Acceptable Use

This acceptable use policy (“Policy”) sets forth the general guidelines and acceptable and prohibited uses of the shepherdsstream.org website (“Website” or “Service”) and any of its related products and services (collectively, “Services”). This Policy is a legally binding agreement between you (“User”, “you” or “your”) and Shepherd's Stream, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit religious organization (doing business as “SHEPHERD'S STREAM”, “we”, “us” or “our”). Shepherd’s Stream is a ministry dedicated to the Great Commission and the glorification of Jesus Christ. If you are entering into this Policy on behalf of a church, business, or other legal entity, you represent that you have the authority to bind such entity to this Policy, in which case the terms “User”, “you” or “your” shall refer to such entity. If you do not have such authority, or if you do not agree with the terms of this Policy—including our foundational Biblical standards—you must not accept this Policy and may not access and use the Website and Services. By accessing and using the Website and Services, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by the terms of this Policy. You acknowledge that this Policy is a contract between you and SHEPHERD'S STREAM, even though it is electronic and is not physically signed by you, and it governs your use of the Website and Services as a participant in our ministry mission.

Prohibited activities and uses

You may not use the Website and Services to publish content or engage in activity that is illegal under applicable law, that is harmful to others, or that would subject us to liability, including, without limitation, in connection with any of the following, each of which is prohibited under this Policy:

• Distributing malware or other malicious code.
• Disclosing sensitive personal information about others.
• Collecting, or attempting to collect, personal information about third parties without their knowledge or consent.
• Distributing pornography or adult related content.
• Promoting or facilitating prostitution or any escort services.
• Hosting, distributing or linking to child pornography or content that is harmful to minors.
• Promoting or facilitating gambling, violence, terrorist activities or selling weapons or ammunition.
• Engaging in the unlawful distribution of controlled substances, drug contraband or prescription medications.
• Managing payment aggregators or facilitators such as processing payments on behalf of other businesses or charities.
• Facilitating pyramid schemes or other models intended to seek payments from public actors.
• Threatening harm to persons or property or otherwise harassing behavior.
• Purchasing any of the offered Services on someone else’s behalf.
• Misrepresenting or fraudulently representing products or services.
• Infringing the intellectual property or other proprietary rights of others.
• Facilitating, aiding, or encouraging any of the above activities through the Website and Services.

System abuse

Any User in violation of the Website and Services security is subject to criminal and civil liability, as well as immediate account termination. Examples include, but are not limited to the following:

• Use or distribution of tools designed for compromising security of the Website and Services.
• Intentionally or negligently transmitting files containing a computer virus or corrupted data.
• Accessing another network without permission, including to probe or scan for vulnerabilities or breach security or authentication measures.
• Unauthorized scanning or monitoring of data on any network or system without proper authorization of the owner of the system or network.

Service resources

You may not consume excessive amounts of the resources of the Website and Services or use the Website and Services in any way which results in performance issues or which interrupts the Services for other Users. Prohibited activities that contribute to excessive use, include without limitation:

• Deliberate attempts to overload the Website and Services and broadcast attacks (i.e. denial of service attacks).
• Engaging in any other activities that degrade the usability and performance of the Website and Services.

No spam policy

You may not use the Website and Services to send spam or bulk unsolicited messages. We maintain a zero tolerance policy for use of the Website and Services in any manner associated with the transmission, distribution or delivery of any bulk email, including unsolicited bulk or unsolicited commercial email, or the sending, assisting, or commissioning the transmission of commercial email that does not comply with the U.S. CAN-SPAM Act of 2003 (“SPAM”).

Your products or services advertised via SPAM (i.e. Spamvertised) may not be used in conjunction with the Website and Services. This provision includes, but is not limited to, SPAM sent via fax, phone, postal mail, email, instant messaging, or newsgroups.

Defamation and objectionable content

We value the freedom of expression and encourage Users to be respectful with the content they post. We are not a publisher of User content and are not in a position to investigate the veracity of individual defamation claims or to determine whether certain material, which we may find objectionable, should be censored. However, as a Private Expressive Association, we reserve the right to moderate, disable, or remove any content that violates our Biblical Authority and Standards of Conduct. This is a necessary exercise of our religious mission to ensure all hosted messaging remains consistent with the Great Commission, as determined in our sole discretion.

