New service helps churches upload sermons onto Internet

podPreach allows churches that record their sermons to upload them onto the Internet using the latest MP3 technology – even if the church doesn’t have a website.
It means that those who are unable to attend church through illness or holidays can listen to the talk just hours after it ends.

podPreach – a self-contained service – is the brainchild of Christian media firm Media Ministries, and was devised to make uploading sermons easy.

Anyone who uses the service will be able to upload sermons within minutes of registering.

Managing director Kevin Wilson explained: “The problem at the moment is that it can be tricky and slow to upload a sermon. Many churches I spoke to with websites said it became too difficult to upload their files so they just stopped doing it.

"We’ve spent months of hard work making it easy and straight-forward to upload the files.

“podPreach could offer churches the opportunity of putting their sermons on the internet, even if they’ve never done it before. And it’s so simple to use it won’t be daunting for anyone.

“It means those in the congregation who can’t attend for whatever reason can still listen, or anyone who would like to listen to a sermon before attending the church can get a flavour before they go.”

Media Ministries wants to make podPreach’s website a comprehensive church search engine too, which will help anyone looking for churches in their area.

Mr Wilson said: “If a new Christian goes to the podPreach website, they will be able to search for churches where they live, which is an added benefit for those churches that sign up.

“Each church has its own page with information about services as well as the downloadable sermons, so it means new people can ‘test drive’ the church before they attend.

“In effect, the church’s podPreach page means churches don’t have to worry about expensive websites of their own, as their podPreach page does everything they need at a very reasonable cost.

“And if a church does have a website, it means they can upload as many sermons as they wish through podPreach without taking up their existing web space.”

podPreach gives those who can’t attend church the opportunity to give to the collection, as each church page includes a ‘donate’ button that allows payments to be made via the secure system PayPal.

“For those people who cannot get to their favourite church, or just want to listen to a particular sermon, being able to continue to listen and give collection means they’ll still feel part of the church,” said Mr Wilson.

On the Web: www.podpreach.co.uk