Tech Forum Archive

LCR - Send message function - texting

33 postsstarted by PAULKLOMP 15,942 viewsoriginal topic

PAULKLOMP
New Member
#1
I’m a Stake Clerk in a married student stake. The average age of members is about 23. Most have emails but would prefer text messages for announcements & upcoming events. Does anyone know if the church has a way to easily send group texts to an entire stake?

I could do a custom report and an API to write a text messaging app but curious if there is something already available.

Thanks!
russellhltn
Community Administrator
#2
I thought most carriers allowed sending a SMS from an email. For example, for someone on Verizon, send an email to “5551234567@vtext.com.” So, if they entered that as their email address, they'd get a text.

That might be clumsy with the footers added, but just a thought.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
pearcefamily
New Member
#3
Following this. With the new schedule starting in January and the condensed auxiliary meeting, we are looking for a clean consistent way to send weekly messages and announcements. E-mail is not the preferred method of communication for the majority of our Sisters (and our average age is WAY more than 23!). We are looking for a group text option, ideally that syncs with LDS Tools that we can send SMS messages and links to all RS members. It would be fabulous if the system existed AND didn't allow for a reply all option!
trentj2009
New Member
#4
Following this ans we would love this functionality as well, from LDS Tools App as well as LCR.
tyjoti89
New Member
#5
I think we really need better communication tools overall for Ward leaders and members. It seems that every Ward must come up with their own solutions which often violate safe privacy practices and are most often difficult if not impossible to maintain over the long run. Many Wards will create facebook pages, but getting members to subscribe is a real challenge and many members do not want to use social media for some very legitimate reasons. Leaders need to be able to send messages to members, which is currently possible with LCR's Send a Message, but members need a way to subscribe and to get the messages that they specifically need. Some members want no communication and should have a simple way of opting out completely (without removing their records or putting in blanks for all of their contact information).

I think LDS Tools really needs a dedicated communication system with mobile notifications and more of a chat like interface. If you look at most effective companies today, they all have dedicated communication tools. This allows them to get the right information to the right people in the right way at the right time. For example, many companies use chat systems like Slack, which allows the formation of groups, subscriptions, sharing of documents, notification settings, and so much more. Our Ward Council has started using Slack, and it has been working very well. We have a channel for the Bishopric, and channel for the Ward Council, and other functional channels like "Callings & Releases". It would be more secure, and less of a learning curve of this type of tool were integrated into LDS Tools, and it would be very useful to be able to communicate with members of the ward and specific organizations. Groups could be automatically updated as people move in and out and as callings change. It would also be the only way to support a general ward channel for announcements. We aren't going to add the entire ward to Slack for that because that is a maintenance nightmare and probably not very effective. But integration of such a communication tool into LDS Tools would allow us to reach probably over 90% of our ward members.

Here are a few examples of how it would be helpful
- Elders quorum president sends out a message in the Elders Quorum channel Sunday morning requesting help to clear snow at the church before people arrive
- Bishopric can use a dedicated channel to discuss ideas for callings and track their progress.
- An announcements channel could be used to send general announcements for activities and events.
- A channel could be created for discussion of the weekly Come, Follow Me lesson.
dcgates
New Member
#6
Amen to that last post.
lmisner
New Member
#7
Agree. We are using a variety of means to communicate upcoming lessons,,,email from lds.org, various social media forums and posting information in ward bulletins. A more streamlined process would be nice.
mevans
Senior Member
#8
What I'd really like to see is some kind of communication options page for me as a member. Let me choose which methods I want to receive which communications. Maybe I want a text. Maybe I want an email. Maybe I want a voice call with a recorded message. Maybe I want a printed message to arrive in the mail. Maybe I want a private message on Facebook. (Maybe I want my ministering brothers to hand-deliver it :) I realize that for some of those options, units may need to pay for the communication.

We can't easily force everyone to use the same communication method. Some messages are long and don't work as texts. How are those handled? Does the church send a text with a link to open the message?

