Publish a sermon

This guide takes one Sunday's message from the live stream (or a video file) to a published, shareable sermon in your Library, then into your podcast and onto social media as short clips. Every step works on the web app and in Tech Manager.

Before Sunday: decide what happens when the live stream ends

1. Go to Publish > Live Streaming > Live Streams and open the live stream's form (or schedule a new one).
2. In the Recording section, make sure Record this live stream is on. With recording off there is no replay, no clips, no reels and no podcast audio.
3. Under When the stream ends, choose Save as draft (the default: you trim it in the Library first, and the replay stays off the Library and the watch page until you publish it) or Keep it published (the replay is up in the Library and on the watch page right away).
4. Save the live stream.

Most churches keep Save as draft, so nobody sees the pre-service countdown and announcements before someone trims them. If the live stream has a teaching series set, the message lands in that series.

Step 1: find the draft in the Library

1. After the live stream ends, go to Publish > Library.
2. The service is at the top, marked Draft. Its title, speaker, scripture and series come from the live stream.
3. Click the card to open it.

No live stream? Click Upload video on Publish > Library, choose the file (MP4, MOV, WebM or MKV, up to 15 GB), give it a Title, optionally pick a Series, and click Upload. It arrives as a draft and opens when the upload finishes.

Step 2: trim it down to the sermon

1. On the message page, play or drag along the bar under the video to where the sermon starts and click Set in at playhead.
2. Move to where it ends and click Set out at playhead.
3. Click Save trim.

The original recording is kept. Reset to full length undoes the trim at any time.

Step 3: fill in the details

1. Under the video, check the Title, Speaker and Date.
2. Add the Scripture (one reference at a time; press Enter after each), a few Tags, and a Description for the watch page.
3. Choose its Series, or + Add series to start a new one. The series saves straight away.
4. Click Save.
5. Optional: in Thumbnail, scrub to a good frame and click Use this frame, or Choose artwork. In Files people can download, attach sermon notes or a discussion guide.

Step 4: decide who can watch, then publish

1. In Who can watch, choose Public (listed on your watch page and in the podcast), Unlisted (only people with the link) or Private (your team only). Click Save.
2. Click Publish at the top. The status changes to Published.

A Public, published message appears in your public library straight away. The library page ends in /watch/library and the message's own page ends in /watch/m/ followed by its short name, on your church's watch address.

Step 5: share it

1. On the message page, find Share.
2. Click Copy link to paste it into an email, a text or a social post.
3. Click QR code, then Download PNG, to put it on a slide or in the bulletin.
4. Click Embed code to put this one message on a web page.

Step 6: let the podcast pick it up

If your podcast is set up and switched on (Publish > Library > Podcast), a Public, published message in an included series becomes an episode by itself. Check Messages at the bottom of the Podcast page: it says In the feed when the episode is ready.

Step 7: cut social clips in Reels

1. On the message page, click Edit in Reels (or in Publish > Reels, click From Library and pick the message).
2. Reels loads the full recording, starts at your trimmed sermon, and finds the best moments.
3. Click Keep on the clips you want, then Render & share.
4. Pick the formats (Reels for Instagram, TikTok and Shorts; Square; Wide), style the captions, and click Looks good — render & continue.
5. Click Post now to post to YouTube, or Auto-schedule the week.

Troubleshooting

The service is not in the Library after the live stream

It is added once the recording is ready after the stream ends. If it still is not there, check the live stream's own page on Publish > Live Streaming > Live Streams.

The share card says "This is still a draft. Publish it to get a link."

Click Publish first.

The share card says "This is private. Make it unlisted or public to share it."

Change Who can watch to Unlisted or Public and click Save.

I published it but it is not on the watch page

Only Public messages are listed. An Unlisted or password-protected message opens only from its link.