Why have we created “video sermons”?

It has become difficult for many of our member churches to find pulpit supply in this time. There may come a time when, for whatever reason, your church cannot find someone for pulpit supply on any given Sunday. For example, the weather may preclude your chosen pulpit supply person from traveling longer distances to your church. If your church finds itself without pulpit supply, some options you might consider are:

Asking one of the Session members to prepare a sermon
Having your musicians lead the church in a hymn sing and encourage members to research associated Scripture readings for them to read between songs
Gather for a church potluck and have a member read Scripture of their choosing
Downloading and using one of these Sermon videos and church liturgies

If you chose to use this resource, these instructions will walk you through the process. After you have read these instructions, click on the “Find Your Sermon” link at the bottom of this page.

How do I find a video sermon?

On the sermon page (again, the link at the bottom will take you there), you will see some options across the top that you can use to filter your sermon selections. You can also simply choose from among the sermons in the boxes below the filter headings. If you chose to filter for a sermon, you can apply the following filters:

Desc: Leaving it “Desc” shows the most recently loaded sermons first. Changing it to “Asc” will show the oldest sermons first.

All Speakers: You can select a certain preacher and select from their loaded sermons. Note that you can only select one.

All Topics: You can choose a particular topic. Note that you can only select one.

All Books: You can choose a particular book of Scripture here. Note that you can only select one.

Filter: Once you have made any selections, click the black “FILTER” box to apply your changes. Once you do this, your filtered selection(s) will appear.

To select a sermon and liturgy, click on the topic, which will have the largest lettering in the box.

I’ve selected the sermon, now what?

Once you have selected the sermon by clicking the topic, you will be taken to a page where you will see the sermon video ready to be played. You may choose to play it on Sunday morning directly from this page. However, PLEASE BE AWARE that it is playing ‘online’. If your internet service slows down, it may result in the video stopping in the middle of the sermon. We STRONGLY RECOMMEND that you download the sermon prior to the worship service. Then, the sermon will be on your computer and you no longer have to worry about slow internet.

How do I download a sermon video?

On the page showing the video of the sermon, notice on the lower right the word “vimeo”. Click on that word. This will take you to the vimeo video storage website. Vimeo is similar to YouTube, however, Vimeo allows you to download videos. Once you’ve clicked “vimeo” and entered the Vimeo website, you will likely need to scroll down just a little. You will now see a couple of options toward the middle of the screen: “Download” and “Share”. Click the “Download” option and choose the resolution you prefer. “1080p” will give you the clearest picture, but it will take more space on your computer. Once you choose the resolution download, the video will begin to download to your computer. It will take a couple of minutes to complete. Once it is done, the mp4 video file will be in your downloads folder on your computer. You can now close the Vimeo website page.

How do I download the optional worship liturgy?

On the page that displays the sermon video (not the Vimeo website, but the one you were on prior to going to Vimeo), there is a box on the bottom right called “Notes” (you may need to scroll down a little to see it). If you click on this box, the PDF of the optional worship liturgy will be downloaded to your computer. It will also be in your downloads folder. You can use this to create a liturgy for worship. Of course, it is also possible for you to create your own liturgy, we only provide this for your convenience.

What can I expect in the sermon video?

The video is meant to be played in two pieces. The first, and much larger piece, includes:

An introduction of the preacher
Reading of Scripture(s)
The Sermon
Communion (on selected videos)

The second piece is the Charge and Benediction.

The first piece should be played when it is time for the Scripture reading and Sermon. The second piece should be played at the end of the service. Between these two pieces, there is a 10 second blank screen. Use this time to pause the video once the sermon (or Communion service if applicable) is complete. Your worship service can then continue with the remainder of the liturgy. Once you are ready for the Charge and Benediction, you can resume the video.

So, can you show me the flow of different pages I’ll see when I look for a sermon and what each page does?

John Knox website home page: jknox.org
1. Click on “Sermons” from the menu, upper right
This sermon welcome page is shown
1. Once you are comfortable with the process, you can skip the instructions and go straight to the Sermon library.
2. Or you can click to read the instructions, which will bring up this page. Once you read the instructions, click “Find My Sermon” at the bottom.
The “Sermons” page is shown
1. Apply any filters you would like
2. Click on the topic (the largest words) for your selected sermon
The sermon video page is shown
1. You can watch the video from this page, but if your internet slows down, the video will stop in the middle.
2. You can download the optional worship liturgy from this page by clicking on “Notes” on the bottom right.
3. You can begin the process of downloading the sermon video by clicking the word “vimeo” on the bottom right, just above the “Notes”. We recommend doing this to avoid the video stopping in the middle of the sermon.
The Vimeo website is shown
1. Scroll down and find the word “Download” in the middle of the screen.
2. Click on Download and the video will be placed in your downloads folder.
3. You can now close the Vimeo website page.
The sermon video page is shown again
1. You are finished! You can close the John Knox website or use the menu to go someplace else for more information on what is going on in John Knox!