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How Hearth works

Hearth is the little app for the retreat. It lives on your phone. This page tells you what it does and how to use it. Nothing here is hard.

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What is Hearth?

Hearth is a small app for the retreat weekend. You open it on your phone. You don't install anything.

Hearth's address is hearth.oartree.com. Open it in your phone's web browser, from the link in your email. To find it again easily, put it on your home screen. On an iPhone or iPad, open it in Safari, tap the Share button (a square with an arrow), then Add to Home Screen. On Android, in Chrome, tap the three dots at the top, then Add to Home screen.

Want the words bigger? On an iPhone or iPad, Hearth uses the text size you picked for your phone, in Settings under Display & Brightness, then Text Size. On Android, in Chrome, tap the three dots, then Settings, Accessibility, and slide Text scaling.

This guide is always one tap away. Tap Guide at the top of every page, or the How Hearth works card on your home screen, which opens at the part for you.

Every page has a button at the bottom that takes you back, and another under the heading at the top. They say where they go, so you always know where you'll land. Anything else a page lets you do is a button too. Words you can tap inside a sentence are underlined.

Hearth shows different things to different people. If you're coming to the retreat, you see your to-do list. If you're running it, you see the whole weekend. If you're at the door, you see who has arrived.

Hearth also changes with the calendar. Before the retreat it helps you get ready. On the weekend it tells you what's happening now and where to go.

How do I get in?

There is no password. Hearth emails you a link. Tap the link and you're in.

Go to the sign-in page. Your retreat is at the top of it, so you know you're in the right place. Type the email address the ministry has for you. Tap Email me a link. The email comes within a minute. Tap the link on the phone you want to use, because that's the phone that gets signed in.

Didn't open the invite? That's fine. At the retreat there's a sign with a code at the check-in table. Point your phone's camera at it and tap the link that appears. Or type hearth.oartree.com into your browser. Then type the email you registered with, and tap the link in the email Hearth sends. No email from Hearth after a few minutes? Ask at the check-in table: the greeter can show you a sign-in code to scan instead.

The link works for fifteen minutes. If it says it has expired, just ask for a new one. Every new link cancels the old ones.

When the coordinators first send out the app, everyone gets a special welcome link. That one lasts three weeks, so it's fine if you don't open the email right away.

The email comes from Hearth · HomeBuilders Retreat App. Tap Sign in to Hearth in it, then tap Sign me in. Every link works once. After you've used it, Hearth keeps you signed in on that phone for three months, even if you close it. To come back, go to the Hearth address again, or tap Hearth on your home screen if you put it there. If it ever asks, type your email and tap the new link.

At the bottom of your home screen it says Signed in as, with a name and an email. That's who signed in on this phone. If you used the link from your own email, it's you. If you used the couple's email, it's whoever that email belongs to, or both of you. Either way, you see the same couple's page.

To give your spouse their own email, tap An email for each of you on your checklist and type it in. We email that address once to check it's theirs. When they tap Sign me in there, they get their own copy of the emails and can sign in on their own phone.

Before the retreat

The first thing you see is the retreat's name, the theme, and a welcome from the coordinators. Under that is a short to-do list.

It takes about two minutes. You can change any of it later.

1. Confirm your registrationOne tap. This helps the ministry plan meals and seating. It isn't checking in. When you arrive on Friday, come to Grand Pavilion to check in and pick up your notebooks.
2. Choose your sessionsOne line for each person, for each day you choose on. When only one session is on at a time, it isn't a choice — everybody is together, and the app says so instead of asking you to pick it. Beside each title is a picture of who's presenting. Tap About this session to read what it covers before you pick. Some sessions have limited seats, and the page shows how many are left. If you and someone else grab the last seat at the same moment, Hearth tells you it filled up. No guessing. Some talks are given twice, on Saturday and again on Sunday. If you pick one you already have on the other day, Hearth points it out. You can still keep it. Once everyone has picked, the list folds away so the rest of your home screen is in sight. Tap Show what you picked to see it again.
3. Text alerts (optional)Only for things that change on the day, like a moved session or a room change. Texts are off unless you tick the box yourself. You can turn them off again any time.
4. About the Sessions & PresentersWhat each session covers, and who is leading it. Tap a session's title to read the whole description, and About the presenter for a few lines about them. Nothing to do here either; it's just good to know before you pick.
5. Time with a presenter (optional)New this retreat. Saturday afternoon only, half an hour with one presenter — just the two of you and them. Pick who you'd like to see and a time that suits you. There are more couples than half-hours, so book early if you'd like one. Nobody needs one, and nothing is missing if you don't book. Changed your mind? Give it back and somebody else can have it. A time can be booked or given back until it starts.
6. Look at the scheduleMeals, sessions, and free time, day by day. Once you've picked sessions, the schedule shows which room each of you is heading to. Each room has its own colour, the same everywhere a room is shown, so you can spot yours at a glance. There's nothing to do on this page. It's just there when you want it.

