wfn.org | [] #5371

[PCUSA NEWS <pcusa.news@ecunet.org>]

GA99005        Surf the Net & Ride the Latest Wave 
                  in Matching Jobs & Job-Seekers 
                                 
                    Computer Matching System 
               Will Be Up & Running by September 
 
FORT WORTH Is your church looking for a new pastor? Then jump on the World 
Wide Web and surf the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)'s new computerized 
employment matching system. 
 
     It's a high-tech route that church-affiliated professionals soon will 
be able to take when searching for a new position or looking to fill one. 
The system is part of a wider effort to upgrade the church electronically 
and make employment information more easily accessible. 
 
     News of the system   Church Leadership Connection   was discussed June 
17 during the meeting here of the General Assembly Council (GAC). 
 
     "The idea here is much quicker access to data," said the Rev. Bill 
Chapman, partnership chair for the National Ministries Division (NMD). "No 
waiting around." 
 
     The project is a collaboration among NMD, Mission Support Services 
(MSS) and the GAC. 
 
     Pastors, religious educators, church administrators and presbytery and 
synod executives will be able to complete a simplified personal information 
form (PIF) and submit it over the Web or on disk to an electronic data base 
to be maintained at the Presbyterian Center in Louisville, Ky.  Pastor 
nominating committees and search committees will be able to complete 
simplified information forms and add them to the same data base. 
Presbyteries, theological institutions and call referral services will then 
be able to match positions and people. 
 
     "The system is very secure, so confidential information will not be 
available to the public," said the Rev. Bill Peterson, acting associate 
director of NMD's church-wide personnel services office, which is 
developing the program. 
 
     The new system will replace a much slower computer system accessible 
only by PC(USA) staff in Louisville.  All PIFs will have to be signed 
electronically by the stated clerk of the presbytery before being entered 
into the data base. 
 
     During a February meeting in Louisville, NMD, MSS and the GAC approved 
a $300,000 capital grant for system development, Chapman said, and voted to 
seek proposals from seven potential system vendors.  The contract was later 
awarded to Omnisys, a Louisville firm. 
 
     Demonstrations of the system will be presented at the Fort Worth 
Convention Center during the 211th General Assembly, which starts June 19. 
Evan Silverstein 

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