Occasionally I will have someone ask me about my sermon series graphics. I would like to offer a description of my process. This a process I have developed from several years of being the only staff serving small rural congregations.

For my process you will need Microsoft Power Point and access to the internet.

Step 1 – Find an Image

Find an image that resonates with your sermon series. Make sure to follow any rules for using the image.

My favorite websites are:

• http://www.gratisography.com/
• https://unsplash.com/

After you have your image copy it or download the image.

Step 2 – Edit in Power Point

Next, open power point and insert the image onto a slide.

• Note: I use power point because it is the easiest and cheapest way to do what I need. I am trained in Photoshop and Publisher but I could never ask my small churches to buy these when I could get by with just power point.

I usually delete the text boxes on the slide and draw new ones. In those text boxes I’ll type the sermon series title. Sometimes I’ll add the church name or the phrase “current sermon series”.

Extra tip #1: Find a different looking font on the dafont.com Download it to your computer. You may have to close power point after downloading the new font to have it appear inside the program. My advice would be to search youtube for “loading fonts onto [insert your computer operating system name]”.

Some of my go to fonts are

• Basic Title Font
• Sketch Toronto
• Substrate

Extra tip #2: To make fonts easier to read I usually insert a shape behind the text (In power point click INSERT then SHAPE then I usually pick a rectangle to start with). Make sure to edit shape opacity and make it transparent.

Step 3 – Save Slide as .jpeg

After moving things around, playing with the fonts size and type, you are ready to be done. Go to “save as” and change from the .ppt format to the .jpeg format. I usually save it to my desktop. Then you can upload to facebook, send it go whoever works on your bulletin and use it as a cover image, or make cards to pass out for the next sermon series.

Some Examples

Here are some of my recent images. All of these series are based on the revised common lectionary.

This was an Easter announcement. The font here is New Year 2017.

This was a lent series of sermons. We focused on the lectionary gospel reading in year A. We noticed how each of these reading were conversations we were “eavesdropping on”. The font is substrate.

This is Bohem Press.

This is one of my favorite fonts. It is Sketch Toronto.

This is basic title font.