Privacy Policy
Hillside Christian Church
Effective date: June 11, 2026
Your privacy is important to Hillside Christian Church (HCC). We see the Internet as a tool in fulfilling our mission of leading others into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. When you are visiting our website or using our mobile application(s) and text messaging services, we may collect different types of information. Generally, these fall into two categories. The first is information that you provide to us through creating an account, registering for events, making online donations and payments, or signing up to receive text messages. The other is data provided by your device or software meant to improve your interaction with websites and mobile applications.
What We Collect and How It's Used
IP Address, Location Data, Device Identifiers, and Cookies
When you access our website or use our mobile application(s), we may collect your Internet Protocol (IP) address, location data, and/or device identifier. We use this information to provide a tailored experience for you — for example, helping you find and connect with nearby HCC locations, finding events near you, and locating nearby facilities.
We also collect this information to aggregate and summarize total usage, analyze data, communicate with you more effectively, and diagnose technical issues with your account and our servers. This information can include your operating system, hardware version, device settings and device identifiers, the name of your internet service provider, browser type, language, time zone, and mobile phone number (when using our texting services). We may also use cookies to enhance the way we present information to you and to track the pages and other media that are viewed. You can disable cookies in your web browser; however, your experience and the functionality of the website may be degraded significantly. We do not sell, rent, or share any personally identifiable information with third parties without your explicit consent.
Information You Provide
When you use our website or mobile application(s), we may ask you for basic personal information (such as your name, email address, phone number, and an account password). Any communications you send to us in any format, from any device on any platform (including social media), may be used or stored if we feel the information improves or evaluates processes, is pertinent to caring for you or your family, or supports the safety and security of Hillside Christian Church. We do not sell, rent, or lease your personally identifiable information to any outside organizations.
Please keep in mind that if you disclose personal information in a public manner — whether through collaborative postings, social media, message boards, or other public online forums — this information may be collected and used by others. We cannot control the actions of other users or third parties with whom you choose to share your posts. Therefore, we cannot and do not guarantee that your posts will not be viewed by unauthorized persons, nor do we accept any liability associated with your posts.
We may combine the information you submit under your account with other information to provide certain services, offer you a better experience, and improve the quality of our services. Examples include, but are not limited to, providing online giving services, presenting you with development or volunteer opportunities, and analyzing our application or website performance.
Because we use third-party services to process credit cards, we do not store full credit card numbers or verification numbers on our servers at any time.
Text Messaging (SMS) Services
When you opt in to receive text messages from Hillside Christian Church (for example, by texting a keyword to our short code 26398 or by providing your mobile number on one of our forms), we collect your mobile phone number, your opt-in and consent records, and the content of messages you send to and receive from us. We use this information solely to send you the communications you requested — such as event and camp updates, reminders, ministry information, and responses to your messages — and to provide support related to those messages.
No mobile information will be shared with third parties or affiliates for marketing or promotional purposes. All of the categories of personal data described in this Privacy Policy exclude text messaging originator opt-in data and consent; this information will not be shared with any third parties under any circumstances. We may share your information only with the trusted service providers that help us operate our messaging program (for example, our texting platform and telecommunications providers), and only so that they can deliver messages on our behalf.
You may opt out of receiving text messages at any time by replying STOP to any message you receive from us, after which we will send one confirmation message. For help, reply HELP or contact us using the information in the Contact section below. Message frequency varies, and message and data rates may apply. Our text messaging program is also governed by our Terms of Use.
Why Do We Collect This Information?
Any access to personal information within the church is closely monitored and available on a need-to-know basis only. Any information we receive is used to enhance your experience and make it easier for you to volunteer, register for events, make online donations, and use other functions of HCC.
The collected data is used in two ways:
- All personal data that you provide electronically (e.g., volunteer applications, event registrations, camp registrations, donations, and payments) will be used only for its intended purpose as stated in the online forms you submit to us.
- All data that we collect regarding your usage of the site through other means is summarized (aggregated) into reports to help us improve the site or your personal experience on the site or applications.
Children's Privacy
Hillside Christian Church is committed to protecting the privacy and safety of children. We do not knowingly collect personally identifiable information online from children under the age of 13 without verifiable parental consent. Registrations and forms involving a child (such as camp or student ministry event registrations) are intended to be completed by a parent or legal guardian, who provides any information about the child and consents to its use for the purpose of the registration.
If you believe that a child under 13 has provided us with personal information without parental consent, or if a parent wishes to review, update, or request deletion of their child's information, please contact us using the information in the Contact section below, and we will take appropriate steps to address the request.
Security
The security of the information that you provide is extremely important to us, and we have taken careful measures to protect it. All transactions are conducted using an SSL (Secure Socket Layer) connection from a premier provider of high-assurance digital certificates.
If you submit a payment or donation online, we will only use your credit/debit card number to process the gifts or payments you authorize. Your entire card number is never stored on our servers; it is tokenized and encrypted as it is passed to our payment gateways. Sensitive information that we may collect will not be disclosed to third parties unless we are required to do so by law or unless you explicitly authorize us to do so.
Links to Other Sites
HCC provides links to other sites that are neither owned nor controlled by us. These third-party sites are not subject to or bound by this Privacy Policy. Such third-party sites may or may not have their own privacy policies and may or may not collect personal information from you or place cookies on your browser. HCC is not responsible for the privacy policies or any information collection practices of these sites or any damages resulting therefrom.
Changes to the Privacy Policy
We will post any substantive changes to this Privacy Policy at least 30 days prior to the change taking effect. Any information collected under this current policy will remain bound by the terms of this Privacy Policy. After the changes take effect, all new information collected, if any, will be subject to the revised Privacy Policy.
Contact
If you have questions about this policy or feel that we have acted in violation of it, please email us at [email protected] or write: Hillside Christian Church, Attention: Information Services, P.O. Box 7807, Amarillo, TX 79114, 806-457-4900.