Privacy Policy

North Atlanta Ghanaian Seventh-day Adventist Church ("the Church," "we," "us," or "our") respects your privacy. This policy explains how information may be handled when you visit northatlantaghanaiansda.org, use its public features, communicate with the Church, or use the Media Portal.

1. Scope of This Policy

This policy applies to this website, the Media Portal, and information sent to the Church through links or features on this website. It does not control the independent privacy practices of third-party websites or services that you choose to visit.

By using this website, you acknowledge the practices described here. If you do not agree with this policy, please do not submit personal information or create a Media Portal account.

2. Information We Handle

Information you choose to send. Contact, newsletter, and prayer request forms prepare an email in your own email application. The information is sent only after you review and send that email. Depending on your message, it may include your name, email address, phone number, prayer request, ministry interest, or other details you choose to provide.

Media Portal account information. When an approved contributor creates an account, the system stores the contributor's name, email address, account role, password hash and salt, and account creation date. Plain-text passwords are not stored.

Media submissions. Contributors may provide a title, media category, secure media URL, description, submission status, and related timestamps. Church administrators can review contributor names and email addresses with submitted items.

Security information. The website may temporarily process an IP address during registration or sign-in attempts to limit abuse. The rate-limit identifier stored by the application is hashed.

Public browsing. We do not currently operate a separate advertising or behavioral analytics system on this website. Our hosting provider may process ordinary technical request information, such as IP address, browser details, requested pages, timestamps, and security events, to deliver and protect the site.

3. Cookies and Browser Storage

The Media Portal uses a strictly necessary secure session cookie to keep an authenticated user signed in. The cookie is marked Secure, HttpOnly, and SameSite=Strict and normally expires after seven days. Signing out removes the active session.

Archangel, the website navigation assistant, uses session storage only to remember whether its welcome panel has already opened during the current browsing session. Its questions are matched locally in the browser and are not sent to an external artificial intelligence provider.

The installable NAGSDAC app is the same website running in home-screen mode. It uses a service worker and browser cache to make selected public pages and visual assets available more quickly and, in limited cases, while offline. Account and API responses are not intentionally stored in the offline app cache.

The website may also use local browser storage for church-managed content settings. You can clear cookies and site data through your browser, although doing so may sign you out or reset site preferences.

4. How We Use Information

We may use information to:

• Respond to questions, prayer requests, ministry interests, and requests for church updates.
• Operate and secure Media Portal accounts and sessions.
• Review, approve, publish, decline, or remove submitted church media.
• Prevent spam, fraud, unauthorized access, and excessive sign-in attempts.
• Maintain the website, improve visitor navigation, and communicate about church services or events.
• Meet applicable administrative, safety, or legal responsibilities.

We do not use this website to sell personal information or to collect payment card or bank account details.

5. Giving and Financial Information

The Give page directs visitors to AdventistGiving, a separate service. The Church website does not receive or store the payment card, bank account, or verification information entered there. Before completing a gift, confirm that you have selected the correct Lilburn, Georgia congregation and review AdventistGiving's own privacy and security information.

6. Sharing and Disclosure

We do not sell or rent personal information. Information may be available to pastors, church officers, authorized ministry leaders, communications volunteers, or service providers when reasonably needed to respond to you, administer the website, review media, maintain security, or fulfill the purpose for which you provided it.

We may disclose information when required by law, legal process, or a valid government request; to protect the rights, safety, or property of the Church or others; to investigate suspected abuse or fraud; or as part of a future organizational or service transition where appropriate safeguards apply.

Prayer information is handled according to the privacy choice selected by the person making the request. Please remember that email is not guaranteed to be completely confidential or secure.

7. Third-Party Services and Links

This website links to or embeds content from services such as YouTube, Google Maps, AdventistGiving, email providers, and social media platforms. When you interact with those services, they may receive technical information and apply their own cookies, account rules, or privacy policies. The Church does not control their independent practices.

8. Your Choices

You may browse most public pages without creating an account or directly providing personal information. You may choose not to send an email form, not to follow a third-party link, or not to create a Media Portal account.

You may request access to, correction of, or deletion of personal information you previously provided. Some information may need to be retained for security, legal, financial, recordkeeping, or legitimate church administrative purposes. Identity verification may be required before an account or personal record is changed.

9. Security and Retention

We use reasonable technical and administrative safeguards, including encrypted HTTPS connections, hashed passwords, secure session cookies, same-origin request checks, rate limiting, restricted administrator functions, and security-focused browser headers.

No internet transmission or storage method can be guaranteed to be completely secure. Account users are responsible for protecting their passwords and signing out on shared devices. Information is retained only as long as reasonably needed for its purpose, website security, church administration, or applicable obligations.

10. Children's Privacy

This website serves families but is not designed for children to create accounts or submit personal information independently. Children under 13 should not create a Media Portal account or send personal information without a parent or guardian's involvement. If you believe a child has submitted personal information without appropriate permission, contact us so we can review and, where appropriate, remove it.

11. Communications

If you request church updates or contact a ministry, the Church may reply using the contact information you provided. This website does not currently operate an automated SMS subscription program. You may ask us to stop nonessential email communications at any time.

12. Changes to This Policy

We may update this policy when website features, service providers, legal requirements, or Church practices change. The revised date will appear at the top of the page. Material changes may also be highlighted on the website when appropriate.

13. Contact Us

For privacy questions or requests, email [email protected], call 404-643-2556, or write to North Atlanta Ghanaian Seventh-day Adventist Church, 1400 Killian Hill Rd SW, Lilburn, GA 30047.