreachingTools #MinistryLeadership #BibleTeaching #AndrewItson #MadisonChurchOfChrist #ChurchOfChristSermons #PreachingStrategies #SermonHelp

Welcome to the first episode of our CCTri Podcast! Today our Pastor, Robert Russell, joins us and share his life story and random facts including building a second story onto his single story home, how he preps his sermons each week, and his favorite parts of being a pastor.

Join Profs. Rolf Jacobson, Karoline Lewis, and Matt Skinner for a conversation on the Revised Common Lectionary texts for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany (Year C) on February 9, 2025. Commentaries for the Fifth Sunday after Epiphany are forthcoming. Check back at https://www.workingpreacher.org/commentaries/revised-common-lectionary/fifth-sunday-after-epiphany-3/commentary-on-luke-51-11-8 soon! Resources mentioned: "Rhonda Vincent - Fishers of Men" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9Dyi1qRyXfE. Reminder: We have commentaries for the Revised Common Lectionary, the Narrative Lectionary, and Evangelio (Spanish-language Gospel). We're here for you, working preachers at https://www.workingpreacher.org/. Watch this episode on YouTube at https://youtu.be/M5Y8Zci0K0I.

In this episode, the guys discuss a solo pastor whose elders want him to prepare his sermons earlier. We also chat about a pastor who is wrestling with members whose behavior demand church discipline. Links from the show:  Listen anywhere: ⁠https://practicallypastoring.com/⁠ Join our Facebook Group: ⁠https://www.facebook.com/groups/practicallypastoring⁠  Follow us in Instagram: ⁠https://www.instagram.com/practicallypastoring⁠  Join our mailing list: ⁠https://bit.ly/3plt5so⁠  Practically Pastoring Conference 2025: ⁠https://practicallypastoringconference.com/⁠  Hosts: Frank Gil - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/pastorfrankgil/⁠  Jeff Simpson - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/jeffcsimpson/⁠  Delmar Peet -  ⁠https://instagram.com/delmarpeet/⁠  Andrew Larsen - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/andrewjlarsen/⁠  Timothy Miller - ⁠https://www.instagram.com/timothyamiller/⁠ 

A review of a sermon in Isaiah 40:25-28

A review of a sermon in Isaiah 40:25-28

The introduction of H.B. Charles Jr.'s course on preaching. Get access to the full 3.5-hour course at https://ChurchAdvanceHQ.com Connect with Bryan at ⁠⁠https://BryanSamms.com/Connect⁠⁠ Connect with Luke at ⁠⁠https://MustIncrease.com/Connect

Join us this week as we discuss Pastor Eric's sermon preparation process and some of the joys and challenges of preaching weekly. Published July 17, 2024.

Color codes are one of my favorite things and a big part of my own productivity. Here is how I use them for working on AND preaching messages.  Listen and Subscribe to Productive Pastor on iTunes | https://bit.ly/ProductivePastor Productive Pastor on Spotify | https://spoti.fi/3oIT5gf Chad on YouTube | https://bit.ly/RevChadBrooksYouTube Productive Pastor Email List | https://bit.ly/PPemailList The 5/15 | https://bit.ly/The515email

A guided group exercise in preparing a sermon. Watch the sermon: Faithful Followers: Two Ways to Share in Suffering for the Gospel 2 Timothy 1:13-18 https://youtu.be/GZcYGRck6YU?feature=shared

In this episode we...discuss HOW to use the tools for preaching different text types:NarrativeConsider the story arch, and where the conflict arises and is resolved.DiscourseWhat is the argument the author is making? How does he defend himself?PoetryWhat imagery does the author use to make his point?CONTACT Call and leave a message at (570) 724-3741 Email: ruralpastorstalk@gmail.com Website: http://ruralpastorstalk.buzzsprout.com/ SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ruralpastors Twitter: @ruralpastorsLISTEN Itunes Spotify