During the retreat

From Friday, your home screen changes. It tells you what's happening now and what's next.

At the top: Happening now. Below that: Up next, with the time and the room. Tap Show me where and the map opens with that room marked. If you and your spouse picked different sessions, both are listed, so you each know where to go. When everyone is together, it names the talk and who's giving it.

Below that, until the sessions you choose between have started, Your sessions shows what each of you picked for Saturday and Sunday morning, or Not picked yet. Tap Choose or Change under your name to pick or switch. You can change any time before a session starts.

Two more buttons sit below. One opens the full schedule. The other is Ask the panel a question. Your name never goes with it. Pick who sees it: anyone on the panel, and it may be read out at the Saturday night Q&A, or only one presenter you choose, who answers just you. A private question is never read out. Once the panel is over, the question goes to one presenter you pick, privately. Pick a topic (marriage, parenting, faith, or something else) and type. That's it. If you'd rather talk it over in person, the same page has a link to book half an hour with a presenter.

If you booked time with a presenter, it's on your home screen on Saturday with the time and who you're seeing. You can still book one that afternoon if a half-hour is free.

If a presenter put up a handout, it's under their session on the Sessions page. Tap it to open it on your phone. Some open once the session starts; until then it says so. It stays there after the weekend, so you can find it again.

The map lists every room used this weekend. If you get turned around, ask anyone with a HomeBuilders staff badge.

If you're a coordinator

Coordinators can see everything and change everything about the weekend. Nothing about the weekend is above coordinator. App admin, further down, is the same access for the people looking after Hearth itself.

You get everything attendees get, plus a card on your home screen: Edit the retreat, with a pencil on it. That card is the door to everything below: Edit the retreat, schedule and sessions, people and pictures. Tap it, pick the retreat, and you're on the retreat page.

Setting up a retreat

Do these in order. Each step needs the one before it.

1. Create the retreatGive it a name, a theme, a verse, the venue, and the dates. Pick a look (Branson is the Fall one). Write the welcome message in your own words and sign it. Attendees see changes right away.
2. Add the sessionsEach session has a title, a day, a room, a presenter, and a seat limit if it needs one. Leave the seats blank if the room fits everyone. If the presenter has a Hearth account, pick them from the list so the signup numbers show up on their phone. A guest speaker can just be a name. Write a few lines about what each session covers. Attendees read them before they choose. A talk given on two days is two sessions: add it once for each day, with the same title and presenter. That's how Hearth notices when someone picks the same talk twice.
3. Enter the scheduleThe weekend the way attendees will see it: meals, general sessions, free time, travel. A choice slot is the time when people go to the session they picked. The start and end times are what make "happening now" and "up next" work on the day. Leave an end time blank and it lasts until the next thing starts. Tap a time that has sessions in it to change each session's title, presenter and room right there, with one Save for all of them. The schedule shows the presenter's last name.
4. Add people from your listPaste your list, one couple or person per line, however you already keep it. Hearth shows you what it understood before it saves anything. That way "Bob & Sue Tolbert" can't accidentally become one person.
5. Send everyone their linkOne tap emails a welcome link to everyone who hasn't had one. It never sends twice by accident. If you want to send again, that's a separate choice, and Hearth tells you how many it will send first.
6. Hand out the hatsIn the people list, tick coordinator, presenter, photographer, greeter, worship leader, or staff next to a name. More on this below.

