Is there a software application that will allow me to match Church
volunteers to a church ministry need for under $500.00?

Dear brownp2-ga:

There are indeed many examples of church-related software packages 
that allow you to manage volunteers.

I was able to find three specific packages for under $500. I've listed
them in ascending order of cost.

CV-Schedule
http://www.twopaths.com/cvschedule.htm
Cost: FREE if you are a non-profit or religious organization
System Requirements: basically any Windows system is OK. No Macintosh.
From the Website: "The scheduling of volunteers is done using a
flexible
set of rules that can be customized to fit the requirements of 
your Church and of individual volunteers."

Members to Action
http://www.memberstoaction.com/
Cost: $400 (single user), with small church pricing options. 
      http://order.kagi.com/cgi-bin/r1.cgi?H2P&&
System Requirements: basically any Windows system is OK, as well as
Macintosh.
From the Website: "Members To Action is lay mobilization software 
designed to help in your volunteer recruiting by matching church 
volunteer's interests and spiritual gifts with ministry opportunities.
Essentially you do this by profiling the person, profiling the 
ministry, then cross-matching the two."

Volunteer Manager
http://www.acshome.com/VolunteerManager/default.asp
Cost: $500
System Requirements: Windows systems.
From the Website: "With this exciting new program in the ACS line 
of church-management tools, unlock an individual’s gifts, skills, 
and passions. Use information you discover to match them with a 
predefined ministry campaign - assuring volunteers are placed in 
appropriate areas, offering an atmosphere for happier people 
and achievement for ministry goals."

While it might be tempting to go with the free product, please keep 
in mind you often get what you pay for when it comes to software. :-)

As well, there are many, many other church-based applications out
there.
Some of them might be of interest to you for other reasons, or might 
have "hidden" volunteer capabilities. Some of the church software 
listings I found include:

CrossSearch.com
http://www.crosssearch.com/Internet_and_Technology/Software/Management/Church_Management/

Google Directories
http://directory.google.com/Top/Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Christianity/Software/Church_Management/

Open Directory Project 
http://dmoz.org/Society/Religion_and_Spirituality/Christianity/Software/Church_Management/

Search Strategy on Google:
church software volunteers
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=church+software+volunteers

I hope this helps you out! Please request clarification from me if you
have any questions about what I've written.

Thanks. 

websearcher-ga

Awesome!!!  Thank you so very much!!!  The answer I got was very clear
and concise and even went beyond for additional help!