Two years ago, I shared about a number of ways you can embed sermons in your church website. I’ve been thinking about making a change on our church website, so I’ve been looking at the options that are currently available. Since the last post, WordPress has become a popular options for church websites, so I want to focus on options that work as plugins in WordPress. I found two options that both seem great.

For me, the ideal sermon plugin

• handles both sermon audio and video
• creates a podcast feed that can be plugged into feedburner or iTunes
• allows you to include sermon notes, small group discussion guides, and even sermon outlines or text
• organizes sermons by series, speaker, date, and topics
• allows you to share sermons with your friends through social networks

Series Engine

Series Engine is a brand new plugin which is by the same author that developed PrayerEngine. It looks like a great solution for most churches. It has great sharing options and it includes a options panel with many configuration options. It also has a podcast builder that allows you to easily customize and create podcast feeds. I like the fact that is works within WordPress and that it has a custom embed shortcode generator that allows you to easily embed sermon series into different pages throughout your site. It also includes widgets that can be used in any widgetized area.  The one-time cost is a little high at $99, but I still think it is a great value for most church websites. The cost includes lifetime support and upgrades The best way to see how it works is to watch the demo video below. This is the plugin that I’m considering using for our church website.

 WP For Church SermonManager

SermonManager is a great little plugin that you can download for free. They offer support forums, video tutorials, and access to other plugins and themes for a membership of $2.50 per month. It is not quite as full featured as SeriesEngine, but it is definitely powerful. It offers podcasting support, audio and video embed support, widgets, and sorting by series, speaker, and topics. The best way to see how it works is by viewing their demo page

My Conclusion

We’ve been using the MediaFusion service for several years now. It is a great service that works with any website, including those that are not based on WordPress. It works great, but they had a recent price increase for new customers that makes the cost $290 per year. I feel that it is a great service for us at the former price, but a little overpriced now for our needs. It’s also starting to look a little dated since it doesn’t match the style of our site.  I’m also wanting to bring our sermons into WordPress for SEO reasons. Having all the content available in sitemaps should help people find sermons and increase the web traffic to our site. These plugins also allow you to use custom CSS to match the styling of your site. So for what we are looking for, SeriesEngine looks like a good fit.

I’m hoping more people also start developing plugins for church websites using WordPress. I do know that iThemes has an excellent sermon plugin that works for their builder themes, and church theme vendors like ChurchThemer offer built-in sermon support. I also saw a new responsive WordPress theme called Risen on ThemeForest that offers built-in sermon support.

Click this link to checkout a great new ebook for Churches about Facebook.

Facebook for Churches is a 32-page quick read loaded with tips, examples and strategies for getting the most out of your church Facebook page. Whether you’re attempting to pick the perfect Timeline photo or trying to figure out what and when to post, this resources has you covered. By the way, it’s free. Really.

Thanks to ChurchJuice for the link.

Our Apple indoctrination continues. Jennifer picked up a white iPhone 4S yesterday. She switched from US Cellular to Verizon in large part to get the iPhone. We also get the added benefit of better coverage when traveling.

I’ve played around with it and I have to admit that it’s a great phone. I’ll be sticking with Android, but I can’t make too much fun of the iPhone. I’ll be switching over to Verizon later this year when I can get out of my contract without a penalty. Right now the Droid Razr Maxx looks like the phone to get for me.

Here’s what I like about the iPhone over Android phones.

• The camera is incredible, much better than any phone I’ve used or tried
• Siri is better than any of the voice recognition apps I’ve tried on Android
• The keyboard works great, especially for thumb typing
• It integrates well with iCloud and our iPad. It’s nice that we don’t have to buy new apps.

Check out the video below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f_JRZI9o49w

I’ve had my new Macbook Air for a couple of months now and I wanted to share my thoughts. In short, this is the best laptop I have ever owned. I wasn’t sure if I would like the power and speeed since I’ve been used to a Macbook Pro, but after these last two months,  I am loving it.

Here’s what I like.

