Terms of Service

Last updated: August 31, 2026

Please read these Terms of Service (these "Terms") carefully before using the Better Preaching App™ (the "Service"), available at BetterPreachingApp.com. These Terms are a binding agreement between you and Polemic Resources LLC. By creating an account, starting a free trial, or purchasing a subscription, you agree to be bound by these Terms and by our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated by reference. If you do not agree, do not use the Service.

We may revise these Terms from time to time in our discretion. The date they were last amended appears above. Changes are effective when posted and apply to all use of the Service thereafter, except that changes to Section 21 (Dispute Resolution) will not apply to any dispute for which the parties had actual notice before the change was posted. Your continued use of the Service after revised Terms are posted means you accept the changes.

1. Definitions

"Service" means the Better Preaching App™, including the website at BetterPreachingApp.com, the web application, all features and functionality, and all Our Content made available through it.
"User," "you," "your" means the individual who creates an account or accesses the Service, whether directly or through an Institution.
"Institution" means a seminary, school, church, or other organization that arranges access to the Service for its students or members through a class code or similar arrangement.
"Subscription" means term-based paid access to the Service, billed monthly or annually.
"Our Content" means all reference and library material we created or licensed and make available through the Service — including expository outlines, canonical book summaries, message points, illustrations and analogies, exegesis, commentary, journal-research summaries, training and blog content, and guidance provided through The Shepherd's Staff.
"Your Content" means the messages (sermons), outlines, notes, questions, and other material you create, enter, or submit through the Service.
"The Shepherd's Staff" means the optional paid add-on through which subscribers submit theological and homiletical questions and receive guidance in response. For individual subscribers, that guidance is provided by Dr. Mark Richardson. For Users enrolled through an Institution, guidance is provided by the professor assigned by that Institution.

2. Who We Are

The Better Preaching App™ is a product of Polemic Resources LLC, a Texas limited liability company. When these Terms say "we," "us," or "our," they mean Polemic Resources LLC.

The Service is a subscription-based tool that helps pastors and ministry leaders prepare messages (sermons) through a Scripture-canon-aware toolset. We may add, change, or remove features at any time, and will try to give reasonable notice of material changes affecting your Subscription.

The Service is intended for use by residents of the United States, and all features, pricing, and information described here apply to United States users.

3. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account, submit personal information, or purchase a Subscription. By using the Service, you represent that you meet this requirement and that you have the right and authority to enter into these Terms. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18. If we learn that someone under 18 has created an account, we may suspend or terminate it and delete the associated information, as described in our Privacy Policy.

4. Account Registration and Security

The Service requires an account. To create one, you must provide your first name, last name, email address, and a password (and, optionally, a title such as "Rev.," "Dr.," or "Pastor").

Access to the Service is available in two ways: by starting a Subscription with a valid payment method, or through an Institution that has arranged access and issued you a class enrollment code. A valid payment method is required for all individual Subscriptions, including those started with a free trial or a promotional code.

You agree to provide accurate, complete information and to keep it current. Your account is personal to you and may not be shared, sold, transferred, or used by more than one person. You are responsible for maintaining the confidentiality of your login credentials and for all activity conducted through your account.

You must notify us immediately at support@betterpreachingapp.com of any known or suspected unauthorized use of your account or any other breach of security, and use reasonable efforts to stop any unauthorized use. We will not be liable for losses you incur from unauthorized use of your account; you may be liable for losses we or others incur from unauthorized use of your account resulting from your failure to safeguard your credentials.

5. License to Use the Service

Subject to your compliance with these Terms, we grant you a limited, non-exclusive, non-transferable, non-sublicensable, revocable license to access and use the Service for your personal ministry purposes during your Subscription. Each license is granted for use by one individual only, even where access is arranged and paid for by an Institution.

The Service is licensed, not sold. We do not transfer any right, title, or interest in the Service or Our Content other than the rights expressly granted here. All rights not expressly granted in these Terms are reserved.

