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Sermons require the latest Apple TV app and iOS Remote updates. Update both before using this feature.
A Sermon (also great for any teaching, talk, or presentation) is a single media item that holds an ordered list of mixed slides — text/notes, scripture, full-screen media, and intentional blank slides. A pastor or presenter can build the whole message in one place, then advance through it slide-by-slide from the iOS Remote during the service. Think of it as a lightweight presentation deck purpose-built for LightLoop: it lives in your Media Library, drops into any playlist, and renders natively on Apple TV (including TV Wall mode).

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What a Sermon contains

A Sermon item is made of slides, each one of these types:
  • Text — a heading/reference plus body text (your teaching points, quotes, or notes), styled with the sermon’s text theme. Select text to apply bold, italic, or underline (or use ⌘B / ⌘I / ⌘U) — the formatting shows on the Apple TV program output
  • Bible — scripture pulled from the Bible integration (reference + verse text), added straight into the flow
  • Media — a full-screen image, video, or audio slide (no text) that scales to fit with an optional blurred fill
  • Blank — an intentional empty slide (shows the sermon’s Title media if one is assigned, otherwise black)
Sermon-level settings:
  • Background media — an image or video shown behind every text slide
  • Title media — a graphic shown on blank slides (e.g. a sermon title card or logo)
  • Reference & Text styles — font, size, color, alignment, shadow, stroke, and text background (same engine as Songs and Bible)

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Creating a Sermon

  1. In the Media Library, choose New Sermon from the new-media menu
  2. The Sermon Builder opens automatically and creates the item
  3. Build your slides (below), then changes save automatically (or press ⌘S)

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Building slides

Use Add Slide (text) or the ＋ Add ▾ menu for the other types:
  • Add Media (library) — pick an existing image/video/audio from your Media Library
  • Upload media — drag files in or pick from your computer; they upload to your library and drop in as media slides
  • Add Bible — search a reference (e.g. John 3:16-18), pick the verses, and they’re inserted as scripture slides
  • Add Blank Slide
New slides and dropped files insert right after the selected slide (not at the end).

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Reordering & editing

  • Drag the handle to reorder slides — the list auto-scrolls when you drag near the top or bottom
  • Duplicate or delete any slide
  • Drop files between slides — dragging files over the slide list shows a green insertion line; an “Importing…” placeholder appears while each file uploads
  • ⌥ + Return while editing a text slide splits it at the cursor into a new slide below — handy for breaking a pasted block into several slides

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Media slide options

For image/video/audio slides:
  • Blur fill — fills the 16:9 frame with a blurred copy behind the contained media
  • End behavior (video/audio) — Stop, Loop, or Advance to the next slide when playback ends
  • Mute (video/audio)
  • Trim — set in/out points with the inline player so only a segment plays on Apple TV

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Add to a playlist

Click Add to Playlist in the Sermon Builder header to drop the sermon into one of your playlists without leaving the editor. Sermons behave like any other media item — reorder them, add them to feeds, and share them with your team.

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On the Apple TV

Sermons render natively on Apple TV:
  • Text / Bible slides display over the background media with your reference and body styling
  • Media slides play full-screen (scaled to fit, with optional blur fill and your trim/loop/advance settings)
  • Blank slides show the Title media (or black)
In TV Wall mode, a sermon’s text slides drive the lower-third quadrant, media slides show full-screen, and the Stage quadrant shows a confidence view with the current and next slide (including a thumbnail + filename for upcoming media slides).

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On the iOS Remote

In Control Mode, tap a sermon to expand its slides into a sub-grid. Each slide shows a thumbnail — text slides over their background, media slides as fit-to-frame thumbnails. Tap any slide to jump to it; the large preview and Stage view mirror exactly what’s on screen, so you can confidently advance through the whole message.