In this episode we...discuss the different kinds of biblical texts that will make up our sermons.The type of text we're dealing with will determine the tools we need for the job.NarrativeEx: The Gospel according to MarkConsider the story arch, and where the conflict arises and is resolved.DiscourseEx: Paul's Epistle to the RomansWhat is the argument the author is making? How does he defend himself?PoetryEx: PsalmsWhat imagery does the author use to make his point?CONTACT Call and leave a message at (570) 724-3741 Email: ruralpastorstalk@gmail.com Website: http://ruralpastorstalk.buzzsprout.com/ SOCIAL MEDIA Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ruralpastors Twitter: @ruralpastorsLISTEN Itunes Spotify

Today's episode of The Ferment is a special re-post from the We Are Vineyard podcast! That's right, Adam has been cohosting a special mini-series on preaching with Ted Kim (Lead Pastor of Evanston Vineyard in IL), and if you're a pastor in the Vineyard this series is GOLD. In this introductory episode, Adam and Ted each share their early journey as a pastor, how they realized they were called to preach, and the insecurities they faced while finding their unique voice. They talk about how to learn from influential pastors without mimicking them, how they approach sermon prep each week, and each of their superpowers and kryptonite as pastors.  Show Notes:  We Are Vineyard Podcast  

Kyle invites youth pastor Will Standridge to join the podcast. Together they discuss teaching 1 Samuel 15. Their conversation covers sermon prep, considering the setting, praying for your audience, and dives into the difficult passage. Will offers great advice to youth pastors, not only for teaching this specific text, but for teaching students in general.

Kyle and Matt have different roles these days, but we still understand the pressure of the weekly sermon pastors have to prepare. Let us give you some pro-tips as you look ahead for 2024.Article: https://research.lifeway.com/2023/11/27/how-to-get-ahead-on-sermon-planning-for-the-new-year/Sponsor: SWBTSIf you're a Bible teacher, then the Master of Divinity is for you. You'll not only learn how to interpret Scripture, but also train for real-life ministry. And if you are called to the pastorate, an MDiv ensures you are fully prepared. Southwestern Seminary even offers a wide variety of concentrations tailored to fit your calling, from biblical counseling to collegiate ministry. Learn more about the Master of Divinity at SWBTS at swbts.edu/mdiv.

While Todd is busy playing hooky, Justin Peters and Pastor Jim Osman take over and discuss whether or not AI has a place in sermon prep.  Wretched Radio | Air Date: November 16, 2023 https://media-wretched.org/Radio/Podcast/WR2023-1116.mp3 While Todd is busy playing hooky, Justin Peters and Pastor Jim Osman take over and discuss whether or not AI […] The post AI & SERMON PREP? appeared first on Wretched.

Nick and Mike spend time answering some questions that have come our way about preaching while in pain (both physical and emotional), some objections about Christ centered preaching (isn't this just shoehorning Jesus into passages that He isn't actually referenced in?) some of the practicalities about women teaching the Bible in complementarian churches, addressing controversial topics (and sinful practices) from the pulpit while remaining gracious in tone and avoiding "Christianese" in preaching so that we are intelligible to visitors. Resources Mentioned: Is it a stretch to say that everything in the Bible points to Jesus? - Theology for the People Podcast featuring Nick + Mikehttps://anchor.fm/theologyforthepeople/episodes/Christ-Centered-Hermeneutics---Part-1-Is-it-a-stretch-to-say-that-everything-in-the-Bible-points-to-Jesus----with-Mike-Neglia-e17q0sdResponding to Objections to Christ-Centered Hermeneutics - Theology for the People Podcast featuring Nick + Mike : https://anchor.fm/theologyforthepeople/episodes/Christ-Centered-Hermeneutics---Part-2-Responding-to-Objections-to-Christ-Centered-Hermeneutics---with-Mike-Neglia-e18563k“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything and your heart will be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact you must give it to no one, not even an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements. Lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket, safe, dark, motionless, airless, it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable. To love is to be vulnerable.”― C.S. Lewis, The Four LovesRecommended Episodes: Women in the Pulpit, help for lay preachers and Bible translations - Nick + Mike : https://www.expositorscollective.com/podcast/2022/3/15/women-in-the-pulpit-help-for-lay-preachers-and-bible-translations-mail-bag-part-2 Gerry Breshears - Help with Sermon Prep: https://www.expositorscollective.com/podcast/2020/1/18/episode-85-help-with-sermon-preparation Ken Sutton - Cooking Down the Sauce: https://www.expositorscollective.com/podcast/2018/12/5/episode-24-cooking-down-the-sauceFor information about our upcoming training event in Indiana on October 27-28 visit ExpositorsCollective.com The Expositors Collective podcast is part of the CGNMedia, Working together to proclaim the Gospel, make disciples, and plant churches. For more content like this, visit https://cgnmedia.org/Join our private Facebook group to continue the conversation: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ExpositorsCollective

EP 116 | How Do You Sermon Prep? (Preacher's Roundtable #2) | Redeeming Truth   Pastors Jon Benzinger, Nathan Pickowicz, Todd Burgett, Jack Hughes, and Kevin Hay discuss sermon prep.   A group of preachers from across America reveals their sermon preparation routines, investing many hours weekly in Bible study, analyzing languages, consulting commentaries, and shaping sermons. Their approach strives to present a clear, concise, gospel-centered message led by the Holy Spirit. This conversation underscores the profound dedication and effort required to preach God's Word faithfully.   Preacher's Roundtable Part 1: https://youtu.be/Mxzu-b4bDjY   Redeeming Truth Podcast Playlist: https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PLLViZXZvfiieZEiZH7F4j97PcAmIpfV9F   Jon Benzinger: https://twitter.com/jonbenz   Jack Hughes: https://www.drivennails.com/   Nate Pickowicz: https://twitter.com/natepickowicz?lang=en   Click here to Subscribe to our channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCenfIkvDIJa4Qb4WgsH8hkw?sub_confirmation=1   Follow us on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/redeemerbibleaz/   For more information about Redeemer Bible Church in Gilbert, Arizona, or to help support this ministry, please visit us at https://www.redeemeraz.org   Join our Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/redeemeraz   Follow us on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/redeemeraz   Never miss a sermon, find our Redeeming Truth Podcast in your favorite player, and subscribe!   Navigation: 00:00 Intro 00:21 Theological hermeneutical convictions for interpreting the text 6:19 What to bring to the text 9:51 How to understand the text 13:42 What informs your study of the text itself? 19:54 Sermon prep process 34:45 Do you translate the text? 36:55 How long does your sermon prep process take?

With every new technology tool, the church has a responsibility to walk wisely when using it and it's no different with Ai. In today's episode I share m concerns and offer a few tips for using Ai in sermon prep. I'm not shouting it from the mountain, I'm a fellow traveler trying to navigate this tool as well so the tips are for me, first. Fall Bundle (Thank you for supporting the podcast!) https://youthminresources.gumroad.com/l/goezgx Youtube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl0ttEiAcKyGQ4wV0DkbVQA

Are you looking for a more profound understanding of the Bible?  Today, we are discussing the 5 tips that I use to study the Bible and do my sermon prep.   These methods have opened up newer depths of understanding and drastically improved my sermons as a Youth Pastor.  If you are looking at finding some new ways to level up your sermons and Biblical knowledge in your life and in your youth ministry, take a listen and see if any of these tips would work for you!Book Mentioned in this Episode:The Reason For God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism By Timothy Keller: https://amzn.to/3K08Xq6We love hearing from you all and we do our best to provide powerful and insightful youth ministry content on a weekly basis to be that coach and mentor you may not have, but desperately need.If you have an episode idea, please E-Mail us at MinistryCoachPodcast@gmail.com!If you have it on your heart to support this ministry, please consider going to our Patreon page at: www.patreon.com/ministrycoachYou may also enjoy these episodes:(#107) How to Deliver Better Sermons - 5 Youth Pastor Tipshttps://www.buzzsprout.com/974710/episodes/10879650(#089) How to Get Better Engagement During Sermons in Youth Ministryhttps://www.buzzsprout.com/974710/episodes/10133984==================

Episode 68: Paul Olson is a member from our church who uses his gifts in education and theology to help Pastor Rob prepare and research for all of his sermons! Paul jumps into Talking Church to discuss his story, how he once made the mistake of loving the Bible and knowledge more than God, and how he let God pull him out of that season in his life. Don't miss this amazing story!