We may monitor use of the Service to detect and prevent credential sharing, excessive simultaneous logins from different devices, or other use indicating that more than one person is using a single account.

6. Acceptable Use

You shall not:

modify, adapt, or merge any part of the Service or Our Content into another program or product except as the Service expressly contemplates;
reverse engineer, disassemble, decompile, or attempt to discover or extract the source code or underlying content library of the Service;
place any part of the Service or Our Content on a server or network where it is accessible to persons who are not licensed under these Terms, or otherwise offer it on a shared, "service bureau," or resale basis;
sublicense, rent, lease, lend, sell, trade, or share your account or access to the Service;
upload viruses or malicious code, or do anything that could disable, overburden, or impair the proper working of the Service;
infringe the copyrights, trademarks, or other intellectual property rights of Polemic Resources LLC or any third party;
use the Service to build, train, or operate a product or service that competes with the Service;
use the Service to do or share anything unlawful, misleading, discriminatory, or fraudulent;
use the Service to do or share anything that infringes or violates someone else's rights, including privacy rights;
use the Service to do or share anything defamatory, obscene, indecent, abusive, offensive, harassing, violent, hateful, inflammatory, or otherwise objectionable;
harass, degrade, or intimidate any individual or group based on religion, race, ethnicity, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, age, disability, or other protected characteristic;
transmit junk mail, chain letters, spam, or similar solicitations through the Service;
impersonate or attempt to impersonate Polemic Resources LLC, our staff, a professor, another User, or any other person or entity;
engage in conduct that restricts or inhibits anyone else's use or enjoyment of the Service, or that may harm us, our Users, or third parties, or expose any of them to liability;
access or collect data from the Service by automated means without our prior written permission, or attempt to access data you do not have permission to access; or
violate any applicable local, state, national, or international law.

We may cancel, suspend, or delete the account of any User we determine, in our discretion, to be in breach of these Terms or any policy applicable to the Service.

7. Automated Access and Scraping Prohibited

You may not access, interact with, monitor, analyze, copy, extract, index, or collect any content or data from the Service — including its interfaces, outputs, underlying logic, design patterns, user-experience flows, or any related materials — for the purpose of developing, training, improving, or operating any software product, service, or system that replicates or competes with the Service.

These restrictions apply whether the action is taken by a human user or by any artificial intelligence, machine learning model, automated script, bot, crawler, scraper, agent, or other automated or semi-automated means. Without limiting the foregoing, you may not:

bypass, circumvent, or interfere with any access-control or rate-limiting measures, robots.txt directives, or metadata we deploy;
access the Service using headless browsers or automated scripts, or spoof, rotate, or obfuscate identifiers (IP address, user-agent, device identifiers) to avoid detection or limits;
harvest, compile, or create databases from Our Content or User data;
use bots, crawlers, scrapers, or automated tools to systematically access, index, copy, or harvest the Service's content, data, interface elements, or any other material;
submit queries or inputs designed to reveal, reconstruct, or approximate proprietary logic, workflows, data structures, or methodologies embedded in the Service;
access the Service with unusually large volumes of queries or interactions compared to normal human use; or
orchestrate or facilitate any of the above through third parties, intermediary services, or automation platforms.

Mainstream search engines may crawl the Service solely for indexing purposes in accordance with our robots.txt and applicable industry norms, subject to our right to revoke that permission. We may monitor use and block, throttle, or terminate access to protect the Service.

