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How to Increase the Shelf Life of Your Sermons
Tony Morgan more from this author »
TonyMorganLive.com
Your teaching team may spend many hours and countless meetings creating all of the elements surrounding your sermon message.
It may include a series video intro, print graphics, on-screen visual package, coordinated backgrounds for worship music slides, shooting and editing the intro skit video, and even a physical set design. That’s on top of the research and study to prepare the message itself!
Once the sermon has been delivered at all of your services and all of your campuses, what happens to it?
If you’re like most churches, the sermon probably spends seven days on the “last week’s sermon” box on your Web site and hopefully shows up in your podcast for a few weeks. Then it begins to die a slow death, slipping gradually into the annals of other great sermons that time forgot.
Why Sermons Get Lost and Forgotten
Here are some reasons why sermons typically carry a very short shelf life:
- Churches think of sermons as live events, rather than study and spiritual growth tools.
- Most church Web sites post sermons based on chronology, so the oldest ones get lost.
- Podcast feeds typically deliver only the most recent “episodes.”
- Many people only get sermons via podcast and may never visit the Web site itself.
- Many churches still offer sermons only via tape or CD, which are becoming increasingly irrelevant in an MP3 world.
- Sermons are for Sunday. There is rarely a connection to any other activity or curriculum being shared in other corners of the church (children, youth, small groups, etc.).
5 Ideas to Get More Value from Your Sermon Archives
With a few tweaks to your strategy, though, sermons can become a useful resource for years to come.
1. Make sermons available on your Web site.
If you’re not offering sermons via Web delivery, do it! If you are lacking equipment or manpower, consider a pocket digital voice recorder like this.
2. Make sermons free.
Give away your sermon downloads. Some churches will charge for a download of a sermon, while attending their church on Sunday is free of charge. We wrote more extensively about this on our blog.
3. Promote the popular messages.
Publish a “most viewed” sermon list each month or each quarter. This implies that you have tools allowing you to measure these stats (which, by the way, are a very valuable thing to have as a feedback mechanism for your teaching team).
4. Offer tools to filter results.
Allow searching/browsing by Scripture, topic, speaker, or title (not just by date).
5. Extend the conversation.
Develop curricula for your small groups to discuss the deeper points of a sermon. Consider packaging these with DVDs of your sermons so that if a group isn’t ready to tackle a series now, they can obtain it from the church later.
There are plenty of additional ways to add value to your sermons! How do you extend their shelf life?
Tony Morgan is the Chief Strategic Officer and founder of TonyMorganLive.com. He’s a consultant, leadership coach and writer who helps churches get unstuck and have a bigger impact. More important, he has a passion for people. He’s all about helping people meet Jesus and take steps in their faith.
For 14 years, Tony served on the senior leadership teams at West Ridge Church (Dallas, GA), NewSpring Church (Anderson, SC) and Granger Community Church (Granger, IN). With Tim Stevens, Tony has co-authored Simply Strategic Stuff, Simply Strategic Volunteers and Simply Strategic Growth – each of which offers valuable, practical solutions for different aspects of church ministry. His book, Killing Cockroaches (B&H Publishing) challenges leaders to focus on the priorities in life and ministry. His most recent books on leadership and ministry strategy are available on Kindle.
Tony has also written several articles on staffing, technology, strategic planning and leadership published by organizations like Outreach Magazine, Catalyst and Pastors.com. Tony and his wife, Emily, live near Atlanta, Georgia with their four children — Kayla, Jacob, Abby and Brooke.
Comments
February 29, 2012
13. Prescott Jay Erwin says...
Dean, I'm not sure that you read the article Zachary and I did. He responded to two direct quotes: 1) "Churches think of sermons as live events, rather than study and spiritual growth tools." 2) "Make sermons free. Give away your sermon downloads. Some churches will charge for a download of a sermon..." Perhaps you should have the integrity to apologize? That being said, I do think that Zachary's point goes to far and presumes too much, asserting that the writer, and perhaps other responders, are caught up in a "seeker-driven, ear-scratching nonsense of the megachurch movement." We can't know their motives and as brothers in Christ we need to believe the best of each other as the Word calls us to in 1 Corinthinas 13. Roberts point seems most apt, though. Most of us don't minister in that world. The only REAL way to "increase the shelf life" of our sermons is to preach the timeless Word of God day-in and day-out, pray for the Holy Spirit to have His way the message, and get involved in the lives of our flocks.
