Messages Page Guide

Why this exists

Subscribing to texts is voluntary, and not everyone does. A companionship with a member who hasn't subscribed — or has texted STOP — can't be scheduled by text alone. Rather than leave those members out entirely, the system still writes the message they would have received and holds a set of proposed times for them, and lets you relay that by hand and log what they say back. Their reply then goes through the same scheduling logic a text reply would — it can confirm a visit, ask for different times, or need a follow-up — so a member who never subscribes still gets scheduled, just with you as the messenger.

Where to find it

Open Messages from the top navigation bar (https://ministering.beaconpointe2nd.org/admin/messages).

The page lists every companionship member who currently can't be texted — Pending (never subscribed) or Opted out (texted STOP) — alongside the message that's waiting for them. This includes members of otherwise-normal companionships: if two of three companionship members are subscribed and texting fine, the one holdout still shows up here so you only have to manually cover the gap, not the whole companionship.

Each companionship is a card. Its heading is Ministers to and the families it ministers to, with the companionship's ministers listed underneath, so two cards under the same leader are easy to tell apart. (A companionship with no families is headed by its ministers' names.) Each card shows:

Leader: the companionship's leader (or Flexible or Unassigned), and how many members on the card are waiting on a relay. Use the Leader filter above the list to narrow the page to one leader's companionships, or the Member name box to find one person.
The latest message — the newest text actually worth passing along, written the way you'd send it yourself (see below). System housekeeping such as clarification nudges, notices that a previously offered time has passed, and after-the-fact acknowledgements doesn't take over the card.
Full thread (click to expand) — the whole conversation so far, useful if you're picking this up partway through. Each line is labelled with who sent it: a member's name, the name of whoever relayed a reply, or System for the system's own texts.
One row per member who can't be texted, with their name and phone number — enough to call or text them yourself.

Two tabs:

Active — still waiting on a reply. This is where you log one.
Archived — anything no longer active: resolved, closed out at quarter's end, or paused for escalation. A resolved or quarter-ended row needs nothing further — but a paused one still needs a leader's follow-up; check Escalations for those rather than assuming everything here is done.

Every paused thread has a card on Archived. If it still owes a relay, the card is the usual relay card with a Paused badge. If it owes nothing, the card is read-only: the heading, the leader, "Paused: nothing to relay" and the thread, with no buttons. A name search hides read-only cards, because they list no member to match.

Relaying a message and logging the reply

Relaying is two actions, and the page supports both: getting the message to the member, and telling the system what they said back.

Sending it, then logging that you did

The row's message is written to be sent from a personal phone, not pasted from a robot: it greets that member by first name, is signed by you (the name you're signed in with), names their leader, and lists the offered times. There is no brand prefix and no "Reply STOP" footer — this is your text, on your phone. For example:

Hey Brian, this is Rob Hicks. Brother Smith would like to meet with you for a quick quarterly visit. These times are available: 1) … 2) … Reply with the number that works for you. Thanks!

When the companionship has no particular leader to name (it is Flexible or Unassigned), the message says "One of our leaders" instead. If you're the companionship's own leader, it speaks for you: "I would like to meet with you…". If an offer lapses before the member answers, the follow-up message says "this is … again", since by then they've heard from you.

If the member is Pending (never subscribed) and has an opt-in code and a number, the message also carries a short invitation to sign up for the texts directly, with a link that pre-fills their code. An opted-out member never gets that invitation — someone who said STOP isn't asked again.

Copy it into your own messaging app — or make it a phone call or a porch conversation; whatever reaches them. Then press Log relay under their row so the page knows the message was delivered:

The page updates in place — no reload, so your tab, leader filter, and scroll position all stay put.
The confirmation ("Relayed to name.") appears right in that member's row, so on a phone you see it without scrolling back up; if something went wrong (they opted in since you loaded the page, say), you get a readable message saying what, not a raw error.
A relay badge/count on the card shows who has been reached and when, so you can put the list down and pick it back up later without guessing.

Mind the slot numbers: the times are numbered to match what a forwarded reply needs. If the member answers "2", log "2" below and the system books the same time you quoted them.

Logging what they said back

Read the row's message, then reach the member however you normally would — a phone call, a personal text, in person. This is not automated; you're standing in for the text the system couldn't send.
Ask what they'd like to do, in their own words — agree to one of the offered times, ask for something different, or say it doesn't work at all.
Back on the Messages page, type what they said into the Log reply box under their row, in their own words (e.g. "she said Tuesday at 2 works"), and press Log reply.

That's it — you don't need to figure out which slot number they meant or whether the reply "counts." The system reads it the same way it reads a real text reply and figures out what to do next:

They agreed to a time — the visit is confirmed, the leader gets reminders just like any other confirmed visit, and a confirmation text goes out to any companionship-mates who are subscribed. (The member you're relaying for doesn't get one — that's the whole reason you're on this page.)
They want a different time — the system looks for other openings with that leader. If it finds one, it posts a fresh proposal, which shows up on this page (and goes out by text to subscribed companionship-mates) for you to relay again. Offers don't quietly die, either: if the times on screen lapse unanswered, the system keeps proposing fresh times from the leader's remaining availability until the visit is booked or the quarter ends — the thread only pauses onto Escalations when there is genuinely nothing future left to offer, at which point it needs a leader's direct follow-up.
Nothing usable came through — a "could you try again?" text goes out to subscribed companionship-mates, and after three unparseable replies in a row the thread pauses and shows up on Escalations instead, the same as a stalled text conversation. At that point it needs a leader's direct follow-up rather than another logged reply.

Tagging somebody for a phone call

When texting and relaying have both gone quiet on someone, escalate them to a phone call without losing track of who:

Each member sub-row has a Needs a call button — it marks that one person, not their whole companionship. Once tagged, it becomes an already-tagged badge, so clicking twice can't create duplicates.
The card-level button is deliberately labelled Companionship needs a call — that one flags every member of the group. Once the companionship is on the Calls list, the card shows a Companionship needs a call badge in its place, the same way a tagged member's row does.

Tagged people show up on the Calls page with their number, who tagged them, and when; see the Calls page in the Administrator Guide.

A few things worth knowing

A companionship with no subscribed members still gets scheduled. Subscription status alone never blocks a proposal — the system just can't text the result to someone who hasn't opted in, which is exactly the gap this page covers. (A companionship can still go unscheduled for an unrelated reason, like having no assignable leader — that shows up on Coverage, not here.)
Retired members and retired companionships never show up here. If someone's gone, there's nothing to relay.
Everything you log is attributed to you. Logging a reply on someone's behalf is recorded in the audit trail alongside the message itself, so there's a record of who relayed what.
Archiving is automatic. When the quarter ends, whatever's still open here closes out the same way an open text conversation does — you don't need to clean anything up yourself.
Logging a reply can trigger a real text — just never to the member you're relaying for. A confirmation, a fresh proposal, or a "try again" nudge can all go out to the rest of the companionship as a normal part of processing what you logged, exactly as they would if that reply had arrived by SMS. The member you're standing in for stays off every send path — that's the gap this page exists to cover — so the actual conversation with them still happens by phone call, personal text, or in person.

For everything else about running the roster and getting members subscribed in the first place, see the Administrator Guide — subscribing is still the better outcome whenever a member is willing. When relaying stalls entirely, the Calls page (§9 there) is the next rung.