I came across this advertisement on the Sermon Central website:

I don’t normally click on advertisements, let alone dodgy-looking advertisements like this, but it was late, and intrigue got the better of me.

The page I arrived on screamed ‘scam’.

It reminds me of so many websites I’ve come across (usually unintentionally!) that are selling a weight-loss solution, or a self-help guru, or the world’s best pick up lines (ok, that last site I may not have come across by accident!).

Here’s what part of the homepage looks like:

I’m always wary of a site that offers massive, life-changing promises, by someone I’ve never heard of.

Also, the only mention of Jesus (the reason for preaching, and the means of preaching) is:

“Jesus was a great story teller.  You can be a great story teller too.”

Apparently the creator of this preaching course has learnt some powerful preaching skills in his 32 years of preaching – but there aren’t links to any of his sermons on the site (when I emailed to ask why, the author explained that he doesn’t have the bandwidth to allow mp3s on the site). However, he does address the person who is skeptical – just give him a call on his cell phone!

I hope this isn’t a scam. I hope (perhaps naively) that the guy selling this course actually does have skills in preaching Christ, and does want to share those skills with others.

Regardless of whether or not this is a scam, there’s a lesson here for website creators. Perception is important. It’s not everything (content is important too) but if your site screams scam, it doesn’t matter how good the rest of the site is, or the quality of the content you’re offering – visitors just won’t trust what you have to say.