About 80 church clerks and pastors sat elbow-to-elbow in a training seminar for eAdventist at the Southeastern California Conference office in November.

“Keeping track of members can be tedious,” admitted Sandra Roberts, SECC executive secretary. “Today we’ll try to make that job easier. But in the big picture, you are recording [your congregation’s] story of faith. It is a work of God that you do.”

Anthony Penick, webmaster and membership clerk technician, spent two hours coaching, encouraging, teaching and answering questions. When he took on the eAdventist project in March 2004, about 10 SECC churches were using the new North American Division (NAD) membership system.

“Today 80 churches are online. We’re over the hump,” Penick said. In addition, 30 companies process their members directly with Susie DeCanio, conference clerk. Another 35 small congregations don’t use computers because their membership does not change much. Penick will continue training new clerks as they are elected each year.

With the paper system, members sometimes were counted twice—at the church they were leaving and the one they were moving to. Roberts noted that when the new system is fully implemented, records throughout NAD will be much more accurate.