For urgent alerts like a service cancellation or a quick event reminder, a mass text message is the fastest way to reach your community. EvangelOS lets you send SMS directly from your Communications dashboard — but first, a few important things to know.

Before You Send: SMS Consent Required

EvangelOS will only deliver SMS messages to members who have explicitly opted in to receive texts from your church. This is required by the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA). Members who have not opted in (or who have opted out) will be automatically skipped — their skip is logged, and you will see it in your delivery report.

If your opt-in numbers are low, use your church's keyword opt-in process to grow your list before sending. See the SMS Consent & TCPA Compliance Guide for full details on collecting consent.

How to Send a Mass SMS

1. Navigate to Communications from the main navigation menu.
2. Click Create (or New) and select SMS (or "Text Message").
3. This opens the SMS form.

Step 1: Add Your Recipients

Choose who will receive this message. You can:

• Send to All Members (only those who have opted in to SMS will actually receive it).
• Select specific Groups (e.g., "All Volunteers," "Youth Ministry").
• Filter by member attributes (e.g., all members in a specific campus or ministry team).
• Add individual recipients manually.

The recipient selector shows you the Estimated SMS Reach — the number of people in your selection who have valid opted-in phone numbers. This helps you understand your actual reach before sending.

Step 2: Compose Your Message

Write your text message in the compose area. A few things to keep in mind:

• Standard SMS messages are 160 characters. The character counter shows how close you are to the limit.
• Messages over 160 characters are split into multiple segments and billed as separate messages.
• Using emoji reduces the per-segment limit to 70 characters.
• Always include your church's name so recipients know who is texting them.
• Use merge tags like {{first_name}} to personalize the message.

Example: "Hi {{first_name}}, this is [Church Name]. Tonight's event starts at 7pm — we hope to see you there! Reply STOP to unsubscribe."

Step 3: Send or Schedule

• Click Send Now to deliver the message immediately.
• Click Schedule for Later to set a specific date and time for delivery. Useful for Sunday morning reminders or event-day notifications.

Viewing Delivery Results

After sending, go to Communications → SMS → History to see the results for your send:

• Delivered: Message reached the carrier successfully.
• Failed: Delivery failed. The failure reason is shown (e.g., invalid number, carrier rejection).
• Skipped: Recipient was not sent the message because they have not opted in to SMS (or have opted out). This is expected and correct behavior, not an error.

SMS Best Practices

• Be concise and action-oriented. Texts work best for time-sensitive, brief communications.
• Always include a way to get more information (a link or a phone number to call).
• Avoid sending SMS too frequently — this increases opt-out rates. Reserve SMS for high-priority messages.
• Test with yourself or a small group first before sending church-wide.

What's Next?

EvangelOS also helps you automate your SMS communications. You can set up automated text sequences triggered by events like a member joining, missing a service, or a birthday. See Configuring Smart Automations to get started.