Every time we preach we have an opportunity to fulfill our God-given calling to impact lives with the truth of God's Word and the hope of the gospel. But the effectiveness of our preaching is impacted by a host of variables we cannot control, including distractions in the room. But there is something we can control, and that is how well we prepare. I find one of the most often neglected aspects of effective sermon preparation is rehearsing the sermon. By rehearsing I mean preaching the entire message by yourself (or to a handful of people) before you actually preach the sermon to your church. The reluctance to rehearse is varied. Some preachers might think it's awkward to preach to themselves. They're totally right, by the way. It is awkward, but that does not mean you shouldn't do it. Other preachers might avoid it because they don't think it's necessary. Still others may have just never thought of it. In this episode, I will show you why I believe the often neglected step of rehearsing the sermon is essential to great sermon delivery. We'll also dive into how to rehearse your message for maximum impact.

NOTES AND COMMENTARY Voice in the Wilderness: Romans 5:1-11 with Krista Zimmerman Gospel Reading: John 4:5-42 Woman at the Well Second Reading:  Exodus 17:1-7 The Wilderness of Sin  

As pastors and teachers, it's important that we rightly handle the Word of God. In this episode of NSR, Brody walks through how he prepares to preach a sermon and how we can be expository students of the Word. We need to study in a way that will bring about the approval of God. Prepare your sermons in a way that's faithful to Scripture. Prepare them well to be  faithful to the Lord. 2 Timothy 2:15Genesis 2Key Word Study BibleSnowbird Wilderness Outfitters exists to proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the exposition of Scripture and personal relationships in order to equip the Church to impact this generation.Learn more about our student and adult conferences at https://www.swoutfitters.com/Please leave a review on Apple or Spotify to help improve No Sanity Required and help others grow in their faith. Click here to get our Colossians Bible study.

Jump to the 15:35 mark to get to skip the banter and get to the main subject. Joe and Jimmy talk about the concept of sermon preparation teams and a twitter thread encouraging the practice. Is this a good idea? How might it work well, and how can it go bad? This was originally released on Nov. 22, 2022 for Banter of Truth, our exclusive podcast for All Access members.OUR SPONSOR: LOGOSYou know we use Logos Bible Software everyday, and with the release of Logos 10 it's a great time to get started or upgrade. Visit logos.com/JOFO to find the best Logos package for you.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/doctrine-and-devotion/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands

Get notes on this podcast here:  https://churchleaders.com/podcast/438764-andy-stanley-sermon-strategy-misunderstand.html Andy Stanley joins the Stetzer ChurchLeaders Podcast to share the key question that guides his sermon prep, how he develops “sticky phrases,” and his unique approach to structuring his messages.  ► Listen on Apple: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/the-churchleaders-podcast/id988990685   ChurchLeaders brings you the latest headlines and expert tips on faith, ministry and leading the church. Subscribe to our channel for exclusive content. Visit ChurchLeaders Website: https://churchleaders.com Find ChurchLeaders on Facebook: https://facebook.com/churchleaders Follow ChurchLeaders on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ChurchLead Follow ChurchLeaders on Instagram: https://instagram.com/churchlead/ Follow ChurchLeaders on Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/churchleaders/

In this episode of The Happy Rant, Ted, Ronnie, and Barnabas wander to and fro through a variety of topics:1. Wives doing lawn care2. Outsourcing lawn care vs. the testosterone of DIY3. The hardest part of sermon prep4. Outsourcing sermon prep5. When is sports gambling sinful?