Sermon manager for website

[Tirian]

We currently host our sermon MP3's on our website using a simple podcast generator to index them, with hard coded links from some pages to particular sermons.

We have too many sermons now to keep going as we are, and we really need to offer streaming as well as the ability to download.

I don't want to use sermonaudio.com, and we are not using WordPress so the WordPress plug in "Sermon Manager" is not going to work for us, though I really like its features. (Church WordPress Plugins)

I'm resigned to having to develop one - it will be a php/MySQL solution. (Unless anyone else can recommend something I've missed that is already out there).

If you are in the same position please let me know if you want to have input to requirements as I will make it generally available as I suspect many of us would be in the same boat.. Also if you are a LAMP developer and want to help out let me know...

 

[Bill The Baptist]

I'm just curious as to why you are against using Sermon Audio. Is it the cost?

 

[Semper Fidelis]

I implemented this for a small Church: WordPress › Sermon Browser « WordPress Plugins

If the Church can afford it, I recommend Sermon Audio primarily because it's very valuable with respect to the people that find your Church while browsing for sermons there.

 

[jandrusk]

I would do it in PERL CGI, but that's just me. I have done a little LAMP coding, mostly through PHP hacks.

 

[Tirian]

I'm just curious as to why you are against using Sermon Audio. Is it the cost?

Hi Bill,

I'm a user of SermonAudio.com - it's a great resource when there are no other repositories of a particular preacher to turn to. I wish I could put my finger on "why" i'm not 100% comfortable with it. These are some of my concerns thouogh you could easily argue positives in reply - they are just the source of my discomfort:

- Acts 20:28 requires ministers and elders to take heed of themselves and the flock, over which they have been placed. Sermons are primarily directed to a local congregation - not a global congregation
- Given the first point, we should be careful about creating "Churchianity On Demand" much like Video On Demand etc. We want people to attend local churches so we just need to be careful. As great as sermonaudio.com is I feel for the local pastor sweating it out on the ground, perhaps a more introverted type, who has to "compete" against masterful preachers online that don't walk in his shoes.
- SermonAudio.com unwittingly provides ministers opportunities for pride. Number of Sermons online, number of time featured in staff picks, avatars of the preacher

Even with SermonAudio.com widgets embedded into our website, the cost is still significant, there is no way I know to reduce the promotional aspects of SermonAudio, and the propensity for people to drift off and try and get "church time" by picking and choosing sermons from the SermonAudio menu is too high.

These are just a few, and as I say they make me a little uncomfortable. I still use the site, but the sermons my minister preachers are available in such a simple form, just on our site - and they are a constant form of new contacts within our local community.

As the one who manages the audio/visuals, I just want to make my job easier so that I use my time more wisely.

So SA.com is not a great fit for me, and incidentally my session directed me in this regard also so I am responding to their guidance.

 

[Tirian]

I implemented this for a small Church: WordPress › Sermon Browser « WordPress Plugins

That looks nice an simple - thanks for sharing. We are currently using podcastgen which is similar but a lot more clunky than that. We don't use WordPress though, but I wish I could grab something like that and detach it from WordPress for use in php based sites.

 

[Tirian]

If the Church can afford it, I recommend Sermon Audio primarily because it's very valuable with respect to the people that find your Church while browsing for sermons there.

I've certainly seen that happen. We tend to get more people hitting google and looking for churches in our area, and then they proceed to ask "what do they believe" and we have had many contact the church through this method. We stand out clearly in a localised fashion but I am concerned geographic referrals are not a feature of sermonaudio.com

 

[Tirian]

I would do it in PERL CGI, but that's just me. I have done a little LAMP coding, mostly through PHP hacks.

Good to hear from you - I might need to bend your ear as I am new to the apache/MySQL/php scene. So far since posting I have created the MySQL schema and I've visualised (in my brain!) how I propose the control panel vs. display widgets will work. I'm hoping this won't be a huge effort - so far so good.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

- Acts 20:28 requires ministers and elders to take heed of themselves and the flock, over which they have been placed. Sermons are primarily directed to a local congregation - not a global congregation
- Given the first point, we should be careful about creating "Churchianity On Demand" much like Video On Demand etc. We want people to attend local churches so we just need to be careful. As great as sermonaudio.com is I feel for the local pastor sweating it out on the ground, perhaps a more introverted type, who has to "compete" against masterful preachers online that don't walk in his shoes.
- SermonAudio.com unwittingly provides ministers opportunities for pride. Number of Sermons online, number of time featured in staff picks, avatars of the preacher

Matthew,

I find these objections "odd" to say the least. Why are you even putting your sermons online at all if you believe all these dangers would miigate against putting them online? Surely every problem exists when you put your own minister's sermon online unless the goal is to hide the sermons from the broader internet and ensure only those people in your local congregation can listen to the sermons.