• The battery life – I can actually use this most of the day without plugging in.
• The heat – My old Macbook Pro would practically burn you if you used it in your lap. With the Air, you can use it anywhere and it doesn’t run near as hot.
• The weight – I didn’t think I would care about the weight, but it has made a huge difference in carrying around my laptop bag.
• The speed - It just seems fast. With the SSD drive it boots fast, it loads programs fast, and you don’t have to wait for it to catch up
• The noise – I very rarely notice the fans. It is much quieter than the Pro.

Here’s what I don’t like.

• nothing, nada, zilch – seriously I can’t think of anything I would change. I don’t mind not having an optical drive, so that’s not a big deal to me. I’ve still got plenty of drive space too, so the 256 Gigs hasn’t been a problem. Seriously, this is a great computer. I definitely like the 13″ size, but this is one great little computer.

I manage multiple WordPress sites, so I’m always looking for a way to help me keep them updated and running smoothly.  WordPress Multisite is one option, but it’s hard to setup and all of my sites are running very different themes and plugins, so it would be hard to make work correctly.  I’ve tried ManageWP, and it is awesome, but it also has a monthly fee. So when I read about the free WP Remote on ChurchMag, I decided to try it out.

After using it for a few days, this is something that will definitely save me time and energy. From one screen, I can see the update status of all my sites. Green means everything is up-to-date, and yellow means I have plugins or themes to update.

There is one more big feature that makes this service go over the top. From the WP Remote dashboard, you can make backups of all of your sites. For now, they are encrypting and storing your backups for free. I didn’t have any problems backing up all of my sites, although I’ve read that others are having a little trouble with larger sites. They are looking at adding automatic daily backups in the future. This one feature alone makes this service awesome.

If you are managing multiple WordPress sites, then check out the WP Remote service.

Video has been an integral part of our church services for the last six years. We  project song lyrics, testimonies, photos, video clips, and even occasionally live video. We started using Easyworship running on a used PC we bought for $300 five years ago. We finally are upgrading our computer and software to allow us to do even more with our video system. Unfortunately, Easyworship seems to have stalled in development, with the planned 2010 update still not on the market. So we have chosen to go with ProPresenter 5 running on a 27″ iMac computer. ProPresenter has really become the market leader balancing both ease of use with tons of power.

I’m really looking forward to using prop layers for logos and other overlays on the screen. We will also have the ability to have different information displayed on the rear wall for our praise team. We can even display a countdown timer for a certain long-winded preacher  It also features a great text reflow feature as well as integration with Planning Center Online. They even offer iPad apps to control your presentations. Check out their website for a complete list of the new features in version 5. I’ve also attached a playlist of their great video tutorials. If you want to learn more about it, then check out the following videos.

We should have the new system up and running in a few weeks. I’ll let you know more about it as we get it installed and working.

When it comes to backing up data, I want to make sure I have a plan. So when I got my new Macbook Air, I decided to add a new backup device at home. After evaluating several options, I decided to go with a Western Digital My Book Live 2 terabyte network drive. The great thing about a network drive is accessibility. I can access files on it from any computer in the house. Western Digital also has Android and iOS apps to allow you to download files or view pictures on your mobile devices.

The only negative about this unit is that it only has a single drive. The dual drive systems offer better protection against hard drive failure, but come at a much greater cost. Now if I can just figure out how to organize all my digital photos from the last ten years. That’s my next big challenge to tackle.

It hooks up with an ethernet cable to your router, and it works great with both macs and pcs. I have my time machine backup on it for my new macbook. I added a network switch with my home entertainment system and placed it there so that it is easy to access. Here are a couple of videos that show how it works and what it can do. You can pick one up on Amazon. Here’s a link to it on my Amazon estore.

Here’s a great use of the internet. Most churches spend a lot of time trying to organize meals for people who are sick or in need. But it’s always confusing knowing who is bringing what, and when they are bringing it. Recently we used Take Them a Meal to help organize meals for a family at our church for over a week.

Simply create an online signup form on the site, then send it out for people to view and signup. It’s easy to use and it works great. It’s crowd-sourcing on a whole new level. There is also a companion site for organizing potluck dinners – check it out at perfectpotluck.com.

For those times in life when filling their table will warm their hearts.
Simplifying meal coordination so friends, family, neighbors and co-workers can show they care.
Create a customized online sign up sheet to include phone numbers, driving directions, food allergies and more that makes it easy for friends and family to take meals to those in need.