MLS 3.0 Issue: Standardized calling names

[aebrown]

Additional missing callings:
Family History Extraction Director/Worker should be FamilySearch Indexing Director/Worker (at least that's what our stake was instructed to do).

I'm not sure who gave your stake this instruction, but the current (2007) Administrative Guide for Family History uses the terms "Stake Family Record Extraction Director" and "Family Record Extraction Worker." There is no mention of Indexing. Of course Extraction and Indexing are essentially the same effort, perhaps with a slightly different focus and different tools, so I don't see the difference as critical one way or the other.

[JamesAnderson]

On the position of extraction director/worker:

Yes, it still exists, as there are still those using the older UDE software to extract and index records, it is used for certain very specialized types of projects where the indexing program just would not do.

But having an Indexing director/worker calling could also aid in the organization of the indexers, although one does not have to have the specific calling to be an indexer, they just have to sign up and download the software to do it, as the indexing effort is just too large to say one has to have the calling before they start, or have the calling at all to even do it. As for calling indexing workers, that seems to vary from unit to unit how it is handled.

[jbh001]

I'm not sure who gave your stake this instruction, but the current (2007) Administrative Guide for Family History uses the terms "Stake Family Record Extraction Director" and "Family Record Extraction Worker." There is no mention of Indexing. Of course Extraction and Indexing are essentially the same effort, perhaps with a slightly different focus and different tools, so I don't see the difference as critical one way or the other.

After doing some more searching I see that now too. Curious that the way it was communicated to our stake leadership, we were instructed to discontinue using the words "Family History Extraction" in favor of "FamilySearch Indexing."

[jeromer7]

Our stake was instructed a few months back that seminary teachers (and institute teachers too, if I remember correctly) were being changed from a CES appointment to a stake calling. If that applies to more than just our stake/area, then it would be helpful to have these callings also show up as standardized callings in the Out-Of-Unit group.

Our stake also got a letter telling us seminary teachers are now stake callings. I don't believe institute instructors were included, but don't have the letter handy to check.

[lajackson]

Our stake also got a letter telling us seminary teachers are now stake callings. I don't believe institute instructors were included, but don't have the letter handy to check.

They were both included. Volunteer Seminary and Institute of Religion Teachers and stake supervisors now are called, set apart, and released under the direction of local stake presidents. They no longer are appointed by CES.

Your source will be the First Presidency letter dated June 12, 2008, which really amazes me, because it seems that it has not been a whole year since that policy went into effect.

Nevertheless, . . .

[terrysackett]

But I can think of another reason for having a Boy Scout instead of Troop Committee. If a ward is properly chartered in the BSA, they would have a separate Boy Scout Troop (for ages 11-13), Varsity Team (for ages 14-15) and Venturing Crew (for ages 16-18). But in the cases that I am aware, the ward only had one Scout Committee covering all of them.

I can accept that. Thanks for providing me with another point of view. My ward doesn't have enough active YM to sparate them into a troop, team, or crew, and we only had troops when I was a Scout in the early eighties, so what you suggest didn't cross my mind.

[terrysackett]

The standard position names list appears to be derived from those position names (callings) found in the CHI. For the list you provide I can not find any of them mentioned in the CHI. Seminary Instructors (Teachers) are covered in CES documents. The Ward Employment specialist appears to have been created after CHI, book 2, was published in 1998. The rest appear to be locally created positions. With the exception of Missionary Meal Coordinator, I know that they have not existed in any wards I have ever been in.

Because my wife is the stake RS secretary in my stake, I know that enrichment committees and compassionate service committees, as well as humanitarian service committees/coordinators exist in every ward in my stake. She is asleep at the moment so I can't ask her, but I believe she told me that the instructions to create these positions came from the general RS presidency more than three years ago.

[terrysackett]

I guess my reasoning is that any head of an organization/committee that needs to regularly participate in PEC or ward council ought to have their own organizational group within MLS without having to create a custom organization for them.

I agree wholeheartedly! As important as these organizations are, they should be listed as such, in my opinion

[terrysackett]

I'd also like to see a "standard" calling of Full-Time Missionary as a possibility for the Out-Of-Unit grouping. We use this in our ward to prevent full-time missionaries serving from the ward from showing up on the Members Without Callings report.

That could also be used to help calculate the number of missionaries service from the ward on the Officer's Susstained form.

I also absolutely agree with this. I have already created the position in out-of-unit callings for my ward, but I'm surprised it's not already there.

[terrysackett]

It must ultimately be up to the local council/district, as in our case, the council doesn't require a minimum number of boys for the LDS units (5 minimum for others).

And the "Scouting and the Church ..." document (from http://ldsbsa.org/resources.html) states that "A Cub Scout pack, a Boy Scout troop, and a Varsity team should be chartered by every ward and branch that has two or more boys of the particular age served by the program."

I was YM president in a ward several years ago that had 5 young men, but only one of them was interested in Scouting, so he was registered in the troop of a ward that shared our building. I don't know how many Cub Scouts we had, but I do know that although we had no registered Boy Scouts, the ward renewed its charter of all the units every year.