All of the above issues will occur whether or not you put your sermons on Sermon Audio or whether you put them on your own Church website. If your Church's sermons are not on Sermon Audio, it only means nobody ever finds you on Sermon Audio (or potentially on the Internet either if you're doing little for SEO). It doesn't spare any from the "evils" of online sermons by avoiding one service provider.

 

[Tirian]

I find these objections "odd" to say the least. Why are you even putting your sermons online at all if you believe all these dangers would miigate against putting them online? Surely every problem exists when you put your own minister's sermon online unless the goal is to hide the sermons from the broader internet and ensure only those people in your local congregation can listen to the sermons.

All of the above issues will occur whether or not you put your sermons on Sermon Audio or whether you put them on your own Church website. If your Church's sermons are not on Sermon Audio, it only means nobody ever finds you on Sermon Audio (or potentially on the Internet either if you're doing little for Search Engine Optimization). It doesn't spare any from the "evils" of online sermons by avoiding one service provider.

Look, this is nuanced for sure. As I said I am a user of SermonAudio though haven't used it regularly for some time. I used it to access sermons by men who didn't store their sermons anywhere else.

I'm not binding anyone else's conscience here - someone asked "why not" SA and I responded. I even also readily admitted there are probably greater positives to counter my concerns, but in the absence of being able to effectively deal with nagging subtle concerns for me at this moment, I'm not going with SA for now.

It also helped that my session told me to explore local hosting (within our site context) before considering using a service provider.

Everyone's situation will be different though.

 

[Tirian]

I find these objections "odd" to say the least.

This is heavily nuanced, but I wonder how many ministers would create a new SermonAudio.com profile if they ever moved from one charge to another.

 

[Webservant]

EDIT: I just noticed that you are not using WordPress, so my recommendation won't apply to you.

We use Sermon Browser as well. It's not perfect, but it's highly flexible and it's FREE. Our site, should you care to take a peak, is here: Audio Sermons | Aisquith Presbyterian Church

We have over 1,500 sermons going back 40 years.

 

[Tirian]

Thanks for the suggest Rich - yeah, we are not using WordPress but I like how yours presents. I don't like having to do something that's already been done but I can't find anything for standalone sites. Hopefully mine will look as good as yours!

 

[Edward]

You might get some ideas looking at how we do it. I don't think we use Sermon Audio.

main page

Audio Resources at Park Cities Presbyterian Church

target page

Audio Resources at Park Cities Presbyterian Church

The set up is far beyond my simple HTML skills.

 

[Tirian]

You might get some ideas looking at how we do it. I don't think we use Sermon Audio.

main page

Audio Resources at Park Cities Presbyterian Church

target page

Audio Resources at Park Cities Presbyterian Church

The set up is far beyond my simple HTML skills.

Wow - that is a MASSIVE library! Really nicely presented too. I can see you guys are storing your audio in the Amazon cloud storage system, but I can't work out whether you have a sermon library presentation that is custom to you, or whether you have implemented a third party product.

In any case, thanks for the link - that is exactly what I would like to be able to do. Outline PDF's, sermon texts, sermon readings streamed as audio.... VERY nice

 

[Edward]

We do have resources that aren't available to most churches.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Realizing that you're not using Wordpress. A simple solution would be to install Wordpress and have a single page on that site devoted to the Sermon page using Sermon Browser. You could probably skin Wordpress to look pretty much like the rest of the site for that purpose.

Have a good strategy for how you name your MP3 files, how you convert them for serving to the web, where you host them, etc. I've been putting sermons online for various Churches since 2000 (back then using Real Media when most had dial up connections). Sermons (and especially video) use up a lot of space and create a challenge over time with respect to backup.

 

[jandrusk]

I would do it in PERL CGI, but that's just me. I have done a little LAMP coding, mostly through PHP hacks.

Good to hear from you - I might need to bend your ear as I am new to the apache/MySQL/php scene. So far since posting I have created the MySQL schema and I've visualised (in my brain!) how I propose the control panel vs. display widgets will work. I'm hoping this won't be a huge effort - so far so good.

Just let me know if you need any help and would be glad to assist.