Create A Sermon

Starting out on your journey of populating your entire sermon archive might seem daunting, but don't worry, creating your sermons is super easy!

Also, you don't need to do it all at once either. If you're tasked with adding a backlog of your church's sermons, you can always take it in small chunks at a time. (But you'll probably be surprised at how quickly you can add each sermon 😏)

Alternatively, you can just focus on starting with this past week's sermon and continue adding to your archive going forward.

Whatever the goal is, it all begins with creating your first sermon 😎

To get started, go to your Sermons Panel in Nucleus Sermons. Click here for a quick link.

In this guide, we'll cover the following topics. Click on any one to jump ahead.

Add A New Sermon

While viewing your Sermons Panel, click + Create Sermon.

The first thing you'll be asked to do is type in a sermon title. Typically, this is the name or title of the sermon.

Next, add a brief summary of the sermon content. You can always change or update this more fully later on if you want to make adjustments.

You can bold, italicize or underline text within the description section. Feel free to also insert a link.

Or add emojis if you're feeling creative 😵

After clicking Continue, you can add a speaker to this sermon so people know who was preaching. If you want to add more than one speaker, you can do that now or later as you finish creating and editing the sermon.


Note: You will need to have previously added a Speaker here in Nucleus Sermons to have anyone show up in the dropdown menu. If you haven't done this, don't worry! You can click Continue and skip this part, and then add a Speaker to the sermon later on.

Next, add a date & time for the sermon. Most churches use the date and service time when the sermon was (or will be) given for sorting and organization, but it's totally up to you what date/time you want to add.

Finally, click Create Sermon to move on to the next setup section 👍

You will then be asked to choose the level of this sermons privacy, with 3 options available to select:

  • Public: Any person or robot on the internet can view, save or screenshot all sermon content. And it’s okay for this content to be indexed and stored by search engines (e.g. Google)

  • Hidden: This content can still be seen or shared by anyone with the link. Hidden simply means it is unlisted and search engines will be asked not to index the content. If you want your sermon fully protected, use the “Private” option.

  • Private: Requires a Nucleus login to access. This fully protects your sermon and prevents indexing. Only those connected with your church who sign in and match the allowed types can view.

Note: To learn more about Connection Types and how people can be limited or granted access to certain pieces of content or areas of your Nucleus products (such as the Prayer Wall), click here.

Note: You can change it later on this page’s Privacy Controls tab. Keep in mind, however, if you start with a public page and then later change it to Hidden or Private, your page’s content may have already been indexed and stored by search engines or other aggregators. So it’s best to start off on the right foot.

Once you've selected a privacy setting, you will be prompted to add this sermon to a playlist. If you have a playlist in mind for this sermon, feel free to add it now.

Note: You can always change or remove a sermon from a playlist later, as well as customize the order it appears in a playlist. You can also add a sermon from playlists instantly via the “quick actions” in the Sermons Panel.

Once you've gotten through all the steps shown above, you will be presented with the Info & Media section of your sermon, which is where you can add all the rest of your sermon's information, including adding your media sources.

To add a cover image for your sermon, click + Add Image and select the file from your computer, or drag and drop a photo into the image area.

To go back and edit any of the basic info that you just entered for your sermon, click the Edit basic info button.

You can even add an optional transcript for your sermon too! Simply scroll down to the bottom after clicking Edit basic info, paste in your text, and then click Close.

Note: Everything autosaves from here on out, so there isn't any need to manually save your changes.

Lastly, there are a few options in the left sidebar for managing additional settings for your sermon. We'll go over that in other articles.

For now, let's just stick with the basics. Follow along to learn all the rest of the options/settings for your sermon 😎

Linking a livestream or video is a super simple process and can be done in the Media Sources section.

To add a livestream or video, simply copy the URL for your livestream link, or video hosted on YouTube or Vimeo, and paste it in the appropriate field.

You can then choose to use the main image you added above, or upload your own image for this particular piece of media. This allows you to have a different type of image based on the type of media (livestream vs. pre-recorded video vs. audio).

To upload a new photo, simply click Upload New. Then click + Add Image and select the file from your computer, or drag and drop a photo into the image area.

We recommend a minimum of 1920 x 1080 pixels (16:9 ratio).

Upload An Audio File

When uploading an audio recording for your sermon, simply click + Add Audio and select the file from your computer, or drag and drop a file into the audio area.

The audio file must be an .mp3 or .mp4 and a maximum of 150 MB in size.

In the same way for managing the images for your video URLs, you can choose to use the main image you added above, or upload your own image for your audio version of your sermon. This allows you to have a different type of image based on the type of media (livestream vs. pre-recorded video vs. audio).

To upload a new photo, simply click Upload New. Then click + Add Image and select the file from your computer, or drag and drop a photo into the image area.

Once an audio file is uploaded, you can click Edit Audio File and choose to Replace or Delete the file.

Add A Sermon To Your Podcast

While not mandatory, if you want to include your sermon in your Nucleus podcast feed, simply toggle on the switch to Include in Podcast.

By default, the artwork you have uploaded for your podcast will be used for the sermon you just added. But if you'd like a custom image to display on people's devices while listening to this specific episode on your podcast, feel free to click Custom and upload an image by pressing the + Add Image button and selecting the file from your computer. (Or simply drag and drop a photo into the image area.)

