Four Winds

Privacy Policy

Last Updated: October 7, 2026

At Four Winds, we respect your privacy. Our approach to your data is simple: we only collect what we need to welcome you — to our Sunday services and events, to the Dry Bones conference and reunion, and to Dry Bones Discipleship — and to care for you well once you’re here.

1. Information We Collect

Events & Outreach: When you RSVP or sign up for an event, we collect your name, email and/or phone number, how many people are coming, and any message you send us. A few events (like giveaways) also ask for your date of birth.
Plan a Visit: Your name, contact info, how you heard about us, and whether you’re interested in serving.
Dry Bones Conference & Reunion: Your name, contact info, church affiliation, emergency contact, t-shirt size, and health/dietary notes, plus whether your registration has been paid.
Dry Bones Discipleship & the Portal: To create your account we collect your name, email, and phone number. Your password is stored only in a scrambled (hashed) form — we can’t see it. As you take part, we also keep your group, the weeks of reading you mark as done, what you post in your group (posts, comments, and “Amens”), and any request to join or switch groups. Your profile photo, home church, favorite verse, and short bio are optional, and you choose what to fill in.
Security Basics: Like any website, our server keeps standard access logs (such as IP addresses and the pages requested). To stop break-ins, we briefly keep a record of failed sign-in attempts and how often a form is submitted.

2. How We Use Your Data

Events & Follow-Up: To plan for the people coming, and so our team can follow up with you about the event or your visit.
Discipleship: To place you in a group, show you each week’s reading, let your group leader see your group’s reading progress, and pass your group requests to the right leader.
Communication: We use your email and phone number for things you’ve asked for — registration confirmations, sign-in links, event and group updates, and payment instructions when an event has a cost.
Safety: Emergency contacts and medical/dietary notes are used only to care for you during an event (such as at the Pinecrest Retreat Center).

3. Who Can See What in the Portal

Your Group: The men in your group see what you post there, along with your name and photo.
Your Profile: Other signed-in members can see your profile page: your name, photo, group, and whatever you’ve chosen to fill in. Nothing in the portal is visible to the public or to search engines.
Your Phone & Email: Your group leader (or the leader of a group you’ve asked to join) and the Four Winds team can see your phone number and email so they can reach you. If you choose to share your phone, the men in your group can see it too. Nobody else can see them.
Leaders & Staff: Your group leader sees your contact details, your group’s reading progress, whether you’ve paid the group fee, and any requests to join his group. The Four Winds pastoral team and our site administrator can see program information so they can run it and care for you.
Photos & Files: Photos you upload are re-saved on our server, which removes hidden details like location data. Portal photos and files are shown only to signed-in members, never through a public link.

4. Payments & Giving

Your financial security is a priority.

Secure Processing: Event payments are handled securely by Stripe, a leading global payment processor.
Data Sovereignty: Your sensitive payment information (such as credit card numbers) is never stored on our servers.
Compliance: All transactions are encrypted via SSL and processed in adherence to PCI-DSS requirements. You can review Stripe’s privacy policy at stripe.com/privacy.
Dry Bones Discipleship: The $25 group fee can be paid by card through Stripe, or to your group leader by Zelle or cash. We record whether it’s paid, how, and when — never your card details.
Zelle: Some events also accept Zelle. That payment goes directly between banks — we only see your name and the amount.
Giving: Donations are made through Tithe.ly, under Tithe.ly’s privacy policy.

5. No Tracking

We believe in a focused, distraction-free experience.

No Tracking Cookies: We do not use cookies to track your behavior or follow you across the web. The only cookie we set is a sign-in and security cookie — it keeps you signed in to the portal and protects our forms from misuse.
No Analytics: We do not use third-party tracking plugins or analytics scripts (like Google Analytics or Meta Pixels).
On Your Device: Your browser remembers a couple of small preferences (like how you view the sermon list, or which portal badges you’ve already seen). These stay on your device and are never sent to us.

6. Who We Share With

We do not sell, rent, or share your data with outside marketers. We rely on a few trusted services to run the site, and they only receive what they need to do their job:

Hosting: Our website and its data live on a private server we rent from a hosting company.
Email: An email delivery service sends our messages (like sign-in links) to your inbox.
Payments & Giving: Stripe and Tithe.ly, as described above.
Videos: Sermon and event videos come from YouTube. Video thumbnails load from YouTube’s image servers, but the player itself only loads when you press play, using YouTube’s privacy-enhanced mode.

7. Data Retention & Your Choices

Events: We keep event and visit information only as long as needed for that event and its follow-up.
Your Portal Account: We keep it while you’re taking part. You can update your profile, remove your photo, or stop sharing your phone number at any time.
Removed Items: When something is removed in the portal (like a post), it is hidden right away and kept for a while so mistakes can be undone. Ask us and we’ll erase it for good.
Your Right to Removal: You may ask us to correct your information or remove your data at any time by contacting us directly.

8. Children

Our online sign-ups are for adults. We do not knowingly collect information from children under 13. For family events, a parent or guardian signs up for the family.

9. Contact Us

Questions, corrections, or removal requests: email hello@fourwindsministry.com or call 215-906-3474. If we make important changes to this policy, we’ll update the date at the top of this page.

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