A line on your list can be short or long. All of these work:

Bob & Sue Tolbert
Bob & Sue Tolbert, Pathway Baptist, Fayetteville AR
Bob & Sue Tolbert, Pathway Baptist, Fayetteville AR, [email protected]
Bob & Sue Tolbert, Pathway Baptist, Fayetteville AR, [email protected], [email protected]

Put two addresses on a couple's line, in the same order as their names, and each of them gets their own sign-in. Pasting the list again later fills in any address that was missing and changes nothing else. Church and town are what go on the name badge. The greeter and the photographer see them too, to match faces to names. A line with no email is kept, but that person can't get a link until someone adds an email.

The retreat page

The retreat page is one screen with seven cards. Each card tells you where things stand. Tap it to go change things.

On the Sessions page each session has a box for when it happens — you pick the hour from your own schedule. Do that and three things follow: the schedule shows each person the session they chose, and presenters see their own time on their home screen. Hearth also knows what the hour is for: two or more sessions in it means people choose one, and a single session means everybody goes. Leave it blank and the session still has its day, it just isn't on the timetable yet.

In the retreat's details, A note from the team puts your words at the top of everyone's home screen, before and during the retreat. Leave it empty for none.

To let couples book time with a presenter, add a row to the Schedule and set its kind to Time with the presenters. Give it a start and an end — 2:00 to 4:00 makes four half-hours. Until that row exists there is nothing to book, and the page says so. Move the row and the times move with it. Give the row a room, and attendees and presenters both see where to meet. Everyone with the presenter hat can be booked. If one of them can't be there, open Presenters and tap Not available for bookings under their name, and they come off the booking page. Anyone who booked them before keeps that time, and the page names them so you can let them know. To help couples tell who is who, type One line for the booking page under a presenter on Presenters, such as what their session is about, and tap Save line. It shows under their name when couples book.

People and hats

Under Details, the first box is Your ministry's name. It's how you're named everywhere people see you — at the top of the page, in the sign-in email, and as the first word of every text. Write it the way your own materials write it, capitals and all: HomeBuilders, not Homebuilders. Changing it changes it everywhere at once, so it's worth getting right before invitations go out.

Under Details there's a box called Where replies go. Hearth's emails come from an address nobody reads, so if someone taps Reply — to ask a question, or to say they can't come — put an address here and it reaches you. Leave it blank and a reply goes nowhere. It's the same for every retreat, because it belongs to your ministry rather than to one weekend.

Under Details there's also a box called Who you're part of. If your ministry belongs to a church, write it the way you'd say it out loud — "a ministry of Pathway Baptist Church, Fayetteville, AR". It shows at the foot of every page, including the sign-in page people see before they're in. Leave it blank and nothing shows.

Below it is Who your texts come from. Write it exactly the way you registered your texts with the phone companies, like "HomeBuilders Ministry (Pathway Baptist Church)". When someone signs up for texts, they agree to texts from that name. Leave it blank and Hearth uses your ministry's name.

See everyone is the people list, sorted by last name. There's a search box for name, church, town, or email. Tap a couple to fix a name, put in their church and town, add someone who was missed, or cancel them. Names show in the order you typed them, and a title stays with the person it belongs to, so Dr. Eric Spann and Keri Spann read as Dr. Eric & Keri Spann. To put the husband first, tap the couple and tap Move John to first under his name. Only the order changes: each person keeps their own email and their sessions. Add people from your list at the top takes more names at any time, so you can add a late couple the same way you added the first batch.

A line on your list can leave the email off. You still get the couple, and Hearth says plainly that they can't be sent a sign-in link yet. When you learn the address, tap the couple and type it in the Email for the couple box. Everything you change for a couple — names, each person's address, church and town, the couple's email, their hats — is saved together with one tap of Save changes. That's often how presenters go in: their picture and their bio first, their email later.

Each person can have their own address too, in the box beside their name. It isn't a second account: the couple still shares one. It means each of them gets their own link and can sign in on their own phone. Either of them can also type their own address on the sign-in page. Send links writes to every address a couple has.

Above the list, the People page counts the couples where someone has no email of their own, and See who names them. Their link goes to the couple's email.

Couples can add each other's address themselves. The People page says who added it, and whether that person has confirmed it yet. Until they have, Send links leaves that address out.

