Terms of Service

1. Acceptance of terms

These Terms, together with our Musician Agreement (for musicians and other talent), our SMS Communications Consent disclosure, and any other policies we link from here or present to you at sign-up, form the entire agreement between you and Worship Scout regarding the Service. If you're using the Service on behalf of a church, organization, or other entity, you represent that you have authority to bind that entity to these Terms, and "you" refers to both you and it.

2. Eligibility

You must be at least 18 years old and able to form a binding contract to create an account or use the Service. By using the Service, you represent that you meet these requirements and that your use doesn't violate any law or regulation that applies to you.

3. The service

Worship Scout is a marketplace that connects churches with musicians, worship leaders, and other production/media talent ("Talent") for paid bookings. We provide the platform, search and discovery tools, messaging, scheduling, payment processing (through our third-party payment processor), and related features that let a church request a booking and Talent accept, decline, and deliver it.

Worship Scout is not a party to the booking arrangement itself. The agreement to perform, and the terms of that performance (what's expected, when, and where), is between the church and the Talent. We facilitate the connection, the payment, and dispute handling as described below, but we don't control, supervise, or guarantee the quality, safety, timeliness, or legality of what either party actually delivers.

4. Accounts and registration

You need an account to book Talent or be booked. You agree to provide accurate, current information when you register and to keep it up to date — including your profile bio, rates, availability, location, and any links, photos, or videos you post. You're responsible for everything that happens under your account, including actions taken by anyone you allow to access it, and for keeping your login credentials confidential. Tell us right away if you suspect unauthorized use of your account.

Each account belongs to one church or one individual Talent profile. Don't create an account for someone else without their permission, and don't maintain more than one account unless we've agreed to it in writing.

5. Bookings, payments, and fees

How a booking works. A church submits a booking request specifying the Talent, the service(s) or rehearsal(s), dates, and location. Talent may accept or decline. When Talent accepts, the church's saved payment method is charged automatically for the Talent's published rate, plus the fees described below. We hold that payment and release the Talent's portion a set time after the booking's last scheduled event (or earlier, at the church's option) — Talent always receives 100% of their published rate for the booking; nothing is deducted from it.

Booking fee. Churches pay a booking fee on top of Talent's rate. The fee is calculated using a tiered schedule that generally decreases the more a church books the same Talent within a rolling period, and it may be reduced to $0 for a church with an active location subscription (see below). Because the schedule is configurable and may change, the exact percentage and any dollar cap that applies to a given booking is shown to you before you submit a request and again before it's charged — that displayed figure controls, not any number that may appear elsewhere, including on this page.

Card processing cost. Card networks and our payment processor charge a processing fee on every card transaction. We pass an estimate of that cost through to the church as a separate line item at checkout rather than absorbing it — it's shown alongside the booking fee before you confirm.

Location subscriptions. A church may optionally subscribe to a flat monthly plan, priced by how many locations the church has on file, in exchange for paying no booking fee on any booking while the subscription is active. Subscribing to a higher tier or switching tiers is billed and prorated immediately upon confirmation. Cancelling a subscription stops future renewal, but you keep the subscription's benefits through the end of the period you've already paid for — cancelling does not itself entitle you to a refund of that period.

Refunds and disputes. Charges are generally non-refundable once made. If something goes wrong with a booking — Talent doesn't show, a church misrepresents the gig, or similar — either party may file a report through the Service, and we may, at our sole discretion, adjust, refund, or withhold all or part of a charge or payout as part of resolving it. Filing a report doesn't guarantee a particular outcome.

Payment processing. All payment processing is provided by a third-party payment processor, not by Worship Scout directly. We don't store your full card number. Worship Scout is not a bank and doesn't provide banking, lending, or money-transmission services — use of payment features is also subject to our payment processor's own terms and privacy practices.

6. User content and conduct

You're responsible for anything you post to the Service — profile details, bios, photos, videos, messages, and reviews ("User Content"). You must have the right to share whatever you post, and it must not infringe anyone else's rights, be false or misleading, or violate any law.

By using the Service, you agree not to:

• Use the messaging or profile features for anything other than coordinating a booking;
• Attempt to circumvent our payment system (e.g., arranging payment outside the Service for a booking made through it);
• Harass, threaten, or discriminate against another user;
• Scrape, reverse-engineer, or interfere with the Service's normal operation;
• Impersonate another person or misrepresent your affiliation with any church or organization; or
• Use the Service for any unlawful purpose.

We can remove content, warn, suspend, or terminate an account that violates these Terms or otherwise misuses the platform, with or without notice.

7. Messaging and communications

We'll send you emails related to your account and bookings — you can manage most of these from your notification settings. If you opt in to SMS at sign-up, we may also text you; see our SMS Communications Consent disclosure for what that covers, message/data rates, and how to opt out. Certain account and security messages (like verification codes) aren't optional and will be sent regardless of your marketing preferences.

8. Reviews and ratings

After a booking, both the church and the Talent may leave a review. Reviews should reflect your genuine experience — don't post a review you were paid or pressured to write, or one about a booking you weren't actually part of. We may remove a review that violates these Terms, but we generally don't otherwise edit, arbitrate the accuracy of, or take sides on reviews.

9. Third-party services

The Service relies on third-party providers to operate — for example, payment processing, phone/email verification and text messaging, transactional email delivery, and site infrastructure and hosting. Churches may also optionally connect a third-party planning/scheduling account to link it to their bookings. These providers process data on our behalf under their own terms, and some features may not work if a provider is unavailable. We aren't responsible for the acts or omissions of third-party providers, though we choose them carefully and require appropriate safeguards for your data.