8. AI and Machine Learning Training Prohibited

You may not use, access, copy, store, transmit, or process the Service or Our Content for the purpose of training, fine-tuning, evaluating, testing, or improving any machine learning model, artificial intelligence system, large language model, foundation model, or similar technology ("AI Systems"). This prohibition applies to all methods of acquisition, including manual access, automated access, scraping, crawling, data mining, or bulk downloading. Without limiting the foregoing, you may not:

use the Service or Our Content as training data, input data, evaluation data, embeddings, features, or model weights;
collect, aggregate, or systematically record outputs from the Service for use as training data, fine-tuning data, evaluation benchmarks, or synthetic datasets;
create datasets, corpora, embeddings, vectors, or knowledge graphs derived from the Service or Our Content;
use the Service to prompt, test, or benchmark any AI System;
use the Service or Our Content for any commercial AI-related purpose, including building or improving competing products or generative AI tools; or
deploy any autonomous or semi-autonomous AI agent or agentic pipeline to interact with the Service in a manner that results in extraction, reconstruction, or functional duplication of the Service's capabilities, workflows, or architecture.

No license or rights are granted for AI-related uses. Upon our request, you must cease all AI-related use, permanently delete any models, datasets, or derivatives trained using Our Content, and certify your compliance in writing. This section survives termination or expiration of these Terms.

For clarity, and separately from the restrictions above: we do not use Your Content to train AI models. See Section 9.

9. Your Content

You own Your Content. We do not claim ownership of the messages (sermons), outlines, notes, or other original material you create using the Service.

License to operate the Service. You grant us a limited, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, store, cache, back up, index, and display Your Content solely as necessary to provide and operate the Service for you — for example, to render your message (sermon) in the editor, to generate a DOCX or PDF export, or to deliver your question and its reply through The Shepherd's Staff. This license exists only to run the Service; it does not permit us to publish, sell, or repurpose Your Content.

We do not use Your Content to train AI models, and we do not share Your Content with other Users or third parties except as described in Section 11 (The Shepherd's Staff and Institutional oversight) or in our Privacy Policy.

Your representations. By submitting Your Content, you represent and warrant that you own or control all rights in it, that it does not infringe any third party's rights, and that to the extent it incorporates third-party material you have obtained all necessary rights, licenses, and permissions.

Retention after deletion. If you delete Your Content or close your account, we may retain backup copies for a reasonable period for archival, recordkeeping, and legal-compliance purposes as described in our Privacy Policy.

Our discretion. We assume no obligation to screen or monitor Your Content, but reserve the right to remove, block, or disable any content that in our judgment violates these Terms or applicable law, or that may expose us to liability.

10. Our Content and Intellectual Property

Our Content is proprietary to Polemic Resources LLC or its licensors and is protected under copyright, trademark, and other applicable laws. Our Content is provided to you for your personal, ministry-related use during your Subscription only.

UNAUTHORIZED REPRODUCTION, DISTRIBUTION, MODIFICATION, PUBLICATION, DISPLAY, ADAPTATION, CREATION OF DERIVATIVE WORKS FROM, OR COMMERCIAL EXPLOITATION OF OUR CONTENT OUTSIDE THE SERVICE, WITHOUT OUR PRIOR WRITTEN PERMISSION, IS PROHIBITED.

Scripture and third-party materials. Scripture quotations included in the Service are drawn from copyrighted Bible translations used under license or permission from their respective copyright holders. Those translations remain the property of their publishers and are subject to those publishers' own copyright and permission notices.

11. The Shepherd's Staff

If you use The Shepherd's Staff, you are submitting questions for theological, canonical, exegetical, or homiletical guidance, subject to the in-app terms you accept before your first submission.

Who answers your questions. If you are an individual subscriber, your questions are answered by Dr. Mark Richardson. If you access the Service through an Institution that has adopted it into its curriculum, your questions are answered by the professor your Institution has assigned, and your use is also subject to the oversight described below.

The in-app terms currently provide:

Questions should seek guidance, not request full message (sermon) manuscripts, complete outlines, or comprehensive verse-by-verse exegesis to be written for you.
Questions should be aimed at formation and faithful proclamation, not at winning arguments or generating polemical material.
Questions should be framed with the edification of the church in view, not personal disputes, private counseling matters, or local conflicts.

We may decline to answer a question that falls outside the intended scope of this feature.

