Welcome to the website of The Guestward Group LLC (“The Guestward Group,” “Guestward,” “we,” “us,” or “our”). These Terms of Use (“Terms”) govern your access to and use of our website, including its pages, articles, assessments, downloadable resources, forms, scheduling features, communications, and other content or functionality made available through the website (collectively, the “Website”).

By accessing or using the Website, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agreed to be bound by these Terms and our Privacy Policy. If you do not agree to these Terms, you should not access or use the Website.

1. About The Guestward Group

The Guestward Group LLC is a Tennessee limited liability company that provides consulting, coaching, training, assessments, and related professional services to churches, ministries, nonprofit organizations, leaders, and other clients.

Information about our services presented on the Website is provided for general informational and promotional purposes. Specific consulting engagements are governed by separate proposals, engagement letters, service agreements, statements of work, or other written contracts.

2. Eligibility and Authority

You must be at least eighteen years old to use this Website or have the permission and supervision of a parent or legal guardian.

If you use the Website on behalf of a church, ministry, nonprofit organization, business, or other entity, you represent that you have the authority to act on behalf of that entity and to bind it to these Terms.

The Website is not directed toward children under thirteen years of age, and we do not knowingly request personal information directly from children under thirteen through the Website.

3. Informational and Educational Purposes

The Website and its content are provided for general informational, educational, and ministry-development purposes. Although we seek to provide thoughtful, accurate, and useful information, Website content is not intended to address every circumstance or serve as a substitute for individualized professional guidance.

Content available through the Website does not constitute:

• Legal, tax, accounting, insurance, financial, or investment advice;

• Medical, mental-health, counseling, or clinical advice;

• Crisis-intervention or emergency services;

• Employment-law or human-resources advice;

• A formal organizational, security, safety, or risk-management evaluation;

• A guarantee that a particular ministry, leadership, staffing, financial, attendance, membership, or organizational result will occur; or

• A substitute for advice from appropriately qualified and licensed professionals.

You are responsible for evaluating information provided through the Website and determining whether it is appropriate for your circumstances. You should consult qualified legal counsel, accountants, insurance professionals, healthcare providers, counselors, security professionals, or other specialists when those services are needed.

4. Ministry and Theological Content

Some Website content may discuss churches, ministry leadership, worship, spiritual formation, discipleship, pastoral health, membership, volunteer development, or related religious subjects.

This content reflects the professional experience, perspective, and approach of The Guestward Group and its contributors. It is not intended to replace the authority, discernment, doctrine, policies, or decision-making processes of any church, ministry, pastor, elder body, governing board, denomination, or religious organization.

Each organization remains solely responsible for its theological, ecclesiastical, personnel, financial, safety, governance, and ministry decisions.

5. No Consultant-Client Relationship

Accessing the Website, submitting a contact form, downloading a resource, completing an assessment, subscribing to communications, or scheduling a discovery conversation does not create a consultant-client, coach-client, fiduciary, confidential, employment, partnership, or other professional relationship between you and The Guestward Group.

A consulting or coaching relationship is created only when The Guestward Group and the client enter into a separate written agreement signed or otherwise formally accepted by the appropriate parties.

Unless a separate written agreement provides otherwise, information submitted through a general Website form should not be considered confidential. Please do not submit sensitive personnel records, medical information, counseling records, financial account information, passwords, confidential church records, or other highly sensitive material through the Website.

6. Discovery Conversations and Service Inquiries

A discovery conversation is an introductory discussion intended to help determine whether our services may be appropriate for an organization. Scheduling or participating in a discovery conversation:

• Does not obligate either party to enter into an engagement;

• Does not guarantee that The Guestward Group will accept a project;

• Does not reserve services beyond the scheduled conversation;

• Does not constitute professional advice tailored to your organization; and

• Does not create an exclusive or ongoing relationship.

We may decline a proposed engagement at our discretion, subject to applicable law.

7. Assessments, Scores, and Recommendations

The Website may provide assessments, questionnaires, scoring tools, checklists, audits, worksheets, or similar resources. These tools are intended to encourage reflection, discussion, and organizational development.

