A Student Life search committee is finishing interviews for a new university chaplain and dean of spiritual formation.

Dr. Chris Riley, vice president of Student Life, said during the past few weeks the committee interviewed candidates for the position. The next step will include bringing finalists to campus for interviews with various groups on campus including students. Riley said the task force hopes to hire someone in the spring semester.

“The chaplain will provide leadership for the on-going spiritual formation of the campus community,” Riley said, “through the development and coordination of co-curricular programming, corporate worship including Chapel, and pastoral care, as well as creating stronger connections with local congregations.”

More than 100 people applied for the position earlier in the semester. Riley said the application will stay open until the position is filled.

In the meantime, David Moses, director of Leadership Camps, has served as the coordinator of Moody Chapel events and Susan Cooper, Leadership Camps registrar, has been coordinating Quest small group events. All exemption requests and faith-in-action credits are coordinated by graduate students in the Office of Spiritual Formation.

Moses said students at Oklahoma Christian University update and maintain the Quest mobile app, but there are still some technical issues with the app. For example, some students are able to check into multiple Quest events at the same time.

“We implemented it before it was fully functional,” Moses said. “We don’t have the manpower to police dishonesty.”

In the future, the Moses said the Quest app could have better location tracking using a “beacon” app. This would allow the host of a small group event to turn on a “beacon” on their phone so students in the same room as the “beacon” could check into the event.