Sermon site is a godsend
for preachers

Looking for high-responsibility work with long hours that requires lifelong dedication to your boss for low-to-moderate pay? Probably not. That's why your local minister refers to his or her position as a "calling," not a job.

I have the utmost respect and admiration for these devoted and enlightened individuals who, week after week, are called upon to compose and deliver moving, meaningful sermons to their faithful flock. It can't be easy to consume volumes of holy text, decipher their myriad meanings and turn them into compelling and inspirational orations. For evangelists who occasionally find themselves burdened with producing Sunday speeches on short notice, lastminutesermon.com must seem like a godsend.

Lastminutesermon.com is perfect for times when divine inspiration doesn't exactly hit a preacher like a bolt of lightning. Here is a Web site which, in its own words, is "a fast-response service designed to help busy Christian ministers and teachers with sound, ready-made sermons."

The compositions are created by Bob Austin, a professional writer who has served as a Church of England Reader for 10 years, leading worship in the diocese of Peterborough, and Canon Richard Broadberry, who brings 49 years of ministry and teaching to lastminutesermon.com. Each sermon is categorized by date, text or title to make selection easier.

The site promises to provide its customers with intriguing and educational speeches in accord with mainstream Christian teachings -- no extreme or theologically controversial views here. For each sermon sold, lastminutesermon.com will make a donation to charity. You can order by PayPal or, for tech-challenged preachers still stuck in Biblical times, through good old-fashioned snail mail. It all comes at a nominal fee (&POUND8 or, roughly, $14.75 American), which is perfectly understandable, considering their value and the time involved in their production.

These days, a service that costs users nothing would probably require a small miracle.

Note: Web sites mentioned in this column were active at time of publication. The Honolulu Star-Bulletin neither endorses nor is responsible for their contents.