Texting
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      Start here with Text-to-Church

      Access Churchteams easily through the technology everyone is already using...TEXTING!

      The Text-to-Church suite is an interactive texting portal for both sending and receiving texts, using your church office number.  

      • Send texts 
      • Receive texts or replies from texts you send
      • View text history
      • Assign Keywords that people can text back to give online, register for an event or class, check in for attendance, and access a web page
      • Update Member Profile, view Groups you lead,  see Volunteer Schedule, and Follow-Up assignments

      Setting up Text-to-Church

      Usage and Features

      Fees

      Setup:

      To set up Text-to-Church, including adding your church office number or picking a different one, go to Communicate > Text > Text-to-Church Info.  

      (This menu appears only when you are not already set up with Text-to-Church.)

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      Complete the Form.

      Click Continue.

      You will be asked to complete a second form regarding your non-profit status.  This information is required by mobile carriers.  

      You must upload to send back to us, the Letter of Authorization in order for us to enable your Tex-to-Church account.

       

      Text-to-Church Features:

      Text-to-Church features two-way texting, but it also allows people to send a text to give, register, check-in, complete an information card, update the member record and see volunteer assignments, or re-direct to a website.

      Below are the key features of Text-to-Church along with some examples.  The link will give more details on the direct setup of that particular feature.

      Text-to-Chat  Any member of your database can chat with staff by texting to your Text-to-Church number (or vice versa).  This is a great way for someone to ask a question about service times or where to go for Guest Services, for example.  Staff can use this feature to directly text a member from within Churchteams.  These texts will show on the Communicate > Text > Chat page.

      Text-to-Give makes giving as easy as texting a dollar amount once they've created their account.  And creating an account just involves adding a password.  Try it yourself:  

      • Text GIVE to (817) 677-9850 and follow instructions.  
      • Use our dummy card 4003 0001 2345 6781 - expiration date 04/22 - cvv 123 to give $1.
      • Or text 1 MISSIONS to give $1 to missions instead of the general fund.
      • Add a password and create an account.

      Text-to-Register.  Imagine promoting a class or event in your worship folder or on a handout and telling people to simply text one keyword.  After talking about it, a couple can register for a marriage seminar on their way home from church.

      • Try it:  text DEMO to the same number.  Be sure to add a child for childcare.  (You'll need this for the Text-to-check-in demo.)
      • Customize the system to register adults, register for childcare, and take payments.
      • Tell people to save this text-the-church number in their contacts.

      Text-to-Attend.  Want a new way to capture worship or youth attendance?  This has been an age-old problem.  Text can help.  

      • Try it: text WORSHIP11 to the same number.  
      • The system takes your attendance and can return a link to a connection form.

      Text-to-Check-in.   We are the first in the marketplace to provide text-to-check-in.  As a family drives to church or walks into the building, they use their text-the-church number to text CHECK or CHECK-IN.

      • Try it: text CHECK to the same number. Mark attendance.
      • The security code is texted back so that it is also on your phone.  
      • Attendance is taken.
      • Security tags are ready when they walk to the printer station.
      • Check-in the whole family (kids, youth, worship, and volunteers) using ALL CHECK.

      Text-to-Me.  No need to overthink this!  ME is simply our keyword for a person to text the database in order to:

      • Login (coach level and higher) 
      • See/edit my Follow Up assignments 
      • See my Volunteer schedule 
      • View my church directory (if enabled) 
      • Go to important church links (e.g. website or podcast, you choose) 
      • Access groups I lead 
      • Update my information 

      Text-to-Link.  Your shortcut to anywhere! Assign a Keyword to a URL.  When a member texts the keyword, they are sent back a link to the website.

      • Use a Keyword to send back a link to your announcements page/digital bulletin on your website.
      • Use a Keyword to send a link to the current curriculum.
      • Use a Keyword to send a link to the online sermon.

      Text History

      Text History is visible under Communicate > History.  By default, you will land on the Email History page, but you can toggle over to Text, by clicking "Text" at the top of the page.  You can search by Message content, Keyword, or Phone # or leave those fields blank and see all Text History across a specified date range.  You can also check or uncheck boxes to filter to see any or all of the following: Keyword Texts, Workflow, Mass, and/or Chat texts. 

      Checking the box labeled "Errors Only" will show the history of texts that are blocked or not delivered.

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      Here is more information on fees associated with sending texts via your Text-to-Church number.