Start here: your first week on LockIn

Twenty minutes of setup covers your first week. By the end your night is planned, your leaders know their jobs before they walk in, and the door is one tap.

1. Answer the five setup questions

The first time you sign in, LockIn asks about your ministry: your church, who you serve, your main night, any second gathering, and texting.

Answer with what's true now, not what you're hoping for. If Wednesday is your night, say Wednesday. LockIn schedules briefs, reminders, and follow-ups around the rhythm you give it here. All of it can change later in Settings.

On the free trial, everything sends by email. Texting from your ministry's own number turns on when you pick a plan. Details in Text students and parents.

2. Build your first Flow

The Flow is the plan for one night, laid out as a timeline everyone can read at a glance.

1. Open Flows and pick your next night.
2. Add your stops: hangout, worship, teaching, game, small groups. Whatever your night actually is.
3. Give each stop a length and a leader.

Times stack automatically. Drag the grip on a stop's left edge to reorder it, and every start time recalculates. Move the game above the teaching at 4pm on a Wednesday and nobody has to redo math.

When the plan is set, hit Lock. Locked means "this is the plan," not "this is frozen." You can still edit, and your team sees the current version either way.

If your small groups use discussion questions, open the Guide tab and write them there. Number your questions and leaders see them as a clean list on their phones. No more year-old doc nobody can find.

3. Add your students

Two ways, both under Students:

• Add student for one at a time. Name and grade are enough to start.
• Bulk add for the whole roster. Paste straight from your spreadsheet.

One thing to get right on day one: texting consent. LockIn imports students as not-textable until their family has actually agreed to receive texts. There's a consent checkbox on the import. Check it only if it's true. It protects your families, and it keeps your ministry on the right side of texting law.

4. Bring in your leaders

Open Team and invite each leader by email. Most volunteers should have the Leader role. Save Admin for the people who run the whole ministry with you.

Leaders don't need to install anything. When you send the Brief, each one gets a text with a link that opens their week: the stop they are running, their supplies, the guide. No password, no app store.

5. Send the Brief

The Brief is what kills the parking-lot briefing. It goes out before the night, and each leader gets their own: what they're on, when, what to grab from the closet.

From your dashboard, open the upcoming night and hit Send the Brief. Then watch the confirmations come in. Each leader taps once to lock in, and you see who's ready before doors instead of finding out after.

What's next

• Take attendance at the door, including the part where it fills in small-group records by itself.
• Text students and parents when you're ready to reach families.

Stuck anywhere? Email hello@lockin.church. We usually reply within one business day.