Documentation

Getting started

1. Go to the app and click Sign up.
2. Choose your account type: Church or Musician.
3. Follow the prompts to fill in your basic information.
4. You will be sent a confirmation email. Click the link to verify your address.

Once verified, you land on your Dashboard.

For churches

Church dashboard

Your dashboard is a summary of everything in flight:

• Stats row. Open requests (awaiting replies), filled requests this month, and total requests all time.
• Open conversations. Threads with musicians who have replied to your requests, sorted so unread messages appear first.
• Active requests. Your open requests, each showing the date, title, service type, and offered fee.

From the dashboard you can jump directly to any request or message thread, or tap + New request in the top-right to post a new one.

A red banner appears at the top if your card on file is expiring within 30 days. Tap it to update your payment method before an upcoming booking fails.

Posting a request

Tap + New request from the dashboard or the Requests page. The form walks you through four steps:

Step 1: Service details

Step 2: Musician needs

• Instruments / roles needed. Pick every instrument role you need filled. A single musician can cover multiple roles.
• Setlist / repertoire link. Link to Planning Center, a shared doc, or a Spotify playlist so musicians can assess fit before responding.

Step 3: Logistics and fee

• Tech setup at the venue. Check anything available: in-ear monitors, wedge monitors, click track, charts provided, house piano/keys, house drum kit, house bass amp, direct boxes.
• Offered fee. Your opening offer. Musicians can counter in the message thread. Leave blank if you prefer to negotiate fee in messages.
• Fee type. Per service, Per service (incl. rehearsal), Per hour, or Honorarium.
• Notes / vibe. Anything helpful: congregation size, style of worship, specific songs, denominational context, parking, accessibility.

Step 4: Review and post

See a summary of everything you entered. Each section has an Edit button to go back and revise. A Request quality card shows how complete and attractive your listing is to musicians.

Tap Post request when ready. Musicians whose instruments match yours will see it in their feed.

Managing requests

Go to Requests in the sidebar to see all your requests. Each row shows:

• Service date
• Title and service type
• Offered fee
• Status chip: Open, In progress, Filled, Cancelled, or Past

Tap a request to see its detail page, which includes:

• Full service details (date, time, location, rehearsal, instruments needed, setlist, tech setup, fee, notes)
• A Request quality score
• Any musicians who have applied or been invited (with their location, instruments, rating, and a link to their profile)
• Any accepted booking for this request, with the musician’s name and agreed fee
• Buttons to Edit or Cancel the request (only available while status is open)

To invite a specific musician to an open request, visit the musician’s profile and tap Invite to a request, then choose the request.

Finding musicians

Use Find musicians in the sidebar to search the musician directory. You can filter by:

• Instruments to see only musicians who play what you need.
• Date needed to hide musicians who are marked unavailable on that date.
• Maximum distance to filter to musicians within 10, 25, 50, or 100 miles of your church, or any distance.

Each result card shows the musician’s name, primary instrument, city/state, rating, and fee range (or “Volunteer”). Tap a card to view their full profile, then use Invite to a request to start a conversation.

Messaging and proposals (churches)

All negotiations happen in message threads, one thread per musician per request.

• Text messages. Send freeform notes, questions, or context.
• Proposals. Musicians can send formal proposals with a proposed fee, fee type, date, and optional notes. You see the proposal clearly labeled and can Accept, Decline, or reply with a counter offer in the message.

When you accept a proposal, the booking is confirmed. The musician’s name appears on the request detail page and the thread is marked as booked.

To cancel a confirmed booking, open the message thread and use the cancel option. You will see the cancellation policy (based on how far out the service date is) before confirming.

Billing

Go to Profile > Billing to manage your payment method. Sunday Musician charges your card on file after a service is completed.

• Add card. You will be taken to a secure Stripe-hosted form. Your card number is never stored on Sunday Musician’s servers.
• Replace card. Add a new card to replace the current one.
• A warning appears if your card expires within 30 days. Update it before your next service date to avoid a failed charge.

Receipts are emailed to you automatically after each charge. For full payment history, contact support.

For musicians

Musician dashboard

Your dashboard shows everything relevant at a glance:

• Stats row. Confirmed bookings (all time), total earned from agreements, and upcoming services booked.
• Profile completeness. A progress bar with specific items still missing. A complete profile is significantly more likely to get invitations and responses.
• My bookings. Upcoming confirmed bookings sorted by date. The next gig is highlighted. Each card links to the message thread.
• Conversations in progress. Active negotiations that don’t have a finalized booking yet.
• Open requests for you. Open requests from churches that match your instruments, sorted by date then by fit score. Each card shows a Request fit percentage and a plain-English explanation of why.

Setting up your profile

Go to Profile in the sidebar. A complete profile increases your visibility and the likelihood churches will invite you.

