The Best Sermon Apps and Tools

Preaching powerful sermons takes prayer, study, and the right tools. This guide breaks down the best sermon apps and software to help pastors with preparation, organization, and delivery.

Preaching powerful sermons takes prayer, study, and the right tools. This guide breaks down the best sermon apps and software to help pastors with preparation, organization, and deliveryWhile seeking the guidance of the Holy Spirit is a must and the first step in preparing any sermon, many sermon preparation tools are available to assist in crafting inspiring and life-changing gospel messages. While the usefulness and quality of each will be largely subjective, there are several resources that rise to the top of the list as the best sermon apps and tools.

Every week pastors all over the world put hours into preparing their Sunday sermon, working to understand scripture from the cultural context. Praying and trying to ascertain what it is their congregation needs to hear. Crafting their words with stories and illustrations so the message sticks with the audience beyond Sunday morning and is applied to their daily lives.

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What are the sermon preparation tools every pastor needs?

What are the must-haves for preaching?

From free sermon builder apps to advanced preaching software, we’ve compiled must-have digital resources to support your ministry and make sermon writing more efficient and impactful.

One essential tool is to be in community with other pastors where you can share ideas, ask for guidance, and gain different perspectives.  Our Facebook Group, The Pastor’s Circle, is a safe community where pastors can do just that. 

We reached out to The Pastor’s Circle community to get their thoughts on sermon preparation and what tools they believe are essential in their sermon preparation toolbox.

Why Sermon Preparation Is So Important

Sermon preparation is an act of stewardship. It shows reverence for Scripture, honors the congregation, and invites the Holy Spirit into the message long before Sunday morning.

The spirit can work just as much in the preparation as the presentation. Preparation shows respect for the scriptures. Preparation shows respect to the Lord. Preparation shows respect to the people who will hear your message. 

– Mark, Pastor’s Circle Member

The idea of preparation is acknowledging you don’t know everything. Or, if you do have enough information, preparation is taking the time to find a way to communicate the message so that everyone can understand it and how it applies to their life.

Teaching people about God is a huge responsibility.  Why wouldn’t we prepare to teach this crucial message?

Because it is really important to communicate scripture accurately to the best of our ability. We’ll all disagree about what that means, scripture by scripture, and of course, you’re all wrong, but we’ve been entrusted with something very important, and we need to do it well.

– Clayton, Pastor’s Circle Member

Many in your congregation won’t crack open their Bible throughout the week to discover who God is. Their view of God is shaped in large by the pastor’s words from a weekend message. No, that’s not ideal, but it is the reality, so you must share scripture with as much intentionality and understanding as possible.

Preparation allows you to take what you have learned about God and scripture and find ways to help people understand it. Is there a way to give people a life-changing light bulb moment?

As pastors and preachers, we are tasked with going to scripture on behalf of our congregation. As such, we should do it well through prayer, self-study, commentary work, and knowing your congregation’s spiritual needs.

– Sarah

Scripture is exciting! Spending time to find ways to convey that excitement with your church will help fuel their excitement for God’s word.

Scripture is exciting! Spending time to find ways to convey that excitement with your church will help fuel their excitement for God’s word.

– David

The Best Sermon Apps and Tools Every Pastor Needs in Their Toolbox

From traditional commentaries to drag-and-drop sermon builders, the right tools make your preparation sharper and your messages more effective.

Good Commentaries

Digital commentaries can save time while enhancing theological depth. Consider platforms like Logos Bible Software or Accordance Bible Software for searchable access to trusted theological works.

Prefer physical books? Build a small library with authors and series that align with your theology and preaching style.

Need visuals for your next series? Don’t miss our Sermon Series Graphics collection.

There are many commentary options available. Make sure you do your research on the authors and publishers in advance. To get you started, we’ve compiled a list of our favorite commentaries for sermon preparation. 

Illustration Database

Illustrations breathe life into your message. Keep a digital database using apps like Evernote, Notion, or even Google Docs. Tag them by theme (grace, redemption, obedience) to quickly find the perfect story when writing.