Copyrighted content

Copyrighted material must not be published via the Website and Services without the explicit permission of the copyright owner or a person explicitly authorized to give such permission by the copyright owner. Upon receipt of a claim for copyright infringement, or a notice of such violation, we will immediately run full investigation and, upon confirmation, will notify the person or persons responsible for publishing it and, in our sole discretion, will remove the infringing material from the Website and Services. We may terminate the Service of Users with repeated copyright infringements. Further procedures may be carried out if necessary. We will assume no liability to any User of the Website and Services for the removal of any such material. If you believe your copyright is being infringed by a person or persons using the Website and Services, please get in touch with us to report copyright infringement.

Security

You take full responsibility for maintaining reasonable security precautions for your account. You are responsible for protecting and updating any login account provided to you for the Website and Services. You must protect the confidentiality of your login details, and you should change your password periodically.

Enforcement

We reserve our right to be the sole arbiter in determining the seriousness of each infringement and to immediately take corrective actions, including but not limited to:

• Suspending or terminating your Service with or without notice upon any violation of this Policy. Any violations may also result in the immediate suspension or termination of your account.
• Removing or disabling any content or account that, in our sole judgment, promotes doctrines, lifestyles, or messages that undermine the religious integrity of Shepherd's Stream or contradict our foundational Biblical standards.
• Disabling or removing any content which is prohibited by this Policy, including to prevent harm to others or to us or the Website and Services, as determined by us in our sole discretion.
• Reporting violations to law enforcement as determined by us in our sole discretion.
• A failure to respond to an email from our abuse team within 2 days, or as otherwise specified in the communication to you, may result in the suspension or termination of your account.

Suspended and terminated User accounts due to violations will not be re-activated.

Nothing contained in this Policy shall be construed to limit our actions or remedies in any way with respect to any of the prohibited activities. We reserve the right to take any and all additional actions we may deem appropriate with respect to such activities, including without limitation taking action to recover the costs and expenses of identifying offenders and removing them from the Website and Services, and levying cancellation charges to cover our costs. In addition, we reserve at all times all rights and remedies available to us with respect to such activities at law or in equity.

Reporting violations

If you have discovered and would like to report a violation of this Policy, please contact us immediately. We will investigate the situation and provide you with full assistance.

Media Hosting Usage

Usage & Purpose: Shepherd’s Stream provides robust, unlimited storage and hosting for recorded sermons and ministry media. This service is designed to support the mission of the local church by ensuring that past services and instructional content are preserved and accessible.

Prohibited Use: This service is intended exclusively for ministry-related media archives. It is not intended for continuous 24/7 loops, commercial entertainment, unauthorized third-party content, or non-ministry related data storage.

Account Monitoring: Shepherd’s Stream reserves the right to review accounts that exhibit usage patterns inconsistent with standard ministry media archiving. Accounts found to be utilizing the platform for purposes outside of official church and ministry media hosting may be subject to review to preserve platform integrity for the entire community.

Job Board and Employment Postings

Shepherd’s Stream provides a specialized Job Board dedicated to connecting recognized Christian churches with qualified candidates. To maintain the integrity, safety, and ministry purpose of the platform, the following standards apply to all job listings, posting churches, and applicants:

Eligible Organizations & Positions: Only genuine pastoral, ministry, administrative, or church staff opportunities affiliated with recognized Christian churches may be published. Postings for theological seminaries, educational institutions, secular commercial enterprises, Christian businesses, independent parachurch ministries, general non-profits, or unrelated third-party recruitment are strictly prohibited.

Directory Claiming and Profile Linking: Any eligible Christian church may submit a job posting regardless of whether they have formally claimed their profile listing in the Shepherd’s Stream directory. Where a church has claimed its directory listing, the job post will automatically link directly to that church’s profile listing, and the listing profile will reciprocally link back to the active job posting.

Prohibited Postings & Business Models: You may not publish listings that involve or promote:

• Multi-level marketing (MLM), network marketing, downline recruitment structures, or pyramid schemes.
• Roles requiring candidates to pay application, evaluation, training, placement, or mandatory onboarding fees.
• Undisclosed or deceptive compensation structures, or commission-only roles that falsely advertise as fixed salaried or hourly positions.
• Misleading, fraudulent, non-existent, or duplicate job postings (such as spamming identical listings across multiple categories or locations).