Assessment results are not scientific, diagnostic, clinical, legal, or independently verified findings unless expressly stated otherwise. Results may be influenced by the completeness, accuracy, interpretation, and perspective of the person submitting information.

An assessment score or automated result should not be interpreted as:

• A certification or accreditation;

• A formal finding regarding organizational health;

• A professional safety or security evaluation;

• A legal-compliance determination;

• A diagnosis of an individual, team, or organization;

• A guarantee of future performance; or

• A complete substitute for an individualized review.

You remain responsible for evaluating any recommendations and deciding whether and how to implement them.

8. No Guarantee of Results

Consulting and ministry-development outcomes depend on numerous factors outside our control, including leadership decisions, organizational culture, participation, implementation, resources, timing, staffing, and changing circumstances.

Testimonials, examples, case studies, assessment results, descriptions of prior work, and statements about potential outcomes illustrate individual experiences or possibilities. They do not guarantee that you or your organization will obtain the same or similar results.

9. Intellectual Property Rights

Unless otherwise stated, the Website and all materials available through it are owned by or licensed to The Guestward Group and are protected by United States and international intellectual-property laws.

Protected materials may include, without limitation:

• The Guestward Group name, logo, brand elements, and service names;

• Website design, arrangement, graphics, photographs, and visual elements;

• Articles, blog posts, written content, videos, and presentations;

• Assessments, scoring systems, questions, frameworks, methodologies, and processes;

• Worksheets, checklists, guides, templates, reports, and downloadable resources;

• Training materials, course content, and consulting tools; and

• Other original materials created or commissioned by The Guestward Group.

Nothing in these Terms transfers ownership of our intellectual property to you.

10. Limited Permission to Use Website Content

Subject to these Terms, The Guestward Group grants you a limited, revocable, nonexclusive, nontransferable license to access the Website and use its publicly available content for your own lawful, internal, and noncommercial purposes.

Unless we provide written permission or a resource expressly states otherwise, you may not:

• Copy, reproduce, republish, upload, post, transmit, distribute, sell, license, or commercially exploit Website content;

• Remove copyright, trademark, attribution, or proprietary notices;

• Modify, adapt, translate, reverse-engineer, or create derivative works from our assessments, frameworks, resources, or other materials;

• Rebrand our materials as your own;

• Use our materials to provide paid consulting, coaching, training, or assessment services;

• Place our materials in a shared resource library, membership platform, course, database, or file-sharing system;

• Scrape, harvest, extract, or systematically collect Website content or data;

• Use Website content to train, develop, evaluate, or improve an artificial-intelligence or machine-learning system without written authorization; or

• Suggest that The Guestward Group endorses, sponsors, or is affiliated with you or your organization without written permission.

You may link to publicly available Website pages so long as the link is lawful, accurate, and does not misrepresent your relationship with us.

11. Downloadable Resources

When we provide a downloadable resource, we grant the recipient a limited license to use it for the purpose described with that resource.

Unless the resource or a separate license states otherwise:

• An individual may use the resource for personal professional development;

• A church or organization may use the resource internally within the purchasing or downloading organization;

• The resource may not be resold, redistributed publicly, uploaded to another website, or shared with unrelated organizations;

• The resource may not be modified and presented as the work of another person or organization; and

• Copyright, branding, and attribution notices must remain intact.

Additional license terms displayed with a particular resource will control if they conflict with this section.

12. Trademarks

“The Guestward Group,” Guestward branding, logos, service names, slogans, and related identifiers are trademarks or proprietary brand assets of The Guestward Group LLC.

You may not use these assets in a manner likely to cause confusion regarding ownership, sponsorship, affiliation, endorsement, or the source of goods or services without prior written permission.

13. User Submissions

The Website may permit you to submit contact information, assessment responses, questions, feedback, testimonials, comments, files, or other materials (“User Submissions”).

