Explorers want to connect to churches for a wide variety of reasons- from wanting to find a local church, to dealing with personal issues and just looking for someone to listen. Depending on where you are and how many people are on your team, you may want to fine-tune the explorers you receive to respond to everyone effectively.
Managing Explorer Settings
Explorer Settings can be found by clicking on your initials in the bottom-left corner, then clicking on Explorer Settings!
Under your Explorer Settings you can:
Update your Explorer status to Active or Paused
Schedule future pauses
Customize the location, quantity, and language preferences of your Explorers
Notate how many people you have on staff who can respond to Explorers
Note: Is your Explorer status paused with no option to unpause? Click here to learn why and how to start receiving Explorers again!
Activating and Pausing Explorer Connections 🔗
When your Explorer Status is set to active, your account will automatically receive Explorers from the system at any time. If you need a break, you are able to pause your account at any time so that no new Explorers will be matched with your organization until you've reactivated.
Note: When you first open your account, your Explorer Status will be set to Paused for the first 3 days to give you time to get oriented to the account. The status will automatically switch to Active after 3 days, or you can manually activate at any time.
To change your Explorer Status, go to the Status tab and click Schedule Pause / Unpause.
If you are unpausing, your account will become active again to receive new Explorers. If you are pausing, you will need to select a timeframe and reason for the pause, then click Confirm.
To Unpause your account, click on the Status tab under Explorer Settings and click Unpause. Click Confirm to Unpause & start receiving Explorers again or Cancel.
If you don't want your pause to begin immediately, but want to schedule it for a future date, click Schedule Pause instead.
Select your start & end dates and Pause Reason and click Schedule.
Your updated Explorer Status will be shown in the top right corner of your screen, along with the end date of your pause.
Note 1: Scheduling a pause beginning on the current date means the pause will begin immediately. Your account will automatically reactivate at 9am local time on the end date you set.
Note 2: You can schedule multiple pauses, as long as the dates of the pauses don't overlap!
Your account will show your current Explorer Status in the top right corner, along with any future scheduled pauses beneath. Scheduled pauses can be edited or archived (deleted) by clicking the 3 dots on the right side.
Note: You can only pause your account for 6 months from the current date. If you need to pause for longer, you'll need to schedule another pause starting the day your initial pause ends. You will receive notifications in the days leading up your your reactivation date.
Choosing Type, Distance, and Quantity of Explorers 🧭
Under your Preferences, you can customize some aspects of how you receive Explorers. Keep in mind that adjustments like these can have a significant impact on the volume of Explorers you are receiving, so ensure you are ready for the changes. Turning on your Nationwide setting, for example, may drastically increase the number of Explorers matched with your account. Adjusting your proximity to a small radius, on the other hand, may drastically decrease it.
Whenever making any changes, make sure to click Save Changes at the bottom to confirm your new settings!
Proximity 📌
By default, your account will receive Explorers from up to a 50 mile radius of your listed address. If you find that many of your Explorers are too far away for you to meaningfully interact with, you can adjust that radius to be smaller.
Maximum 🔢
By default, there is no maximum set to how many Explorers you can receive in a week. If the volume feels overwhelming though, you can set a maximum number.
Nationwide 🗺️
By default, your account only receives Explorers from the radius you've specified under Proximity. However, if you'd like to receive Explorers from all over the country, you can turn on your Nationwide setting. But be warned- the volume may be high! So be prepared.
Language 📃
By default, your account only receives English speaking Explorers. Turning on Spanish speaking Explorers means you will receive Explorer messages in both English and Spanish. There is currently no way to receive only Spanish speaking Explorers.
Note: If the setting Accepting Nationwide is turned on, your maximum number of Explorers setting will not be applied.
Adding Church Information ℹ️
You are also able to add some basic information about your church, denomination, beliefs, and other information. This can be helpful to have on hand to send out to Explorers who are interested in your church, rather than typing it out each time.
Managing Subscriptions 🗒️
Note: There is currently no way to completely remove Explorers from your account on your own. If you would like to completely opt out of the Explorer Connections program (not just put yourself on pause), please contact support at support@gloo.us!