If you’re considering Sunday Ready, you’ve probably wondered, “Couldn’t I just use ChatGPT?” “Why would I pay for Sunday Ready when ChatGPT is $20/month?”

It’s a fair question. Let me state right up front: I’m not anti-AI. I definitely have some real concerns about what the future of creativity and deep work looks like 5-10 years from now, but it’s an incredible tool for brainstorming, organizing ideas, summarizing information, and speeding up tasks that used to take hours.

According to the 2025 State of AI in the Church Survey, nearly two-thirds of pastors now use AI weekly or daily in some part of their ministry, and 61% report using it every week or every day. That number is only going to grow moving forward.

Ironically, Sunday Ready has grown significantly since AI became mainstream. So this article isn’t a defense against AI, but rather an explanation of the differences between using AI and Sunday Ready.

Sunday Ready isn’t the right fit for every pastor. You can accomplish a lot with AI alone. But for pastors who want a partner to help carry the pressure of weekly preaching, we believe there’s tremendous value in collaboration.

Our process differs from using ChatGPT or Claude in several ways, but the first and most important way is that…

1. Our Process is Human.

If I had to guess how the average pastor uses ChatGPT, it probably goes something like this: “Give me a scripture and 3 points about prayer.” In other words, you’re asking ChatGPT to come to all the conclusions for you.

That is efficient, and the sermon outline is probably even pretty solid. But we’re not trying to be efficient. We’re trying to be prayerful and creative. AI bypasses the entire creative and discerning part of the sermon preparation process.

At Sunday Ready, we prefer to talk it out. Before we ever write a word, we spend at least an hour talking. Sometimes we’re talking theology. Other times we’re wrestling through structure. Sometimes we’re talking about what’s happening in your church, and oftentimes we’re trying to think of a 3rd point that starts with the letter “P” (you know, preachers love their alliterations).

We don’t just want to write a sermon—we want to write a sermon together. Yes, we’ll manage the heavy lifting and type up a first draft, but before any of that, we want to give the Spirit of God the chance to speak through multiple voices.

2. We source and verify our research

If you’ve ever asked ChatGPT for a stat, quote, or story, you may have discovered that the results weren’t accurate.  One of AI’s greatest strengths is also one of its greatest weaknesses. It can produce an answer in seconds. The problem is, it can also produce a convincing answer that’s completely wrong.

Researchers call this hallucination—when an AI confidently generates information that isn’t true or can’t be traced back to a reliable source.

This is especially dangerous when you’re looking for sermon illustrations. If you’ve ever asked ChatGPT, “Give me a true story for the end of my sermon about perseverance,” and it gave you back an incredible story about Abraham Lincoln, it may have even given you a quote from a speech or a journal entry. There’s a high probability that parts of the story were completely fabricated.

If you follow up and ask ChatGPT, “Where can I find a source for this story or this quote?” it will respond back with something like, “That’s a great question, and it’s good for you to verify this information. There is no credible source for this story or quote, but it sounds like the sort of thing Abraham Lincoln would’ve written in his journal based on his other writings.”

It’s doing exactly what it was designed to do—predict the next most likely words based on patterns it has learned. No matter how many times you tell it to give you only true stories, stats, or sourced quotes, it will consistently provide what it thinks you want to hear, even if it is untrue.

We take our sources seriously at Sunday Ready and make sure to source and verify them so you can be confident you’re saying something that’s true. If it’s in your notes, one of our writers has verified the source firsthand.

I can say a lot more about that, but let me give you one more difference…

3. AI makes you sound like everyone else.

I always get pushback when I say this, but AI does not know your voice. I know, I know, you uploaded 20 sermons and told it to learn your voice. And it did, sort of. 

AI can absolutely learn your sentence length and can imitate your vocabulary, but it’s never going to only provide your voice. It’s also going to give you a consensus average of every other word in its database.

AI uses math to predict what word should follow the previous word. Even when you ask it to “sound like you,” it predicts the next most likely word based on billions of examples it has already seen. You’re going to get a variation of the average collection of words on the internet. By definition, it will be… artificial.

I’m not suggesting that the way you preach has to be completely unique, but if it hasn’t happened to you yet, it will soon. You’ll be sitting in a meeting, at a graduation, or, even worse, in a church service, and the words being spoken will sound predictably familiar.

• You’ll hear lists of three in a sentence (you feel defeated, discouraged, and desperate)
• A comparison that starts with the negative (faith is not certainty—it’s confidence in uncertainty)
• And finally, a definitive statement (and that changes everything!)

That’s when it dawns on you: this was written by ChatGPT. Once you start seeing it and hearing it, you’ll noticeit everywhere. The more you use AI, the less aware you are of how monotonous and predictable you sound.

Our goal at Sunday Ready is to keep your authentic voice front and center in your sermon. The easiest way we do that is by having conversations week after week. We pick up on your sense of humor, your tastes, your convictions, and your passions.

Let me give you one more difference…

4. AI never pushes back

You’ve probably noticed by now that AI is incredibly affirming. One of the characteristics of large language models is that they tend to be highly agreeable and validating. That’s one reason more and more are using ChatGPT for counseling. 

But when it comes to creative work, it’s important to have some resistance. I don’t mean that someone should argue with you, but I do think it’s helpful to say what’s in your head out loud and get honest feedback from another person.

Our video calls allow the pastor and the writer to build on ideas. It usually sounds like, “That’s good, but it made me think of something else. What about…” Or sometimes, it might be: “I’m not sure I’m following you yet.” Once trust develops between a pastor and a writer, honest feedback becomes one of the most valuable parts of the relationship.

But what about…

With all that being said, I fully admit that there are times when AI is a lifesaver. Let me give you a few ways I’ve found AI to be useful in the sermon preparation process without bypassing the prayerful discerning parts.

Analogies and Illustrations

I have had a lot of luck asking ChatGPT to help me think of real-life examples and analogies for the point I’m trying to make.

For example, if I’m preaching on prayer and I have most of my sermon done but I want to find a spot to connect with the congregation, I might ask ChatGPT, “Help me find a spot to give a vivid illustration or use a prop in this sermon?” It might respond, “What if you used a pair of noise-canceling headphones to explain the importance of practicing silence in your prayer life?” That’s helpful.

Aliterations

Like I mentioned above, there are some times we’re just absolutely stuck and can’t think of another word to match our other points. In those moments, it’s nice to ask ChatGPT, “I’m trying to say humble, but I need it to start with a B.”

Historical Context

You’ve got to be careful with this one because, as with stories, it can lead you astray. But sometimes, with a general prompt like “Tell me 10 historical or geographical facts to provide some context for this passage,” you’ll be surprised with some interesting and helpful results. But as always, if it feels like “that was EXACTLY what I was looking for,” be suspicious and verify.

The question isn’t whether pastors should use AI. Christianity has always evolved and even used new technology to build the church. But the better question is whether AI should replace creative thought and collaboration. We don’t think so. That’s why Sunday Ready will always be about partnering with pastors to manage the pressure of weekly preaching.