I was trying to reach the new pastor of a neighboring Methodist Church, and called the church number. The voicemail, which seemed to be recorded in 2021 (masking instructions, etc.), confirmed the office hours I found on the church web page.
I called several times during office hours the next week, and only got the recording, saying I was after hours, and listing the hours as the time I was calling.
I finally got someone, who said the office hours were the right days, but started an hour earlier than the voicemail message. And the pastor was out today, call back tomorow.
I called back tomorrow, and pastor was in a meeting, I left a message, and the pastor did not return my call during office hours. The only call I received that day was 30 minutes after office hours, and my phone’s screening service said that was a telemarketer, so I didn’t answer.
Hours later my voicemail said I had a message. I checked and it was from the pastor, 30 minutes after office hours, the same time as the telemarketer. I called the number back and got a message from an company that provided phone marketing services or some such, and that I would have to call back during business hours.
This is just a very sketchy deduction, but this seems to mean the church has hired a professional phone services organization to take care of its phone needs. That sounds very good, until you realize that caller ID programs classify them by the company they hired, not who they are, and is telling everyone they call they are a telemarketer. I am certain a lot of people are not answering calls from the church for this very reason.
At The Rainbow 