This page explains the cookies our website uses and how you can manage them in your browser.
What Cookies Are
Cookies are small text files a website saves in your browser so it can remember something from one page or visit to the next. This page lists the cookies our site uses and what each one is for. The site itself does not save anything else in your browser.
The Short Version
If you are simply visiting, the only cookies our site sets come from Google Analytics, which helps us understand how the site is used, and, now and then, a security cookie described below. We do not use cookies for advertising, and we do not use the Facebook pixel or any other advertising tracker. Other services come into play only when you reach them: YouTube when you play a video, Google Calendar when you scroll to the church calendar, and Google Maps when you scroll to a map.
Analytics Cookies
We use Google Analytics, loaded through Google Tag Manager, to learn which pages are visited, how people find the site, and what kind of device and browser they use. It counts things like page views, how far down a page people scroll, clicks on links to other websites, and when a form is started or sent, but not what you write in it. Analytics is managed by Heron Product Company on the church's behalf, as our Privacy Policy explains.
Google Analytics sets two cookies on our own web address. The first, named _ga, lets it tell one visitor from another. The second, whose name begins with _ga_ followed by a code for our site, keeps track of your current visit. Both last up to two years unless you delete them. They do not tell us who you are, and we have not turned on Google's advertising features for this site.
Cookies for Church Staff Only
Church staff and Heron Product Company sign in to a private editing area to keep the site up to date. Signing in sets a cookie named payload-token, which keeps the editor signed in and expires after two hours unless it is renewed; the editing area may also remember display choices such as language or light and dark mode (payload-lng and payload-theme). When an editor previews changes before publishing them, a preview cookie named __prerender_bypass lasts until they leave preview or close the browser. Visitors who do not sign in never receive these cookies.
Video, Maps, Scripture, and Fonts
Sermon and service videos play in YouTube's privacy-enhanced player, from youtube-nocookie.com. The player does not load until you press play. Once you do, YouTube may save information in your browser under its own policies; Google says videos watched this way are not used to personalize your YouTube experience or the ads you see on other sites. The preview pictures for videos on our Watch page load from YouTube's image servers, which set no cookies.
The maps on our home and Contact pages are shown by Google Maps. Each loads when you scroll down to it, and Google may then save information in your browser under its own policies.
The full church calendar on our Connect page is shown by Google Calendar. It loads when you scroll down to it, and Google may then save information in your browser under its own policies. The weekly schedule above it is read by our own website and sets no cookies.
When you open a verse popup, our website fetches the passage from Crossway's ESV service and shows it to you; your browser does not connect to Crossway, and no cookies are set. The site's fonts are stored on our own site as well, so loading a page does not contact Google Fonts.
Security Cookies
Our site is delivered through Cloudflare, which helps protect it from attacks and spam. Cloudflare sets a cookie only when certain protections are switched on: for example, __cf_bm for its bot protection, which expires after 30 minutes of inactivity, or cf_clearance after a quick security check. Cloudflare describes these cookies as strictly necessary, and they are used only to keep the site safe.
Your Cookie Settings
Because our cookies are used only to understand how the site is used, and never for advertising, we do not interrupt your visit with a cookie pop-up, and this page does not have on and off switches of its own. You stay in control through your browser instead.
You can block or delete cookies at any time in your browser's settings; Safari, Chrome, Firefox, and Edge all let you do this. Blocking cookies will not keep you from reading the site, watching sermons, or sending us a message. To stop Google Analytics on every website you visit, you can install Google's free opt-out add-on from tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout. The privacy features and content blockers built into many browsers work on our site too.
Changes to This Page
We may update this page from time to time, and we will update it before adding any new kind of cookie to the site. The date it was last updated is shown at the top of this page.
Contact Us
If you have any questions about cookies on this site, contact McIlwain Presbyterian Church at 1220 East Blount Street, Pensacola, FL 32503, by phone at (850) 438-5449, or by email at info@mcilwainchurch.org.