Customization and Display

This guide covers the various ways to display and customize sermons, series, and other content in CP Sermon Library.

Display Options for Sermons

Archive Pages

CP Sermon Library automatically creates archive pages for:

• Sermons – All sermons in your library
• Series – All sermon series
• Speakers – All sermon speakers
• Topics – Sermons by topic
• Scripture – Sermons by Bible reference
• Seasons – Sermons by seasons

These archives are accessible at URLs like:

• /messages/ (or your custom slug)
• /series/
• /speakers/
• /topics/faith/
• /scripture/john-3/
• /seasons/summer-2023/

Layout Options

Sermon and series archives render as a list.

On a page, the CP Sermons Sermons/Series block toolbar has List view and Grid view. Grid view shows a Columns control.

Vertical (1 column) is only the Single Page Template option on Series → Settings → Messages, or under Messages if Series is turned off. It changes the single sermon page, not the archive.

Template Customization

Templates can be customized in several ways:

1. Settings

   • Navigate to Series → Settings → Messages tab, or under Messages if Series is turned off
   • Choose Single Page Template (Default (2 column) or Vertical (1 column))
   • Set Image Aspect Ratio for thumbnails
   • Configure Info Items and Meta Items display

2. Theme Overrides

   • Copy template files from the plugin’s /templates/ directory
   • Place them in /wp-content/themes/your-theme/cp-library/
   • Your customizations are preserved through plugin updates

3. Custom CSS

   • Add custom CSS via your theme or WordPress Customizer
   • Target specific elements with CSS selectors

Sermon Block Options

CP Sermon Library includes Gutenberg blocks for displaying sermon content:

Core Blocks

• CP Sermons Sermons/Series — List sermons or series
• Sermon Template — The inner template for items inside that query
• CP Sermons Template — Embed a template you built under Series → Templates

Blocks you place inside a template:

• Sermon Actions, Item Graphic, Item Title, Item Date, Item Description, Sermon Speaker, Sermon Series, Sermon Topics, Sermon Scripture

Block Customization

On CP Sermons Sermons/Series, open Settings:

1. Set Type to Sermons or Series.
2. Set Items to show.
3. Turn on Single Item to pick one sermon or series.
4. For sermons that are not a single item, Show Upcoming is available.
5. Set Order by to Newest to oldest, Oldest to newest, A → Z, or Z → A.
6. Use the toolbar List view or Grid view. In Grid view, set Columns.

The Filters panel shows Taxonomies. For sermons, Parents is included when variations are on.

Item Graphic has an Aspect ratio setting. Spacing controls depend on the block.

Block Patterns

CP Sermon Library includes pre-built block patterns you can insert from the Gutenberg pattern inserter:

• Latest Sermon — Most recent sermon (category Messages)
• Latest Series — Most recent series (category Series)
• Latest Sermon + Series — Both
• Latest Sermons – Grid View
• Latest Sermons – List View
• Latest Series – Grid View
• Latest Series – List View

To use a pattern, click the “+” inserter in the block editor, switch to the Patterns tab, and look under Messages or Series. Those category names follow your plural labels.

Sermon Templates (Custom Layouts)

CP Sermon Library includes a Templates post type that lets you build custom sermon layouts using the block editor.

Creating a Template

1. Navigate to Series → Templates in the admin
2. Click “Add New”
3. Build your layout with CP Sermons Sermons/Series, Sermon Template, Sermon Actions, Item Graphic, Item Title, Item Date, Item Description, Sermon Speaker, Sermon Series, Sermon Topics, Sermon Scripture, and Item Pagination
4. Publish the template

When editing a template, the inserter allows CP Sermons blocks plus core blocks such as Paragraph, Heading, Group, Columns, and Spacer.

Using Templates

Once you’ve created a template, you can use it in several ways:

• Shortcode — Each template shows [cpl_template id=123] in a sidebar metabox (the id is not quoted). Copy it into any page or post. [cpl_template id="123"] also works.
• Page Builders — The Beaver Builder, Divi, and Elementor modules each provide a “CP Sermons Template” module that lets you select and embed any template you’ve created (see Page Builder Integration).
• CP Sermons Template block — Insert this block and choose a template.

Using Shortcodes for Custom Displays

CP Sermon Library provides several shortcodes for displaying sermon content:

Core Shortcodes

• [cpl_item] or [cp-sermon] – Display a single sermon
• [cpl_item_widget] – Display a sermon widget
• [cpl_video_widget] – Display a video widget
• [cp-sermons] – Display the sermons archive
• [cpl_template id="123"] – Display a sermon template (see Sermon Templates above)

For a sermon list, use the CP Sermons Sermons/Series block, or [cp-sermons] for the sermon archive.

