How to use the Workshop

01

Your first sermon: a short route

1. Sign in and complete your Preacher profile. The reader account and Workshop share one username.
2. Choose Prepare step by step → Start, enter the topic, Scripture passage and audience, then choose Guide me step by step.
3. Move a suitable version into Your sermon text, edit it and wait for Saved. Then open Rehearse and read.

02

What the Workshop offers and how to register

The Workshop stores sermons, versions and saved audio recordings so you can return on another device. Texts stay private until you choose a material to submit to the editors. Manual work and storage are separate from AI requests.

1. Choose Try it free and create a username and a passphrase of at least 14 characters. If you already have a reader account, choose Sign in.
2. Complete the human check and choose Create account. No payment card is required.
3. Choose Download recovery code, store it safely, then I saved the code — continue. Email is not used for account recovery.

03

Profile and sermon intention

In Preacher profile, set your byline, Christian tradition, form of address, preferred style and wishes. Church, city and ministry are optional. Choose Save profile.

For a particular sermon, set its topic, Scripture passage, Audience, duration and My intention and personal illustration. Explain what you want listeners to understand or do. Style for this sermon overrides the profile just for this draft. Duration is a preparation target; check the actual speaking time in rehearsal.

04

Four ways to begin

Write a complete draft produces a draft from your brief. Prepare step by step develops the intention, outline and text through questions. Develop my idea expands an existing thought. Review my sermon examines a text you already have.

Start creates an empty saved sermon and does not itself use AI. Enter your own topic or choose Browse suggested topics. Browsing suggestions is free; asking AI to help choose uses a Workshop request.

05

Main text and AI versions

Your sermon text is your editable main draft. It is used for downloads, printing, rehearsal and editorial submission. Discussion and AI versions holds separate numbered answers; older ones are under Earlier AI answers. The first complete draft may fill an empty editor; existing text is not replaced without your decision.

1. Read a version first. You can copy only the useful passage.
2. Move to main text · №… replaces the entire main text. A nonempty draft requires confirmation; its previous text remains in version history.
3. Edit this version → Save this version changes only that version. Save and move to main text replaces the main draft.
4. A discussion answer’s Append answer to the draft · free adds it at the end and keeps the existing text.

06

Discuss, review and revise

Discuss is useful for questions about the topic, reasoning and illustrations. It sees the topic, Scripture passage and recent replies, not the complete main draft. Use Revise text and Review text for work on the whole sermon.

A review gives recommendations without automatically rewriting your text. Under Individual edits, compare your passage with the suggested replacement and choose Accept or Keep my text. If the original passage has changed or is ambiguous, run a new review.

Revise using these recommendations creates a separate complete revision. Read it before choosing Replace main text. Check facts, citations and meaning: AI can make mistakes, and the author makes the final decisions.

07

What is free and how requests are counted

Manual writing, editing, saving, moving answers, accepting individual edits, downloads, quotation comparison, rehearsal, teleprompter and recording do not use AI requests. Generating a draft or outline, a guided response, review and AI revision use Workshop requests.

The first successful request opens a package for that sermon, with up to 30 requests. An AI failure does not consume a package or request. Registration includes two trial packages; other packages may come from a subscription, purchase or gift.

Discuss uses free Companion questions first, then automatically falls back to this sermon’s Workshop requests. Check Allowance and usage for remaining allowances, reset times and how the last answer was counted.

Open Billing for current prices and terms. Monthly, purchased and gifted packages may have different expiry rules. When an allowance ends, your materials and manual editing remain available.

Gift certificates shows certificates you have purchased and received. To receive a gift, open the certificate link, sign in to your account, review its terms and choose Activate gift in my account. To give access to another preacher, choose Create a certificate under Gift certificates, choose a gift and prepare a certificate with your message. Recipient instructions are included in the certificate.

08

Saving, archive and versions

Changes autosave after a short pause. Before leaving, wait for Saved · version …; a manual Save button is also available. Draft, Ready and Archived statuses help organize your work.

1. ← My archive → search by title → Open.
2. To recover earlier text, open Versions and choose Restore as a new version. History is retained.
3. Delete moves a sermon to Trash. Restore brings back its text, versions and saved recordings.

Deleting from your archive does not withdraw editorial submissions or publications, or refund used requests.

09

Import, download and print

Upload a sermon from a file accepts TXT and MD up to 200 KB. Copy text from Word or PDF into the main editor and check its paragraphs. Download TXT saves the main draft. Print / PDF opens your browser’s print dialog, where you can save a PDF if the browser supports it.

10

Compare a Scripture quotation

1. To replace a quotation, first select it in the main text or an editable version.
2. Choose Check / replace a quotation, enter a Scripture reference and choose Compare with the library.
3. Compare the texts. If the complete passage was found and your selection is unchanged, choose Replace the selected quotation · free.

Comparison uses no AI and supports up to eight verses: the Russian Synodal translation or English World English Bible Classic. It compares wording, not theological interpretation. A difference may be a paraphrase or another translation.

11

Rehearsal, timer and teleprompter

Open Rehearse and read. The Reading timer without recording checks duration; you can adjust your pace or calculate it after reading the whole sermon.

Teleprompter controls: ▶ Start scrolling, Ⅱ Pause text, Back to start, Speed and text size and Present sermon. Manual scrolling pauses the text. Space toggles scrolling when the text has focus.

Pausing the teleprompter stops only the text. The microphone keeps recording until you pause the recording itself.

12

Record, listen and save audio

1. Choose a microphone if needed → Start recording → allow microphone access in your browser.
2. Pause / Resume continues the same file, excluding the break. Choose Finish and listen.
3. Listen to the result. Choose Save to workspace or Download recording. A recording saved to your workspace is available on another device.

Until saved or downloaded, a trial recording exists only on this open page. Do not close or refresh it. On a phone, keep the page open and the screen unlocked. Switching tabs does not automatically pause recording.

Each take can last up to 60 minutes. Under Sermon recordings, upload an existing MP3, M4A, MP4, OGG, WebM or WAV with Upload to my workspace. Limits: 50 MB per file, five recordings per sermon, 20 recordings and 250 MB per account. Saved recordings can be played, downloaded, deleted or separately submitted to the editors.

13

Submit a sermon to the editors

1. Choose Submit for publication on Life for God. Select the text, one audio recording or both.
2. Check the preview, author byline and permissions. Optionally attach a church card.
3. Choose Submit for editorial review. This is a submission, not immediate publication. Text and audio receive separate decisions and can be withdrawn separately.

Private AI discussions are not sent to the editors. Under My church, prepare an invitation, address, service times and contacts. The card stays private until you choose to attach it and the editors approve it; attached contacts are intended for public display.

14

Preaching library, books and your collection

The Art of Preaching is available from both the library and Workshop. It has two sections: Preaching Craft, with books on preparation and delivery, and Sermon Collections, with sermons to read and study.

Author books and collections currently begin only by editorial invitation. Under My books and collections, the first stage requests a title, synopsis, contents and a short excerpt. A complete PDF is uploaded later, when the corresponding invitation is enabled.

Sermon collections under My books and collections also requires an invitation: choose at least two nonempty sermons, add a working title and submit for assessment. The button does not automatically create a book. Ebook or print preparation is separate work; scope, timing and terms are agreed separately from an AI subscription.

15

Return on another device or recover access

Open the Workshop on another device and sign in with the same username to access saved texts and audio. If you forget your password, choose Sign in → Forgot your password? and use your username, recovery code and a new passphrase.

You can also change your password through Preacher profile → Change password. Changing or recovering it issues a new recovery code; keep the new one. Unsaved trial recordings do not transfer between devices.