6 posts categorized "Religion"

Post By Angela Stringfellow

Imagine this: You’re sitting in church listening to the choir finish up your favorite hymn, when you hear a distinct buzz.  You turn around to see a church deacon pull out his phone and begin the two-thumb dance of replying to a text message.  

There’s can’t be much worse than seeing someone sitting in the middle of a religious service, listening to the sermon and texting.  But is there a way to blend the power of the SMS message with religious activities?

It's not a blasphemous question at all. Here is a list of 7 powerful ways SMS messaging can be used to better the religious community:

1. Prayer lists: The power of prayer is astonishing and there is power in numbers.  Often times, prayer lists are included in church bulletins and quarterly newsletters, often getting into the hands of the congregation days or weeks after the need first arises.  Miracles happen every day, most attributed to some sort of divine intervention.  Using text messaging can instantly get information into the hands of those who can provide prayer, positive thoughts and support to a family in need.

2. Message of the day: We’ve all seen quote-of-the-day calendars offering scripture or words of encouragement.  The quick quotes are designed to be motivating, re-affirming or simply just a reminder to live life honorably, graciously and with faith.  The simple task of sending an SMS message to the congregation will offer the same words of hope, faith and love.

3. Sermon /Bible study suggestions: For religious leaders who write their own sermons, writer's block is inevitable, and they often find themselves scrambling at the last minute to complete the story they want to share. A quick text to the congregation for suggestions can not only provide good ideas, but allow the congregation a sense of ownership over the content of the services.  In addition, having an interactive process allows the material to be relevant.  A quick poll can take a national statistic and make it local. In addition, SMS can be used to discuss topics for discussion at Bible studies or other educational forums.

4. Social service events/notifications: A flood, a fire, a family’s medical emergency. The need for help is often immediate. SMS texting can provide the perfect opportunity to reach out to vast numbers of people who can provide the resources needed in a time of crisis. Whether it’s rounding up the troops to help in the aftermath of a natural disaster or reminding volunteers of the canned food drive, the simple and quick notification can be the difference between a turnout of five and a turnout of 100.

5. Recruitment campaigns: Many churches, synagogues and religious institutions are struggling with attendance. Younger members are simply not attending as they once were. SMS messaging can be used to supplement recruitment campaigns by providing information on congregational meetings, religious services, youth group activities or simply to invite the community to a meet and greet.  The call-to-action alone may be enough to get a few people in the door.

6. Fund raising: If the church is in need of a new elevator, a roof, or perhaps a new organ, the contributions of its congregation are vital. Notifications used to be hung in parlors or on bulletin boards in the community. Now, the unobservant can be notified quickly and easily with a text message announcing the fund raising event. After the initial message it’s easy for those who received the message to pass it along to their social network.  Not only does this help raise the funds, but will help the organization gain community exposure and potentially bring new members through their doors with the event.

7. Religious news: People like to be informed.  Many young families are too busy with their lives to stop and take a moment to read the paper or even watch the news. What better way to share news that is pertinent to your congregation than to send a link via SMS.  On smartphones, the quick and simple links can be viewed and the congregation is now up-to-date on the latest news surrounding the religious community.

The fact of the matter is that texting is quick, easy and efficient.  The challenge is finding appropriate ways for the religious community to take advantage of the technologies available. By providing opportunities for members to interact, the community as a whole grows stronger; thus, accomplishing the ultimate goal: spreading the word.

How is your church or religious center using technology and SMS messaging? If you’re not using it, would you consider it?

Learn how other religous groups are using text messaging right now.

Shane Neman, Ez Texting's CEO, recently presented our case study of Saddleback Church at the DMA/Mobile Marketer Nonprofit Mobile Day:

Saddleback Church has a 360-degree mobile strategy in place that it uses to build a sense of community and increase charitable donations throughout its eight houses of worship.

The nonprofit uses SMS to make its services more interactive and to engage prospective members by integrating text messaging

...

The Church first began mobile marketing via SMS. The church used SMS to poll audiences. This was a means of building a sense of community. However, Saddleback also used the answers it got to segment its audience.

Consumers were asked to text SADDLEBACK to 313131.

