Terms of Use

Welcome to http://nowlcms.org (the “Site”). The Site is operated by the Northwest District of the Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (“we,” “our,” “us,” or “Northwest District, LCMS”), a nonprofit Christian organization affiliated with The Lutheran Church Missouri Synod (“LCMS”). The Site primarily focuses on providing you with resources related to LCMS – such as spiritual and educational content, information about conferences, and information about LCMS congregations, schools, ministries, and service organizations located in Oregon, Alaska, Washington, Idaho, and Hong Kong. The Site also provides information regarding opportunities to gather, in person and online, to celebrate our beliefs and faith, and employment opportunities. Finally, the Site allows you to contact us directly. While we want you to enjoy the experience of visiting our Site, we also want you to understand the terms to which you agree when visiting the Site.

Compliance with Terms Is a Condition to Use the Site
By accessing this Site, you are agreeing to these Terms of Use, our Privacy Notice, and any other legal notices, terms, and policies on this Site (collectively, the “Terms”), all of which are expressly incorporated herein by this reference. If you are accessing this Site on behalf of a company or other legal entity, you represent that you have the authority to bind (and hereby bind) such entity to the Terms – and references to “you” or “your” will include such entity.

You agree to use the Site only in accordance with the Terms. Please read and save all of the Terms. If you do not agree with the Terms, do not use this Site or any of its features.

Arbitration Notice

These Terms of Use contain an arbitration requirement. Unless you opt out of arbitration within 30 days of the date you first agree to these Terms of Use by following the opt-out procedure specified in the “Arbitration Agreement and Class Action Waiver” section below, you agree that most disputes between you and Northwest District, LCMS will be resolved by binding, individual arbitration, and you are waiving your right to a trial by jury or to participate as a plaintiff or class member in any purported class action or representative proceeding.

Amendment
We may amend or terminate the Terms, in whole or in part, at any time and such amendment or termination will be effective at the time we post the revised Terms on the Site. Each time you use the Site you should visit and review the then-current Terms that apply to your transactions and use of this Site. Your continued use of the Site after we have posted revised Terms signifies your acceptance of such revised Terms. If you are dissatisfied with the Site, its content, or any Terms (including as modified), you agree that your sole and exclusive remedy is to discontinue using the Site. The Terms are the entire agreement between you and Northwest District, LCMS with respect to your use of the Site.

Eligibility
By using the Site and its features, you represent and warrant that your use of the Site and its features does not violate any applicable law or regulation.

Term
The Terms, as we may revise them from time to time, will remain in full force and effect while you use the Site.

Limited License to Use the Site
You have a non-transferable, non-exclusive license to access this Site, to view information contained at this Site, and to interact with the Site solely for your own personal use and not for any commercial purpose.

User-Provided Content and Prohibition on Misuse of the Site
Generally
We may, but are not obligated to, occasionally publish on the Site content that you have created and/or provided to us – such as photos and written materials (collectively, “Content”). You may provide Content to us by email, through our social media profiles, or other means. By providing us with any such Content (and regardless of how you provide it), you represent and warrant that: (i) you own the Content or otherwise have the right to grant the licenses set forth below, (ii) the Content is accurate and complete, and (iii) the posting of your Content on or through the Site does not violate the privacy rights, publicity rights, contract rights, intellectual property rights, or any other rights of any person or entity. You agree to be fully responsible for and to pay all royalties, fees, and any other monies owing any person or entity by reason of any Content. You also agree to indemnify, defend, and hold us harmless from and against any claims that arise out of or are related to the Content.

Proprietary Rights
By submitting Content to us, you grant to Northwest District, LCMS an irrevocable, perpetual, worldwide, royalty-free, non-exclusive license to use, modify, delete from, add to, create derivative works of, publicly perform, publicly display, reproduce and distribute (and to sublicense the foregoing rights through multiple tiers of licensees) such Content on or through the Site or on or through any other form or media. From time to time, we may remove Content from the Site, permanently or temporarily.

You also agree that Northwest District, LCMS may reject, refuse to post, or delete any Content for any or no reason, including, without limitation, Content that in the sole judgment of Northwest District, LCMS violates these Terms, including our Privacy Notice.

The Site also contains content provided by Northwest District, LCMS, including, without limitation, text, images and logos (“Northwest District, LCMS Content”). Northwest District, LCMS Content is protected by copyright, trademark, patent, trade secret and other laws, and – as between you and us – Northwest District, LCMS owns and retains all rights in the Northwest District, LCMS Content and the features and functionality of the Site.