Messaging may not be the church's core competency, so they may contract out for it. There are companies that do this. It could be that the cost of adding those options is too high.
davesudweeks
Senior Member
#9
mevans wrote:What I'd really like to see is some kind of communication options page for me as a member. Let me choose which methods I want to receive which communications. Maybe I want a text. Maybe I want an email. Maybe I want a voice call with a recorded message. Maybe I want a printed message to arrive in the mail. Maybe I want a private message on Facebook. (Maybe I want my ministering brothers to hand-deliver it :) I realize that for some of those options, units may need to pay for the communication.

We can't easily force everyone to use the same communication method. Some messages are long and don't work as texts. How are those handled? Does the church send a text with a link to open the message?

Messaging may not be the church's core competency, so they may contract out for it. There are companies that do this. It could be that the cost of adding those options is too high.
Amen. I chuckle when I see posts like, "I must have LDSTools to do my calling" or "If we can't text everyone in the ward with a single text we cannot get the message out to anyone."

In absence of "being directed in all things" we need to work together to resolve this given our own specific situations in our own specific units. A solution that works in my ward will likely not work in yours so each ward council needs to put their heads together and work it out for their specific unit. Our ward is using a blended approach consisting of a weekly e-mail blast, a ward facebook page, individual ward organizations using texting as appropriate for their members, an expanded printed Sunday bulletin, and personal visits or calls to those who don't have any of the above communication options (yes, we do have some).
kmilleca
New Member
#10
Edited 1 time, last by scgallafent on
This is definitely a work in progress but I thought it might be helpful to see what our ward is doing to reach out to our members via the best possible medium for each.

I've attached a guide we recently compiled for our Ward Council.

Kevin

[-- moderator note: attachment with personal information was removed --]
scgallafent
Church Employee
#11
I removed your attachment because it has personal information for members of your ward. Could you please upload a new copy that doesn't have actual member names in it?
kmilleca
New Member
#12
kmilleca wrote:This is definitely a work in progress but I thought it might be helpful to see what our ward is doing to reach out to our members via the best possible medium for each.

I've attached a guide we recently compiled for our Ward Council.

Kevin

[-- added sanitized attachment --]
📎 Lindon 19th Ward Communication Guide (1).pdf (263.94 KiB)
mantoan
New Member
#13
I am not sure if this is the right space for this, but I hope someone out there can relay my message.
I have just been called the Compassionate Service Leader in our Ward's Relief Society, and I am having the hardest time sending messages to all the Relief Society Sisters. First, the Directory on the website does not work well with any of my E-mail contact lists to save the e-mails from the directory. I've been working on creating a list with the active sisters to see if I can send multiple messages that way, but it is a painful one by one job, and it has to be done on the phone, so I don't even know if it will work with the computer...
We have a RS Facebook page, but not all sisters are on Facebook - some think Facebook is an evil media tool that only serves for people to be envious of each other and publish inappropriate news...
I wish the Member Tools app could have a multimedia chat room, just for the members, in which we could publish posts of needs in the ward and all sisters could see those who have been signed up for already, and in which the RS could communicate faster and more effectively to fulfill the compassionate service needs. I have used the Facebook page to post those announcements, but not all sisters are on in, and some are afraid of privacy issues with Facebook. If I send it on e-mail, we cannot see what has been signed for already, and it becomes an impossible job for me to keep responding to all. I am also running into a problem with e-mails that block messages that are sent with multiple receivers, so some sisters do not even get the announcement and I get flooded with "undeliverable" messages. I have used the Doodle Poll app to create events and have people sign up electronically, which worked quite well for single dinner assignments, but it doesn't work for bigger events. A sister suggested using Google docs to share an online document that can be edited by everyone who is sent the link, which would also work well, but, again, how about privacy? What would Google do with all the names, addresses, phone numbers and sensitive information put in there.
Can someone PLEASE create a chat room for ward groups in which we can correlate with the ward members on specific assignments with a good privacy?
If anyone has any ideas on how to better do this job, I am all ears!
gdmantoan@hotmail.com
kmilleca
New Member
#14
Our ward has started using remind.com to manage text messages to members.
Remind is designed for schools but if you overlook the fact that lists are called "classes" you'll be fine.

