Question about “Send a Message” Feature on Meetinghouse Locator

[johnfieldingkunz]

Hi everyone,
I had a few questions about the “Send a Message” feature on the Meetinghouse Locator:
• What exactly happens when you send a message through it?
• Does it go to the bishop’s email, or is it sent as a text message somehow?
• I’ve noticed that some wards still have a phone number listed, but a lot of wards don’t anymore. It seems like they used to list bishops’ cell phone numbers, but now they don’t. Why did that change?
• Also, what’s the best way to get a response if you send a message through Meetinghouse Locator? (Does it depend on the ward/bishop?)

Any clarification would be really appreciated. Thanks for your help!

[russellhltn]

I believe the message is sent to the bishop's email. The response is completely up to the bishop.

A message from church headquarters some years ago was sent to all stakes asking them to disconnect all phones that didn't serve an identified need/purpose. With nearly everyone having a cell phone, most meetinghouse phones saw little use and most were removed.

I'd imagine bishop's cell phones were removed due to abuse.

[BrianEdwards]

Also, what’s the best way to get a response if you send a message through Meetinghouse Locator? (Does it depend on the ward/bishop?)

It definitely depends on the Bishop. Occasionally email addresses associated with Bishops in the Church system, are actually not currently used by the Bishop. Or perhaps is an email address that the Bishop only checks occasionally. Unfortunately, some Bishops are unaware of this, or if they are aware it's not high on their list of things to worry about.

And other Bishops simply don't respond to emails as promptly as one might expect. If they're using a personal email that receives a lot of traffic, a Bishop might choose to wait to go through all their Church-related emails at the end of a workweek, etc.

Not saying any of this is desired, but that's my experience. If you require a prompt response and nothing comes within a day from using Send A Message, you could consider asking your ward clerk to look up the contact info for that ward, and contact their ward clerk via email.