Text-enable Your Church

Toll-Free or Landline Number

Do you know that most churches aren't even aware that 150 million texts are sent to landline numbers every single day?

Fortunately, enabling text messaging to your current church landline or toll-free number is easy. And it doesn’t affect your local call routing at all.

Pastors and Church Leaders using this feature:

Using the landline number has been Using the landline number has been fantastic. Over the past few years, we have had less and fewer calls about the church to our landline. Mostly sales and spam calls. Moving over texting on this line had been very helpful because now people no longer need to have a new number. Been very good for communication within the church. Helped us make that jump into the modern day!

Chris Snider

Lead Pastor, The River Church

I honestly never realized how many people must have been trying to text our landline all along! We never advertised our landline as a number you could text, but we have gotten multiple members of our congregation and even guests from some of our events to send us texts saying, ‘Thank you for this and that’, and it has been really great to see!

Heather Bredeman

Joy Christian, Center,
St. Cloud, MN

the land line is more familiar with our congregation. When we texted from the other number, some would inquire about who was sending the text as the number was unfamiliar, and we did not use it frequently, so by the time we sent another text, some had forgotten the number.

Myrna and Peter Rohdin

New Life Fellowship Church, Elmhurst, NY

At first, the landline feature seemed like it would overload the church secretary since everyone would have the church phone number saved in their phones. This has not happened! People are simply interacting with our events better than ever before! We love the landline feature.

Sterling Willborn

Associate Pastor, Journey Church

Sending and receiving texts from our landline number is the #1 feature that ensures visitors and members can engage with us on the most relevant means of communication there is right now. Having one number to advertise, simplifies all graphics, ads, announcements, etc. for us, as well as for those we're trying to reach. I use PastorsLine EVERY DAY. It's changing the way we engage with our members - it's both easier and more effective.

Tara Freeman

J.W. Dunbar

Pastor Gateway Church, Ashland, KY

By using the same phone number for texting and calling you get people to remember your phone number. When it comes the time that are ready to reach out to us they know the phone number.

Abraham Schwartz

For us [a PastorsLine text-enabled church landline] has been huge for people to be able to text the number they already knew for our church. It means they don’t have to remember two different numbers when they are looking to try and get in touch with us. Most people don’t even realize its mostly an automated process.

Tyler Boles

Connections Pastor,
The Exchange

Whether or not your church is using texting via mobile phones, chances are you still have a main, church landline.

How effective is that number?

Did you know that recent consumer polls show that...

prefer texting over calling

feel frustrated while waiting
on the phone

In other words, even when there is a voice option, most people prefer texting.

85% of people whose calls are unanswered will not call back!

We’re sure you realize how much time you and the people at your ministry are wasting with landline calling because people just aren’t picking up but were you aware that 85% of people whose calls are unanswered will not call back?

In a way, each of those people is a missed opportunity to bring someone into the discipleship cycle, moving them closer to Christ.

A text-enabled church landline gives more complete coverage, so when people reach out, you are there.

And once a phone is text-enabled, it can link to the PastorsLine platform and become part of your well-thought-out digital communication strategy, enjoying such features as:

Multiple users with some advanced controls.
Multiple numbers to reduce Inbox madness.
Some multicampus options: go beyond just one account while keeping connected to your campuses/departments.
NEW - We’ve just launched multiple keywords per campaign. Imagine being able to set up several keywords (e.g. Pray/Prayer) to trigger the same campaign, in order to catch errors or to allow you to use different words for branding purposes.
Digital Connect Texts: because digital connect cards for guests are dead.
Though texting is what we focus on, having the option to send a voice broadcast or receive a call might be of value to your ministry. You can call out on the numbers from the desktop and not your personal cell phone.

CHECK OUT ALL OUR FEATURES HERE

One of the big advantages of text-enabling your church landline number is that it's a number your people already know. Chances are, it's a number already stored in their contact list. If not, no problem. When you send a text, your number will behave like a company number. This means they will get the name of who's sending the text—their church.

How it Works

Text-enabled landlines are quite new. They are a virtual service made possible by cloud computing. There is no additional equipment needed. Your calls still go through your local provider. Most landline numbers can be converted. Check your landline’s eligibility.

1.

Your caller texts your church landline number.

2.

PastorsLine has provisioned your landline for SMS, so the text message will be routed through our servers. Once we receive the text, we place it on PastorsLine.com or our mobile app.

3.

To reply, you simply text back your caller through PastorsLine.

Setting it up

This is a 5-step process which typically takes 1 - 2 days.

1. Enter your Church Landline or Business VOIP

2. Verify ownership

3. Create Letter of Authorization (LOA)

4. Carrier processing and carrier testing

5. Hosting complete

You get this feature and so much more...

(All features are included.)

direct, automated data capture via phone from those interested

mobile keywords to opt in to different church campaigns

automatically create and manage groups

gather information via online forms

polls and surveys

personalized, bulk text messaging

personalized birthday wishes

contests

create and schedule a series of automated messages

Integrates with Planning Center, Church Community Builder, Mailchimp, Elvanto, ...

Learn more about these features!

Overall, text-enabling your church landline gives your ministry virtually 100% communication, in the method people prefer, any time of the day or night.

FAQ

What if there is an SPID already on my number and the eligibility check comes back saying it is unable to host this number?

