The Sermonator

On our church's Website, we have a password-protected page called "The Sermonator." It allows our teams to build our worship services online, many Sundays in advance.

As pastor, I begin with a theme, key Bible verse, and direction.

Later the teams—worship, production, greeting, drama, and anyone else involved in the service—can visit the page, click on a date, and update and interact with that Sunday's planned material. They add thematic elements such as drama, movie clips, participatory experiences, background music, lighting levels, songs, special music, and more.

This gets everyone on the same page without lots of extra meetings.

A Pastoral Nudge

I'm using the Internet to send out a teaser about the coming Sunday's sermon. It's difficult to make frequent personal contact with everyone in the church, but now they get a weekly note from me. I get them thinking about the text I'll be preaching on, and I ask a few questions in hopes they'll read their Bibles more.