Send links asks who to send to: everyone not invited yet, only Presenters & staff, only Attendees, or Pick people from a list you tick. Each choice only reaches people who haven't had their invite, so a late couple can be sent theirs without anyone else getting a second one. On People, each couple says Invite sent with the date, or Not invited yet; tap Not invited yet under Show to list just them. Under each name, small badges show where that couple is: a green one with a tick is done, and a gold outline is still to do. To send one couple theirs again, tap the couple and tap Send their invite again; it goes only to their addresses.

Addresses stay between you and them. Presenters can share their own from their page, or you can tick Show this address to attendees beside their name. Either way it appears on their card. Leave it alone and nobody sees it.

A hat is a job: coordinator, presenter, photographer, greeter, worship leader, or staff. One person can wear more than one hat. Angela presents and takes photos, so she has both, and her home screen has a tab for each. You give hats by ticking boxes next to a name. If you wear more than one hat, your home screen opens on the busiest one: coordinator first, then greeter, then presenter, then photographer. Tap a tab to switch.

Give the worship leader hat to whoever leads the music. They see the same home screen as everyone else, with a line saying when they're leading. To set that, open the schedule, tap the session, and pick them under Leading worship. A worship leader isn't listed with the presenters, and nobody can book time with them.

Give the Appointments only hat to someone who meets couples on Saturday afternoon but doesn't give a session. Couples can book half an hour with them, the same as with a presenter. They aren't listed with the presenters, and they don't get a presenter page: their home screen says who has booked them and when. Their picture and a few lines go on Presenters, under Meeting couples only, and couples see them on the booking page.

Give the staff hat to volunteers helping in any other way. They see the same home screen as everyone else. At the door, greeters find them in the Presenters & staff list. They aren't on the page about the sessions and presenters, and nobody can book time with them.

Presenters, coordinators, greeters, the photographer, worship leaders and staff are attending too: they sign in, get a notebook, eat and are photographed like everyone else. So everyone goes on the attendee list, by pasting them in from your list or adding them on People, and everyone on it is counted. Opening Hearth never puts anyone on the list by itself. At the top of People, and on your home screen, the count shows everyone coming and then how many wear each hat. A couple's hat counts both of them, and someone with two hats is counted under each.

Sometimes one person has a second account, like a presenter added on their own before their couple was. People lists those under Not on the attendee list yet. Tap Merge into a couple, pick the couple and whose email it is, and Hearth shows exactly what will move: hats, the sessions they present, bookings with them, questions sent to them, and their text sign-up. Tap Merge and the second account is gone, and each of them can still sign in with their own email. If something doesn't match, like two different sessions picked for the same day, Hearth stops and tells you instead of guessing. A duplicate party has Merge this party into another at the bottom of it.

App admin is for the people looking after Hearth itself, and for anyone you ask to review it. They see everything a coordinator sees, but it isn't a job at the retreat, so it isn't counted: the count's Coordinators are only the people coordinating the weekend. If they're also attending and serving, give them that hat too, like Staff. Only an App owner can give or take away App admin; the box doesn't show for anyone else.

Two safety rules:

• The last coordinator can't take off their own hat. So the ministry can never lock itself out.
• Hats only work inside your ministry. You can't see or change another ministry's people.

Seeing what others see

At the top of your home screen are five tabs: Attendee, Coordinator, Presenter, Photographer, Greeter. Tap one to see what that person sees. A small line under the tabs reminds you whose view you're looking at. Looking doesn't change anything.

On your home screen, the three numbers are links. Tap Parties to see everyone registered, Confirmed to see only the parties who have confirmed, and Questions to read the questions for the panel. Under them, the people coming line is the number to cater for.

Below that, On Hearth says how many parties have signed in at least once. Tap See who isn't for the list; on People, tap Not on Hearth yet under Show. To nudge them, send their invite again from Send links or from the couple on People. Under Session headcounts, a session everybody attends says Everyone and the number coming, because nobody signs up for it.

To see a presenter's page the way they will, open the Presenter view, tap Your sessions, and pick them under Preview as. You can look, but nothing there can be changed. It also says how many private questions are waiting for them. You never see what those say: only the presenter can read a private question.