What I like about remind:
- You can create as many distinct lists as you need. We have a) Ward members, b) Elders Quorum members, and c) Relief Society members.
- You are not limited to sending 10 messages at a time (which is imposed by most phone carriers).
- Members who reply to the texts are not replying to everyone on the list. Replies only go to the sender of the text.
- Text messages can be sent from any mobile device or your desktop computer.
- Finally, each list can have shared owners so the responsibility of communicating with the ward can be shared or delegated.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
#15
kmilleca wrote:Our ward has started using remind.com to manage text messages to members.
Always read the terms of service for any such thing.

The one that catches my eye on remind.com is (yes, it's in all caps)
IF YOU INVITE OR ADD ANYONE TO USE REMIND AND/OR USE ANY FEATURE OF THE SERVICES WHICH REQUIRES SHARING PERSONAL INFORMATION OF ANYONE (INCLUDING, WITHOUT LIMITATION, IF YOU IMPORT CONTACTS FROM YOUR ADDRESS BOOK TO THE SERVICES), YOU REPRESENT AND WARRANT THAT YOU HAVE OBTAINED FREELY GIVEN, INFORMED CONSENT FROM EACH PERSON TO:

RECEIVE SUCH INVITATION AND BE ADDED TO THE SERVICES;
RECEIVE MESSAGES FROM REMIND,
OTHER PARTICIPANTS OF THE CLASS OR GROUP, AND
OTHERS WHO HAVE ACCESS TO YOUR CLASS OR GROUP (SUCH AS, ORGANIZERS AND VERIFIED ADMINISTRATORS); AND
PROVIDE THAT PERSON'S PERSONAL INFORMATION TO REMIND.
Getting consent from all involved could be rather time consuming. Unfortunately, I suspect this will also apply to any other service you try and use.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
kmilleca
New Member
#16
Agreed russellhltn,

It is a bit of a hassle to get permission from ward members before adding them to the remind system.

But that reminded me of another feature I forgot to mention in my previous post:
- If a user wants to stop receiving text messages they simply reply with a text that says "LEAVE"

The only way to get off the Tools texting list is to remove your personal phone number from your church records : /
sbradshaw
Community Moderators
#17
I would recommend sending feedback using the Contact Us option in Member Tools to request a feature. I haven't used Remind, but everything I've read about it seems like it's a great system. Maybe Member Tools could borrow some ideas from it.
Samuel Bradshaw • If you desire to serve God, you are called to the work.
davesudweeks
Senior Member
#18
I was added to a Remind list without my permission by a Stake leader organizing a choir for a special function. I don't recall any information provided as to how I could remove myself from the reminders or manage how often I received them (though that was a couple of years ago). I did not want to be on the list and I did not contact them about it because I did not want to cause hurt feelings. However, I was very grateful when the event passed and the uninvited reminders stopped.

"The problem with the man who is good with a hammer is he tends to see everything as a nail..."
kpraeger
New Member
#19
I agree with the concerns expressed here. It would be great to have a platform for everyone in our church to communicate with. I was thinking of introducing something like Slack for our Ward, however I would much prefer seeing a comprehensive communication tool built into the Church apps and website instead. Maybe they could integrate with a third party for this (like Slack)?
mikefr
New Member
#20
This is a hot topic. As cool as LDSTools is, I agree with the need to add Texting & Chat with individuals and groups (by Auxiliaries and custom made groups). We'd like a way to easily & quickly send messages to our Ward members. This would be helpful to contact members in a short period of time during severe weather events and other situations when immediate communications with a couple hundred members in seconds/minutes is needed. Would be a great communications tool for disaster preparedness.

While I like Slack (use it at work), it's too feature rich for our needs. And while, Remind is much better suited as far as usability for our members goes, I'm very concerned privacy of members. As we're all aware, some apps like Facebook, Google, even Remind leave the door wide open to accessing and collecting far more personal information than needed to complete a simple task like texting. I would feel MUCH more comfortable with this functionality built into LDSTools. IE, I trust the Church more than profit driven corporations :)

Are there any plans in the works for texting/chatting tool coming from the Church? Thanks for all your efforts!
chriswoodut
Member
#21
mikefr wrote:This is a hot topic. As cool as LDSTools is, I agree with the need to add Texting & Chat with individuals and groups (by Auxiliaries and custom made groups). We'd like a way to easily & quickly send messages to our Ward members. This would be helpful to contact members in a short period of time during severe weather events and other situations when immediate communications with a couple hundred members in seconds/minutes is needed. Would be a great communications tool for disaster preparedness.