Content Posted
In connection with your use of the Site, you agree not to:

a. make any misrepresentations, including without limitation representations regarding your identity or age;
b. conduct fraudulent activities;
c. post, email, transmit, or otherwise make available any content that is unlawful, harmful, threatening, abusive, harassing, tortuous, defamatory, vulgar, obscene, libelous, invasive of another’s privacy, hateful, or racially, ethnically, or otherwise objectionable;
d. harm or exploit any other person in any way;
e. post, transmit, or otherwise make available any content that you do not have a right to make available under any law or under contractual or fiduciary relationships;
f. post, transmit, or otherwise make available any unsolicited or unauthorized advertising, promotional materials, or any other form of solicitation;
g. post, transmit, or otherwise make available any material that contains software viruses or any other computer code, files or programs designed to interrupt, destroy or limit the functionality of any computer software or hardware or telecommunications equipment;
h. rent, retransmit, disclose, publish, sell, assign, lease, sublicense, market, or transfer the Site or any portion thereof or use it in any manner not expressly authorized by the Terms;
i. copy, reverse engineer, translate, port, modify or make derivative works of any portion of the Site;
j. tamper with, interfere with, or disrupt the Site or servers or networks connected to the Site, or disobey any requirements, procedures, policies, or regulations of networks connected to the Site; or
k. violate any applicable local, state, national, or international law.

Protection of Intellectual Property Rights
Northwest District, LCMS respects the intellectual property of others, and requires that Site users do the same.

If you believe that your work has been copied in a way that constitutes copyright infringement, or your intellectual property rights have been otherwise violated, please provide Northwest District, LCMS’s Copyright Agent the following information:

1. an electronic or physical signature of the person authorized to act on behalf of the owner of the copyright or other intellectual property interest;
2. a description of the copyrighted work or other intellectual property that you claim has been infringed;
3. a description of where the material that you claim is infringing is located on the Site;
4. your address, telephone number, and email address;
5. a statement by you that you have a good faith belief that the disputed use is not authorized by the copyright owner, its agent, or the law; and
6. a statement by you, made under penalty of perjury, that the above information in your notice is accurate and that you are the copyright or intellectual property owner or authorized to act on the copyright or intellectual property owner’s behalf.

Northwest District, LCMS’s Copyright Agent for Notice of claims of copyright or other intellectual property infringement can be reached as follows:
Email: admin@nowlcms.org
Subject Line: DMCA support, DMCA Notices – Business Manager

USPS Mail:
Attn: DMCA support, DMCA Notices – Business Manager
Northwest District, LCMS
1700 NE Knott Street
Portland, OR 97212

Disclaimers
This Site should be used for informational purposes only. Northwest District, LCMS is not responsible for and makes no warranties, express or implied, as to any content on the Site, including, without limitation with respect to the accuracy and reliability of the Content, Northwest District, LCMS Content, or other content posted on or through the Site, whether caused by us, by users, by any of the equipment or programming associated with or utilized by the Site, or otherwise. The Content does not necessarily reflect the opinions or policies of Northwest District, LCMS. The Site may contain links to other websites. Northwest District, LCMS is not responsible for the content, accuracy or opinions expressed on such websites, and such websites are not necessarily investigated, monitored, or checked for accuracy or completeness by Northwest District, LCMS. Inclusion of any linked website on the Site does not imply approval or endorsement of the linked website by Northwest District, LCMS. When you access these third-party sites, you do so at your own risk. Northwest District, LCMS takes no responsibility for third-party advertisements or third-party applications that are posted on or through the Site, nor does it take any responsibility for the goods or services provided by its advertisers. Northwest District, LCMS is not responsible for the conduct, whether online or offline, of any user of the Site including, without limitation, any Content. Northwest District, LCMS assumes no responsibility for any error, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, delay in operation or transmission, or communications line failure related to the Site. Northwest District, LCMS is not responsible for any problems or technical malfunction of any telephone network or lines, computer online systems, servers or providers, computer equipment, software, or failure of any email due to technical problems or traffic congestion on the Internet or on any portion of the Site or combination thereof, including any injury or damage to users or to any person’s computer related to or resulting from participation or downloading materials in connection with the Site. Under no circumstances will Northwest District, LCMS be responsible for any loss or damage, including personal injury or death, resulting from use of the Site, from any Content posted on or through the Site or from the conduct of any users, whether online or offline. Additionally, Northwest District, LCMS will have no liability for any viruses or anything beyond our control. We are not responsible for any damage to your computer, software, modem, telephone, or other property resulting from your use of the Site. We will not be liable to you if you are unable to access information through the Site. Finally, no means of communicating across the Internet is 100% secure; we are therefore unable to warrant that any electronic communications between us (by email or otherwise) will be secure – and you therefore use such technologies at your own risk.

Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of certain warranties and/or liabilities, so certain of the above limitations or exclusions may not apply to you.

The Site is provided “AS-IS” and “as available” and Northwest District, LCMS expressly disclaims any warranty of fitness for a particular purpose or non-infringement. Northwest District, LCMS cannot guarantee and does not promise any specific results from use of the Site. You are solely responsible for your use of the Site.

