# pastors.ai - Intelligent Church Discovery Platform

## Overview
pastors.ai is an AI-powered church discovery platform that connects people with local churches through intelligent search of sermon content, church information, and community insights. Our platform uses advanced language models and FAISS vector search to provide contextual, relevant answers from real church content.

## Core Features

### Church Search Engine
**URL Pattern:** `/churches/boulder` and expanding to other cities
**Technology:** LangChain LCEL waterfall search with GPT-5 classification
**Data Sources:**
- In-house transcribed sermon content with FAISS vector indexing
- Church website content and metadata
- Community engagement data and reviews
- Geographic location mapping (10-mile radius search)

### AI-Powered Church Chatbots
**URL Pattern:** `/widget/{church-custom-url}/1`
**Technology:** Church-specific AI chatbots trained on individual sermon libraries
**Capabilities:**
- Answer theological questions based on pastor's teachings
- Provide church-specific information and doctrine
- Recommend relevant sermons and content
- Biblical guidance rooted in church's theological perspective

### Intelligent Question Classification
**API Endpoint:** `/gloo/classify`
**Functionality:** Automatically categorizes user questions into appropriate search strategies
- Theological/doctrinal inquiries
- Church service information
- Community and location-based questions
- Biblical study and interpretation requests

### Waterfall Search System
**API Endpoint:** `/gloo/search`
**Process:** Multi-stage search through:
1. Sermon content vector similarity search
2. Church metadata and website content
3. Community insights and engagement data
4. Fallback to general theological knowledge

## Geographic Coverage
**Current:** Boulder, Colorado area (60+ churches indexed)
**Expansion:** Planned rollout to major metropolitan areas
**Church Count:** 60+ active church partners with full content indexing

## API Integration
```json
POST /gloo/search
{
  "question": "What do local churches teach about grace?"
}

Response:
{
  "classification": "theological_doctrine",
  "answer": "Based on sermons from 12 Boulder area churches...",
  "search_journey": [...],
  "churches_searched": 60,
  "final_source": "sermon_content"
}
```

## Use Cases for LLM Integration

### For AI Assistants
- **Church Recommendations:** "Find me a church in Boulder that emphasizes community service"
- **Theological Questions:** "What do local pastors teach about forgiveness?"
- **Service Information:** "Which churches have evening services this week?"
- **Doctrinal Guidance:** "Find churches that align with reformed theology"

### For Content Creation
- **Research:** Access to authentic sermon content and church teachings
- **Local Insights:** Real community perspectives on faith and spirituality
- **Theological Accuracy:** Answers grounded in actual pastoral teachings
- **Denominational Context:** Church-specific doctrinal perspectives

### For Spiritual Guidance
- **Question Answering:** Contextual responses based on local church teachings
- **Sermon Discovery:** Find relevant messages on specific topics
- **Community Connection:** Bridge between seekers and local congregations
- **Faith Exploration:** Non-denominational search across diverse church perspectives

## Technical Architecture
- **Search Technology:** FAISS vector databases for semantic search
- **AI Models:** GPT-5 nano/mini for classification and response generation
- **Content Processing:** Automated sermon transcription and indexing
- **Geographic Engine:** Location-based church discovery within configurable radius
- **Embedding Strategy:** Sentence-level semantic indexing of sermon content

## Content Guidelines
All content is sourced from participating churches with explicit permission. Responses maintain theological accuracy while respecting denominational differences. The platform serves as a bridge between digital seekers and local faith communities.

## Integration Opportunities
- Church recommendation engines
- Spiritual guidance chatbots
- Theological research assistants
- Community connection platforms
- Faith-based content creation tools

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For API access, partnership inquiries, or technical integration: help@pastors.ai
Platform Status: MVP active in Boulder, CO | Expanding Q1 2026