Here is a hot take: I think every pastor should learn Markdown and write their sermons in it.
What is Markdown?
Markdown is a way of writing plain text so that it has structure, links, images and is easy to read. You learn a few rules, start writing this way, and your writing can easily be converted into books, blog posts, readme files, and anything else.
I started writing in Markdown around 2008 and haven't looked back since. I've written thousands of sermons, blog posts, and personal notes using it. In fact, I spend the majority of my day writing using markdown.
Is Markdown hard to learn?
No. Absolutely not. You can learn to write in Markdown in two minutes. It's not hard at all.
- Paragraphs are just paragraphs.
- Headings start with a number sign (#) and then a space.
- Bulleted lists start with a dash (-) and then a space.
- Numbered lists start with a number, a period and then a space (1. ).
- Quotes start with a greater than symbol (>) and then a space.
- You can make a word or phrase bold by surrounding it with two asterisks (**).
- You can make a word or phrase italicized by surrounding it with one asterisk (*).
That's pretty much it. A piece of markdown might look like this:
Dear John, I'd like to inform you that you are **an idiot**. Please stop emailing me your silly conspiracy theories. ## Examples Here are some of the things I'm talking about: - Weird Al Yankavic has not been impersonating President Biden all this time. - Steve McQueen did not play Neil Armstrong in the moon landing. - The Dallas Cowboys are not a psyop to give middle america something to hope for every year. ## Consequences if you don't stop If you don't stop sending me these *ridiculous* emails. I will be forced to **bring you up for church discipline.** As the Bible says: > A fool uttereth all his mind: but a wise man keepeth it in till afterwards. (Proverbs 29:11) Sincerly, Pastor Mark
As you can see, it's easy to read. You don't really need a primer to understand what is going on.
What are the benefits of writing in Markdown?
Focused writing
Markdown allows you to focus on just writing. You do not need to think about a toolbar with formatting options. You just write. While there are tons of great markdown tools on the market, you don't need any of them to write in Markdown. You can write markdown on paper with a pen if you want. (I do, and my wife makes fun of me for it.)
Consistent structure and formatting
Because you aren't thinking about things like font-size, fonts and indents - you won't be tempted to use them to structure your documents. The result is that a level two heading always looks the same. A blockquote always looks the same. Computers can take this consistency and do amazing things (like generating an outline or table of contents.)
Future proofing
When you write in Markdown, your files are just plain text files. This means you don't have to worry about your document editor upgrading and changing file formats. You don't have to worry about some app getting discontinued.
You could take your markdown files and put them on the oldest computer you could find (even something from the 80s) and they would still work. Because plain text is the foundation of computing, you don't have to worry about your files being out of date some day.
Small size
Markdown files are tiny. They take up almost no space. Just for fun, I created a folder with all 3,1000 markdown files in my notes system and it came to 16.9 mb. That's every sermon, every course, every todolist, I've letter, etc. I've written in fourteen years and I could fit it on the smallest flash drive you can buy 4x. (I could fit it on a typical flash drive 30,000x.)
This means you can:
- Make multiple copies
- Move your whole library around the internet.
- Put everything on your website.
- etc. And never worry about running out of space.
Easy conversion
One of the biggest benefits to writing in Markdown is how easy it is to turn markdown into:
- Html for the internet
- Ebooks
- PDFs
- Rich text documents for people who need to use word.
- Even slides.
I have never had a problem converting my writing to use for anything.
Things get really interesting when you add AI tools to the mix. I can write a sermon, copy the whole thing into ChatGPT (because the file size is so small) and have it generate a handout and slides for me in a few seconds.
Amazing apps
While you don't need to have any apps to write in Markdown (you could use the Notepad or Textedit apps that come with your computer) there are some really great Markdown applications. Tools like:
- iA Writer
- Bear
- Ulysses
- Deckset
Are all great. But for me, the holy grail has been a free app called Obsidian. Obsidian is where I've done all of my writing for years, and it has some incredible features including:
- Internal linking of my notes
- A mind map of all my notes
- Folding
- Table of contents
- A huge theme library
- Community plugins
One of those plugins allows me to just type a Bible reference and have it automagically appear in my notes. That alone saves me tons of time every week. I gladly pay for Obsidian's sync so I can have it on my phone, iPad, and laptop as well as my home computer. It just works.
So here is a challenge:
Take five minutes to learn markdown and try to do all your writing in it this week. You might hate it, but if you can get over it, you'll be well on your way to developing some writing superpowers that will serve you well in the ministry.