Privacy Policy

Last updated: October 16, 2026

SermonForge ("we," "us," or "our") operates the website sermonforge.dev (the "Service"). This Privacy Policy explains what information the Service does and doesn't collect. The short version: SermonForge has no accounts, never receives your name or email address, and stores none of your sermons on its own servers.

No Accounts

There is nothing to sign up for. Every outline, illustration, study tool, and the sermon editor work without an account, and SermonForge never receives your name, email address, password, or profile. There is no user database.

Where Your Sermons Live

In your browser. Manuscripts you write in the editor, and your preaching calendar, are saved on your own device, in your browser's local storage. They never leave your device unless you choose to connect Google Drive. Clearing the site's data in your browser removes them from that device.

In your own Google Drive (optional). If you click "Save to Google Drive," SermonForge asks Google for one permission — drive.file — which only lets SermonForge see and edit files that SermonForge itself created. It cannot see anything else in your Drive. Your manuscripts are then saved as ordinary HTML files in a "SermonForge" folder in your Drive, where they are yours to open, move, copy, or delete like any other file. With Drive connected, your preaching calendar is kept in the same folder as one small file, sermonforge-calendar.json, so it is available on your other devices. If you choose "Open in Google Docs" or "Download Word (.docx)" in the editor, SermonForge makes a Google Docs copy of that sermon in the same folder (the Word file is Google's export of that copy); when a newer copy replaces an older one, the older one is moved to your Drive trash unless you edited it in Google Docs. Saving happens directly between your browser and Google; SermonForge's servers never see the files.

Nothing on SermonForge servers. SermonForge does not store your manuscripts, your Google access token, or any record of who you are. The only server-side features are small functions for Bible text, commentaries, word studies, and Google Slides creation. The Slides function receives your slide content and your Google access token for the moment it takes to build the presentation in your Drive, then discards both; none of these functions retain anything.

Google API Services

SermonForge's use of Google APIs is limited to things you start yourself: saving your manuscripts and preaching calendar to your Google Drive, making a Google Docs copy of a sermon when you choose "Open in Google Docs" or "Download Word (.docx)", and creating Google Slides presentations from a sermon (the Create Slides feature builds the presentation in your own Drive and files it in the SermonForge folder). All of them use the single drive.file permission; SermonForge does not request your name, email address, contacts, or access to files it did not create, and never reads, modifies, or deletes any other file in your Google account. Our use and transfer of information received from Google APIs adheres to the Google API Services User Data Policy, including the Limited Use requirements.

Sharing, Transfer, and Disclosure of Google User Data

SermonForge does not share, transfer, sell, or disclose Google user data to any third party. Because the Drive connection runs entirely in your browser, SermonForge receives no Google user data at all beyond what your browser sends to Google directly. When you use the Create Slides feature, your slide content is sent to Google's API to create a presentation in your own Google Drive and is not retained. No Google user data is used for advertising, analytics, or any purpose other than providing the SermonForge features you asked for. You can revoke SermonForge's access at any time from your Google Account permissions.

Usage Data

We collect anonymous, aggregate usage statistics (pages visited, which features are used — for example opening an outline in the editor, adding a sermon to the calendar or exporting — browser type, approximate region, and performance measurements) through Vercel Analytics and Google Analytics to understand how the site is used. These statistics never include what you write or type: not your sermons, which we never see, not your titles and not your searches. They cannot identify you. Content pages load no Google sign-in code at all.

Cookies. SermonForge sets no login cookies, because there are no logins. Analytics providers may set their own cookies; we do not use advertising cookies.

Third-Party Services

We use the following third-party services:

  • Google — Google Drive (your optional manuscript storage), Google Docs (copies of a sermon you ask for) and Google Slides (presentation creation), all under the drive.file permission you grant in your browser.
  • Vercel — website hosting and anonymous analytics.
  • Google Analytics — anonymous usage statistics.

Data Security

Everything is transmitted over HTTPS. Because your sermons are stored on your own device and in your own Google Drive rather than on our servers, their security rests on your device, your browser, and your Google account — SermonForge holds nothing that could be breached. On a shared computer, use "Disconnect and remove copies from this browser" in My Library when you're done.

Data Retention

SermonForge retains nothing of yours to delete: manuscripts stay on your device until you delete them there, and in your Google Drive until you remove them there (deleting a sermon in SermonForge moves the Drive copy to your Drive trash, never a permanent delete). Anonymous usage data is kept in aggregate for analytics.

Your Rights

Because your data is in your own hands, you can at any time:

  • Open, copy, export, or delete your manuscripts directly on your device or in your Google Drive
  • Disconnect Google Drive from My Library, optionally removing the copies stored in your browser
  • Revoke SermonForge's Google access through your Google Account permissions

Children's Privacy

The Service is not directed to individuals under the age of 13. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13. If we become aware that we have collected personal information from a child under 13, we will take steps to delete that information.

Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any changes by posting the new Privacy Policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date. Your continued use of the Service after any changes constitutes acceptance of the updated policy.

Contact Us

If you have any questions about this Privacy Policy, please contact us at matt@sermonforge.dev.