Missionary Invite & Update Links

Instead of entering a missionary's information yourself, send them a secure link and let them fill out everything in one form. When they submit, their record is created or updated automatically — no admin account required on their end. A new missionary who submits the form arrives in your Missionaries list as Pending review: hidden from the map and the kiosk until an admin opens the record and clicks Approve. An update to an existing missionary goes live straight away and is flagged Pending review so you know to look it over. In both cases every admin of the church is e-mailed when a submission comes in.

All links are single-use and expire after 7 days. Sending a new update link to a missionary who is already on your map expires their previous unused one. A link for a new profile stays valid until it is used, expires, or you revoke it: the Invite dialog shows how many unused links are still open and offers Revoke all unused links, which is what to do when a link went to the wrong address. Whatever comes in through a link arrives as Pending review and is not public until you approve it.

What the Form Includes

The missionary form is one page in two parts, laid out the same way as the admin editor so a church office and a missionary are always looking at the same thing. A sticky bar at the top jumps to any section.

Part 1 — About you

• About — name, email, phone (never shown publicly), sending organization (pick one or add a new one), field of service, and, for a missionary family, the date they went to the field. The same Missionary / Ministry toggle as the editor sits at the top.
• Family — spouse, children, and team members with name, role, and birth year. A ministry/organization names a director instead.
• Location — city and country only; no street address is collected. Find on map looks the city up, then the pin can be dragged or tapped into place. A pin is required before the form can be sent. A checkbox marks a sensitive or closed country, which keeps the profile off the public web map (kiosk only).
• Bio — the full bio (up to 3,000 characters, with a counter) and the brief description shown on the lobby kiosk (25 words, with a live word count).
• Support — support level and giving link, or a website for a ministry/organization.
• Photos — up to ten photos. The one marked Profile becomes the profile picture; tap Make profile on any other to change it.

Part 2 — Share an update

• Prayer letters — upload a PDF or Word file, or photograph each page of a paper letter with a phone. The pages are cleaned up (shadows removed, paper whitened) and bound into one PDF. The title starts as the file name and can be changed; the date is optional.
• Videos — paste a YouTube or Vimeo link, or upload a video file up to 1 GB.
• Any number of letters and videos can be added in one submission (up to ten, and up to 4 GB of files in total — the form adds them up and says so before sending). Updates already on the profile are listed so nothing is uploaded twice.

A Review & submit box at the bottom shows what is still missing. Email addresses and links are checked as they are typed, but only the name and the map pin are required. The link works once, and the form says so before the submit button. Everything is checked, and photographed pages are converted, before the link is spent, so a mistake or a photo that will not convert can simply be fixed and sent again.

If the missionary already has a record, the form pre-fills with their existing data. If they are new, a fresh record is created when they submit and waits for an admin's approval before it appears anywhere public. A link created for an update only (an invite_type of media through the API) shows Part 2 alone: nothing about the profile is asked or changed, and at least one letter or video is required.

Sending a Link

New missionaries receive a welcome email introducing them to the platform. Existing missionaries receive an update request from the church.

Printable Form

For missionaries who aren't comfortable with online forms, a printable paper version is available in the admin panel. Below the missionary list, expand the Printable Invite Form panel and choose the missionary or the ministry/organization version. This opens a print-ready page with the same sections as the online form — use your browser's Print or Save as PDF. Once returned, a staff member enters the information with the Add button; a paper prayer letter sent back with it can be photographed page by page in the Updates section and becomes a clean PDF.

What the Missionary Sees

When a missionary clicks their link they see a clean, branded form showing the church name and logo. The form pre-fills any existing information. They can upload photos, find their city on the map, add prayer letters (even by photographing a paper letter) and videos, and submit everything in one step. No account or password required. After submitting, a new missionary is told the church will review their profile before it appears on the map; an existing missionary is told their changes are live and the church has been notified.

Reviewing a Submission

Submissions are marked Pending review in the Missionaries list. Open the record, check the photo, bio and pin, and click Approve to publish it (for a new missionary) or to clear the flag (for an update). Saving the record from the editor clears the flag too. Approvals are recorded in the Audit Log.