Privacy Policy

1. Introduction

The Lighthouse Church and Ministries ("we," "our," or "the Church") is committed to protecting your privacy. This Privacy Policy explains how we collect, use, disclose, and safeguard your information when you visit our website at tlhc.org and use our online services. Please read this policy carefully to understand our views and practices regarding your personal data.

2. Information We Collect

We collect information in several ways, depending on how you interact with our website and services:

Account & Authentication

When you create an account or sign in, we collect your name, email address, and profile information through our authentication provider (Clerk). This information is synced to our secure database to enable personalized features such as the Pathway learning journey, prayer requests, and connection cards.

Contact Form Submissions

When you submit a contact form (including Share Your Story, Accepted Christ, Baptism requests, general questions, or website feedback), we collect your first name, last name, email address, phone number, campus preference, and message. This information is stored in our database and used to respond to your inquiry and provide pastoral care.

Prayer Requests & Testimonies

When you submit a prayer request or testimony, we collect your name, email address, the content of your submission, and your visibility preference (public or private). Public prayer requests may be displayed on our website for the church community to pray over. We use automated content moderation (OpenAI Moderation API and profanity filtering) to maintain a safe, respectful environment for all users.

Connection Cards & New Member Registration

When you submit a connection card as a new member or visitor, we collect your name, email, phone number, full address (street, city, state, zip), gender, birthday, campus, visit status, and any comments. This information is used to welcome you, connect you with our ministry teams, and may be synced to Planning Center (our church management system) for follow-up and care.

LH Kids & Teens Registration

When you register your children for LH Kids & Teens, we collect parent/guardian name, email, phone number, campus, membership status, and for each child: first name, last name, grade level, birthday, and gender. This information is used to facilitate children's ministry participation and ensure appropriate age-group placement.

Pathway Learning Progress

When you participate in our Pathway discipleship program, we track your progress through modules, including video watch progress, quiz scores, and completion status. This allows you to resume where you left off and helps us understand engagement with our teaching content.

NYT Tour City Requests

If you request the Not Your Typical tour to come to your city, we collect your name, email, city, state, suggested venue, and optional message. This is used solely to evaluate and plan tour locations.

Automatically Collected Information

When you visit our website, we automatically collect certain information through cookies and similar technologies, including IP address, browser type, device information, pages visited, and referring URLs. We use Google Analytics (measurement ID: G-WG9QZWVDG0) to understand how visitors use our site and improve our services.

3. How We Use Your Information

We use the information we collect to:

• Respond to your inquiries and provide pastoral care
• Send you confirmation emails and ministry-related communications
• Facilitate church membership, connection cards, and follow-up
• Manage children's ministry registration and safety
• Display public prayer requests (with your consent) for community prayer
• Track and save your Pathway learning progress
• Sync your information with Planning Center for church operations
• Improve our website, services, and user experience
• Analyze site usage through Google Analytics
• Prevent fraud, enforce our terms, and maintain security
• Comply with legal obligations

4. Third-Party Services & Data Sharing

We work with trusted third-party service providers who assist us in operating our website and ministry. These providers may have access to your information only to perform specific tasks on our behalf and are obligated to protect it:

• Clerk — Authentication and user account management. Their privacy policy applies to account data.
• Planning Center — Church management system for people, groups, and follow-up. Connection card and new member data may be synced here.
• Google (Gmail/Google APIs) — Email delivery for contact form notifications, prayer request alerts, and confirmation emails.
• Google Analytics — Website traffic and usage analytics. You can opt out using the Google Analytics Opt-out Browser Add-on.
• OpenAI — Content moderation for prayer requests and testimonies to filter inappropriate content. Text is sent to their Moderation API; we do not use it for AI training.
• Pushpay— When you give online, you are directed to Pushpay's secure giving platform. Payment and giving data are handled by Pushpay according to their privacy policy. We do not process payment card information on our site.
• Brushfire — Event registration for Not Your Typical and other events. Registration data is handled by Brushfire when you register through their platform.
• YouTube — Embedded videos for sermons, announcements, and teaching content. YouTube may set cookies when you watch videos.

We do not sell your personal information to third parties. We may share information when required by law, to protect our rights, or in connection with a merger or acquisition.

5. Cookies & Tracking Technologies

We use cookies and similar technologies for authentication, session management, theme preferences (e.g., light/dark mode), and analytics. Essential cookies are required for the site to function. Analytics cookies help us understand how visitors use our site. You can control cookies through your browser settings; however, disabling certain cookies may affect site functionality.

6. Data Security

We implement appropriate technical and organizational measures to protect your personal information against unauthorized access, alteration, disclosure, or destruction. This includes encryption in transit (HTTPS), secure database storage, and access controls. However, no method of transmission over the internet is 100% secure, and we cannot guarantee absolute security.

7. Data Retention

We retain your information for as long as necessary to fulfill the purposes described in this policy, unless a longer retention period is required by law. Account and membership data may be retained for ministry and pastoral care purposes. You may request deletion of your data by contacting us (see Section 10).

8. Children's Privacy

Our website is not directed to children under 13. When parents or guardians register their children for LH Kids & Teens, we collect only the information necessary for ministry participation. We do not knowingly collect personal information from children under 13 without parental consent. If you believe we have inadvertently collected such information, please contact us immediately.

9. Your Rights & Choices

Depending on your location, you may have the right to:

• Access the personal information we hold about you
• Request correction of inaccurate or incomplete data
• Request deletion of your personal information
• Object to or restrict certain processing of your data
• Data portability (receive your data in a structured format)
• Withdraw consent where processing is based on consent

To exercise these rights, please contact us using the information below. We will respond within a reasonable timeframe. You may also manage your account settings through your profile or delete your account.

10. Contact Us

If you have questions about this Privacy Policy or wish to exercise your privacy rights, please contact us:

11. Changes to This Policy

We may update this Privacy Policy from time to time. We will notify you of any material changes by posting the updated policy on this page and updating the "Last updated" date. We encourage you to review this policy periodically for any changes.