February 28, 2012
12. Zachary Bartels says...
Dean, apparently I did. Or, rather, you were reading some highly-redacted version of this piece. What I addressed in my comment was the very premise of the article, acknowledged in the introduction. Your ad hominem about my "integrity" is silly at best.
February 28, 2012
11. Prescott Jay Erwin says...
Probably the most valuable suggestion, accessible to all churches of all sizes and locations, comes from 1 Corinthians 14: extend the conversation. But you don't have to develop curriculum or bundle it with anything, you just need to make it part of the rythm of life for your congregation. "Let two or three prophets speak, and let the others pass judgment..." (1Co 14:29). We open up Sunday and Wednesday evenings for continuing the discussion of the Sunday morning sermon, asking questions, pursuing further avenues of application, putting aspects of it to prayer, etc. It's quite fruitful.
February 27, 2012
10. Stephen Palm says...
For 18 of my 23 years in ministry I served small churches. I understand the feeling of these resources being out of reach for many pastors. However, there are many free options that can be used by any church. For example, with the investment of $800 for a digital video camera, you can easily videotape your sermons. Then, you can create a You Tube channel for free and upload you sermons. (You may have to spend some time uploading other smaller files until you get the option of uploading large files) Once you can upload these larger files, you can then send out a link on Facebook and Twitter as well as embed the file on your website. If you're stumped as to how to do it, talk to your teens. They know! I currently teach a class with 45 people in attendance and 70 hits outside of the class. I am now getting emails with questions from people whom I've never seen in my Sunday Bible Classes. There are great possibilities for the pastor of the smaller church with a tight budget.
February 27, 2012
9. Drew Kizer says...
"Teaching team?" "Shooting and editing the intro video skit?" "All of your campuses?" As some have already suggested, this article is really out of touch with where most preachers work these days. It would be nice if this website would address the life of the preacher who delivers four or five lessons a week, tends to countless pastoral concerns, and handles endless administrative duties with a part-time secretary and maybe a youth minister. Do guys like us even count?
February 27, 2012
8. Dean Johnson says...
Zachary, the point you rebuke in your argument didn't appear in the version I read. Did you have access to a different or longer version of the article? The author did say that some churches view the sermon only as a live event, and he encouraged us to make it available in other than live situations. Please have the integrity to respond to what the author actually said.
February 27, 2012
7. Zachary Bartels says...
We view sermons as live multimedia events, full of videos, light shows, on-screen graphical packages ,etc? Umm, no. "We" don't. It sounds like you need to abandon the seeker-driven, ear-scratching nonsense of the megachurch movement. I wish I could unlearn the horrifying fact that some churches CHARGE people to download sermons... Come quickly, Lord Jesus!
February 27, 2012
6. Robert Sickler says...
You live in a world most of us have never seen. Your advice is good from a business perspective and big churches are big business. Where I come from the preacher prays for the Holy Spirit to empower the sermon so that it touches each person (who he personally knows) in a way they will remember and apply to their lives. I do believe, however, that your advice is sound where it can be applied. I know that the bible message never changes, but I also know we must stay current with modern methods of communication. I like your advice ...
February 27, 2012
5. Michael Durst says...
@Andrew, Thanks for your perspective. I agree that God and the role of the Holy Spirit is what helps a sermon "stick". I believe the intent of this article is to simple address the person who missed last sunday, or who lives in another town but is interested to hear a specific preacher. I am benefiting greatly right now from a preacher in Seattle who posts video of his sermons while I live in Ohio. The internet is used for many sinful practices, as churches, lets do our best to use it for God! Blessings.
February 27, 2012
4. chet gladkowski says...
good question KB ? I believe we are called to get God's powerful word out to a dying culture that desperately needs to hear the good news of Jesus (Romans 10:14-15). There are easy to use tools that will allow you to achieve maximum exposure with minimum investment of time and money. I'd be more than happy to send you some help.
February 27, 2012
3. k b says...
What about the small church that doesn't have a full media team, podcasting, DVD's, etc?
February 27, 2012
2. Andrew Shields says...
This was so busy patting itself on the back for being modern it forgot how sermons are really remembered. Through prayer that God will honor your work and the Holy Spirit will use you. Without any media at all, without the mega audience God uses servant preachers who honor Him and love their congregations. Pray that God uses you and that a miracle will happen that the Holy Spirit will use your words to help make an eternal change in the life of the listener.
February 27, 2012
1. chet gladkowski says...
A few other thoughts; 1-bundle sermons together into "themes" for distribution. 2-offer in multiple formats (video, audio, transcribe into text. 3-tie into small group content, topics and application.
