10 Ways to Get More Life Out of Your Sermons

Most pastors put 10+ hours into their sermon each week. Then they preach for 30 minutes, record it, and upload it YouTube to garner 301 views.

What a shame! Put that hard work in sermon prep and delivery to better use!

Here are ten simple ways to extend the reach of your sermons online.

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One: Cut them up and make them snack-able.

Videos that are 2-5 minutes are more easily consumed on social media and mobile devices. Take the best few snippets of your sermon and turn them into short cuts and post them as native videos on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.

Two: Pull out a quote, make a quote-graphic, and link it to a specific time within the video when the quote occurred.

Once you publish the full-length video online, you should be able to link to a specific timestamp within the video. It’s easy with YouTube and Vimeo and Wistia. Just follow these directions.

Once that’s done, pick a quote, make a simple quote-graphic with Snappa, and share it on all your social channels with the link to the timecode of the quote. In fact, do this with several quotes from the sermon.

Three: Cut them up and turn them into online classes.

Snack-able videos are built for the internet, but they’re also great for online courses. Take those snack-able videos from option #1 and build a learning pathway in TrainedUp. Then share the pathway with those that would like to dive deeper into your sermon content.

Four: Share your sermon notes as a downloadable study guide.

This one is easy. Have a volunteer reformat your sermon notes into a presentable outline each week. Then attach a link to the outline in the sermon video caption, share the outline on social platforms, or drop it in your church blog.

Five: Have a creative person take visual Moleskine notes and share them on Pinterest.

Six: Share your sermons in multiple locations.

If you only upload your sermons to your website, you’re missing out on lots of visibility. Once your sermon video is on your site, share it on Twitter as a short, native preview video. Post it to Facebook as a native video.

Seven: Shorten your sermon videos for online consumption by cutting out some of the filler.

I know every word of your sermon is dear to you, but a shorter overall sermon will play better online. Make it easier to be consumed by cutting the video down into just the best parts.

Eight: Make a highlight reel.

Take the best quotes from option #2 and cut them into a highlight reel of the sermon. Set it to some good music and make the cuts quick to keep it engaging.

Nine: Write a blog recap of the sermon.

Summarize your sermon in text on your blog. This could help your church people get a new perspective on your sermon. And the SEO boost isn’t bad, either.

Ten: Turn your sermon series into a book with an online transcription service.

You can have audio or video transcribed for about $.85/minute, which means your sermons can be turned to verbatim text for about $25 apiece. String together a sermon series and turn it into an ebook with little effort.