While I like Slack (use it at work), it's too feature rich for our needs. And while, Remind is much better suited as far as usability for our members goes, I'm very concerned privacy of members. As we're all aware, some apps like Facebook, Google, even Remind leave the door wide open to accessing and collecting far more personal information than needed to complete a simple task like texting. I would feel MUCH more comfortable with this functionality built into LDSTools. IE, I trust the Church more than profit driven corporations :)

Are there any plans in the works for texting/chatting tool coming from the Church? Thanks for all your efforts!
One big advantage of building messaging into LDS Tools that hasn't been mentioned is maintaining who is on the list and their contact info. The ward directory is the best place to maintain it. And, when people move in and out, LCR handles all that. I don't have to pay attention to adding contact info to 3rd part systems when the ward membership changes (which it does all the time). There needs to be more fine-grained control in LCR for people opting out of messages. We have a few that don't want emails but we don't want to delete their contact info in their membership record. So, we have to remember to remove them every time we send an email to ALL.

I'd like our ward to settle on one 3rd party tool for texting until the church does something itself. We have a mix of GroupMe and regular texting plus the usual 'send a message' in LCR. A bit of facebook.
mcq1
New Member
#22
I have just been called as our Elder Quorum`a communications specialist. The president has asked me to send out weekly messages to the Quorum. I am not able to use LDSTOOLS because I'm not a secretary. Are there other options? The president asked me look into making several groups and text each group. Not sure how to do this as my phone is a work phone and doing such group texts would be an issue with business policy. Is there a way to send messages, text or email from PC or tablet?
russellhltn
Community Administrator
#23
mcq1 wrote:I have just been called as our Elder Quorum`a communications specialist. The president has asked me to send out weekly messages to the Quorum. I am not able to use LDSTOOLS because I'm not a secretary. Are there other options?
Not though the church. The EQ Presidency has access to "send a message" on the church website, but there's no way to confer that ability to you.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
chriswoodut
Member
#24
mcq1 wrote:I have just been called as our Elder Quorum`a communications specialist. The president has asked me to send out weekly messages to the Quorum. I am not able to use LDSTOOLS because I'm not a secretary. Are there other options? The president asked me look into making several groups and text each group. Not sure how to do this as my phone is a work phone and doing such group texts would be an issue with business policy. Is there a way to send messages, text or email from PC or tablet?
Why don't they just make you a secretary on LCR so you have the access you need to use 'Send a message'?

If you're going to do texting, I would suggest looking at moving to a messaging app like GroupMe or Telegram. SMS/mms text messages have limitations on group sizes. ATT limits it to 10 numbers. Our YM already use Groupme, so I think our EQ should move to Groupme instead of texting, but they haven't. On the other hand, the EQ does use 'send a message' and a combo of texts when necessary. YW only do texting. Our Ward council uses groupme.

That's a long way of saying if you have an organization in the ward already using an app, you may want to stick with that app and add a new group for the EQ because some members will already have the app installed.
russellhltn
Community Administrator
#25
If you are going to use an app, I'd recommend reading the Terms of Service very carefully. If it's free, you have to wonder how they're making their money. It may force users to see ads or give up information.
Have you searched the Help Center? Try doing a Google search and adding "site:churchofjesuschrist.org/help" to the search criteria.

So we can better help you, please edit your Profile to include your general location.
chriswoodut
Member
#26
I should add, I think with Groupme you can have a group number. Not everyone has to use the app and can choose to receive messages as SMS message.

