Vontoo Provides New Approach to Faith-Based Communications

Through a partnership with phone messaging company Vontoo, Broken Arrow Assembly of God Church in Oklahoma is leading a nationwide trend in turning the latest voice broadcasting technology to its advantage.

The large congregation is in the midst of relocating to an expanded facility, and uses the Vontoo voice messaging service to keep its more than 500 member families updated on the progress.

Church leaders record the latest update in a phone call and manage delivery of the message via anInternet interface. Jason Berry, the communications director for Broken Arrow Assembly of God, uploads his list of numbers and then schedules the voice recording for distribution to members who have given permission to receive communications.

"In the past, a lot of churches would use a manual phone tree which requires significant time and many volunteers," he said in a statement. "With Vontoo, I can easily reach 500 households in a single call, in less than an hour."

Using Vontoo’s opt-in/opt-out technology, recipients can choose after every call to be automatically removed from the list. Only three families have exercised this option in the past six months. "When we do the Vontoo calls we see great results," Berry said. "People make a point of thanking me for the reminder."

Automatic tracking reports show who listened to the call and for how long, as well as what calls reached an answering machine or voicemail. "Not only do I like to watch the voice messages go out and read the reports, I’ve found Vontoo to be much cheaper than traditional methods of mass communication such as a postcard," Berry said.

In the future, the church is considering using call messaging to spread the word quickly about weather closings or for special event announcements.

"I’ve told a lot of churches that they need to look at Vontoo and I would highly recommend it for helping to keep people informed," Berry said. "We feel like the Vontoo messages are making a difference."