At the bottom of your home screen is the Coordinator preview. Viewing at lets you jump ahead to each day of the retreat, like Friday evening, Saturday morning and afternoon, and Sunday morning, or to weeks after, so you can see Saturday before Saturday. Retreat switches between your retreats. This only changes what you see. Nothing is saved or changed.

How texting works

Before Hearth there was no app and no texting. So nobody in HomeBuilders has ever said yes to texts, and there is no old list of yeses to bring over. The only yes that counts is the box each person ticks for themselves in the app, with their own number next to it.

That means a text from Hearth only reaches the people who ticked that box. On the weekend, treat a text as a nice extra, not the one way you'd reach everyone. If the weather turns or a session moves, a text helps the people who opted in. The schedule in the app, the greeters, and the staff badges still do the job for everyone else.

Texts can only be sent on the retreat weekend: from the day before it starts to its last day, and no more than 10 alerts per retreat. The Text alerts page says which days and how many are left. A text can't include a link or a phone number, because our text message registration says it won't. Put those on the retreat page instead. When someone signs up, they tick two boxes, one to agree to texts from your ministry and one to say they've read the terms and privacy policy, and they get one text right away to confirm. What people agree to, and how they stop, is written out on the text message terms and privacy pages.

After you send, the Text alerts page shows how many people it went to. If a text didn't go through to someone, the page gives their name, so you can tell them yourself. If the internet drops partway through, Hearth sends the rest when it comes back, and nobody gets the same text twice. If it can't get through for a few hours, it stops and says so. When the internet is back, tap Send to the rest. It only goes to the people who haven't had it yet.

A little later, the page also says how many phones each text reached, once the phone company confirms it. If a text never arrives, that person moves to the list of people it didn't go through to. Under Sign-up texts, you can see who got the text Hearth sends when they sign up, and who didn't. A missing one usually means a wrong number.

If someone replies STOP to a text, their texts are turned off in Hearth straight away, the same as tapping Turn texts off. Replying START doesn't turn them back on by itself. To get texts again, they text START to our number and then tick the box in the app again. If they forget the first step, the app tells them.

If you're a presenter

Your home screen shows your sessions and how many people have signed up. For a session everyone comes to, it shows how many people are at the retreat instead. A coordinator looking at that page sees a link to the People page, where every name behind the number is listed, and the names of anyone on the team who counts without being registered. It also tells you how many handouts to print, with a few extra to be safe. For a session people choose, that includes a copy for each other presenter and staff member. It says when you're on, what's happening now, and it can open the map on your room.

Tap Your sessions for the big number. If the coordinators haven't put you on the schedule yet, the screen says so. It will never show you someone else's numbers.

Your home screen also has a card for questions. When one has been sent to you alone, it turns red and says Question just for you. Tap it, then Answer this, type your reply, and tap Send reply. The person sees your reply on their own page. You never learn who they are, and the coordinators see only that a question is waiting on you, never what it says.

On Saturday afternoon, couples can book half an hour with you. To see who, tap Time with you on your home screen. It lists who's coming and when, by name — you're about to sit down with them. It also says where to meet, once the coordinators give that time a room on the schedule, and which of your half-hours are still free. You don't have to do anything: they book it themselves, and you turn up.

Handouts. Under each of your sessions on Your sessions, you can put up a handout: a PDF or a picture, up to 10 MB. Give it a name, tap Choose file to pick it from your phone or computer, and choose when people can open it: right away, or once the session starts. Only people at this retreat can open it. Changed your mind? Tap Open it now beside it, or Wait for the session to hold it back again. Tap Remove to take it down. A coordinator can put one up for you too.

At the bottom of that page is What you recommend. Add the books, articles, or links you mentioned. Attendees see them after the retreat, under your name. You can remove your own any time.

Attendees don't see your email unless you choose to share it. Under Your email, tick the box and tap Save, and it shows on the Presenters page under your name. Untick it to take it down.

At the Q&A, tap Read to the room. It shows only the questions people said may be read out, large enough to read from the front. Private questions are never on it.

If you're the photographer

Your home screen shows how many people you've photographed out of everyone registered, how many are left, and how many of those are here right now. (The door already knows who has arrived, so Hearth tells you.)

