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AI Sermon Planner

The Sermon Planner turns any sermon — a recording, a topic, a scripture, or rough notes — into a full kit of ready-to-use content. Outlines, discussion questions, social posts, kids versions, quote cards, and more — all generated by AI using your church's own key.

Three ways to start​

The planner supports three entry modes:

  1. Pick an existing sermon — tap the selector at the top and pick from your sermon library (live-stream recordings show up automatically after the stream ends)
  2. Start from a topic — just type a title (e.g. "The Prodigal Son"), optionally add a scripture reference and a few notes, then hit Start Planning
  3. Start from scripture — enter a passage reference and let the AI build the sermon around it

You don't need a recording to use the planner. Even without audio, you can generate all content types from just a topic + notes.

What gets generated​

The planner produces 15 content types, grouped into four sections. You can filter the grid by section using the chips at the top.

Sermon Content​

  • Summary — a concise 2-3 paragraph recap for bulletins or your website
  • Outline — structured I, II, III outline with main points, sub-points, scripture refs, illustrations, and application
  • Illustrations — 3-5 vivid real-life stories, metaphors, and historical references
  • Bulletin Insert — formatted bulletin entry with title, scripture, a summary, and a reflection question
  • Service Script — welcome intro, sermon transition, and closing words to read from the pulpit

Social & Outreach​

  • Hashtags — 15-20 relevant tags for social posts
  • Social Media — ready-to-post content for Instagram, Twitter/X, and Facebook
  • Recap Email — a complete newsletter with subject line, key takeaways, scripture, questions, and closing prayer
  • Blog Post — 800-1200 word article with a hook, context, examples, and a call to action

Study & Growth​

  • Discussion Questions — 8-10 thoughtful questions for small groups
  • Group Guide — a full 60-minute study guide with activity, reading, questions, application, and prayer
  • 5-Day Devotional — five days of scripture, reflection, prayer, and action steps
  • Prayer Points — 5-7 specific personal, corporate, and intercessory prayer points
  • Kids Version — age-appropriate (6-12) retelling with fun analogies and two activity ideas

Creative & Media​

  • Verse Card — AI-generated background with verse text overlay, shareable to Instagram and WhatsApp
  • Quote Cards — key sermon quotes on designed backgrounds
  • Cross-References — related passages, parallel texts, and word studies

Generate all at once, or one at a time​

Two ways to generate:

  • Generate All Content — the big gold button. Kicks off every content type in parallel on the server side and fills in the grid as each one finishes.
  • Generate per card — every card in the grid has its own Generate chip. Use this if you only want one or two pieces, or want to try again with fresh output (Redo).

While a card is generating, a spinner replaces its icon and the label shows "Generating...".

Images for verse & quote cards​

The Verse Card and Quote Card types have an extra trick: after the text is generated, a Generate Image button appears on the card. It takes the AI's suggested image prompt and produces a visual using your configured image provider (Google Imagen or OpenRouter DALL-E — see AI Settings). You can regenerate the image from the preview sheet if you don't love the first try.

Editing, copying, and feedback​

Every card with generated content shows:

  • Copy — one-tap copy to the clipboard for pasting into your social scheduler, email, or bulletin
  • Thumbs up / thumbs down — helps us tune the AI prompts over time; one tap per card
  • Collapse — hide the body of a card you've already reviewed
  • Redo — regenerate fresh content if you don't like the first pass

Text in every card is selectable — highlight a portion and copy just that part if you need.

Saved between sessions​

Everything you generate is saved locally on your device — notes, topic, scripture, and every generated piece. Close the app, come back tomorrow, reopen the sermon, and it's all still there. The planner also remembers the last sermon you had open and reopens it on next launch.

Who pays for AI?​

Your church, your AI key

Nlarj never pays for AI. You bring your own key (BYOK) — we support OpenRouter (routes to 100+ models) and Google AI Studio (Gemini + Imagen). This gives you full control over costs, privacy, and model choice.

See BYOK with OpenRouter to get set up.

When the sermon has a recording​

If the selected sermon has audio or video, the planner transcribes it automatically on first generate. Transcription happens locally on the device — no cloud cost and your audio stays under your control. Subsequent generations reuse the same transcript, so there's no repeat work.

See Transcription for details on how that works.

Privacy​

  • Transcripts are encrypted per-church before upload — each church has its own key
  • Nlarj staff cannot read your transcripts
  • Transcripts are stored in your own cloud storage

Next steps​