Limitations of Our Liability
IN NO EVENT WILL WE BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGE, CLAIM, OR LOSS INCURRED BY YOU, INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION COMPENSATORY, INCIDENTAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, SPECIAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, OR EXEMPLARY DAMAGES, IRRESPECTIVE OF WHETHER WE HAVE BEEN INFORMED OF, KNEW OF, OR SHOULD HAVE KNOWN OF THE LIKELIHOOD OF SUCH DAMAGES. THIS LIMITATION APPLIES TO ALL CAUSES OF ACTION IN THE AGGREGATE INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION BREACH OF CONTRACT, BREACH OF WARRANTY, DEFAMATION, NEGLIGENCE, STRICT LIABILITY, MISREPRESENTATION, AND OTHER TORTS, AS WELL AS THIRD-PARTY CLAIMS. IF THE WARRANTY EXCLUSIONS OR LIMITATIONS OF LIABILITY SET FORTH IN THESE TERMS ARE FOR ANY REASON HELD UNENFORCEABLE OR INAPPLICABLE, YOU AGREE THAT OUR AGGREGATE LIABILITY WILL NOT EXCEED ONE HUNDRED U.S. DOLLARS ($100).

Indemnification
You agree to indemnify, defend, and hold Northwest District, LCMS, its subsidiaries, and affiliates, and their respective officers, agents, partners, and employees, harmless from any loss, liability, cost, expense, claim, or demand, including without limitation, reasonable attorneys’ fees, due or relating to or arising out of your use of the Site in violation of the Terms and/or arising from a breach of the Terms and/or any breach of your representations and warranties set forth in the Terms and/or arising out of or relating to any Content.

Arbitration Agreement and Class Action Waiver

Subject to the exceptions described below, all disputes arising out of or related to the Terms or any aspect of your relationship with Northwest District, LCMS, whether based in contract, tort, statute, fraud, misrepresentation, or any other legal theory, will be resolved through final and binding arbitration before a panel of three arbitrators instead of in a court by a judge or jury. Arbitration procedures are simpler and more limited than rules applicable in court.

Arbitration is mandatory for the claims covered under this arbitration agreement. You agree that Northwest District, LCMS, and you are each waiving the right to trial by a jury, and that any arbitration will take place on an individual basis. You hereby waive the ability to participate in a class action. The parties agree that the panel will have exclusive authority to resolve any disputes relating to the interpretation, applicability, enforceability or formation of this arbitration agreement.

You and Northwest District, LCMS, each retain the right to: (i) bring an individual action in small claims court and (ii) seek injunctive or other equitable relief in a court of competent jurisdiction to prevent the actual or threatened infringement or misappropriation of a party’s trade secrets or intellectual property rights.

You will also have the right to litigate any other dispute that would otherwise be subject to this arbitration agreement if you opt out of the arbitration agreement by sending an email to admin@nowlcms.org within 30 days after the date you first agree to these Terms of Use; the subject line of the email must contain “ARBITRATION OPT OUT.” If you don’t provide us with a timely opt-out notice, this arbitration agreement applies.

The arbitration will be administered by the Arbitration Service of Portland, Inc. (“ASP”) in accordance with the then effective arbitration rules of (and by filing a claim with) ASP, and judgment upon the award rendered pursuant to such arbitration may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. The panel will conduct hearings, if any, by teleconference or videoconference, rather than by personal appearances, unless the panel determines that an in-person hearing is appropriate. Any in-person appearances will be held at a location that is reasonably convenient to both parties. If the parties are unable to agree on a location, the panel will determine the location. If you demonstrate that the costs of arbitration will be prohibitive as compared to the costs of litigation, we will contribute to your filing and hearing fees as the panel deems necessary to prevent the arbitration from being cost-prohibitive. The panel’s decision will follow the terms of these Terms of Use (including the Limitation of Our Liability provision) and will be final and binding. The panel will have authority to award temporary, interim, or permanent injunctive relief or relief providing for specific performance of these Terms of Use, but only to the extent necessary to provide relief warranted by the individual claim before the panel. The award rendered by the panel may be confirmed and enforced in any court having jurisdiction.

The Terms are accepted upon your use of the Site or any of its features. The Terms constitute the entire agreement between you and Northwest District, LCMS regarding the use of the Site and its services and features. The failure of Northwest District, LCMS to exercise or enforce any right or provision of the Terms will not operate as a waiver of such right or provision. The section titles in the Terms are for convenience only and have no legal or contractual effect. The Terms operate to the fullest extent permissible by law. If any provision of the Terms is unlawful, void, or unenforceable, that provision is deemed severable from the Terms and does not affect the validity and enforceability of any remaining provisions.