One down side to apps is you may end up with group communication rather than one-way communication with no reply ability. I've never had a need to look into that (e.g. a situation where I don't want people to have a reply-all option).
chriswoodut
Member
#27
I did have a use case in the past where I wanted to send a bulk text to a lot of people and I didn't want to use a group text where people could see everyone on the list. There is a tool called Text gBlaster that will let you send texts to a list of people in a Google Spreadsheet.

https://gsuite.google.com/marketplace/a ... 0232482012

Pros:
- Easy to send a bulk email to as many people as you want.
- You can even customize it with their name
- Google spreadsheet is easy to use
- Costs money, but you pay per message and no subscription or anything necessary

Cons:
- It sends the message from a generic phone #, not your own
- People can't reply to it
- Costs money, but you pay per message and no subscription or anything necessary
sbradshaw
Community Moderators
#28
Whatever system you go with, be sure you get permission from members before adding their email addresses or phone numbers to any third-party messaging services. Most services require this in their terms of use.
Samuel Bradshaw • If you desire to serve God, you are called to the work.
caique1031
New Member
#29
davesudweeks wrote: Wed Jan 23, 2019 11:49 am
mevans wrote:What I'd really like to see is some kind of communication options page for me as a member. Let me choose which methods I want to receive which communications. Maybe I want a text. Maybe I want an email. Maybe I want a voice call with a recorded message. Maybe I want a printed message to arrive in the mail. Maybe I want a private message on Facebook. (Maybe I want my ministering brothers to hand-deliver it :) I realize that for some of those options, units may need to pay for the communication.

We can't easily force everyone to use the same communication method. Some messages are long and don't work as texts. How are those handled? Does the church send a text with a link to open the message?

Messaging may not be the church's core competency, so they may contract out for it. There are companies that do this. It could be that the cost of adding those options is too high.
Amen. I chuckle when I see posts like, "I must have LDSTools to do my calling" or "If we can't text everyone in the ward with a single text we cannot get the message out to anyone."

In absence of "being directed in all things" we need to work together to resolve this given our own specific situations in our own specific units. A solution that works in my ward will likely not work in yours so each ward council needs to put their heads together and work it out for their specific unit. Our ward is using a blended approach consisting of a weekly e-mail blast, a ward facebook page, individual ward organizations using texting as appropriate for their members, an expanded printed Sunday bulletin, and personal visits or calls to those who don't have any of the above communication options (yes, we do have some).
I am trying to not feel offended by your chuckle and your tone in your paragraph after your amen. I’m doing my best to encourage communication to my auxiliary without taking time from my family. Perhaps you didn’t realize how you were coming across, but we need supportive solutions, not judgement.
pabloh007
New Member
#30
Hey everyone I came across this post and wanted to add my 2 cents. Our ward came across this problem during the pandemic. Most members in my ward wanted to receive communications through sms/texting. I saw twilio offers sms for about 0.0075 per message. We decided we to give it a try, however it required some development work to be done to be used. In the ended developing a web application that does this. It's called Ward Notification Pager. It has helped our ward get more participation as members can get reminders of activities/meetings etc.

The application is free to use. You only have to pay for the twilio service, in a nutshell you sign up for twilio and then plug in your credentials in the app and you are good to go to start testing. It was designed around ward organizations /groups.

https://ward-notification-pager.io

If you want to browse the app send a message here and I will get in touch with you.
https://ward-notification-pager.io/contact


Here is an FAQ about the app
https://ward-notification-pager.io/about

This app is build and targeted to leaders/administrators. Not where all ward members would have access.
chriswoodut
Member
#31
pabloh007 wrote: Sat Jun 18, 2022 4:40 am Hey everyone I came across this post and wanted to add my 2 cents. Our ward came across this problem during the pandemic. Most members in my ward wanted to receive communications through sms/texting. I saw twilio offers sms for about 0.0075 per message. We decided we to give it a try, however it required some development work to be done to be used. In the ended developing a web application that does this. It's called Ward Notification Pager. It has helped our ward get more participation as members can get reminders of activities/meetings etc.

The application is free to use. You only have to pay for the twilio service, in a nutshell you sign up for twilio and then plug in your credentials in the app and you are good to go to start testing. It was designed around ward organizations /groups.

https://ward-notification-pager.io
...
Very cool!
caillines
Member
#32
Keep in mind that using that exporting membership information to 3rd party services goes against church policy, and depending on where you are, may actually break local law.
pabloh007
New Member
#33
I definitely agree with @caillines about exporting an entire wards membership and using it to text everyone, I don't recommend doing that. The target audience for the app has been active members of the ward or non members that have provided their mobile number for sms notifications either through a google sheet or signing up manually through a sign up sheet that is why there is an import tool for the app. At any point after onboarding a contact can unsubscribe from receiving sms notifications from a ward as well.