St. Mark Lutheran Church (SMLC) owns and operates the website www.smlc.info. SMLC is aware that users of the site may be concerned about the way personal information is shared and/or used. This policy outlines how SMLC uses and protects information provided on the website. Personal information will not be shared with any party except as outlined in this Privacy Policy and is intended to be compliant with local, state and federal law.

This Privacy Policy applies only to the website and services owned and operated by SMLC. St. Mark cannot regulate other sites linked to, from, or within our various websites, pages or services. These other sites (e.g., Vanco for giving. Signupgenius for worship reservations) may place their own cookies or other files on your computer, collect data, or solicit personal information from you. You should familiarize yourself with their unique Privacy Policies, should you choose to visit their sites.

At times, SMLC may utilize programs which may require personal information in order to complete a registration process. If a user of www.smlc.info chooses to register for a St. Mark activity such as Sunday School, a youth activity, Vacation Bible School, Retreat or newsletter, the user will be asked to provide certain personal information in an on-line form. Should a user decline to submit personal information, St. Mark may not be able to provide the relevant service.

The St. Mark website uses Google Analytics to track usage within the website.  Google Analytics uses a set of cookies to collect information and report site usage statistics. Individual visitors are not personally identified by ‘_ga’, the main cookie used by Google Analytics. The cookie enables a service to distinguish one visitor from another and lasts for 2 years. Each ‘_ga’ cookie is unique to St. Mark and will not be used to track the user on other websites.

Personal information collected in an SMLC on-line form program registration is used to support the user’s participation as well as providing communication about the activity and related information.

A user can always opt out of future communications delivered electronically by using the unsubscribe feature of the communication, if applicable, or by notifying SMLC’s main office through email or phone call.

An email address, phone number or social platform account (e.g., Facebook) may occasionally be used by SMLC staff and committees for church communication. This type of communication includes, but is not limited to email, SMS, MMS, text message or other electronic means currently used or developed in the future.

SMLC does NOT share personal information outside of St. Mark unless the disclosure of the information is deemed necessary to: 1) comply with applicable laws, regulations, or legal process; 2) comply with a request from an agency of the government; 3) enforce a Term of Service, including an investigation of a potential violation; 4) investigate cases of fraud, security or technical issues; or 5) protect the rights, safety and property of SMLC, its congregation or the general public as is required by, or permitted by law.

SMLC takes reasonable steps to put in place appropriate security measures. These measures are designed and implemented to ensure security and protect against unauthorized access to programs and systems where personal data is stored.  These measures further seek to prevent alteration, disclosure or destruction of data. Other than publication of church directories, St. Mark restricts access of personal data to only SMLC employees, contractors, church leadership and committee members who need to know that information to conduct, develop and/or improve programs and services consistent with SMLC’s ministries.

St. Mark reviews the way data is collected, stored and processed to ensure that only personal information needed to provide or improve our services is retained. St. Mark depends on the congregation and public users to update their information when necessary to ensure the accuracy of the data