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Temple-recommend email reminder

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 10:55 am
by Jonovitch
It would be helpful for members to get an email reminder a month before their recommends expire. A few of our members have let their recommends expire this year because they didn't know when it was up. Two years is a long time to remember when it expires.

As executive secretary, I can see a list of people with expired/expiring temple recommends. I'm guessing it would be relatively easy to send a reminder to a member's email when it gets to be a month before expiring (i.e., when they're added to the "expiring soon" list).

What do you think?

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 11:55 am
by dannykos
jonovitch wrote:A few of our members have let their recommends expire this year because they didn't know when it was up.

I would imagine that either the ward clerk, or exec sec would be tasked with keeping an eye on that list, and scheduling appointments with the relevant bishopric members as necessary.

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 12:18 pm
by Gary_Miller
I would imagine this would be a members responsibility. If they want a recommend they should be the one asking for it. Sometime people just need to be responsible for themselves.

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 12:45 pm
by aebrown
It's easy enough to generate a Custom report to show filter by expiration date and show member names and email addresses.

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 1:20 pm
by techgy
I've found from personal experience that if the recommend is being used, that workers at the temple desk will often remind someone that they're getting close to expiration. This should really be an individual responsibility.

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 5:25 pm
by dannykos
Gary_Miller wrote:I would imagine this would be a members responsibility. If they want a recommend they should be the one asking for it. Sometime people just need to be responsible for themselves.

Obviously… - but seeing as the topic of the thread was ways to help members remember to renew their recommend, my suggestion still stands.

Posted: Sat Oct 06, 2012 9:08 pm
by lajackson
jonovitch wrote:It would be helpful for members to get an email reminder a month before their recommends expire. A few of our members have let their recommends expire this year because they didn't know when it was up. Two years is a long time to remember when it expires.
In most cases, I would be okay with this. I think there are still some circumstances where you would not want to send a reminder, and there are still some errors in the system, so I do not believe it will come from the Church system.

If the executive secretary is not going to monitor the list and call to offer interview appointments (as I have seen done in many places), then he could send out a simple email reminder that "your temple recommend will expire at the end of September. Please contact [whoever] for an appointment to renew your recommend."
techgy wrote:I've found from personal experience that if the recommend is being used, that workers at the temple desk will often remind someone that they're getting close to expiration.
They used to, but at our temple, at least, they have been asked specifically to no longer do this. I do not know if this is local instruction or more widespread.

I agree that it is the member's responsibility to see that their temple recommend stays current, but I see no harm in helping with reminders. And if the executive secretary is going to provide the reminder, I think he might just as well set up the appointment while he is at it.

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2012 11:38 am
by davesudweeks
I am not so fond of employing technology for everything, especially something as personal as a Temple Recommend. There are still a significant number of members without e-mail addresses (or like my wife who don't want their e-mail address broadcast). That said, I do agree that sometimes members "just forget" and finding out at the temple that their recommend is expired is not a good thing (especially in areas of the church were the trip is several hours or more each way).

I am no longer Ward Clerk, but I used to print out 2 reports each month for the members of the Bishopric (counselors only). You don't need a custom report - just print the list of members with recommends expiring in the current month and the list of members with expired recommends from MLS. The counselors would review the lists with the bishop during bishopric meeting (for any he didn't want them to contact) and then coordinated themselves to contact the members in whatever method worked best. This simple process helped us maintain a high temple recommend renewal rate.

Posted: Thu Oct 18, 2012 4:00 pm
by mevans
I was a ward clerk back in the DOS days of the membership system and I imagine it was more difficult back then to keep track of expiration dates, but I had a good system. I think now that information travels with the membership record, doesn't it? I'd give the bishop a report every quarter of upcoming expirations and he would ask the executive secretary to make appointments after reviewing the list. I thought it was important that the bishop reviewed the list and decided who he wanted the executive secretary to contact because the bishop knew things about people that we did not. He might also have a preference on whether he or one of his counselors was scheduled for the interview.

I haven't seen other wards I've been in since proactively contact members about recommend expirations and I wish they would. Even though I attend regularly, I've been caught not having a current recommend. I agree that the personal, human touch is preferred. However, a technology solution that might work is a member-selectable preference about whether you want to receive email reminders for recommend expiration. It's a busy world and some people just forget.