When using our Simply Text account to send text messages to students, we’re required to input a cell phone carrier in order to make sure the text messages get delivered. From time to time a carrier will be wrong and they will be removed from messaging, or we never got the carrier info in the first place. It isn’t always just as easy as asking a student for their correct information, especially since we promote joining the list at our entry-level programs and services.
I just found this website that allows you to lookup the carrier of any number (area code and prefix). We’ve added back in quite a few of those numbers that were stalled now and are back in business! If you’re already using the system (sign up for a full-featured 30-day free trial if you’re not) this should be a big help.
UPDATE: Jeremy sent me this site, too. Even better!
JG
Josh Griffin has been in youth ministry for 16+ years in a small church and a big church. He currently serves as the High School Pastor at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, CA. [
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Geoff Stewart serves the Jr / Sr High School Pastor at Peace Portal Alliance Church in Surrey B.C.
Chris Wesley serves as the Director of Student Ministry at Church of the Nativity in Timonium, Maryland.
Colton Harker serves with Josh at Saddleback Church. He is currently in his second year in youth ministry.
JG,
I ran into the same problem when I first started using SimplyTXT. Here’s the website I found that works great too! Never hurts to have more than one source!
http://mobilecarrierlookup.com/api/
Shoot, that one’s even better! I’ll update my post to reflect that one if that’s cool. Nice!
JG
Awesome! I’m book marking both of them; I love simply txt – just started using it and am still getting the swing of it. The whole carrier thing is a bit of a pain, but it really is so handy to blast out messages to my leaders and/or students – I know they’re all getting them!
Josh,
One struggle I have right now that I would appreciate hearing your thoughts on is texting students. Should youth ministers text students from their personal cell phone? I recently had a conversation with a school principal who said that the answer should be absolutely not. Despite the fact that your intentiony may be good, the idea of a grown man texting students can be taking totally the wrong way. What other adult (besides family) texts students? The only answer that I can think of is youth ministers. That can put us in a very dangerous position though. Up until now I have been texting kids about events and checking up on them with my personal cell phone plan. I am convinced though that this is now a no no. What I have done to resolve this is change my cell phone number and then possibly only allowing kids to text me who’s parents have expressed their permission in writing (a form I am working on). Then it is only going to be announcements and happy birthdays, etc.
I have also signed up for simplytext to get the message out to all of my students. I am still communicating with them through texting but it is one sided.
Texting has become a silver bullet in youth ministry. It is saved me lots of money because I don’t have to send out fliers! But, I guess I have been in the dark about the dangers of texting students because I never even dreamt that I was placing myself in a dangerous position by personally texting students. Why don’t we hear more about this? I know a lot of youth ministers who do personally text their teens. Had I not talked with my principal friend I don’t know that I would have changed my habits. Texting students is innocent enough and might have good intentions but it can be perceived totally wrong. A overwhelming majority of the teens who come to my church aren’t from my church (550 total, 45 from my church) so there are a lot of parents who don’t come to church and don’t know me or how youth ministry works. I don’t want to give them the wrong perception about me.
I have been struggling with this issue all week. How I don’t want to lose personal contact with teens and how I could be so naive to the dangers that youth ministers place themselves in by texting kids. Fortunately, I am not learning this from an incident that has occured. But I am thankful that I am protecting myself now to avoid one.
I wish that more caution was publicized to youth ministers and the dangers that texting can present. Your thoughts?
The Telcodata site doesn’t give you accurate data if the number has been ported to another carrier, while the mobilecarrier site does accurately does give you the current carrier.
@Davedandconfused
If txting students is bad or wrong, then emailing them would be just as bad and dangerous. Do you email them? Do you leave messages with them on Facebook or Myspace? Those would be just as bad as txting. Calling them would even be worse.
The good thing about txt messages is that it leaves a trail. It protects you if you are innocent and can condemns you if you are guilty of something. I for one like a trail that can be seen.
I think you might be over thinking this.
@Jeff
I don’t e-mail my kids because most of them don’t e-mail. I leave messages on their myspace and that might be changing, too. I am thinking through this and would like to have some others thoughts. Your viewpoint used to be mine as well but in doing some research I am not as confident. Overthinking? Maybe but I doubt it. You can read this article: http://blog.thesource4ym.com/archive/2008/12/03/is-technology-taboo-for-connecting-with-kids.aspx and then feel free to talk with me.
BTW, I am not abandoning texting all together. I am leaning towards gaining parent permission first. It opens the door for me with parents, too. If I was in a situation with mostly church kids I would feel a little different about the issue. However, a majority of my teens aren’t from the church and parents don’t know me. That is the only reason I am thinking about erring more on the side of safety.
I think this is a good discussion to be having. The way I see it, the real issue is one of personal boundaries. Many youth pastors struggle with self-differentiation. We want to be accepted and liked by students, sometimes so much so that we compromise personal boundaries. I’ve seen more than one youth ministry professional lose their employment because of an indiscretion that stemmed from a desire to be perceived as cool/hip/trendy by their students. The bottom line is that the poorly-differentiated youth pastor WILL encounter trouble in relating to students, whether face-to-face, on MySpace, texting, or email.
Personally, I try to limit personal text messaging and use SYMT (love the opt-in/opt-out setup). This gives students equal access to my communication, eliminating the appearance of favoritism. I use Facebook, but I never invite students and I add any student that sends me a friend request. Using a Facebook group, I can communicate with students without them even having to add me as a friend. In communicating with students, I try to always keep in mind my role: I’m their youth pastor – a spiritual mentor – not their BFF. Honestly, this has become easier to keep in perspective as I’ve aged (I’m 39 now). Lastly, I try just as hard to communicate with parents as I do with students. In fact, I often focus more on communicating with parents. (BTW, most of my parents text and love SYMT, too!) Anyway, just my two cents.
@daveandconfused
I believe paachaplain nailed it. Be professional. Don’t cross the boundaries and you won’t have anything to worry about. The problems in all the cases pointed out happened when people crossed the line. That can happen through any form of communication.
I agree with the article by Jonathan, txting and social websites shouldn’t be the main source of communication, but it is a very effective and useful tool when used appropriately.
In dealing with unchurched kids, getting permission is a great idea. Every bit of transparency helps.
SYMT is a great tool for mass communication, and plain old txting is great as well when used with the appropriate boundaries.
@paachaplain and @Jeff,
Thanks guys for responding to my thoughts. I never meant to imply that texting is bad and it is a useful tool to communicate with me teens. What I have done is drafted my thoughts (I hate to call it a policy but that is what it is) wisdom in communicating with students. I agree with boundaries but even the perception can be bad when it comes to unchurched kids and their parents even if you are being careful about what you type. So, for non churched kids, I will be getting permission. That is the main issue I am dealing with here and putting the ball back into the parent’s court is a great thing because it let’s them know that they are important and that they matter. Plus, it opens a another door of communication. I am also going to give them the option of if they would like to receive text updates they can receive them, too using simplytxt. As always, handling any conversation with a teen through any means of communication requires boundaries and professionalism. Thanks guys for your thoughts.