The AI Tools I Actually Use to Run My Ministry and My Life: A Pastor-Builder's Stack
Not a sponsored list. Just the tools I open every day to preach, create, build, and stay sane.
People ask me all the time what tools I actually use to run my ministry, write my books, and keep the rest of my life from falling apart. This is that list—the real one. Not a sponsored roundup, not affiliate bait dressed up as a review. These are the tools I return to every single day to build landing pages, record sermons, edit video, send newsletters, organize my thinking, and stay connected with the people I’m trying to serve. If I stopped using any of them tomorrow, I’d feel it by noon.
I want to say one thing clearly before we dive in: AI is a tool, not a replacement for the pastor, the writer, or the human being doing the work. Every word I preach, every conversation I have with someone in crisis, every decision about what my community needs—that still comes from prayer, discernment, and showing up. What these tools do is clear the path so I can get there faster and with more focus. If you’re a pastor, a creator, or just someone building something that matters, I think you’ll find a few things here worth adding to your stack. The full list lives on Benable—grab it there and see what fits.
See my full stack on Benable →1. Systeme.io
I use Systeme.io to build landing pages, run email sequences, and manage my courses without juggling five different platforms. Before I found it, I was duct-taping together tools that didn’t talk to each other, and half my mental energy was going to troubleshooting integrations instead of creating. Systeme.io collapsed all of that into one place, and the result is a funnel that stays simple and converts reliably. If you’re a small ministry or a solo creator trying to do more with less, this is the infrastructure play that actually pays off.
2. Kit (formerly ConvertKit)
My newsletter lives in Kit, and it’s been there for a reason: Kit gets out of the way and lets the writing speak. There’s no visual noise, no feature bloat pulling my attention, just a clean place to write to the people who want to hear from me. If you’re building an audience through email—and if you’re serious about your message reaching people, you should be—Kit is the cleanest home I’ve found for it. The automation tools are genuinely useful without being overwhelming, and the creator-first philosophy shows in every part of the product.
3. Kajabi
When I wanted to package courses, memberships, and digital products in a way that gave my students and community a real home, Kajabi was the answer. It’s not the cheapest tool on this list, but it’s the one that makes your audience feel like they arrived somewhere—not like they’re navigating a patchwork of third-party links. The experience matters when you’re asking people to invest in their growth, and Kajabi makes that experience feel intentional and professional from day one.
4. ElevenLabs
ElevenLabs is how I turn my writing and teaching into audiobook-quality voiceovers. The voice it produces is so natural that people have genuinely asked me whether it’s actually me recording. For a pastor and writer who creates a lot of content, the ability to produce polished audio without a studio setup or hours of recording sessions is enormous. I use it for devotionals, course narration, and anywhere else the written word needs to become spoken. If voice content is part of your ministry or your brand, this tool changes the math completely.
5. Descript
Descript lets me edit video and podcast audio by editing the transcript—no scrubbing through a timeline, no hunting for the moment where I stumbled over a word. I find the section in the text, delete it, and it’s gone from the recording. For anyone creating audio or video content, this cuts editing time in half and removes one of the biggest friction points between recording and publishing. It’s the kind of tool that makes you wonder how you were doing it the old way for so long.
6. Claude
Claude is my thinking partner for everything from writing sermons to working through complex ideas to debugging the occasional piece of code. It handles the heavy cognitive lifting—research synthesis, structural feedback, drafting, refining—so I can stay focused on the output that only I can produce. I don’t use it to replace my voice or my theology. I use it the way a sharp colleague helps you think out loud, and then I do the work that matters.
7. ChatGPT
ChatGPT stays in my rotation for quick answers, fast brainstorming, and getting a different angle on a problem I’ve been staring at too long. Where Claude tends to go deep, ChatGPT is quick and versatile, and sometimes that’s exactly what the moment calls for. I’ll use both on the same problem when I want the full picture. Two tools, different strengths, and I keep both open.
8. Canva
Canva is graphic design without needing to hire a designer for every single asset. I use it for social graphics, sermon slides, email headers, and anything that needs to look polished without taking half a day to produce. The templates are genuinely good, the brand kit feature keeps everything consistent, and the speed at which I can go from idea to finished graphic still surprises me. For a ministry running lean, this is an easy yes.
9. Notion
Notion is my digital filing cabinet for everything: sermon notes, project plans, reading lists, team docs, content calendars, and the random idea I had at 6am that I’d lose otherwise. One search and I find what I need in seconds. It’s where my brain goes to stay organized, and at this point my whole operation would slow down noticeably without it. If you’re a builder or a creator and you don’t have a central place where everything lives, Notion is worth learning.
10. CapCut
CapCut is fast, intuitive video editing built for short-form content, and I use it to turn long-form recordings into clips that actually get watched. The auto-caption feature alone saves real time, and the interface is approachable enough that I’m not spending thirty minutes figuring out a basic cut. If you’re trying to get more mileage out of the content you’re already creating, CapCut is one of the lower-barrier tools on this list with a genuinely high return.
11. Zapier
Zapier is the connective tissue between all my other tools. Email triggers, data flows, notifications, automations that run without me touching them—Zapier handles all of it. Every week it saves me hours I would have spent doing manual, repetitive tasks that have nothing to do with ministry or creation. Once you start building automations, you start seeing them everywhere, and the cumulative time savings compound fast.
Also on the full list
The Benable list goes deeper than what’s covered here. It also includes the everyday tools I lean on to keep the creative side of my life running: image generation with Midjourney, cleaner writing with Grammarly, scheduling made simple with Calendly, async video messages through Loom, file management in Google Drive, transcription with Otter, social scheduling through Buffer, and stock photography from Unsplash when I need a polished visual fast. The whole stack—paid tools, free tools, and the ones I’d grab first if I was starting over—lives on the Benable list. Head there to see everything in one place, and come back to asknatefreeman.com for the reviews, the reading lists, and whatever I’m working on next.
Questions people ask me
What AI tools do pastors actually use?
More than you’d expect—and the list is growing fast. In my own workflow I lean on Claude and ChatGPT for thinking and writing, ElevenLabs for voiceover, Descript for audio and video editing, and Canva for design. Notion keeps everything organized, and Systeme.io or Kajabi handles the ministry infrastructure side. The full breakdown is on my Benable list if you want to see the whole stack.
What's the best AI tool for a small church or ministry on a tight budget?
Start with Claude or ChatGPT—both have free tiers that are genuinely useful—and add Canva for design. Those three tools alone can handle a huge share of your content and communication work without costing anything. When you’re ready to invest, Systeme.io gives you landing pages, email, and course tools in one place at a price point that makes sense for a smaller operation. I’ve listed everything with that budget question in mind over on my Benable stack.
Is it okay for a pastor to use AI?
I think so—with clear eyes about what it is. AI doesn’t preach, it doesn’t counsel, it doesn’t sit with someone in grief, and it doesn’t carry the weight of a calling. What it does is handle the administrative and creative overhead so that I can show up more fully for the things that require me specifically. Used that way, it’s not different in kind from a word processor or a sound system. The theology still has to come from you.
What AI voice tool sounds the most natural?
In my experience, ElevenLabs is the standout. The voice quality is close enough to a real recording that people have asked me whether the audio was actually me speaking. For ministry content, online courses, or devotional audio, it produces results that feel warm and human rather than robotic. It’s on my paid tools list for a reason—it’s the one I keep coming back to for anything where the voice needs to carry real weight.