AI for Dummies Like You, Me and even Pastor John Piper.
There’s a lot of noise out there about Artificial Intelligence (AI) — and a lot of it is flat-out wrong.
Some people think AI is alive.
Some think it’s demon-possessed.
Some think it’s going to replace pastors altogether.
Even brilliant theologians can miss the mark on tech.
Case in point: John Piper, a man whose preaching and writing have impacted millions — and yet, when he recently shared his thoughts on AI, he unintentionally stirred up a lot of confusion among pastors.
Why?
Because, like many, Piper doesn’t fully understand how AI actually works.
He said,
“[AI] does words better than you, better than me, seriously... but it can't feel,... it can't worship.”
And he’s right — sort of.
Yes, AI can "do words" better than most of us.
Yes, it can’t feel or worship.
But that's the wrong argument.
It’s another false dichotomy — the idea that if you use technology to help craft a sermon, you somehow lose your humanity in preaching.
Respect the man. Appreciate his heart.
But when it comes to AI, pastors don't just need good intentions — they need better information.
Let’s clear it up — in plain English — because most of us (myself included) aren’t computer scientists. We just want to use good tools to do good work.
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Common Misconceptions About AI
• “AI thinks like a human.”
Nope. AI doesn’t think. It predicts. It guesses the next word or idea based on patterns it has learned from massive piles of information.
• “AI knows everything.”
It does know a lot, but not everything. It knows only what it’s been trained on — and it can get things wrong, especially if its training data was wrong.
• “AI is unbiased.”
Also wrong. AI can inherit biases from the people and data it’s trained with. Garbage in, garbage out. (SermonDone helps you with this!)
• “AI is evil.”
AI is a tool. It’s no more evil than a hammer or a microphone. It’s the user who determines whether it’s used for good or bad.
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What Is AI Really?
At its core, AI is a giant pattern recognition machine.
It sees tons of examples and tries to predict what should come next.
It’s like giving someone 10,000 cookbooks and asking them to guess the next step in a recipe they’ve never seen before — based on patterns they’ve learned from all the others.
It’s not magic.
It’s math.
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How We Got From Computers to AI
1940s–1950s: Computers were built to solve math problems.
1950s–1970s: Scientists dreamed about machines that could “think,” but computers were too slow and data was too scarce.
1980s–2000s: The internet exploded. Computers got faster. More data = better possibilities.
2010s–Today: Thanks to big data, cloud storage, and powerful processors, machine learning took off — leading to tools like Siri, Google Translate, ChatGPT, and beyond.
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How Does AI Actually Work?
1. Training: AI is fed billions of examples — books, articles, code, conversations, etc.
2. Learning Patterns: It analyzes what typically follows what.
3. Making Predictions: When you ask it something, it predicts what answer best fits your request based on those patterns.
It’s not pulling answers from a magic brain. It’s like an ultra-fast, ultra-organized guesser based on everything it’s seen before.
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Where Does AI Get Its Information? (Human created content!)
• Public websites
• Licensed content
• Databases
• Books, articles, papers
It doesn’t “think” up ideas on its own. It rearranges, summarizes, and combines information based on training material it was given.
Think of it like a supercharged intern who has read everything but needs you to guide what they actually produce.
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How to Actually Use It (Without Freaking Out)
AI shines when you:
• Organize messy ideas
• Brainstorm creative angles
• Summarize long research
• Draft first versions of work that you can refine later
It’s not about letting a robot preach.
It’s about getting a jumpstart so you can spend more energy on Spirit-led study, prayer, and shepherding your people.
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How SermonDone Helps You Use AI for Sermon Writing
SermonDone was built specifically for pastors — not tech geeks.
Here’s how it helps you:
-Write Sermons Faster: Get a first draft outline you can build on.
-Plan Sermon Series: Map out month-by-month series themes and texts.
-Research Quicker: Summarize books, pull commentary insights, find Scripture connections.
-Create Resources: Build small group guides, discussion questions, social media content, and more — in minutes, not hours.
All powered by AI, but trained with you — the real pastor — in mind.
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Final Thought
AI isn’t your enemy.
It’s not your savior either.
It’s a tool — and when you use it wisely, it can help you do what God has called you to do: preach the Word, shepherd the church, and reach the world.
Let’s be humble. Let’s be wise. And let’s not let the dummies (the real ones) scare us away from using every good gift we have to advance the Gospel. We made SermonDone specifically for you in mind. Give it a try today.