Guidance is not professional advice. Responses reflect the perspective of the individual providing them. They are not legal, financial, medical, or licensed counseling advice, and are not a substitute for your own study, discernment, and pastoral judgment.

Institutional and class oversight. If you access The Shepherd's Staff through an Institution's class or program, your professor and our administrators can view the full content of your questions and the replies. This use is governed by these Terms and our Privacy Policy, not by your Institution's policies, unless a separate written agreement between us and your Institution says otherwise. If your Institution's access ends, your entire account — not only The Shepherd's Staff — may be deactivated, though your account and prior conversations are not automatically deleted.

12. Fees and Payment

Fees. You agree to pay the fees for the Subscription you select. Fees are denominated and payable in United States dollars. Current pricing appears on our pricing page.

Payment processing. We use Stripe, a third-party payment processor, for all card transactions. We do not store your complete payment card information on our own servers. Payments are subject to Stripe's terms and to the terms of your bank or card issuer. You authorize us and our payment processor to charge your payment method for all applicable fees, and you agree to provide accurate, current payment information.

Pricing errors. If there is a pricing error for a Subscription you have ordered, we may, in our discretion, either correct the error and charge the correct price (notifying you and giving you the option to proceed or cancel), or cancel the order and refund any amount paid.

Taxes. Fees are exclusive of any applicable sales, use, or similar taxes, which will be added where required by law.

Failed payments and suspension. If a payment fails or your card is declined, we will notify you at the email address on your account. If you do not provide valid payment information within a reasonable period, your access to paid features may be suspended or terminated. Amounts due must be paid in full before access is reinstated.

Collection. You agree to reimburse us for reasonable costs (including attorneys' fees) incurred collecting fees not paid when due.

Institutional access. Some Users access the Service through an Institution using a class code rather than an individual Subscription. That arrangement is governed by a separate agreement between us and the Institution; these Terms still govern your individual use.

13. Subscriptions, Renewal, and Free Trials

Automatic renewal. Subscriptions begin when we confirm your free trial or initial payment and renew automatically at the end of each billing period (monthly or annually, per your selection) at the then-current rate, unless you cancel first. By subscribing, you authorize these recurring charges.

Price changes. We will give you at least 30 days' notice before a price change takes effect on your Subscription. Your continued use after that point constitutes acceptance of the new price.

Free trials. We may offer new subscribers a 7-day free trial. A valid payment method is required to start a trial, but you will not be charged during the trial period. If you do not cancel before the trial ends, your payment method will be charged automatically at the applicable rate. Trials are limited to one per person, are for new subscribers only, and may not be combined with other offers. We reserve the right to determine trial eligibility. You are responsible for canceling before the trial ends if you do not wish to be charged — please note your trial end date.

Notices. All notices about your Subscription go to the email address on your account. Keeping that address current is your responsibility.

14. Cancellation

You may cancel at any time through your account settings or by contacting support@betterpreachingapp.com. Cancellation stops future renewals; it takes effect at the end of your current billing period, and you keep full access through the end of the period you have already paid for.

After that, your account moves to read-only access — you can still view and export your existing content, resubscribe, or delete your account — rather than being locked out immediately.

15. Refunds

Subscription fees are generally non-refundable. If you believe you were charged in error, contact us at support@betterpreachingapp.com within 7 days of the charge and we will review your request. Granting a refund in one instance does not obligate us to do so in others.

16. Chargebacks

If you see a charge from us that you do not recognize or do not remember authorizing, please contact us at support@betterpreachingapp.com first so we can resolve it directly. Filing a chargeback with your bank or card issuer before contacting us can result in mistakes that lead to suspension or termination of your access.

