You will need the Limited Account permission to submit or resubmit the verification form.
Every toll-free number used for business texting in the United States must be registered with the network carriers before they will carry its traffic. This is a carrier requirement, not a One Church Software one, and it applies to every provider in the market. Until it is approved, the carriers block your messages.
The form takes about ten minutes, and you only complete it once. For the background on why it exists, see Why should I verify my text messaging number?
Where to find the form
Open the Text Messaging panel from the Messaging Center, via Messaging > Message history > Text Messaging and click your Verification Status, or use the yellow banner shown on an unverified account. The Opt-In Form has four sections — Business Name, Things to know, Messages you may receive and Sign Up.
Business
Church name - The legal name your church operates under, matching what the carriers can verify. Not a campus nickname or a ministry brand.
EIN - Your nine-digit Employer Identification Number, exactly as it appears on your IRS letter. This is the field churches most often get wrong, usually by entering a state charity number or a diocesan number instead of their own.
Website - Required, and it must start with https://. The form rejects anything else. It also needs to be a live, publicly reachable site that clearly identifies your church.
Privacy policy URL - Optional, but supplying one strengthens the submission. It should be publicly reachable and explain how phone numbers are handled.
Church address - Your physical address, which should match public records.
Tip: Churches are registered as non-profit organizations identified by EIN in the United States, and those classifications are set for you. That is why the form only asks for the EIN value and not your organization type.
Contact
Give a real named person: First name, Last name, Email and Phone number. The carriers may contact them. A shared mailbox is accepted, but a monitored, named contact resolves questions faster.
Messaging
Monthly volume - Total messages across all recipients per month, picked from a list of tiers. A church texting 300 people weekly is roughly 1,200 a month. Round up: this is a ceiling you are declaring, not a promise.
Use case - Pick the category that best describes the bulk of your messages. Religious Services is pre-selected and correct for almost every church.
Purpose - A checklist of set purposes such as event reminders, service updates, prayer requests, volunteer coordination, giving and fundraising, guest follow-up, encouragement and devotionals, emergency alerts, small group coordination and special announcements. There is a check all link, and ticking Other reveals a box for anything the list does not cover. Tick everything you genuinely intend to do — sending something you did not declare is what draws scrutiny later.
Example messages - Two or three real examples, in the wording you will actually use, including your church name. This is the one place a vague answer costs you.
Good examples read like this:
"Church family, our live stream begins in 15 minutes. Share service details with your friends and family."
"Remember, the youth rally has been rescheduled to April 15."
"Important update: Sunday's service is canceled due to severe weather. Stay safe."
Opt-in
This is the part the carriers scrutinize most, because it is where you prove that recipients agreed to be texted. There are two ways to answer it.
Use the One Church-hosted opt-in page - You provide nothing. Your own opt-in page is submitted for you, and it already carries every disclosure the carriers require.
I already have a compliant opt-in page - You provide the Opt-in page URL, tick a six-item checklist confirming the page carries the required disclosures, and upload screenshots of the form with the consent text visible.
Tip: Choose the hosted page unless you have a specific reason not to. It removes the most common denial reason outright. Every church has one from the moment texting is enabled, at {your church}.onechurchsoftware.com/public/sms-optin, and it already states that message and data rates apply, how to get help, how to stop, and that numbers will not be shared with third parties.
Finish by confirming that the information is accurate and that members have explicitly consented, then click Submit for verification.
After you submit
Your Verification Status changes to Pending. You cannot submit again while a review is open, which keeps duplicate submissions from slowing the queue down.
The carriers review it on their own schedule. When they decide, the status updates on its own — nobody has to check or chase it. There are three statuses:
Unverified - Either never submitted, or submitted and denied. When it is a denial, the reason appears on the panel. You cannot send.
Pending - Submitted and under carrier review. You cannot send.
Verified - Approved. Your number may carry messages.
Tip: Once verified, you stay verified. If you later update and resubmit your details and that update is rejected, the number keeps its existing approval — your texting does not go dark because of a failed edit.
If your submission is denied
A denial is usually a fast fix. The reason appears on the Text Messaging panel, and you resubmit from the same form.
Business details could not be verified - Your church name, EIN and address have to match public records as a set. Check that the EIN is your church's own and that you used the legal name.
Website problem - The site must load, be publicly reachable, and clearly identify your church. A coming-soon page or a site behind a login will fail.
Opt-in evidence insufficient - Switch to the hosted opt-in page. This resolves the category almost every time.
Purpose or example messages too vague - Rewrite the examples with specifics: who is being messaged, what about, and how often. Include your church name, and check that you ticked every purpose you actually intend to use.
Volume looks implausible - An estimate well out of line with your congregation size draws scrutiny. Recalculate it.