Consumers that participated in the polls were asked a question, which they replied to with three possible answers. They were then asked to provide their email address.

Saddleback Church was able to send emails to participants based on their poll responses. There were three variations of the email communication; one for each of the possible poll answers.

Read the entire article at Mobile Commerce Daily

We'd like to point out a great article over at SmarterTechnology.com. Writer Dennis McCafferty looked at the great things that Ez Texting client Saddleback Church is doing with text messaging:

One of Ez Texting's more high-profile customers is Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of the largest churches in the nation. (Superstar minister Rick Warren is the founder.) The church selected Ez Texting's group-text messaging platform and then connected its entire membership database to the Ez Texting SMS gateway. This large-scale connection uses application programming interface (API), which allows the church's computer system to interact with the Ez Texting messaging system for seamless, automated communications. When parents attend services, they get alerts when a situation comes up involving one of their children attending a program outside the main church. This replaced an older, more antiquated pager system. Saddleback also sends daily Bible verse messages via text.

During major services, such as those for Christmas and Easter, Saddleback integrates text messaging within the program. The most recent Easter service, for example, was held at Angel Stadium in Anaheim and broadcast on XM/Sirius satellite radio, as well as via a Webcast. Those attending in virtual fashion were encouraged to text Saddleback to 313131 to interact when a trivia contest was featured. The church has also used the texting connection to send information to interested audiences about its history and mission, and for message-building and recruitment purposes.

Want to learn about how to use text messaging for your church? Head over to the ministry resources center.

Check out our latest press release over @ PRWeb:

When Saddleback Church wanted to enhance their services, they turned to text messaging. Saddleback Church chose Ez Texting’s group text messaging platform for its low cost, and flexible, powerful API. Saddleback connected their membership database to the Ez Texting text messaging gateway using the API. All communications are synchronized and seamless.

• Check out the entire press release.
• See the Saddleback Case Study.
• Learn About Texting For Your Church Or Ministry.

Public Knowledge is a Washington, D.C.-based public interest group working to defend citizens' rights in the emerging digital culture. They have filed an important petition with the FCC:

Text messaging is a part of everyday life for people—a fast and convenient form of communication useful in every situation. Because of its importance, in 2007 Public Knowledge and others filed a petition with the Federal Communications Commission asking that it clarify that text messaging is subject to the same nondiscrimination rules as voice communications.

You can learn more about the petition (and sign on) @ http://www.publicknowledge.org/issues/text-message-petition

So why is this an issue? Let's look at an article in yesterday's New York Times:

When the earthquake devastated Haiti, Catholic Relief Services tried to gather contributions for its efforts using the hottest trend in giving: donations via cellphone.

But the charity wanted to try a twist on the technology: when people sent a text message to donate, they got a reply offering to connect them via phone to the charity’s call center. The group hoped that the calls could build a stronger bond with donors, and garner larger contributions as well.

But just three days into the effort after the Jan. 12 earthquake, the charity got word that Sprint Nextel was demanding that the “text-to-call” effort be shut down. The charity had 40 days to abandon the feature or lose access to millions of Sprint customers.

Sprint’s original motivations are murky; it said that an intermediary company had failed to properly fill out a form to verify that it was dealing with a legitimate charity.

The conflict underscores a problem that public interest groups asked the Federal Communications Commission to address more than two years ago: the hazy legal status of text messages, which are controlled by telephone companies without any real government oversight. The laws that prohibit phone companies from interfering with voice calls do not apply to text messages, a fast-growing medium.

“We should be able to communicate with people the way they want to be communicated with, not the way the phone company wants them to be communicated with,” said Jed Alpert, a founder of Mobile Commons, the company that connects Catholic Relief Services and 100 other nonprofit organizations with text messaging networks. 

Read more @ The New York Times.
Check out the petition here.

We love hearing about innovative uses of our group text messaging service. Today we listened to the Geeks & God Podcast, featuring Pastor Lucas Forsthoff. Head over to Geeks & God to check out the Podcast. They start talking about texting at the 26-minute mark.

Want to learn more about group text messaging for ministries? Head over to the resource center.