- A2P 10DLC
- Application-to-Person, 10-Digit Long Code: the US carrier framework for sending organizational texts from a normal 10-digit phone number. Senders register a Brand and a Campaign before messages will deliver reliably.
- Full 10DLC guide for churches →
- Brand (registration)
- The first part of 10DLC registration: who is sending. A church registers its legal name and EIN so carriers can identify the organization behind the texts.
- Campaign (registration)
- The second part of 10DLC registration: what you will send and how people opt in. Churches typically register under the Charity use case, which can lower carrier fees.
- SMS
- Short Message Service: a plain-text message. The carrier bills it in segments rather than as one flat message, so length and character set affect cost.
- MMS
- Multimedia Messaging Service: a text that includes an image or other media. It is billed at a higher flat rate, commonly the equivalent of two to three SMS segments, regardless of length.
- SMS vs. MMS, and when to send each →
- Segment
- The billing unit for SMS. A plain-text message up to 160 characters is one segment; longer messages are split into multiple segments, and each segment is charged.
- Estimate segments and cost →
- GSM-7
- The standard character set for plain SMS. It fits 160 characters in a single segment. Most ordinary letters, numbers, and punctuation are GSM-7.
- Unicode (UCS-2)
- The character set used when a message contains an emoji or a non-GSM symbol. It cuts a single segment from 160 characters down to 70, so one emoji can make a short message cost more to send.
- Long code
- A standard 10-digit phone number used to send and receive texts. This is the number type that requires A2P 10DLC registration. It is the most common choice for churches.
- Short code vs. long code vs. toll-free →
- Short code
- A 5-to-6-digit number used for high-volume texting. A dedicated short code costs hundreds of dollars a month to lease (US carriers no longer allow shared ones), so most churches use a registered long code instead.
- Short code for churches: do you need one? →
- Toll-free number
- An 800-style number that can send texts after a separate toll-free verification process. Toll-free messaging sits outside the 10DLC system, but it cannot present a local area code.
- Keyword
- A word people text to your number to opt in, such as texting JOIN to subscribe. Keywords are the most common way churches grow a text list with proper consent.
- Opt-in / consent
- Permission to text someone, captured before the first message. Under the TCPA, consent is required, and you should keep a record of when and how each person opted in.
- See a compliant opt-in example →
- Opt-out (STOP)
- A recipient's request to stop receiving texts, usually by replying STOP. Opt-outs must be honored immediately and the number kept suppressed from future sends.
- TCPA
- The Telephone Consumer Protection Act, the US law governing automated calls and texts. It requires prior consent and a working opt-out. Churches are not exempt from it.
- Church texting laws by state →
- Two-way messaging
- Texting where replies come back to you and can be answered in a conversation. The opposite of broadcast-only sending, where replies are dropped or forwarded elsewhere.
- Broadcast
- One-to-many sending: the same message goes to a whole list at once. Useful for announcements, but on its own it does not support back-and-forth conversation.
- Call queue
- A worked list of people to call, one at a time, with each person's context in front of the caller. A church builds a queue from a segment or a list (new visitors, prayer requests, homebound members) and a volunteer dials through it. These are live, person-to-person calls, not automated dialing.
- Church call scripts by ministry →
- Disposition
- The logged outcome of a call: reached, no answer, left voicemail, or call back later, plus a note. Dispositions keep a team from dropping or double-calling people, and can trigger a follow-up, such as an automatic text after a no-answer.
- Softphone
- Software that makes and receives phone calls from a computer or phone, with no separate handset. A church can dial through a call queue from a softphone widget, with the contact's history on screen.
Texting without the jargon
Vesperbell handles the technical parts (10DLC registration, segments, opt-outs) so your church can just send the message. Read the FAQ or the 10DLC guide.