Troubleshooting and FAQ

Uploading and processing

My upload seems stuck

Large sermon files take a long time. Twenty minutes or more on a slow connection is normal, not broken.

Check whether the progress bar is still creeping forward — if it’s moving at all, leave it and go do something else. Make sure your computer isn’t asleep and your internet is up. If the bar genuinely hasn’t moved in ten minutes, refresh and start the upload again.

If it fails twice, try a wired connection or somewhere with better internet. Church buildings are notorious for this.

It says the file already exists

You’ve uploaded a file with that exact name before — usually because the recording software names every week’s file the same thing. Rename it on your computer before uploading. Something like 2026-08-10-sermon.mp4 saves you this every week.

Processing failed

Press Process and try once more. A second attempt often succeeds, and a failed run doesn’t cost a credit.

If it fails again, note the message you saw and contact support. Worth checking the recording plays normally on your own computer first — occasionally a file is damaged during export.

It says I have no sermon credits

You’ve used this cycle’s five. See billing and sermon credits — they reset at your next billing date, and there’s an option for going over if your church needs more than five in a month.

Clips

I got fewer clips than I expected

Usually the shape of the sermon rather than its quality. A sermon that builds one long argument has fewer places to cut cleanly than one that moves through distinct points. How EBENEZER works explains what it looks for.

If you know the moment that should have been a clip, cut it yourself — it takes about a minute.

A clip has a low score. Is something wrong with it?

No. The score puts clips in order — it isn’t a grade and there’s no pass mark. Nothing was excluded for scoring low. A clip showing 42 is there because it was among the best moments in that sermon. Watch it before judging it by the number.

A clip won’t play

Refresh the page and try again. If you’ve had the review page open for hours, the video links time out for security — a refresh issues new ones.

My long clip didn’t post to Instagram

Extended clips go to YouTube only. Instagram, Facebook and TikTok are built for short video, so long ones are held back automatically. Your short clips still went everywhere you selected.

My TikTok post has no caption

TikTok doesn’t allow outside apps to post directly. EBENEZER puts the video in your TikTok drafts; you add the caption and publish it in the app. See connecting social accounts.

A post is gone from EBENEZER but still live

Expected on some platforms. Deleting in publication history always removes EBENEZER’s record, but YouTube and TikTok require you to delete the post on the platform itself. Publication history explains which is which.

Texts and emails

My devotional texts never arrived

Work through these in order:

1. Send a test to your own phone. If that arrives, sending works and the problem is the list or the schedule.
2. Check you have subscribers under Settings → Devotional SMS.
3. Check your send schedule — days, time, and especially timezone. A wrong timezone sends at the wrong hour rather than not at all.
4. Check the person hasn’t opted out. Anyone who ever replied STOP is removed permanently and has to text START to return.

My test email never arrived

Check your spam folder first — that’s the answer most of the time. Then confirm you’re looking at the inbox for the address you sign in with, since the test goes there and nowhere else.

Someone says they stopped getting texts

Look them up in your subscriber list. If they show as opted out, they replied STOP at some point, possibly by accident. You can’t re-add them — they need to text START themselves. That restriction is legal, not a limitation of the software.

Publishing

Publishing the blog gives an error

Your website connection either isn’t set up or a credential is wrong. See setting up your blog platform. In the meantime, Copy HTML on the blog tab gives you the article to paste in yourself.

Connecting an account says the state parameter is invalid

It sounds like a security alert. It isn’t. It nearly always means the sign-in took too long or happened in a different browser tab. Go back to Settings and press Connect again, finishing without leaving the flow.

One platform suddenly stopped working

Connections expire, especially after a password change on that platform. Disconnect and reconnect that one account. If the others still publish fine, that’s almost certainly what happened.

Other content

A tab is empty

Most content is made when you ask for it. Look for a Generate button on that tab and press it.

My podcast episode has the worship set in it

EBENEZER looks for the way a service typically opens and for the final amen to find the sermon. An evening service, a guest speaker, or a different greeting can slip past it. Re-generate the episode, and if it happens consistently, mention it to support — the pattern for your services can be looked at.

The writing doesn’t sound like our church

Check your theological tradition and Bible version in your church profile. Those two fields shape the vocabulary and framing of everything written, and a default left in place is the usual cause.

Signing in

I can’t sign in

Check for typos, and that caps lock is off. Use Forgot Password? to reset — the emailed link works for one hour, so do it at your desk rather than on the way somewhere.

If it says your subscription has expired, see billing. If it says your account is deactivated, email support@ebenezer.rest.

When none of this helps

Get in touch with support, or email support@ebenezer.rest. Don’t sit on it — if something isn’t working on a Sunday afternoon, that’s exactly when to write.

Include these three things and you’ll get a useful answer far faster:

1. What you were trying to do — “sending a test devotional”, not “it’s broken”.
2. The exact wording of any message you saw. A photo of the screen is perfect.
3. Which sermon, and roughly when it happened.