Page builder shortcodes: [cp-template] and [cpl_template]

[cp-template] renders the default CP Sermons view inside a page-builder or theme template. Use it when a page builder takes over the sermon or series archive, or a single sermon or series, and you still want the standard CP Sermons layout inside that template.

• It takes no attributes. Anything you add, such as id or type, is ignored.
• It only outputs content on CP Sermons pages (archives, single items, and taxonomy pages). On a normal page it outputs nothing.
• Make sure you type it with a hyphen. [cp_template] with an underscore isn’t a shortcode.

To show sermons on a normal page, use one of these instead:

Goal	Shortcode
The default sermons archive	[cp-sermons]
A specific saved template	[cpl_template id=ID], where ID is the template’s ID. The template’s meta box shows the snippet. id is required.

Note: before version 1.8.0, some filter links on a normal page that uses [cp-sermons] could return a “Page not found” error. Version 1.8.0 fixes this. If you can’t update yet, use [cpl_template id=ID] instead.

Shortcode Parameters

[cpl_item] and [cp-sermon] accept:

• id — Sermon post ID. Omit it to show the latest sermon.
• player — true or false (default true)
• details — true or false (default true)
• location — Location id, when CP Locations is in use
• service-type — Service type post ID. Used when id is omitted, to pick the latest sermon for that service type.
• template — alt for the alternate widget layout. Any other value uses the standard layout.

Example:

[cpl_item id="123" template="alt"]

[cp-sermons] prints the sermon archive and takes no attributes. [cpl_template id="123"] prints a template. [cpl_item_widget] and [cpl_video_widget] print the latest audio or video sermon and take no attributes.

Series Display Options

Series can be displayed in several ways:

Series Archive

The series archive is a list, ordered by the date of the latest sermon in each series. Open a series to see its description, artwork, and sermons.

Series in the Query Block

Insert CP Sermons Sermons/Series, set Type to Series, then choose List view or Grid view. Use Items to show, Order by, and the Filters panel the same way you do for sermons.

Series Single View

When viewing a single series:

• Shows the series description
• Lists all sermons in the series
• Displays series artwork prominently

Controlling Content Visibility

Sermon Visibility Control

You can control which sermons appear in the main sermon list:

1. Edit a sermon
2. Find the “Visibility Settings” panel
3. Check the Exclude from Main List box to remove this sermon from the main list (leave unchecked to keep it visible)
4. Sermons hidden from the main list are still accessible via their direct URL, taxonomy archives, and search

Changed in 1.6.2: This checkbox was previously labeled “Show in Main List” and defaulted to checked. The default is now “visible” without an explicit setting, so imports and other programmatic saves no longer hide sermons by accident. If you upgraded from an earlier 1.6.x release, run Series → Tools → Migrate Visibility Settings to carry forward any sermons you previously hid by hand.

Series Visibility Control

Series can also be hidden from the main series list:

1. Edit a series
2. Find the “Visibility Settings” panel
3. Use the “Exclude from Main List” checkbox
4. Hidden series will not appear in the main series list but can still be accessed directly

Service Type Visibility Control

Sermons with specific service types can be excluded from main lists:

1. Edit a service type
2. Find the “Visibility Settings” panel
3. Use the “Exclude from Main List” checkbox
4. All sermons with this service type will be hidden from the main sermon list

Visibility Inheritance

Sermon visibility can be inherited from parent entities:

• If a series is hidden, all sermons in that series inherit that setting
• If a service type is hidden, all sermons with that service type inherit that setting
• Sermons with inherited visibility will show a notice explaining why they’re hidden

Filter Display Options

Control how filters appear on your sermon pages:

Filter Settings

Navigate to Series → Settings → Advanced, or under Messages if Series is turned off, to adjust:

• Sort Topics, Sort Scripture, Sort Seasons, and Sort Speakers: By Message Count or Alphabetically (Scripture uses By Scripture Order)
• Count Threshold (default 3)
• Show Counts: Show or Hide

Disable Filters on the Messages tab hides Topics, Scripture, Seasons, Speakers, and Year on the sermon archive. On the Series tab it hides Seasons and Year. The Disable Filters field on the Advanced tab is marked deprecated in its description.

Filter button labels

Sermon archive: Topic, Scripture, Season, Speaker, Service Type, Year. Series archive: Season, Year, Number of Sermons. Singular Label and Plural Label do not change that text.

Filter Contexts

Filters are now context-aware and work in multiple locations:

• Main sermon archive
• Service Type pages
• Custom templates

For detailed documentation on the filter system, see Filter System Documentation.