10. Data, privacy, and marketing

We collect the information you give us directly (profile details, booking and payment information, messages, and support requests) and some information automatically as you use the Service (device and usage data, collected through analytics and performance-monitoring tools) to operate, secure, and improve the Service. We use service providers — including our payment processor, our communications providers, and website analytics tools — to help us do this; they only receive what they need to perform their function, under confidentiality and data-protection obligations.

We don't sell your personal information. If we ever work with marketing partners to promote the Service or send you offers we think you'd find relevant, you'll be able to opt out, and we'll only share what's reasonably necessary for that purpose. A full description of what we collect, why, how long we keep it, and the choices you have will be set out in our Privacy Policy, published separately — where anything here and the Privacy Policy appear to conflict, the Privacy Policy controls on data-handling questions specifically.

11. Intellectual property

The Service itself — its design, software, and Worship Scout's trademarks and branding — belongs to us or our licensors, and these Terms don't grant you any rights to it beyond what's needed to use the Service normally. You keep ownership of the User Content you post, but you grant us a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free license to host, display, reproduce, and distribute it as needed to operate and promote the Service (for example, showing your profile in search results, or featuring a review).

12. Disclaimers

THE SERVICE IS PROVIDED "AS IS" AND "AS AVAILABLE," WITHOUT WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY, FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, TITLE, AND NON-INFRINGEMENT. WE DON'T GUARANTEE THE SERVICE WILL BE UNINTERRUPTED, SECURE, ERROR-FREE, OR AVAILABLE AT ANY PARTICULAR TIME, AND WE DON'T WARRANT OR ENDORSE ANY CHURCH, TALENT, OR USER CONTENT ON THE SERVICE. YOU USE THE SERVICE AT YOUR OWN RISK, AND ANY BOOKING YOU ENTER INTO WITH ANOTHER USER IS BETWEEN YOU AND THAT USER.

13. Limitation of liability

TO THE MAXIMUM EXTENT PERMITTED BY LAW, WORSHIP SCOUT AND ITS OFFICERS, EMPLOYEES, AND AGENTS WON'T BE LIABLE FOR ANY INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR PUNITIVE DAMAGES, OR ANY LOSS OF PROFITS, REVENUE, DATA, OR GOODWILL, ARISING FROM YOUR USE OF THE SERVICE, EVEN IF WE'VE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. OUR TOTAL LIABILITY FOR ANY CLAIM ARISING OUT OF OR RELATING TO THESE TERMS OR THE SERVICE WON'T EXCEED THE GREATER OF (A) THE FEES WORSHIP SCOUT ACTUALLY RECEIVED FROM YOU IN THE 12 MONTHS BEFORE THE CLAIM AROSE, OR (B) $100. Some jurisdictions don't allow the exclusion or limitation of certain damages, so some of the above may not apply to you.

14. Indemnification

You agree to defend, indemnify, and hold Worship Scout harmless from any claim, liability, damages, or expense (including reasonable attorneys' fees) arising from your use of the Service, your User Content, your violation of these Terms, or your violation of any right of a third party, including another user.

15. Termination

You can deactivate or delete your account at any time from your account settings. We may suspend or terminate your account or access to the Service at any time, with or without cause or notice — for example, for violating these Terms, suspected fraud, or extended inactivity. Sections of these Terms that by their nature should survive termination (including Sections 11 through 19) will survive.

16. Dispute resolution & arbitration

Please read this section carefully — it affects your legal rights. Except for small-claims-court matters and disputes about intellectual property, you and Worship Scout agree that any dispute arising out of or relating to these Terms or the Service will be resolved through binding, individual arbitration rather than in court, administered under the rules of a recognized arbitration provider (e.g., the American Arbitration Association) then in effect. The arbitration will be conducted in Dover, Delaware or another mutually agreed location, or, where permitted, remotely.

Class action waiver. You and Worship Scout each agree to bring claims only in an individual capacity, not as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class, collective, or representative proceeding. The arbitrator may not consolidate more than one person's claims.

Either party may opt out of this arbitration agreement by notifying us in writing within 30 days of first accepting these Terms, using the contact details in Section 20. If any part of this section is found unenforceable, the rest of it remains in effect, except that if the class action waiver is found unenforceable as to a particular claim, that claim (and only that claim) may proceed in court.

17. Governing law

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Delaware, without regard to its conflict-of-laws principles, except to the extent federal law (including the Federal Arbitration Act) applies. Subject to Section 16, the state and federal courts located in Kent County, Delaware will have exclusive jurisdiction over any dispute not subject to arbitration.

18. Changes to these terms

We may update these Terms from time to time. If we make a material change, we'll let you know — for example, by email or an in-app notice — before it takes effect. Continuing to use the Service after a change becomes effective means you accept the updated Terms; if you don't agree, you should stop using the Service and may deactivate your account.

19. General provisions

If any provision of these Terms is found unenforceable, the rest remain in full effect. Our failure to enforce a provision isn't a waiver of it. You may not assign these Terms or your account without our consent; we may assign them in connection with a merger, acquisition, or sale of assets. These Terms, along with the documents they reference, are the entire agreement between you and Worship Scout regarding the Service.

20. Contact

Questions about these Terms? Reach out from the contact page.