SMS-enabled numbers have Service Profile Identifiers (SPIDs) assigned through a Registrar of SMS networking. The SPID attached to the number determines who routes the SMS traffic on that number. To change an SPID, first, you need to instruct your current SPID carrier to approach the Registrar and make a request to remove their SPID. Once the current SPID is removed, our vendor can attach the PastorsLine SPID, so we can pick up all the text messages to this number.

All in all, downtime is going to be determined by: 1. when the carrier drops their SPID and 2. how long it takes you to pass the ownership and LOA steps.

To minimize downtime, we suggest that you forward the correspondence from the current carrier holding the SPID on the number. I can then bypass the requirement to remove the SPID, allowing us to overwrite with our SPID after you have passed the ownership and LOA verification steps. This will make downtime almost nonexistent.

Would text-enabling my landline affect my local calls or call routing?

What numbers can I host on PastorsLine for SMS?

How can I host my number?

How do I verify I own the number I want to host?

What are the eligibility requirements to SMS enable a number?

By submitting a phone number, the phone number will be evaluated for eligibility. Eligibility is determined by what country the number originates from and if there is SMS currently enabled for the number.

If you would like to check the eligibility before submitting the phone number, PastorsLine offers Lookup, a tool to see information about the number. If a number is not of type VoIP or mobile, then the number is eligible to be Hosted for SMS.

What information does PastorsLine need?

Information required to host a number with PastorsLine is as follows:

The authorized user's first and last name and Organization Name, if applicable. An Authorized user is an individual who is a decision maker for the phone number.
The corresponding service address associated with the phone number. This must be an actual physical address (PO Boxes are not considered valid service addresses).
- Note: All phone numbers have an address associated with them.
An email address will receive the Letter of Authorization document to be signed electronically.
A Letter of Authorization (LOA) signed by the authorized user of the number(s). The LOA will need to be completed and signed electronically and will be generated during the submission process.
- Note: 15,000 numbers can be included on one Authorization Document (LOA).
- Note: The information and signature on your LOA must match the authorized end user's name and service address provided by their current voice provider, and it must be signed in order for your submission to process.

Why does PastorsLine need this information?

What are the phases to host my number?

After you submit your Hosted SMS request, the number goes through a 3-stage onboarding process:

Preliminary eligibility check: Our system verifies that the number is in a valid format and from an allowed country and type.
If the number passes this check, we create a Hosted Number entry for it in your PastorsLine Console in the `PastorsLine-processing` status.
SMS eligibility check: We verify that the number is not already SMS-enabled. A number that is already marked as SMS-enabled with its current provider cannot be used for Hosted SMS on PastorsLine. If the number is not currently SMS enabled, the Hosted Number Order will move to the `received` status.
Verify Ownership: Once a number passes both eligibility checks, you will be able to browse to the number in your Hosted Numbers list in Console and place a verification call to the number.
Sign an electronic LOA: After the number has been verified, you will need to create an electronic LOA that will be sent to the email address specified for signature.
Enable Hosted SMS: When the eLOA is signed, the number will be moved to `carrier-processing` where the SMS registration will take place and then tested for inbound connectivity. Once the test passes, the number will be provisioned to your account.

How long does it take to message enable my number?

If using the phone verification call, from start to finish a North American Numbering Plan landline number can take up to 1 business day to message enable, test inbound connectivity, and provision to your account,

Toll-Free numbers can take up to 3 business days to update. If you are the RespOrg of the Toll-Free number, you are able to speed the request along by accepting PastorsLine’s request to SMS enable the toll-free number. If you are not the RespOrg, please inform your service provider to prevent any denial of PastorsLine’s text provisioning request.

How can I bypass my call tree to receive the verification call?

We provide this utility.

You can verify numbers behind IVRs using both the above methods by including ‘w’ characters in the Extension parameter. Each ‘w’ character tells PastorsLine to wait 0.5 seconds instead of playing a digit. This lets you adjust the timing of when the digits begin playing to suit the phone system you are dialing.

For example, the extension “wwww2wwwwww5wwwwww9′′ waits two seconds before sending the digit 2, followed by a three-second wait before sending the 5, and finally another three-second wait before sending a 9.

Can I use my Hosted Number as a Verified/Outgoing Caller-ID?

Yes, a Hosted Number is capable of making outbound calls over PastorsLine's network, as well as two-way SMS messages.

Note: if an account already has an active Verified Caller-ID and then the account requests to host the same number for SMS, the Verified Caller-ID will be deleted and the number will bypass the proof of ownership since the Verified Caller-ID already validated ownership with a two-factor authorization call.

What if I no longer want to host my number on PastorsLine?

What if I made a mistake on the Authorization Document?

Can I use MMS with Hosted SMS?

Dozens of churches are already using
PastorsLine and seeing success.

Click for Love Notes

The PastorsLine platform is a church-driven, bulk texting platform developed and managed by church ‘insiders’. We know churches intimately. We’ve attended them, been part of their management teams and worked with them for many years. Our goal is to serve you by helping you spread the Good News of Jesus Christ. We’ve positioned ourselves to be your in-house, IT team for solutions to your communication issues. In addition to everything our platform can do, our partners love our responsiveness to their needs and fast tech support.

““...the guest connection card...We had a great response -- people whose names and contact info we might not have captured otherwise. Our autoresponder directs them to our Welcome Center...where we have a gift...with their name on it."

Kristen Waddle

Church Communications

Tyler Boles

Connections Pastor, The Exchange

The personal and almost immediate assistance at [PastorsLine] is so great! We feel valued and important! We love that it is church-based!!! … Jason and the team at [PastorsLine] are always ready to help, make things better, and they also welcome feedback.