Where everyone will be names the next meal or general session, when the whole group is in one room. Tap Everyone photographed to see the list: every person, with their church and town like on the badge. Type a name, a church, or a town in the box at the top to find someone fast. Tap a name once you've got their photo. Under the box, tap a letter to jump to the last names that start with it. Tap Still to photograph to hide everyone you've already done, so the list gets shorter as you go.

If you're a greeter

Your home screen shows how many people have arrived, how many notebooks you've handed out, and how many couples are fully here. A red line says how many people still need to pick sessions. Tap it and the list opens showing only them, so you can ask before they sit down.

Tap At the door for the full list. It shows just the names, so there's less to scroll. Type a last name, a first name, a church, or a town in the box at the top to find a couple fast; if only one couple matches, it opens by itself. Tap a name to open it: that's where Check in, Notebook, and which day they still need to pick are. A red edge on a name means someone in that couple still needs to pick sessions, and Here beside a name means they've arrived. Check people in one at a time, because spouses often arrive apart. Tap Notebook when you hand one over. If you checked in the wrong family, tap Undo for that whole party.

A couple marked Not on Hearth yet hasn't signed in once. While they're at the table, point them to the sign with the code, and stay with them until they're in. The Not on Hearth button at the top lists just them. On an iPad held sideways, the list fills the screen in two columns.

Someone can't get in by email? Open their name and tap Show sign-in code. A code fills the screen. They point their phone's camera at it, tap the link that appears, then tap Sign me in. Each code works once, for 10 minutes, so a husband and wife who each want their own phone signed in need one each. When each of them has their own email, there's a button for each, such as Sign-in code for Eric and Sign-in code for Keri, and each phone is signed in as that person. Greeters, coordinators and app admins don't get a button: their accounts can check people in or change the whole retreat, so they always sign in by email.

The list comes in two parts. Attendees are first. Presenters & staff come after them, each with what they do this weekend, like presenter or greeter. The search box finds people in both.

Coordinators can help at the door or with the camera any time. The same buttons work for them.

Who can do what

An App admin can do everything in the Coordinator column. It's access, not a job at the retreat, so it isn't counted as a hat. Only an App owner can give it.

Words we use

Party

The people who registered together and share one account. Usually a couple. One person is fine too.

Attendee

One person in a party. Sessions, notebooks, and photos are per person.

Session

A talk with a presenter, and sometimes a seat limit. When two or more are on at the same time, you pick one. When it's the only one at that time, everybody goes.

Schedule item

Anything on the weekend timetable: a meal, a general session, free time, travel, or the hour people split into sessions. It becomes that last one on its own, once you put two or more sessions in it.

Choice slot

The time when everyone goes to the session they picked.

Hat

A job at the retreat: coordinator, presenter, photographer, greeter, worship leader, or staff. One person can wear several, and everyone wearing one is attending too.

App admin

Everything a coordinator can see and do, for looking after Hearth or reviewing it. Not a hat, so not counted.

Welcome link

The three-week sign-in link everyone gets when the app first goes out.

Look

The retreat's colors. Branson is the Fall look. Each retreat can have its own.

Things Hearth never does

• It never asks for a password.
• It never texts anyone who didn't tick the box themselves.
• It never tells a stranger whether an email address is registered.
• It never sends a hundred welcome links by accident. Sending again is a separate, counted choice.
• It never lets one ministry see another ministry's people, retreats, or sessions.
• It never lets the last coordinator lock the ministry out.
• It never lowers a session's seats below the number of people who already picked it. It tells you how many that is.

Still being built

Hearth is new. Everything in this guide works today, text alerts included.

Ideas or problems with the app? Tell us

Something confusing, missing or broken? An idea that would help? Tap Help us make Hearth better on your home screen, or here:

Share an idea or problem →

It goes straight to the people building Hearth, not to the retreat team. A few words is plenty. Thoughts about the retreat itself go on paper: there's time at the end of the weekend to write them down.

Stuck?

If a sign-in link doesn't work, ask for a new one from the sign-in page. If Hearth says your browser is too old, update your phone, then tap the link again. It works on iPhones back to the iPhone 8. If something looks wrong on the weekend, find anyone with a HomeBuilders staff badge. If you're a coordinator and something in the app isn't right, tell Raleigh.

Hearth · for HomeBuilders Ministry, Fall Retreat 2026 · this describes the app as of 13 October 2026.

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