Unverified remote or generic "work-from-home" schemes that do not represent bona fide pastoral, ministry, or administrative positions within an eligible Christian church.

Non-Discrimination & Religious Exemptions: All job postings must comply with applicable federal, state, and local employment laws. Because Shepherd’s Stream serves Christian churches, postings may articulate doctrinal faith requirements or adherence to specific biblical conduct standards where permitted by statutory religious exemptions or as a Bona Fide Occupational Qualification (BFOQ). However, posting churches may not unlawfully discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, age, or disability.

• Integrity of Candidate & Applicant Data:
• Posting churches must use applicant resumes, contact information, and submitted documents solely for evaluating candidates for the specific open position.
• Harvesting applicant email addresses, phone numbers, or mailing addresses for marketing campaigns, newsletters, unsolicited mass solicitations, or general donor/tithing contact lists is strictly prohibited and grounds for immediate, permanent account termination.

Applicant Conduct: Job seekers must provide truthful, current, and verifiable qualifications, credentials, and ministry/employment histories. Impersonating another individual, submitting fabricated references, or uploading deceptive application files is strictly prohibited.

Listing Fees, Lifecycle, & Content Removal: Listings are published for an active display period of up to six (6) months upon payment of the flat $7.00 USD fee. Posting churches may unpublish, close, or delete their job listing at any time prior to the end of the term (early removal does not entitle the church to a prorated refund). Upon expiration of the six-month term, the listing is automatically removed from public view and permanently deleted from our active database. Shepherd’s Stream reserves the right, in its sole discretion, to remove, unpublish, or delete any listing immediately—without refund—if it violates this Policy, fails eligibility criteria, or contradicts our Biblical Authority and Standards of Conduct.

Biblical Authority and Standards of Conduct

Statement of Final Authority: Shepherd’s Stream is a ministry founded upon the conviction that the Holy Bible is the divinely inspired, infallible Word of God and serves as the final and absolute authority on all matters of faith, morality, and conduct. All services provided by Shepherd’s Stream are intended to facilitate the "Great Commission" (Matthew 28 ) and must align with these foundational biblical principles.

Biblical Standards of Marriage and Sexuality: In accordance with our sincere religious beliefs and our interpretation of Holy Scripture, we recognize marriage as a sacred covenant ordained by God, defined exclusively as the union of one biological man and one biological woman. We adhere to the biblical teaching that any sexual activity outside of this specific definition of marriage is inconsistent with God’s design.

Content Alignment: Shepherd’s Stream reserves the right to refuse service to, or remove content from, any individual or organization that promotes doctrines, lifestyles, or messages that we deem to be in direct contradiction to these biblical standards. This includes, but is not limited to, the promotion of views on marriage, gender, and sexuality that deviate from the traditional biblical definitions stated herein. We assert that this regulation of content is an exercise of our Free Speech and Free Exercise rights under the First Amendment, intended to preserve our platform as a Non-Public Forum for Christian ministry.

Sole Discretion: The Board of Directors (or designated leadership) of Shepherd’s Stream serves as the final arbiter on the interpretation of Scripture as it applies to the platform's community standards. Use of the platform constitutes an acknowledgment of and agreement to these standards.

Changes and amendments

We reserve the right to modify this Policy or its terms related to the Website and Services at any time at our discretion. When we do, we will revise the updated date at the bottom of this page, post a notification on the main page of the Website. We may also provide notice to you in other ways at our discretion, such as through the contact information you have provided.

An updated version of this Policy will be effective immediately upon the posting of the revised Policy unless otherwise specified. Your continued use of the Website and Services after the effective date of the revised Policy (or such other act specified at that time) will constitute your consent to those changes.

Acceptance of this policy

You acknowledge that you have read this Policy and agree to all its terms and conditions. By accessing and using the Website and Services you agree to be bound by this Policy. If you do not agree to abide by the terms of this Policy, or if you do not recognize the religious authority and Biblical standards stated herein, you are not authorized to access or use the Website and Services. Your continued use of the platform is an ongoing affirmation of your agreement with these ministry standards.

Contacting us

If you have any questions, concerns, or complaints regarding this Policy, we encourage you to contact us using the details below:

Shepherd's Stream 

This document was last updated on September 26th, 2026