Installation & Setup

This guide covers installing CP Sermon Library, activating your license, and configuring essential settings.

System Requirements

• WordPress 6.0 or higher
• PHP 7.4 or higher
• MySQL 5.6 or higher

Installing the Plugin

From WordPress Dashboard

1. Log in to your WordPress dashboard
2. Navigate to Plugins → Add New
3. Search for “CP Sermon Library”
4. Click “Install Now” and then “Activate”

Manual Installation

1. Download the plugin .zip file from your Church Plugins account
2. Log in to your WordPress dashboard
3. Navigate to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin
4. Choose the downloaded .zip file and click “Install Now”
5. After installation completes, click “Activate Plugin”

Verify Installation

After activation:

1. Check that a new Series menu appears in your WordPress dashboard
2. Navigate to Series → Settings, or under Messages if Series is turned off, to confirm all options are accessible

On a new install the top-level admin menu is Series. To change it, go to Series > Settings > Advanced > Set default menu item (this option only appears when Series is enabled). If you choose Messages, turn Series off, or rename a label, the menu name changes to match.

Activating Your License

To receive updates and support, activate your license:

1. Navigate to Series → Settings → License tab, or under Messages if Series is turned off
2. Enter your license key in License Key (found in your Church Plugins account)
3. Click Save Changes
4. Click Activate License
5. A green check mark shows when the license is active

Initial Configuration

Content Labels

You can customize the terminology used throughout the plugin:

1. Navigate to Series → Settings, or under Messages if Series is turned off
2. Select the tab for the content type you want to rename (Messages, Series, or Speaker)
3. Change Singular Label and Plural Label. On the Messages and Series tabs, also change Slug. The Speaker tab has no Slug field.
4. Save changes. If you rename a label, the menu name changes to match.

Sermon Settings

1. Navigate to Series → Settings → Messages tab (or your custom label), or under Messages if Series is turned off
2. Configure display options (single page template, image aspect ratio)
3. Set info items and meta items to control what displays with each sermon

Podcast Settings (Optional)

1. Navigate to Series → Settings → Advanced, or under Messages if Series is turned off, and set Enable Podcast Feed to Enable
2. Save Changes — a Podcast tab will appear
3. Navigate to Series → Settings → Podcast tab, or under Messages if Series is turned off
4. Enter the Title, Description, and Provider
5. Upload podcast artwork (1400×1400px minimum)
6. Configure feed categories

See the Podcast Setup Guide for detailed instructions.

Adding Your First Content

1. Add Speakers

1. Navigate to Series → Speakers and click Add New
2. Enter speaker name, bio, and photo
3. Publish the speaker profile

2. Create a Series

1. Open Series and click Add New
2. Enter series title, description, and artwork
3. Publish the series

3. Add Your First Sermon

1. Navigate to Series → Messages and click Add New
2. Enter sermon title and content
3. Add media files (audio/video)
4. Select the speaker and series
5. Add scripture references and topics
6. Publish the sermon

Displaying Sermons on Your Website

Using the Block Editor

CP Sermon Library provides Gutenberg blocks for displaying sermons:

1. Create or edit a page
2. Insert the CP Sermons Sermons/Series block, or a pattern such as Latest Sermon, Latest Sermons – Grid View, or Latest Series – List View
3. In the block sidebar, set Type, Items to show, and Order by. Use the toolbar List view or Grid view.
4. Preview and publish your page

Using Shortcodes

As an alternative to blocks, you can use shortcodes:

• [cpl_item id="123"] or [cp-sermon id="123"] — Display one sermon. template="alt" uses the alternate layout.
• [cp-sermons] — Display the sermons archive
• [cpl_template id="123"] — Display a template

[cpl_item] also accepts player, details, location, and service-type. See Customization and Display.

Using Archive Pages

CP Sermon Library automatically creates archive pages based on your configured URL slugs. With default settings:

• Main sermon archive: /messages/
• Series archive: /series/
• Speaker archive: /speakers/

You can customize the sermon and series slugs in their respective settings tabs. Speaker slugs are derived from the plural label. After changing any slugs, go to Settings → Permalinks and click “Save Changes” to flush rewrite rules.

Importing Existing Sermons

From Other Sermon Plugins

If the plugin detects data from Sermon Manager, Series Engine, or Church Content on activation, a migration wizard will appear to help transfer your existing content.

Using CSV Import

Import sermons from a spreadsheet:

1. Navigate to Series → Tools
2. Use the Import/Export tab
3. Download the sample CSV template
4. Fill in your sermon data following the template format
5. Upload your completed CSV file and start the import

Next Steps

• Managing Sermons — Learn to add and organize sermon content
• Customization & Display — Customize how sermons appear on your site
• Podcast Setup — Set up your podcast feed