Pre-Screening and Managing Prayer Requests
SteepleMate's Prayer Network helps your church pray together through the Web Kiosk, On-Site Kiosks and the Mobile App. People can sign in for prayer, submit prayer requests, share testimonies of answered prayers and view a live prayer feed.
SteepleMate always filters out profanity for free. It cannot catch things that are merely unkind or unwise, so you can also choose to review entries yourself before they appear. This article shows how to turn that on, how to decide which entries are held, and how to approve, edit or delete them. For a general tour of the Manage Kiosk Entries page, see Managing Web Kiosk Submissions.
Quick Overview of the Prayer Network
The Prayer Network enables church members and guests to:
- * Sign in for prayer
- * Submit prayer requests
- * Share testimonies of answered prayers
- * View a live prayer feed
Church administrators control how it works from Organization Settings. For the other options in that section, such as how often the feed refreshes and how many days entries stay visible, see Configuring Marquee and Kiosk Options in Steeplemate.
Step-by-Step Guide
Step 1: Choose which entries are held for review
Open the settings: In the left menu, click Administration, then Organization Settings, and open the Marquee and Kiosk Options section. Scroll to Pre-Screening.
1. Manually review ALL entries before allowing them to be shown: Check this to hold every prayer request and victory report until you approve it.
2. Manually review entries from anonymous individuals before allowing them to be shown: Check this to hold only entries from people who did not sign in, and let signed-in members post right away. New churches start with this one turned on.
3. Prescreened Individuals: Pick a group of people whose entries are always held. This is useful for a known person who keeps posting things that do not belong on the feed. Click the eye icon next to the box to see who is in the group. Choose -- None -- if you do not need one.
Remember to save your settings. Until you approve an entry, the person who wrote it will not see it on prayer lists or other reports.
How SteepleMate decides, for each prayer request or victory report:
- * If Manually review ALL is on, it is held.
- * If it came from someone who did not sign in and the anonymous option is on, it is held.
- * If it came from a signed-in person who is in the Prescreened Individuals group, it is held.
- * Otherwise it is approved right away.
Private messages to the office are never held. They are always approved, because only your staff can see them.
These same rules apply to entries from the Web Kiosk, the Mobile App and On-Site Kiosks.
Step 2: Find the entries to review
Open the page: In the left menu, click Kiosk Activity, then Manage Entries.
1. Include Prayer Requests: Check it to see prayer requests. Use Include Answered Prayers for victory reports.
2. Include Anonymous Individuals: Check it to include entries from people who did not sign in. If you screen anonymous entries, keep this checked.
3. Individual Types: Choose which kinds of people to include: Church Family, Contact, Guest, Organization, Other or Vendor.
4. Search: Shows the matching entries. Set the Start Date and End Date first. Today's Activity is a shortcut for today's entries.
Step 3: Approve, edit or delete entries
1. Is Approved: An empty box means the entry is waiting. It is not shown yet. To approve it, click Edit on the row, check the box and click Save changes. To hold an entry that is already showing, do the same and clear the box.
2. Edit and Delete: Edit lets you fix the message, the name, the type or the date before you approve it. Delete removes an entry that is not appropriate or not needed. The row is marked, and it is removed when you click Save changes.
3. Save changes: Nothing changes until you click it. Click Cancel changes to undo.
Step 4: Add an entry yourself
You can also add a request for someone. Click New at the top of the list. The new row starts with today's date and time, the type set to Prayer Request, and Is Approved checked, so you only need to type the message and click Save changes. Uncheck Is Approved if you want the entry held. If you leave the name empty, the entry is saved as Anonymous, or pick a person under Known Requestor. The steps are in Managing Web Kiosk Submissions.
Tips for Efficient Church Management
- * Use the group: Keep the Prescreened Individuals group up to date so you do not have to review everything by hand.
- * Plan a weekly review: Set aside time each week to review waiting prayer requests and testimonies. Entries that wait too long may no longer be timely.
- * Start narrow: Screening only anonymous entries catches most problems and keeps the feed lively for church members.