Privacy at Beacons

Beacons Network is an Australian Christian storytelling and support project founded by Rowan Welch. This notice covers beaconsnetwork.org and information sent to Beacons through its contact and contribution routes.

Contact Rowan at thebeaconspodcast@gmail.com. External services, including Google and PayPal, have their own privacy notices.

WordPress, our hosting provider SiteGround and site security tools process technical information needed to deliver and protect the website, such as IP addresses, browser details and request logs. Essential cookies support functions such as sign-in and remembering privacy choices.

Optional Google Analytics measures visits and page use after you allow Statistics. Embedded YouTube playback is enabled through Videos & external media. You can allow one without the other, decline both, or change your choice using Privacy choices. YouTube may process viewing information and use cookies for its own purposes once enabled.

The music player and “I prayed” markers use browser storage to remember choices on your device. Clearing browser data may reset them. See Cookie choices for more.

The prayer form collects your request, optional first name, submission time and agreement to public sharing. No account or email is required. Beacons administrators can review submissions; only approved requests appear on the public wall, for up to 30 days from approval.

The form uses short-lived anti-abuse checks, including a protected digest derived from a network address. The prayer plugin does not store the raw IP address, but hosting and security logs may do so separately.

Keep your removal code: it lets you withdraw your request from the wall. Withdrawal or expiry is not deletion. Pending, declined, withdrawn and expired requests remain privately in WordPress until an administrator removes them; backups and logs are separate. There is currently no automatic private-record deletion schedule.

Public requests may be read, copied or shared by others. Use only general details—never surnames, contact details, diagnoses or identifying information about someone else. Read the wall’s sharing guidance or withdraw a request →

If you email us, we receive your email address, message and anything you attach. Written and audio contributions currently begin by email. Podcast guest enquiries can also use the linked Google Form; Google processes information through that service and may require sign-in.

We use what you send to respond, consider a contribution and discuss arrangements. Sending an enquiry, draft or recording does not publish it automatically and is not permission for public use. We discuss publication permission before sharing a contribution.

Please start with a brief outline. Share only material you own or have permission to use, and leave out unnecessary sensitive information or details identifying other people. If you change your mind, contact Rowan before publication. For something already published, include its page link and explain what you would like changed or removed. Copies made by other people or platforms may remain outside Beacons’ control.

SiteGround hosts the WordPress website. Google services support our email, guest enquiry form, optional Analytics and YouTube videos. If you choose to support Beacons financially, PayPal handles the payment on its own service; Beacons may receive transaction and payer details needed to manage that contribution. Do not email payment-card details.

These providers may process information outside Australia, according to their own arrangements. A link to another website takes you outside this notice. Read the provider’s privacy information before sending information or making a payment.

Information may remain in WordPress, our email or form accounts, provider records and backups. Prayer-wall records have the retention arrangement described above; enquiries and contribution files do not currently have a single automatic deletion deadline.

You can ask what personal information Beacons holds about you, request a correction, ask for deletion or raise a privacy concern by email. Include only enough information to locate the record; we may need to confirm it relates to you. Don’t send identity documents unless we have discussed a suitable way to verify your request.

We will consider the request and explain any limits, such as records needed for legal, payment or security purposes. Removal from a live page does not immediately erase provider backups, search caches or copies held elsewhere. No online service can guarantee absolute security.

Beacons offers Christian encouragement and personal experiences, not emergency care or a confidential counselling service. The prayer wall and inbox are not monitored continuously. If someone is in immediate danger, contact local emergency services.

Personal stories describe an individual’s experience; they are not personalised professional advice. If you are under 18, involve a parent, guardian or another trusted adult before arranging a recording or sending personal material. Avoid identifying children in public requests or contributions.