You retain ownership of original content you submit. By voluntarily submitting content, you grant The Guestward Group a nonexclusive, worldwide, royalty-free license to receive, store, reproduce, and use that content as reasonably necessary to:

• Respond to your request;

• Provide Website features or requested services;

• Operate, maintain, secure, and improve the Website;

• Evaluate a potential consulting engagement; and

• Comply with legal and recordkeeping obligations.

We will not publicly identify you or your organization in a testimonial, case study, or marketing material without permission, except where you have knowingly submitted content for public posting or separately authorized its use.

You represent that your User Submissions are accurate, lawful, and do not violate another person’s privacy, confidentiality, intellectual-property, contractual, or other rights. You should obtain appropriate authorization before submitting information concerning another individual or organization.

14. Acceptable Use

You agree not to use the Website to:

• Violate any applicable law or regulation;

• Infringe or misappropriate intellectual-property, privacy, publicity, confidentiality, or contractual rights;

• Submit false, deceptive, defamatory, threatening, abusive, discriminatory, obscene, or unlawful material;

• Impersonate another person or misrepresent your identity, authority, or affiliation;

• Introduce malware, viruses, harmful code, or other disruptive technology;

• Attempt to gain unauthorized access to the Website, its servers, accounts, systems, or data;

• Interfere with the Website’s security, operation, performance, or availability;

• Collect information about other users without authorization;

• Use automated tools to scrape, crawl, index, extract, or monitor Website content without permission;

• Circumvent access restrictions or technical protections;

• Conduct fraudulent transactions or submit fraudulent inquiries; or

• Use the Website in any manner that could harm The Guestward Group, its clients, consultants, service providers, or other users.

We may restrict or terminate access to the Website when we reasonably believe a user has violated these Terms or created a security, legal, or operational risk.

15. Third-Party Services and Links

The Website may use or link to third-party platforms and services, including scheduling systems, payment processors, email providers, form providers, video-conferencing platforms, social-media platforms, analytics services, embedded content, or other websites.

Third-party services are governed by their own terms, privacy policies, and practices. The Guestward Group does not control and is not responsible for the availability, security, accuracy, content, policies, or performance of third-party services.

A link to or integration with a third-party service does not necessarily constitute an endorsement. You access third-party services at your own discretion and risk.

16. Purchases, Fees, Cancellations, and Refunds

If products, resources, events, subscriptions, or services are offered for purchase through the Website, the applicable price and material purchase terms will be presented before the transaction is completed.

Consulting and coaching fees, payment schedules, cancellations, rescheduling, expenses, refunds, deliverables, and related obligations will be governed by the applicable proposal, service agreement, registration terms, or purchase terms.

Unless otherwise required by law, fees paid for immediately accessible digital products may be nonrefundable once access or delivery has occurred, as disclosed at the time of purchase.

We reserve the right to correct pricing or description errors before accepting or completing a transaction. We will not make a material change to an already accepted purchase without providing notice and any remedy required by applicable law.

17. Privacy

Our collection, use, retention, and disclosure of personal information are described in our Privacy Policy, which is incorporated into these Terms by reference.

You are responsible for reviewing the Privacy Policy before submitting personal information through the Website.

18. Website Availability and Changes

We may update, modify, suspend, discontinue, or restrict any portion of the Website at any time. We do not guarantee that the Website or any particular resource will remain continuously available, uninterrupted, secure, or error-free.

We may perform maintenance, correct errors, update content, introduce new features, or remove outdated materials without prior notice.

19. Disclaimer of Warranties

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, the Website and its content are provided on an “as is” and “as available” basis, without warranties of any kind, whether express, implied, statutory, or otherwise.

The Guestward Group disclaims, to the fullest extent permitted by law, implied warranties of merchantability, fitness for a particular purpose, title, noninfringement, accuracy, and uninterrupted availability.

We do not warrant that:

• The Website will meet every user’s needs;

• Website content will be complete, current, or free from error;

• The Website will always be available, secure, or free from harmful components;

• Defects or errors will be corrected immediately; or

• Use of the Website or its resources will produce a particular result.

Nothing in these Terms excludes a warranty or consumer right that cannot lawfully be excluded.