17. Trademarks

"BetterPreachingApp.com," "Better Preaching App," "The Shepherd's Staff," the Better Preaching App logo, and other names, logos, graphics, page headers, button icons, and marks used in connection with the Service are trademarks or trade dress of Polemic Resources LLC or its licensors, whether or not they appear with a ™ or ® symbol. They may not be used in connection with any product or service that is not ours, in any manner likely to cause confusion, or in any manner that disparages or discredits us. Other product and company names appearing in the Service are the property of their respective owners, and their appearance does not imply affiliation or endorsement.

18. Third-Party Services and Links

We use third-party providers to operate the Service, including Stripe (payment processing), Resend (transactional email), Supabase (database hosting), and Vercel (application hosting). Your use of the Service may be indirectly subject to those providers' terms where relevant. See our Privacy Policy for detail on what data these providers process.

The Service may contain links to third-party websites or resources we do not own or control. These links are provided for convenience only. We do not endorse and are not responsible for the content, privacy practices, or terms of any linked site, and your use of those sites is at your own risk.

19. Copyright Complaints (DMCA)

We respect the intellectual property rights of others and expect Users to do the same. We will respond to proper notifications of claimed copyright infringement and will remove or disable access to allegedly infringing material where appropriate. We also terminate, in appropriate circumstances, the accounts of Users determined to be repeat infringers.

Our designated agent for receipt of notifications of claimed infringement is Dr. Mark Richardson, Managing Member, Polemic Resources LLC, 4017 Pear Ridge Dr, The Colony, Texas 75056-3923, and e-mail address: support@betterpreachingapp.com. Only DMCA notifications in accordance with this Section should be submitted to our designated agent. For customer assistance or any other purpose, please contact us using the information in Section 28.

Notice of claimed infringement must include all of the following:

a physical or electronic signature of a person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the allegedly infringed right;
identification of the copyrighted work claimed to have been infringed (or a representative list, if multiple works);
identification of the material claimed to be infringing and information reasonably sufficient to let us locate it;
information reasonably sufficient to let us contact you, such as address, telephone number, and email address;
a statement that you have a good-faith belief the use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
a statement that the information in the notice is accurate and, under penalty of perjury, that you are authorized to act on behalf of the owner.

Counter-notification. If we remove or disable access to your material in response to a notice, we will make reasonable efforts to notify you, and you may submit a written counter-notification including:

your physical or electronic signature;
identification of the material removed and where it appeared before removal;
a statement under penalty of perjury that you have a good-faith belief the material was removed as a result of mistake or misidentification; and
your name, address, and telephone number, a statement that you consent to the jurisdiction of the federal court for the judicial district in which you are located, and a statement that you will accept service of process from the party who filed the original notice.

If we receive a proper counter-notification, we will forward it to the complaining party and may restore the material in 10 to 14 business days unless that party notifies us it has filed a court action. Under the DMCA, anyone who knowingly makes a material misrepresentation in a notice or counter-notification may be liable for damages.

20. Disclaimers, Limitation of Liability, and Indemnification

Disclaimers. THE SERVICE, INCLUDING OUR CONTENT AND ANY GUIDANCE PROVIDED THROUGH THE SHEPHERD'S STAFF, IS PROVIDED "AS IS," "AS AVAILABLE," AND WITH ALL FAULTS, WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS, IMPLIED, OR STATUTORY. TO THE FULLEST EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WE DISCLAIM ALL WARRANTIES, INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT, AS WELL AS ANY WARRANTY ARISING FROM COURSE OF DEALING OR USAGE OF TRADE. WE DO NOT WARRANT THAT THE SERVICE WILL BE AVAILABLE AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME, THAT IT WILL BE SECURE, UNINTERRUPTED, OR ERROR-FREE, THAT DEFECTS WILL BE CORRECTED, OR THAT IT WILL BE FREE OF VIRUSES OR OTHER HARMFUL COMPONENTS. WE DO NOT WARRANT THE ACCURACY, USEFULNESS, OR RELIABILITY OF OUR CONTENT OR OF ANY GUIDANCE PROVIDED. THEOLOGICAL AND HOMILETICAL GUIDANCE REFLECTS THE PERSPECTIVE OF THE INDIVIDUAL PROVIDING IT AND IS NOT A SUBSTITUTE FOR YOUR OWN STUDY, DISCERNMENT, OR PASTORAL JUDGMENT. YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE IS SOLELY AND ENTIRELY AT YOUR OWN RISK.

SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OF IMPLIED WARRANTIES, SO THE ABOVE EXCLUSIONS MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU. THIS AGREEMENT GIVES YOU SPECIFIC LEGAL RIGHTS, AND YOU MAY HAVE OTHER RIGHTS THAT VARY BY STATE.

Limitation of liability. IN NO EVENT WILL POLEMIC RESOURCES LLC OR ITS MEMBERS, CONTRACTORS, OR ASSIGNS BE LIABLE UNDER CONTRACT, TORT, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, OR ANY OTHER THEORY FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, EXEMPLARY, SPECIAL, PUNITIVE, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOSS OF USE, LOST PROFITS, LOSS OF DATA, OR LOSS OF GOODWILL) ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO YOUR USE OF OR INABILITY TO USE THE SERVICE, EVEN IF WE HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES.

IN NO EVENT WILL OUR TOTAL AGGREGATE LIABILITY FOR ALL CLAIMS ARISING OUT OF OR RELATED TO THE SERVICE EXCEED THE GREATER OF (I) THE AMOUNTS YOU PAID US IN THE TWELVE MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AROSE, OR (II) $100 USD.

BECAUSE SOME JURISDICTIONS DO NOT ALLOW THESE EXCLUSIONS OR LIMITATIONS, THEY MAY NOT APPLY TO YOU; IN THAT CASE OUR LIABILITY IS LIMITED TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW.

Indemnification. You agree to indemnify and hold harmless Polemic Resources LLC and its members, contractors, representatives, successors, and assigns from any claims, demands, actions, damages, liabilities, losses, costs, and expenses (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising out of or related to: (i) your use of the Service; (ii) Your Content; (iii) your violation of these Terms or any applicable law; (iv) your violation of any third party's rights; or (v) your breach of Section 7 (Scraping) or Section 8 (AI Training).

21. Dispute Resolution

Informal resolution first. If a dispute arises between you and us, we agree to try to resolve it informally first. Before starting a formal legal proceeding (except for claims involving trademark or copyright infringement, or claims eligible for small claims court), the party raising the dispute will send the other written notice describing the issue, prior efforts to resolve it, and the proposed resolution. We will send notice to the email or billing address on your account; you will send notice to support@betterpreachingapp.com or to our mailing address at the end of these Terms. Neither party will start a formal proceeding for at least 30 days after that notice is sent.

Formal resolution. If informal resolution does not succeed, any dispute will be brought exclusively in the state or federal courts located in Texas, and you and we each consent to personal jurisdiction there — except that either party may bring an eligible claim in small claims court instead.

Equitable relief. You acknowledge that a violation of Section 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, or 17 would cause irreparable harm for which monetary damages are an inadequate remedy, and that we are entitled to seek injunctive or other equitable relief in any court of competent jurisdiction, in addition to all other available remedies.

22. Governing Law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Texas, without regard to its conflict-of-law principles.

23. Term and Termination

These Terms take effect when you first create an account or use the Service and remain in effect until terminated.

We may suspend or terminate your account at our discretion if you violate these Terms or engage in conduct we reasonably determine to be harmful to the Service or its Users. You may terminate at any time by canceling your Subscription and requesting account deletion through your account settings or by contacting us.

Upon termination, your right to access the Service ends. Sections 8, 9 (as to representations), 10, 17, 19, 20, 21, 22, and 24 survive termination.

24. Feedback

If you send us feedback, suggestions, or ideas about the Service, you agree we may use them freely for any purpose without any obligation to compensate or credit you. This does not affect your ownership of Your Content under Section 9.

