Between the Altar and the Algorithm

Every week, preachers face a new question in the study: is AI a threat to the pulpit, or a tool for it? Between the Altar and the Algorithm offers a clear, hopeful, and practical answer.

Generative AI is a powerful amplifier for the preaching task. It can take the mundane off your plate so you can give yourself to the work only you can do: praying, listening, wrestling with the text, and knowing your people. But it amplifies whatever you bring to it. The danger is not the tool; it is abdication.

Drawing on church history, Scripture, and years of training pastors to use these tools, David Swisher explains how generative AI actually works, what it cannot do, and where it helps or hinders sermon preparation. Readers will find a simple three-phase approach that keeps the Spirit’s voice first, honest signs of using AI too little or too much, and a practical toolkit of prompts, tools, and an ethical framework they can put to work right away.

Written for pastors, preachers, ministry leaders, and church staff, especially those serving bivocationally, this book will help you use AI wisely without giving up the heart of preaching. It will be published by Invite Press, with release tentatively planned for late May or early June 2027.