Categorized | Technology

Internet tools I use in ministry (2 of 6): Txtsignal.com

Posted on 24 October 2007 by Tim Schmoyer | Trackback link

TxtSignal.comFive months ago I reviewed Txtsignal.com and now it’s one of my favorite means of communicating to my youth group.

Sending mass text messages is so perfect for my youth group.

  • Students almost always have their cell phones at hand, so they’ll get the message instantly.
  • It allows me to easily cancel an event at the last minute due to weather or something.
  • It places reminders about a youth meetings and events where they’re sure to see it.

Txtsignal.com makes the process so simple.

  • Kids can easily add or remove themselves by using a special link Txtsignal.com provides. I have the link posted on our website, Facebook and various emails.
  • I have multiple groups and multiple teams within each group. I have a Sr. High team, a Jr. High Team and a Parents team so I can send appropriate messages to each group of people or send a message to everyone if I want.
  • I can schedule messages to send at a later date and time.
  • The interface is slick, clean and very user-friendly.
  • I can create multiple login accounts with various permission levels so my other youth workers so they can send text message announcements about their various areas of service in the youth ministry.

Discount Code for Faith-based Ministries
Matt, from TxtSignal, created a special promo code for ministries or any organization that works toward ministry efforts. The promo code is good for a minimum of 10% off and even slightly more depending on the plan (for example, the $14/month plan becomes $12/month, or, 14% off). When signing up for service, use this promotional code: EH7DH

Sure, there’s other text messaging services out there that are free, like Twitter and Broadtexter, but both of them require a lot of extra registration steps that no one would normally bother to go through just to get youth group updates, especially not parents. Plus, those companies don’t offer the specialty features and outstanding support that Txtsignal does. Txtsignal is just simple, easy and incredibly effective.

The only drawback
Unfortunately, Txtsignal.com currently does not allow students to reply to my text messages. Matt, the owner of Txtsignal.com, told me that this feature is under development, but it’s too soon to know when it will become available.

One little tip
Several times now students have given me their cell numbers to add to our text messaging list without providing their carrier information. Since Txtsignal.com wants to know that information to ensure messaging quality, I found this free tool for looking up someone’s mobile service provider based on their phone number. Sometimes you have to Google the company name it returns, though, to find out what the commercial brand is.

[tags]Txtsignal, Twitter, Broadtexter, SMS, text message[/tags]



1 Comments For This Post

  1. Matt Says:

    It looks like you can do mass texting for free at jott.com. However, you have to make the list and your contacts cannot remove themselves from your list. And you can’t have multiple users. And you can only do this from one certain phone number. But you don’t have to have people’s cell phone carriers and it is free. Might be an alternative for those without $144 dollars a year to spend.



4 Trackbacks For This Post

  1. The Over-Educated Youth Pastor Says:

    links from TechnoratiThe Over-Educated Pastor or Tim’s Life in Student Ministries. I love it when God gifts people uniquely for specific roles in the Kingdom. I hope to find time to implement some of Tim’s other ideas, includingsending mass text messages to students. He is only on blog number 2 of a pledged 6 blog series for technology helps for youth ministers. How can he top these??? [IMG] Read the whole post …[IMG] Print this | [IMG] Permanent Link | [IMG]

  2. Email is old-school: Three better ideas for communicating with teens » Life in Student Ministry Says:

    [...] is going to reach everyone in time, but a mass text message will take care of it for you instantly. I’ve already recently blogged about this, but basically TxtSignal.com is the way to go just because it’s so simple and easy to use for [...]

  3. Why I don’t make announcements at youth group | Life in Student Ministry Says:

    [...] Txt message list: Having a txt message list is an invaluable tool for us, especially because it allows us to change event details at the last minute and communicate it with everyone in a matter of seconds, regardless of whether they’re in front of a computer or not. It’s also great for brief reminders. (I use TxtSignal.com and highly recommend them.) [...]

  4. Ministry Tool: TxtSignal « jordan muck Says:

    [...] in my youth group for over a year now. They are such a great company that I’ve already reviewed them twice. TxtSignal makes it simple to create a mass txt “mailing list” of your students. Or, [...]

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About me: I am married to my beautiful wife, Dana, and together we live in Minnesota where I serve as the youth pastor at our local church. The opinions expressed here are my own and do not necessarily reflect those of my church. More about me...

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