25. Marketing Communications

When you register, you may opt in to marketing communications. Every marketing email includes instructions for unsubscribing. Even if you unsubscribe, we may still send you transactional messages about your account or the Service — receipts, password resets, verification emails, security notices, and similar communications.

26. Privacy

Please review our Privacy Policy to understand how we collect and use personal information. It governs your use of the Service and is incorporated into these Terms by reference.

27. Miscellaneous

Entire agreement. These Terms, together with our Privacy Policy and the in-app terms for The Shepherd's Staff, are the complete agreement between you and us regarding the Service and supersede any prior or contemporaneous agreements on this subject.

Conflicts. In the event of a conflict between these Terms and any other written or oral communication, these Terms govern, unless a signed written agreement between us and an Institution expressly states otherwise as to that Institution's users.

Assignment. You may not assign or transfer your rights under these Terms without our written consent. We may assign ours freely, including in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets.

Severability. If any provision is found unenforceable, it is severed and the remaining provisions stay in effect.

No waiver. Our failure to enforce any provision is not a waiver of our right to enforce it later.

Headings. Section headings are for convenience only and do not affect interpretation.

28. Contact

Questions about these Terms may be directed to support@betterpreachingapp.com.

Polemic Resources LLC
4017 Pear Ridge Dr
The Colony, TX 75056-3923

Privacy Policy

Last updated: August 31, 2026

The Better Preaching App™ (the "Service") is a product of Polemic Resources LLC ("we," "us," or "our"), available at BetterPreachingApp.com. This Privacy Policy explains what information we collect, how we use and share it, and the choices you have. It applies to our website, application, and related communications. By using the Service, you agree to the practices described here; see our Terms of Service for the rules governing your use of the Service itself.

This Service and this Policy are directed at users in the United States.

1. Information We Collect

Account information. When you register, we collect your first and last name, email address, password, and optionally a title/prefix (e.g., "Rev.," "Dr.," "Pastor"). Depending on how you sign up, we may also process a class enrollment code issued by your Institution or a promotional code.

Content you create. We store the messages (sermons), outlines, and related material you create in the Service, and any questions and messages you submit through The Shepherd's Staff. See "How We Share Information" below for the limited circumstances in which this content is visible to anyone other than you.

Subscription and billing information. We know your subscription plan, status, and billing history. Your payment card details are collected and stored by Stripe, our payment processor — we do not store your complete card information on our own servers.

Communications and inquiries. If you contact support, join our waitlist, submit a team-access request, or submit a partnership inquiry, we collect the information you provide in those forms (for example: name, email, organization, role/title, team size, or estimated enrollment for institutional partnership inquiries).

Preferences. We store your email-notification preferences (for content updates and for Shepherd's Staff reply notifications), your language preference (English, Spanish, or Korean), and basic UI preferences such as sidebar and font-size settings, which are kept locally in your browser rather than on our servers.

We do not collect: phone numbers, physical addresses, dates of birth, precise location data, or any special categories of sensitive personal data. We don't ask users to upload files, images, audio, or video — all content you create in the Service is entered as text.

2. How We Use Information

We use the information above to:

create and manage your account and authenticate your logins;
provide the Service, including rendering and exporting your messages (sermons) and delivering Shepherd's Staff guidance;
process subscription payments and manage billing (through Stripe);
send transactional email — welcome messages, email verification, password resets, account-change confirmations, and Shepherd's Staff notifications;
send product updates or launch announcements if you've opted in, or if you've submitted a waitlist, team-access, or partnership inquiry;
respond to support requests and inquiries;
maintain the security and integrity of the Service; and
comply with legal obligations.

3. Cookies and Similar Technologies

We use a small number of cookies and browser-storage mechanisms, and no advertising or tracking cookies:

A session cookie (set by our authentication system) keeps you logged in.
A cookie stores your selected language (English, Spanish, or Korean).
Local storage in your browser remembers UI preferences like sidebar state and font size — this stays on your device and isn't sent to our servers.
Session storage temporarily holds in-progress signup information while you complete payment through Stripe's checkout page.