Ministry Pass also offers a robust database of illustrations sorted by scripture and topic. See our Best Sources for Sermon Illustrations roundup.

There are a variety of places you can find sermon illustrations for your database:

• Sermonary is a sermon prep software that allows you to search through an illustration database and easily add it to your message.
• Illustrations.bible is a free website where a new illustration is published daily.
• Pew Research provides research and statistics that you could use to illustrate a sermon point.
• Books can provide and inspire sermon illustrations. Kindle books allow you to highlight and easily find quotes or passages you may want to reference in the future.
• Your own life. Be sure to save your stories and write them down. Otherwise, your sermons will likely be filled only with stories from recent memory instead of the best stories that have happened over the years.

Good Study Bibles

A study Bible bridges the gap between complex theology and everyday application. Whether physical or digital, they provide valuable insight when cross-referencing Scripture or answering difficult questions.

Popular options include the ESV Study Bible, CSB Study Bible, and the Life Application Study Bible.

• NLT Life Application
• ESV 
• CSB
• CSB Ancient Faith
• NASB Zondervan
• New King James
• Harper Collins
• ESV Women’s

A bonus tip for you! If you have a Bible you love and it is falling apart, you can send it to Scriptura, and they will rebind and replace your cover with a beautiful leather cover.

Preaching Calendar Template for Planning Your Annual Sermon Series

A sermon calendar is one of the most underrated but powerful tools a pastor can use. It helps with sermon planning and long-term spiritual direction while relieving the weekly pressure of finding inspiration last minute.

We recommend starting with our free sermon calendar template, which helps you map out key sermon themes, align message series with seasons or events, and collaborate with other pastors or church leaders.

Begin with prayer, asking God what He would like you to speak on over the next 12 months, and start building a calendar. 
If you are new to preaching, one of the best ways to improve as a communicator is to have a preaching calendar and establish a road map of where you want to go over the next year.

Think of each message as a bucket and start adding to those buckets. As you come across scripture illustrations, articles, quotes, etc., that would be great for a particular message, you can add it to the “bucket,” so you already have several tools ready to use each week.

A sermon calendar is also the easiest way to build a teaching team and allow and plan for a Sunday off. It will enable you to determine which sermons are essential for the lead pastor to teach and which you can hand off to another trusted teacher. You can set the other members of your teaching team up for success by providing them with a well-thought-out topic and plan with plenty of time to prepare.

Preparation allows you to explore biblical context, audience relevance, and delivery techniques. It transforms information into inspiration, giving your congregation not just a message, but a moment that can shift their walk with Christ.

Remember: Great sermons are not written in a rush. They’re formed through meditation, study, and tools that bring clarity to complexity.

Check out our Sermon Introduction Guide for inspiration when kicking off each message.

Research Bookmark (Or Idea Library)

A Research Bookmark or Idea Library is similar to an illustration database where you keep ideas. When you come across an article in the newspaper that helps to express a concept the Bible speaks about, you can take the article and put it in your research bookmark. Then, when you preach on that subject, you will know exactly where that article is, and you can quickly access it.

Organize your collection of ideas by topic. You can use any method that works for you, the John Maxwell notecard method, Evernote, Sermonary, etc… Just find a system that works for you and use it. 

Final Thoughts

When crafting your sermon, starting with a template makes the process much easier. We’ve created a free sermon template to help you out!

Using Sermonary, a free sermon writing software, also streamlines the writing process. Goodbye, cute and paste, and hello drag and drop!

Yes, the Holy Spirit is the ultimate authority and guide in sermon writing and planning. Still, there are so many tools we have been gifted to ensure we are preaching with wisdom and authority in a clear and compelling way. It is a disservice not to do everything in our power to ensure God’s word is heard, remembered, and inspirational, reaching as many people as possible. 
Check out the sermon calendar examples at Ministry Pass, and get started today!