Tech Forum

I would like to gain a better understanding of how unbaptized individuals (over 8) are presented on reports in MLS. I believe this mainly pertains to individuals with a membership record (meaning they were blessed), but have not been baptized It has been somewhat difficult for organization secretaries to easily identify these individuals on different reports. These are the main concerns:
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• Some reports reflect individuals with an '*' before their name, but there is no reference (no footnote) for the purpose of the asterisk. It took some research to figure out this is for unbaptized members. Because this was misunderstood, it appears attendance information has not always been counted correctly (it is my understanding unbaptized members should not be included in organization counts if they are of age 9+).
• Other reports reflect the individuals without an '*' in front of the person's name. Is there a reason why these individuals are not always flagged on reports?

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I will appreciate feeback/clarification regarding this issue, thank you.

When a child is blessed we call them a "child of record." The group of people who are up to and including 8 years old and have a record OR are over 8 years old and not baptized and have a record are called "Members of record," even though strictly speaking they are not really members until they are baptized and confirmed.

Members of record are carried along on the rolls of the ward and stake until they are 18 years old. The bishop may then (with the permission of the stake president) cancel the member record. Until that time, they should appear on rolls and lists just like any other member

The asterisk (*) by their name was done away with some time ago. If you know of a report on the current version of MLS (2.7 and above) that still shows this asterisk, please let us know so we can make sure it does not appear in future versions.

Thanks.

smithgw wrote:The group of people who are up to and including 8 years old and have a record OR are over 8 years old and not baptized and have a record are called "Members of record,"...Members of record are carried along on the rolls of the ward and stake until they are 18 years old.

Thank you for the feedback, smithgw. Can you confirm if members of record over 8 years old are not to be included in attendance counting for the quarterly report to the church?

smithgw wrote:The asterisk (*) by their name was done away with some time ago. If you know of a report on the current version of MLS (2.7 and above) that still shows this asterisk, please let us know so we can make sure it does not appear in future versions.

The report pointed out to me having the (*) next to the name is the Birthday List report (the copy I have is dated October '07).

Yes, they should be counted if they appear on the roll. The information at the top of the roll sheet indicates how secretaries should count for the report.

I've had a chance to revisit this topic and wanted to report my findings based on our last quarterly report:

- MLS does indicate an (*) next to unbaptized individuals on some reports. An example is the 'Abbreviated Directory List'. It seems like it would be good if the use of the (*) was more consistent when printing reports.

- As far as I can tell, those individuals that are 9+ yrs old and unbaptized (even if they appear on rolls) are NOT to be included in the count of attendance for the quarterly reports. This is based on looking at the Unit Statistics Report, which has an option of 'Individuals Not Included'. All of the unbaptized individuals 9+ are included under this category and are not reflected in the other Unit Statistics. This was made obvious in reviewing the 'Young Women' option under this report -- two of our YW were not included (they are not baptized), but they did appear on the 'Individuals Not Included' option.

smithgw wrote:When a child is blessed we call them a "child of record." The group of people who are up to and including 8 years old and have a record OR are over 8 years old and not baptized and have a record are called "Members of record," even though strictly speaking they are not really members until they are baptized and confirmed.

Members of record are carried along on the rolls of the ward and stake until they are 18 years old. The bishop may then (with the permission of the stake president) cancel the member record. Until that time, they should appear on rolls and lists just like any other member

The asterisk (*) by their name was done away with some time ago. If you know of a report on the current version of MLS (2.7 and above) that still shows this asterisk, please let us know so we can make sure it does not appear in future versions.

Thanks.

I printed a Standard Directory List for "Beehives" as of 08 Sep 2009. It has an asterisk (*) in front of one of the names. Is this what you are talking about?

411r3d wrote:I printed a Standard Directory List for "Beehives" as of 08 Sep 2009. It has an asterisk (*) in front of one of the names. Is this what you are talking about?

That is indeed what smithgw was talking about (over 18 months ago ). Good catch!

But in my experience, he overstated the case somewhat. In MLS 2.7, the asterisk was no longer included on rolls and birthday lists, but it still appears on other types of class lists for unbaptized members 9 and older.

smithgw wrote:If you know of a report on the current version of MLS (2.7 and above) that still shows this asterisk, please let us know so we can make sure it does not appear in future versions.

The Standard Directory List under Print Rolls and Lists for Organizations has the asterisks. I just printed them off today for the AP Quorums.