20. Limitation of Liability

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, The Guestward Group LLC and its owner, consultants, contractors, officers, representatives, licensors, and service providers will not be liable for indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, punitive, or consequential damages arising from or relating to the Website or these Terms.

This limitation includes, without limitation, damages resulting from lost revenue, lost data, lost opportunities, business interruption, reputational harm, ministry disruption, reliance on Website content, unauthorized access, third-party services, or an inability to access the Website.

To the fullest extent permitted by law, our total aggregate liability arising from or relating to your use of the Website will not exceed the greater of:

1. The amount you paid directly to The Guestward Group specifically for the Website product or feature giving rise to the claim during the twelve months preceding the event; or

2. One hundred U.S. dollars.

These limitations do not apply to liability that cannot legally be limited or excluded. Some jurisdictions do not allow certain limitations, so portions of this section may not apply to you.

21. Indemnification

To the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you agree to defend, indemnify, and hold harmless The Guestward Group LLC and its owner, consultants, contractors, officers, representatives, licensors, and service providers from claims, liabilities, damages, judgments, losses, costs, and reasonable attorneys’ fees arising from or relating to:

• Your unlawful or unauthorized use of the Website;

• Your material violation of these Terms;

• Your User Submissions;

• Your infringement or violation of another party’s rights; or

• Your fraud, willful misconduct, or misuse of Website content.

This obligation does not require you to indemnify any party for that party’s own negligence or wrongful conduct where such indemnification is prohibited by law.

22. Governing Law and Dispute Resolution

These Terms are governed by the laws of the State of Tennessee, without regard to conflict-of-law principles.

Before filing a legal claim relating to the Website, you agree to send written notice describing the dispute and the requested resolution to the contact information below. The parties will make a good-faith effort to resolve the dispute informally for at least thirty days after the notice is received.

If the dispute cannot be resolved informally, the parties consent to the personal jurisdiction of the state or federal courts located in Tennessee that have proper subject-matter jurisdiction and venue, unless applicable law requires otherwise.

Nothing in this section prevents either party from seeking temporary or emergency injunctive relief when necessary to protect intellectual-property, confidentiality, security, or other rights.

23. Electronic Communications

When you submit a form, schedule a conversation, make a purchase, or otherwise communicate with us electronically, you consent to receive transactional communications related to that activity.

Marketing emails will be sent in accordance with applicable law and our Privacy Policy. You may unsubscribe from marketing emails using the link provided in the message. Unsubscribing from marketing messages may not prevent us from sending necessary transactional, contractual, security, or administrative communications.

24. Changes to These Terms

We may revise these Terms periodically to reflect changes in the Website, our practices, services, technology, or legal obligations.

When we make changes, we will update the “Last Updated” date at the top of this page. Material changes may also be communicated through the Website or another reasonable method.

Your continued use of the Website after revised Terms become effective constitutes acceptance of the revised Terms. Changes will not retroactively alter the terms of an already completed transaction or signed service agreement unless the parties separately agree or applicable law permits the change.

25. Severability

If any provision of these Terms is determined to be invalid, unlawful, or unenforceable, that provision will be enforced to the maximum extent permitted by law or modified to reflect the parties’ original intent as closely as legally possible.

The remaining provisions will continue in full force and effect.

26. No Waiver

A failure by The Guestward Group to enforce a provision of these Terms does not waive that provision or our right to enforce it later.

Any waiver must be in writing and authorized by The Guestward Group.

27. Entire Agreement

These Terms and the Privacy Policy constitute the entire agreement between you and The Guestward Group concerning your use of the Website.

A separate signed consulting agreement, service agreement, purchase agreement, event registration, subscription agreement, or resource license will control with respect to the specific services or materials covered by that agreement if its terms conflict with these Terms.

28. Assignment

You may not assign or transfer your rights or obligations under these Terms without our prior written consent.

The Guestward Group may assign these Terms as part of a merger, reorganization, sale of assets, transfer of ownership, or similar business transaction, subject to applicable law.

29. Contact Information

If you have questions about these Terms of Service or would like to submit a request, contact The Guestward Group LLC at privacy@theguestwardgroup.com.