ChurchTrac: How To Embed a Sermon Audio Playlist in a Church Connect Page
ChurchTrac is a Church Management System that is great for any size church, but it’s perfect for small churches especially. The paid plans include a member portal, called Church Connect, that is versatile and customizable in so many ways! It’s accessible from any screen, and is installable as an app on your phone or tablet. It’s a sleek, user-friendly way to keep your congregation updated and connected.
One of the things you may want to do with your Church Connect page is make your sermon audio recordings available for on-demand listening.
I’ve found an easy, efficient and free way to have our sermons automatically embedded and updated in our Church Connect page.
Anchor.fm is a free podcasting platform, owned by Spotify. This is where I upload our sermon audio tracks and post or schedule them for future release. Anchor does the heavy lifting for you by distributing your audio files to a number of different platforms.
How to Embed a Single Sermon Audio Player in your Church Connect Page
1. Go to Anchor.fm and click Get Started. Create your account.
2. Once your account is set up, click Let’s Do It under “Make Your First Episode” (or Dashboard and then New Episode).
3. Upload a video or audio file of your sermon. If you upload a video, Anchor will automatically save only the audio. When it’s uploaded, click Save Episode. Fill in the title and description (and any other information you’d like) and click Next.4. The window that pops up will ask you to Set Up Your Podcast by providing more information like a name and description, and choosing a cover image (this is a good place to have your church’s logo). Then click Next.
5. This will bring you to the Podcast Availability screen. Under RSS Distribution, click Enable.
6. Beside Add email to RSS Feed, click Add.
7. Below that are options for Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, and other distribution platforms. If you’d like to, click each one and follow the links to set them up.
8. When you’re ready, click Episodes to see a list of the sermons you’ve uploaded. Click the one you’d like to embed.
9. Click the < / > button, and copy the embed code to your clipboard.
10. Log into your ChurchTrac.com account, and navigate to the Church Connect section (click Settings, then Church Connect).
11. Start a new Page Card, or click on one that you’ve previously created.
12. Click Edit Page Content.
13. Click the </> Code View button.
14. Paste the copied code from your clipboard.
15. Click Save Content.That’s it! You’ve embedded an audio sermon player in your Church Connect page card.
How To Embed a List-Style Player that Updates Automatically:
1. From your Anchor.fm Dashboard, click Settings, then Podcast Availability.2. Click the Copy button beside the RSS Feed url.
3. Go to https://www.listennotes.com/submit, and paste the RSS Feed in the iTunes / RSS field. Type your email address below. Click Submit.4. Wait for email confirmation that your podcast has been added. This may take up to 12 hours, according to the ListenNotes website.
5. When you’ve received email confirmation that your podcast has been added, go to ListenNotes.com and search for your podcast’s page.
6. On your ListenNotes podcast page, click the EMBED button, and copy the html code.
7. Log into your ChurchTrac.com account, and navigate to the Church Connect section (click Settings, then Church Connect).
8. Start a new Page Card, or click on one that you’ve previously created.
9. Click Edit Page Content.
10. Click the </> Code View button.
11. Paste the copied code from your clipboard.
12. Click Save Content.That’s it! Now, whenever you upload a new sermon to Anchor.fm, it will automatically show up in your ListenNotes player. There will usually be a bit of a time delay, but it seems to show up within a few hours, give or take.
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