We recommend a minimum size of 1500 x 1500 pixels.

Note: If you intend on adding your sermon to your podcast, make sure to add an audio file first. Otherwise, there won't be any audio file for podcast players to stream/download.


Note: You can set up and manage your podcast in the Podcast Panel. Click here for a quick link.

Input Additional Information (Scripture, Topics, Attachments)

Below all your media and podcast options, there are a few other pieces of information you can add/link/upload to your sermon.

Add Scripture References

Under Scripture, you can add book, chapter, and verse references to your sermon. Feel free to add as many or as few as you'd like.

Simply click + Add Another. Then search through various Bible translations by scrolling through the dropdown menu, or start typing a version and select the version once it appears in the dropdown menu.

Do the same thing while searching for the book of the Bible. Then type in your chapter and verse reference. (If you're referencing multiple verses, just type it in as you would normally.)

Note: While we do offer many different translations/versions of the scriptures to select from, not all translations are represented. If you can't find your specific translation, pick the best available option among the ones available.

Or send us a message to hello@nucleus.church and request that we add the version that's missing for you. While we can't guarantee we'll be able to accommodate all requests, we do promise to take them into consideration.

Add Topics

Below this, you can add topics to your sermon.

Adding topics to your sermon helps to categorize it. That way, if people search for those topics in the Sermon Hub, or click on the Topics page, they can find all the sermons associated with that topic.

To add a topic to your sermon, click the dropdown menu to reveal any previously added topics.

Click on a topic to add it to your sermon, or start typing to filter for the topic you're looking for.

If you can't find a topic, you can type in the entire word/phrase and click Create.

You can select previously added topics or enter new ones. Topics help people find sermon media and view thematically related ones on a topic page.

Note: To manage your topics, you can do so in your Topics Panel. Click here for a quick link.

Upload Attachments

Next, you can upload attachments that people can download to help aid in their listening and learning. They will be shown on your sermon's page under Resources (e.g. Study guides, PDFs, etc.)

To begin, click + Add an Attachment.

Give your attachment a name. Then click + Add a File and select the file from your computer. (Or simply drag and drop a file into the upload area.) Click Close once you're done uploading each individual file.

You can upload files of a maximum of 50 MB each. Files can range from videos, to audio, to documents, etc.

If you need to edit or delete a file you've uploaded, click the dropdown arrow on the file and select your desired option.

Alternatively, click + Add Another to upload another file.

To rearrange multiple files in a specific order, click the two lines on a file, hold and drag it up/down, and release it in your desired spot.

Add Actions (i.e. Buttons)

Nucleus Sermons allows you to create one set of actions that will appear on every Sermon! This can be a huge time saver for most churches!

See the Get Prayer, and Give buttons? Those are the default actions we recommend having on each of your Sermons.

To set up your default actions head to Sermons.

Then head to Sermon Hub.

After getting to the Sermon Hub, head over to Default Actions, you'll see that on the left hand side bar.

Next, click Add Action.

You can select from a numerous amount of options for your Actions. In this example we'll set up a button to link to the PrayerHub. Select Prayer, add your button text and select your button type.

Once you're happy, click Add New Action!


Note: These button styles are managed in Nucleus Web here.


To rearrange multiple actions in a specific order, click the two lines beside the action you want to move, then hold and drag it up/down, and release it in your desired spot.

If you'd like to create a button for a Sermon, that is different than the Default Actions you've set up. Head over to that Sermon and scroll down to the Calls-to Action section.

By default, the Default Actions will be turned On. To override this simply toggle them to Off, then add your new actions by clicking the Add an Action button!

Preview, Publish, Save As Draft, Or Revert Changes

At anytime during the process of building out your sermon, you can preview the changes you've made by clicking the Preview button in the top right hand corner. This will open a new tab in your browser where you can view your sermon's page on your website. What you see there will be what someone else will see/experience when they visit that sermon's page - once the sermon is published, that is.

If you're ready to set your sermon live, click Publish.

You can choose to publish your sermon right now by clicking Yes! Publish Now.

But if you'd like to schedule your sermon to be published live for a future date, click Choose Date & Time.

Here, you can add a specific date and time for when you want your sermon to be live on your Sermon Hub.

Additionally, if you press Click to add an Unpublish date & time, you can choose to schedule for when you want your sermon to be removed from your Sermon Hub.

For both of these options, once you're happy with your dates and times, click Save & Schedule.

Back to editing your sermon, at any point in time, you can choose to Exit. This will give you two options:

  • Save & Close - This allows you to save your progress and come back to exactly where you left off.
  • Discard Changes - This allows you to go back to your Sermons Panel without saving any of the changes you made since you last chose to hard save your work.

Both options will take you back to your Sermons Panel.

What Next?

You'll notice there were several other items in the left sidebar that we didn't cover. That's because you don't technically need to touch those in order to create a sermon. Those are more advanced options that we cover in another article.

If you've yet to create any playlists, speakers, or topics, your next step is to categorize your sermons by following the article below:

Beyond that, here are a few more visual guides to help you finish your initial journey through Nucleus Sermons:

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