Has there begun a slight indentation on the top of your desk from where you bang your head each week trying to plan yet another worship service? Have you already run out of fresh ideas for Sunday worship this year . . . and it’s February? Are you not one of the lucky few pastors and churches who has the resources and vast leadership groups to plan out the next Las Vegas–style worship service for you, and all you have to do is show up and preach?
It is flat-out hard planning 52 Sundays a year, with the pressures of keeping up with the million-dollar media of the megachurches and making sure each week is fresh and relevant. But thankfully, you’re not alone. The twenty-first-century body of Christ has bonded together on the Internet and provided unlimited support, ideas, and technology to their brothers and sisters in arms, much of it free! Here are five immensely helpful websites that can help you through your Sunday-planning funk (after you go take some Advil for that headache!).
ChurchMediaDesign.TV – http://churchmediadesign.tv/
Among other resources to find on this site, one helpful offer is the Series Art they offer under their Freebies page. Here you will find many ready-to-use graphics for sermon topics, including backgrounds, text slides, and Facebook and Instagram images for promotional use. And sometimes nothing inspires a sermon idea better than browsing at graphics and sermon titles. Let the Spirit direct your heart to the graphic series he has planned for you.
Creation Swap – http://www.creationswap.com/
Creation Swap is the Silicon Valley of the worship service. Here you can find countless photos, graphics, and videos, created and supplied by some of the best professionals in the business. They offer many for free, but the best and most unlimited options that can give your rinky-dinky media ministry a complete facelift comes with their membership option, which is still very easy on the budget, considering all the options you will now have for your worship planning.
OpenResources.org – http://www.openresources.org/
This website is available to pastors, churches, and ministries worldwide so that fellow members of the body of Christ can have free access to an entire library of creative materials, including sermon audio, countdowns, promotional design graphics, and opening videos. The most helpful part of this site is the categorization of all the different topics that makes it much easier to find help on the subject you’re looking for.
Preach It, Teach It – http://www.preachitteachit.org/
This website says it best: “Sunday keeps coming, and creating sermons and locating sermon resources are constant, daunting tasks. Biblical exposition peppered with compelling stories is like warm rain to a thirsty preacher.” And warm rain is exactly what this ministry provides for all of your most important needs. Whether you want to browse by speaker, scripture, or topic, you will be able to find all the inspiration you need for your next sermon and worship series.
Drama Share – https://www.dramashare.org/
Sometimes multimedia isn’t the way to go to elevate the sermon topic. Or perhaps large screens, loud speakers, and Mac computers aren’t part of your budget. Well, don’t forget the power of a dramatic skit. If you have the drama team but not the writers, Drama Share is the place for you. For a small annual membership fee, you will then have unlimited access to as many scripts you want, whether for a sermon starter, for kids ministry, or for a full evening drama event. Before downloading each script, you will be able to see exactly how many participants it requires and approximately how many minutes the presentation will take. All you’ll need to provide are a few former members of their high school drama team!
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Kevin Harvey is the author of two books, his most recent being All You Want to Know about the Bible in Pop Culture. He also writes at BibleInPopCulture.com and can be found on Twitter under the handle @PopCultureKevin.