We’ve got a $9.99/month hosting package with 1and1 (http://www.1and1.com/?k_id=9399216) that allows us to upload up to 250GB of files… that’s years and years of sermons that we can archive.

I then built a very simple web app that allows our recording tech to enter the sermon title, length, file name, Bible references, etc. The app then builds the XML file that is nabbed up by iTunes, Feedburner, and several other syndication services.

It also updates our Web site by adding the sermon to the sermons page, updating the “latest sermon” feature area, and creating a permalink to that sermon where people can comment on it, play it, and download it.

You can see our system in action at http://www.fbcbelton.org/sermons-online/

Sermon notes and a brief text description of the sermon can also be embedded into the file.

On the back-end, we host the podcast files on a pre-existing server and use a combination of FeedBurner, WordPress, and LiveWriter to publish the podcast so that it’s available through several sources, including the iTunes Music Store (as a free subscription).

Since the focus of this article is “on the cheap” it’s worth noting that since I’m using my personal MacBook Pro and I shelled out a whole $10.00 out of my own pocket for the appropriate audio cables, the only cost to the church is a tiny bit of electricity to run my computer while I’m recording and editing. In other words, it is virtually free.

The only down-side of the high-tech goodness available in the Enhanced Podcast format is that listeners need an appropriate M4A codec to listen to it - not an out-of-the-box Windows component. Installing iTunes in Windows solves this problem.

Instead of explaining it myself I’ll just direct him at this.

I reckon a follow up post should be a listing of suggested and or recommended hardware, software and links. And why!

For people like that, I find a proof of concept phase is usually worthwhile with any change. I had to go through this a little before committing our e-mail servers over to Google Apps by forwarding a copy of all e-mails from the POP provider to the corresponding Google Apps addresses. People could then test out reading e-mails before we ever converted. We worked out the kinks there and moved on. But I’m definitely open to continuing the discussion offline.

I’d also still say that this solution isn’t for everyone. It works for us - we’re small and can’t really afford any full time e-mail admins or to pay for hosted e-mail. We get quite a bit of value for our purposes, but not everyone will get that same value. I know that larger churches will have issues just due to the sending restrictions.