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Managing Sermons

The Sermons page displays your entire sermon library. From here you can add new sermons, edit existing entries, and organize your content by playlist. Each sermon can link to video or audio hosted on YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, or a custom URL.

Before You Begin

  • You need the Edit Services permission in the Content section of your role. See Roles & Permissions if you do not have access.
  • Create at least one playlist to organize your sermons into
  • Have your video IDs or URLs ready from YouTube, Vimeo, or Facebook

Viewing Your Sermon Library​

  1. In B1 Admin, open the Jump menu (the search bar at the top-left), expand Sermons, and click Sermons.
  2. The Sermons page shows your sermon entries in a table with each sermon's Playlist, title (Sermon), and Publish Date, newest first, with a count such as "11 of 11 sermons". Type in the Search sermons by title or playlist... box to filter the list. Your playlists are listed in a Playlists panel beside the table, with the Podcast Feed panel below it.
  3. Hover over a sermon row and click Edit to view or edit its details.

Adding a Sermon​

  1. Click the Add Sermon button in the top right corner and select Add Sermon from the dropdown. An Edit Sermon form opens above the list.
  2. Select a Playlist to assign the sermon to (or leave it at None).
  3. Choose your Video Provider -- YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, or Custom Embed Url. We recommend YouTube as it works best with the B1 system.
  4. Enter the video's YouTube ID, Vimeo ID, Sermon ID (Facebook), or Sermon Embed Url. You can paste the whole video link; B1 keeps just the ID. For YouTube, the video ID is the string of characters after v= in the YouTube URL.
  5. For YouTube and Vimeo, click Fetch to import the sermon details automatically, including the publish date, duration, title, description, and thumbnail. If the details can't be loaded, a message says so and you can fill them in yourself.
  6. Make any changes you want and click Save.
tip

You can also add a permanent live stream URL by selecting Add Permanent Live URL from the Add Sermon dropdown. This creates a persistent connection to your YouTube channel's live stream using your Channel ID. See Live Streaming for more details.

Editing a Sermon​

  1. Click Edit on any sermon row in your library to open its details.
  2. Update the title, date, description, thumbnail, duration, or media links as needed.
  3. Click Save to apply your changes, or Cancel to close the form.

To remove a sermon, open it, click Delete, and confirm.

Adding a Sermon to Another Playlist​

To list the same sermon in a second playlist (for example, a sermon that belongs to both a series and a "Best Of" collection), open the sermon, click Add to another playlist, pick the playlist, and click Add. This saves a copy of the sermon in that playlist.

Sermon Details​

Each sermon entry can include:

  • Playlist -- The series the sermon belongs to
  • Video Provider and video ID -- Where the sermon video is hosted: YouTube, Vimeo, Facebook, or a custom embed URL
  • Publish Date -- The date the sermon is published; sermons without one show Not scheduled in the list
  • Total Sermon Duration -- The sermon's length in minutes and seconds
  • Thumbnail -- A preview image shown in your sermon library. Click the image to crop or replace it (16:9).
  • Title -- The sermon name displayed to visitors
  • Description -- A summary of the sermon content
  • Audio File URL (for podcast) -- A direct link to an MP3/M4A file for this sermon. Either paste a URL or, once the sermon has been saved, click Upload Audio to upload a file and fill it in automatically. Only sermons with this field (or a direct video file link) set are included in your podcast feed.

Your Podcast Feed​

Once at least one sermon has an audio or video file attached, B1 Admin generates a podcast RSS feed for your church automatically -- there's nothing to turn on. Find it in the Podcast Feed panel beside the sermon list (below the Playlists panel): click the copy icon to copy the feed URL, then submit that URL to Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or any other podcast directory.

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Sermons that only link to an embedded player (like a YouTube or Vimeo video ID) won't appear in the podcast feed -- podcast apps need a direct, downloadable media file. Add an Audio File URL to include a sermon.

Scheduling a Sermon for Live Stream​

After adding a sermon, you can schedule it for broadcast on your live stream page:

  1. In the Jump menu, choose Sermons > Live Stream Times.
  2. Edit a service and under Video Settings, select your sermon from the Sermon dropdown.
  3. The sermon will play at the scheduled service time.
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For importing multiple sermons at once instead of adding them one by one, use the Bulk Import tool to pull videos directly from your YouTube or Vimeo account.

Next Steps​