We do not use third-party analytics, advertising, or tracking-pixel services, and we do not use cookies to track you across other websites.

4. How We Share Information

We do not sell your personal information.

We share information only in these circumstances:

Service providers. We share information with vendors who help us operate the Service, each acting on our behalf and under obligations to protect your data:
- Stripe — payment processing and subscription management.
- Resend — sending transactional email.
- Supabase — hosting our database.
- Vercel — hosting the application itself.
The Shepherd's Staff. Your questions and the replies you receive are visible to the individual answering them — Dr. Mark Richardson for individual subscribers, or the professor assigned by your Institution if you access the Service through a class or program.
Class/institutional oversight. If you're using the Service through a class or institutional program, your professor and our administrators can view the full content of your Shepherd's Staff questions and replies, as disclosed to you in-app before your first submission.
Legal and safety reasons. We may disclose information if required by law, subpoena, or legal process, or if we believe in good faith that disclosure is necessary to protect the rights, property, or safety of us, our users, or the public.
Business transfers. If we're involved in a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets, your information may be transferred as part of that transaction. We'll notify you of any such change in ownership or use of your personal information.

We do not share your information with advertisers or data brokers, and we do not have a marketplace or any feature where your content or information is shared with other end users (other than the Shepherd's Staff/class scenarios above).

5. Data Retention

We retain your information for as long as your account is active, and afterward for as long as reasonably necessary to provide the Service, comply with legal obligations, resolve disputes, and enforce our agreements. When you delete your account (see Section 7), we permanently delete your account record along with your sessions, messages (sermons), outlines, Shepherd's Staff conversations, saved content, and class enrollment records.

6. Data Security

We use commercially reasonable administrative, technical, and organizational safeguards designed to protect your information from unauthorized access, disclosure, alteration, or destruction, including password hashing and encrypted connections. Access to personal information is limited to authorized personnel and service providers who need it to operate the Service. No method of transmission or storage is 100% secure, however, and we can't guarantee absolute security.

7. Your Choices and Rights

Access and update. You can review and update most of your account information directly in your account settings.

Export your data. You can export your data — including your name, title, email, role, email preferences, messages (sermons), outlines, and Shepherd's Staff conversations — as a downloadable file directly from your account.

Delete your account. You can request deletion of your account and associated data. If you have an active subscription that's set to renew, you'll need to cancel it first. Deletion is permanent and removes your sessions, entitlements, messages (sermons), outlines, Shepherd's Staff content, saved content, and class enrollment records.

Email preferences. You can opt out of non-essential email (content updates, Shepherd's Staff reminders) using the unsubscribe link included in those emails, or by adjusting your notification preferences in account settings. We may still send you essential account, billing, or security-related email even if you've opted out of other communications.

To exercise any of these choices, or if you have questions, contact us at support@betterpreachingapp.com.

8. Children's Privacy

The Service is intended for adults and is not directed to individuals under 18. We do not knowingly collect personal information from anyone under 18, and individuals under 18 are not permitted to create accounts or use the Service. If we learn that someone under 18 has provided personal information to us, we will take steps to delete it and may suspend or terminate the associated account. If you believe a child has provided us with personal information, contact us at support@betterpreachingapp.com.

9. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We'll post the revised policy here with a new "Last updated" date, and for material changes we'll make a reasonable effort to notify you directly, such as by email.

10. Contact Us

Questions or requests regarding this Privacy Policy can be directed to support@betterpreachingapp.com.

Polemic Resources LLC
4017 Pear Ridge Dr
The Colony, TX 75056-3923

Contact

Contact Us

Questions about BetterPreachingApp.com, institutional partnerships, team pricing, support, or this Privacy Policy may be sent to:

support@betterpreachingapp.com