Managing Sermons
The Sermons module lets you build a searchable library of your church's messages. Each sermon can include video, audio, transcripts, scripture references, topics, and more. Sermons can be organized into series, assigned to speakers, featured on your website, and distributed through a podcast feed.
Accessing Sermons
- Log in to your TimelyChurch admin dashboard.
- In the sidebar, click Sermons.
The sermons index page shows all sermons with four summary statistic cards at the top:
- Total sermons
- Published sermons
- Featured sermons
- Series count
Quick-link buttons at the top provide access to Series, Speakers, and Podcast settings.
Browsing and Filtering
Search
Use the search bar to find sermons by title, description, or scripture reference.
Filters
- Series -- Filter by a specific sermon series.
- Speaker -- Filter by a specific speaker.
- Status -- Show All, Published only, or Draft only. (Published sermons are live on your website; drafts are hidden.)
Sermons are displayed in reverse chronological order (newest first) with 20 per page.
Creating a New Sermon
- Click New Sermon from the sermons index page.
- Fill in the form fields:
Basic Information
| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Title | Yes | The sermon title. |
| Sermon Date | Yes | The date the sermon was delivered (defaults to the most recent Sunday). |
| Scripture Reference | No | The Bible passage (e.g., "John 3:16-17"). |
| Speaker | No | Select from your list of speakers. |
| Series | No | Assign to a sermon series. |
| Preached At | No | Optionally link the sermon to a worship service from the last 60 days or an upcoming service. |
| Topics | No | Comma-separated topic tags (e.g., "faith, hope, love"). Start typing to see suggestions from your other sermons, or use the Quick add chips to reuse existing topics. |
| Description | No | A rich-text description of the sermon (supports headings, bold, italic, lists, and links). |
Media
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Video URL | A YouTube or Vimeo URL. The system auto-detects the platform and generates an embeddable player. |
| Audio File | Upload an MP3, WAV, M4A, or AAC file. The maximum file size is configured by the platform's upload_max_file_size system setting (default 10 MB). Super-admins or your hosting provider can raise this limit; the actual ceiling for your church is shown next to the upload field. |
| Thumbnail Image | Upload a custom thumbnail image. If not provided, the system automatically uses the YouTube thumbnail (if a YouTube video is linked) or the series image as a fallback. |
| Duration | Enter the sermon length in minutes and seconds. |
Transcript
A full rich-text editor is provided for the sermon transcript. This supports headings, bold, italic, ordered and unordered lists, and links. Adding a transcript improves accessibility and search engine visibility.
AI Assistant
If your church has the AI content generation feature enabled, an AI Assistant panel appears below both the Description and Transcript editors. You can type a prompt (e.g., "Write an engaging description" or "Create a sermon outline") and the AI will generate suggested content based on the sermon's title, scripture reference, and topics.
Publishing Options
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
| Published | Makes the sermon visible on your church website. |
| Featured | Highlights the sermon on your homepage. |
| Include in Podcast | Adds the sermon to your podcast RSS feed (requires an audio file). |
- Click Create Sermon.
Editing a Sermon
- From the sermons list, click the Edit button or link on any sermon.
- All fields from the creation form are available for editing.
- Additional options when editing:
- Remove Audio -- Check this box to delete the current audio file.
- Remove Thumbnail -- Check this box to delete the current thumbnail.
- Remove attachment -- Each existing attachment has its own Remove checkbox to delete just that file.
- Click Update Sermon.
Publishing and Featuring
Toggle Published Status
From the sermons list, you can quickly toggle a sermon between published and unpublished states without opening the full edit form.
Toggle Featured Status
Similarly, you can toggle the "Featured" flag. Featured sermons are highlighted on your church's public-facing website homepage.
Deleting a Sermon
- Open the sermon's edit page.
- Click Delete Sermon at the bottom-left.
- Confirm the deletion in the confirmation dialog.
Deleting a sermon permanently removes it along with its audio file, thumbnail, and all attachments. This action cannot be undone.
Sermon Attachments
Sermons support file attachments (such as sermon notes, outlines, study guides, or supplementary materials). Upload them from the Sermon Notes & Attachments section of the create or edit form. Accepted file types are PDF, Word (.doc/.docx), PowerPoint (.ppt/.pptx), and plain text (.txt) -- up to 10 files per sermon. When a sermon is deleted, all associated attachments are automatically cleaned up.
Video Embedding
When you provide a Video URL, the system supports:
- YouTube -- Standard watch URLs (
youtube.com/watch?v=...), short URLs (youtu.be/...), embed URLs, Shorts, and live URLs. - Vimeo -- Standard Vimeo URLs (e.g.
vimeo.com/123456789orplayer.vimeo.com/video/...).
A live preview of the embedded player appears right below the Video URL field as you type. The video is embedded on the public sermon page and an auto-generated thumbnail is pulled from YouTube if no custom thumbnail is uploaded.
View and Listen Counts
Each sermon tracks:
- View Count -- Incremented each time someone loads the public sermon page.
- Listen Count -- Incremented each time someone plays the audio file.
The view count is incremented automatically by the public sermon-detail page. The listen count is incremented by an AJAX call to POST /sermons/{sermon}/track-listen whenever the audio player begins playback (this endpoint is rate-limited to 30 requests per minute per visitor to prevent inflation).
A force-download endpoint at GET /sermons/{sermon}/download-audio lets visitors save the original audio file (filename slugified from the sermon title). Only published sermons with an audio file are downloadable. See Public Sermon Pages for the full visitor-facing surface.
These counts are available for analytics purposes.
Navigating Between Sermons in a Series
When a sermon belongs to a series, the public sermon page automatically provides links to the next and previous sermons in that series (based on sermon date). Related sermons from the same series or same speaker are also displayed.