Or (MP3, M4A, WAV or MP4). Up to 90 minutes and 600MB. Spotify links can’t be read, so type the show’s name instead.
How do I find the best clips in a sermon?
A sermon is built to be heard whole: the passage, the explanation, the turn, the application. A clip has under a minute and no context. The best sermon clips are the stretches where one idea is complete on its own.
Slice’s podcast clip finder is a free web tool that finds the best moments to clip in a podcast episode. Paste an Apple Podcasts link, an RSS feed or the show’s name, pick an episode, and it transcribes the whole episode and picks its 3 best moments of 30 to 90 seconds, each with its start time, length, opening line in the speaker’s own words, and one sentence on why it works. You can play each moment from the episode itself and see the top one as a finished audio clip with the show’s cover art, captions and a waveform. It is free with an email address and no account: 3 episodes a month per person, each up to 90 minutes. It does not take YouTube links. It is made for podcasters, including audio-only shows, and for churches that publish sermons as a podcast.
- Price
- Free: 3 episodes a month per person (shared with Slice’s free transcription tool). Making the clips in Shorts by Slice: the first 3 exports free, then $14.99 a month or $149 a year.
- Input
- An Apple Podcasts link, an RSS feed, the show’s name (found in Apple’s podcast directory), or an uploaded MP3, M4A, WAV or MP4. Not YouTube links. Spotify links can’t be read because Spotify doesn’t share feeds; type the show’s name instead.
- Length
- Episodes up to 90 minutes.
- Output
- 3 moments of 30 to 90 seconds, each with a title, start time, length, opening line and why it works; playable from the episode; the top one previewed as a finished audio clip. The full transcript by email.
- Account
- None needed to see the moments; an email address is. A free Slice account to make the clips (Google sign-in works).
- Kept
- Your moments for 30 days behind a private link, then deleted unless you made them into clips.
What makes a good clip from a sermon
- One idea, stated and landed: the line the congregation would repeat afterwards, with the sentence before it that sets it up.
- An illustration or story that carries the point without the rest of the sermon.
- A question the preacher asks and answers inside the minute.
- Not the reading itself, the announcements or the closing prayer: they need the service around them.
A real example: Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life
We ran the finder on “Secret of Our Discontent (Open Forum)” from Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life (33 minutes, public RSS feed) on . These are the three moments it picked, unedited, in the order it ranked them. The quotes are the speakers’ own words, shortened.
When your deepest wish comes true
“That giant thing they were striving for, that fame thing, that was going to make everything okay, that was going…”
Why it works: Captures the paradox of achieving your dreams and finding it doesn't satisfy, using a concrete example people recognize.
Why beauty makes you long for something more
“And Lewis puts it this way. Sometimes as you hear music or you relish a landscape, you feel what Keats…”
Why it works: Poetically explains how ordinary experiences hint at a deeper longing, making abstract philosophy concrete and relatable.
Innate desires point to real satisfaction
“This desire for eternity? Innate desires all have a real satisfaction.”
Why it works: Presents a logical argument about desire and meaning that works independently as a philosophical observation.
Excerpts from Timothy Keller Sermons Podcast by Gospel in Life, quoted to show how the tool works; listen to the full episode. Not an endorsement by the show. Finding these moments cost us $0.10 in transcription and AI.
How it works
1. Paste your show
Your Apple Podcasts link, your RSS feed, or just the show’s name. The latest episodes appear, newest already picked.
2. Let it listen
It transcribes the whole episode and reads it for moments that stand on their own. A 15-minute episode took under a minute in our test.
3. Hear your 3 moments
Each with its time, opening line and why it works. Play them from the episode, see the top one as a finished clip, then make all three.
Tips for sermons clips
- Post the clip within a few days of Sunday, while the series is fresh, and say which series it is from.
- Put the passage (book, chapter, verse) in the caption, not over the speaker.
- Use the opening line the finder shows as the first caption: it is what the preacher actually said.
- If your sermons are not a podcast yet, upload the recording instead.
Questions
Our sermons are on YouTube, not a podcast. Can we use it?
Does it understand a sermon is not a talk show?
Is it free for churches?
Can we also get the sermon as text?
Can I paste a Spotify link?
What happens when I press Make these 3 clips?
The clip finder for other shows
Related
- Sermon transcription
- The best sermon clip tools, compared
- How to turn a sermon into short clips
- Sermon audio to clips
- Slice for churches
- Free audio to text transcription
- Audio podcast clips with your cover art
- Audio clip templates
- Shorts by Slice: clips from long videos
- Descript alternatives for podcast clips
More Free Tools
Shorts by Slice
From the team behind these free tools
One video. A week of posts.
Upload an episode and get back the moments worth posting, cut and captioned.
- Reads the whole episode, then picks the excerpts worth posting
- Captions burned in and framed vertical, ready to post
- Your first video and first 3 clips are free, no card