Basic info

• Display name. The name churches will see.
• Profile photo. Tap the avatar to upload a photo.
• Bio. A short description of your background and style. Keep it honest and specific.
• Available. Toggle this off to temporarily hide yourself from search and open-request feeds without deleting your account. Toggle back on when you’re ready again.

Instruments and skills

Add each instrument you play and your skill level (Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, or Professional). One instrument is your primary instrument. This is what appears on cards and in search.

Location and travel

• Enter your city, state, zip, and optionally your full street address.
• Verify your address so churches get accurate distance estimates.
• Set your travel radius to control how far you are willing to travel (10, 25, 50, 100, 200 miles, or anywhere).

Fees

• Set a fee range (minimum and maximum) so churches know what to expect.
• Check I volunteer if you are willing to play for free or at no charge. You can still be paid. This just lets churches know you are open to it.

Denomination preferences

Select the denominations or traditions you are comfortable serving. Check Open to any denomination to appear for all churches.

Experience and gear

• Experience notes. Relevant background: types of services, bands, recording experience, years playing.
• Gear notes. What you bring: instruments, amps, pedal boards, PA gear.

Video links

Add YouTube or Vimeo links to recordings so churches can hear you play. Add a title and brief description for each video.

Managing availability

Go to Profile > Availability to manage your calendar.

Toggling available/unavailable

The Available toggle at the top of your profile is a global on/off switch. When off, you are hidden from all searches and request feeds.

Blocking dates manually

In the Availability section, tap Block dates to mark a date range as unavailable. Add an optional note (visible only to you). Blocked dates are shown on your calendar and prevent your name from appearing to churches looking for musicians on those days.

Connecting an external calendar (iCal)

Paste any iCal URL (from Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Planning Center, etc.) to sync your existing calendar. Sunday Musician will import your busy dates automatically.

• Tap Sync now to force an immediate update.
• Tap Disconnect to remove a calendar.
• A color is assigned to each connected calendar so you can tell sources apart on the calendar view.

Blocked ranges from your calendar appear as colored bands on the month grid. Days with mixed available/blocked time show a partial indicator.

Browsing open requests

Go to Open requests in the sidebar to see all current open requests from churches. Requests are filtered to those that match at least one of your instruments and fall outside any dates you have blocked.

Each card shows:

• Service date (month and day)
• Church name, city, and state
• Offered fee (if set)
• Instruments that match yours (highlighted)
• Request fit percentage and a short explanation of what is complete and what is missing

Tap a card to see the full request detail: date, time, location, rehearsal details, instruments needed, setlist link, tech setup, fee, and notes from the church.

From the request detail, tap Reply to this request to open a message thread with the church.

Messaging and proposals (musicians)

When you reply to a request, a message thread is created between you and the church for that specific request.

Text messages. Use for introductions, questions, or context about your experience.

Send a proposal. When you are ready to make a formal offer, send a proposal. A proposal includes:

• Your proposed fee and fee type
• The service date (pre-filled from the request)
• Optional notes

The church can Accept, Decline, or reply with a counter. If they accept, the booking is confirmed and you both receive a confirmation.

Accepting a church’s counter. If the church sends a revised proposal, you can accept or decline it in turn.

Once a booking is confirmed, the thread shows the agreed fee and a cancellation policy summary. To cancel, use the cancel option in the thread. You will see the policy terms before confirming.

Payouts

Go to Profile > Payouts to connect your Stripe account and receive payment.

You must complete Stripe’s onboarding before you can accept paid bookings. Tap Set up payouts to be taken to Stripe’s secure onboarding flow. You will need to provide:

• Your legal name and date of birth
• A Social Security Number (last 4 digits or full, depending on Stripe’s requirements)
• A bank account for deposits

Once onboarding is complete, payouts happen automatically after each service. For detailed payout history, 1099-K forms, and earnings reports, use the link to your Stripe Express dashboard from the Payouts page.

Reviews

After each completed service, both the church and the musician are asked to leave a review.

• Reviews open once the service date has passed.
• Each party submits a star rating (1–5) and a short written review independently.
• Reviews are held blind. Neither party sees the other’s review until both have submitted, or until the reveal window closes.
• The reveal date is shown in the review form so you know when ratings become public.

Ratings are averaged into your profile score and displayed on your profile card and in search results.

Notifications

Go to Profile > Notifications to control which emails you receive.

Some emails are always sent regardless of preferences (critical alerts):

• Payment captured / payout arrived
• Payment failed or card declined
• Card expiring within 30 days
• Sign-in from a new device

Optional email groups you can enable or disable:

Account settings

Go to Profile > Account to:

• Change email address. Enter your new address and confirm. A verification email will be sent to the new address.
• Change password. Enter and confirm your new password.
• Export your data. Download a copy of your account data.
• Delete your account. Permanently removes your account and all associated data. This cannot be undone.