The weekly grind that ran itself out of a job
A 200+ member church was burning staff hours every week on the same routine: turning each service’s recording into a formatted outline document, updating two websites, organizing videos, assembling announcements, and getting it all in front of the congregation. Twice a week, every week — and when the one person who knew the process was busy, things slipped.
I built a system that does the whole routine on its own.
- 1Automated ingestA recording is uploaded→ Your raw input arrives
A file drop or a newly published video kicks off the whole run. No dashboard, no button — just the upload someone was already doing.
- 2Automated ingestA gatekeeper checks it→ Rules decide it’s worth processing
Validates it’s the right file on the right day, and locks it so the same item is never processed twice.
- 3AI processing · unattendedIt’s transcribed→ Speech becomes text
The audio turns into a full transcript on compute that scales to zero when idle — you only pay when it runs.
- 4AI processing · unattendedAI cleans it up→ AI polishes your content
An AI pass fixes readability and formatting while preserving every detail — cleanup, not summarizing.
- 5AI processing · unattendedAI structures & drafts→ AI builds the deliverable
Splits it into sections, builds the branded document, updates the website and video chapters, and drafts the announcements.
branded doc / PDFwebsite pagevideo chapters - 6The one human stepYou approve→ One human sign-off
The draft waits in a review queue. A person opens it, edits if needed, and clicks approve. Nothing reaches anyone without this.
The only place the flow pauses for a person. - 7DistributeSent to the right people→ Delivered to your audience
Filtered by each subscriber’s preferences, personalized, and sent at a safe rate — plus a published web copy. Subscribers manage their own preferences.
Now, when a service ends, everything just happens
- The recording becomes a polished outline document automatically — formatted the way the church likes it, scripture quotes corrected to the exact translation they use — and lands in the staff’s inboxes the same afternoon. Nobody types a word.
- Both websites update themselves — each new message posted with cleaned-up, consistent titles, and every video gets chapter markers and a searchable description within hours of going live. No one logs in to do it.
- Announcements assemble themselves into a ready-to-send bulletin — a staff member reviews it and clicks one button. The system handles the sending, and members manage their own subscriptions through a simple portal.
The one place a human still touches the process is the one place a human should: nothing goes out to the congregation without a person approving it. Everything else runs unattended.
The result
What previously consumed hours of staff time each week now runs entirely on its own. It’s been in production since early 2026 and hasn’t missed a service. It checks itself — I look at it about once a month. The staff stopped thinking about it, which was the whole point.
- Someone submits the formyour inbound interestName, email, and what they want to hear about — a public form, no login.
- Matched or createdno manual list editsThe system finds their record by token or makes a new one. Nobody edits a list by hand.
- Saved & securedyour data updates itselfThe record is written and issued a private access token — the source of truth stays current on its own.
- The right email goes outyour people stay in controlA welcome for new folks, or a passwordless magic-link to manage their own preferences.
Built for an organization like yours
This wasn’t built for a tech company. It was built for a small organization with no IT department, no engineers, and no patience for tools that need babysitting — exactly the situation most small businesses are in. If a volunteer project I built runs this reliably, imagine what I’d build when it’s your livelihood on the line and we’re aligned on outcomes.