With a billion users and counting, the Internet hardly needs an evangelist.

Yet "chief internet evangelist" is precisely the title chosen by Vinton G. Cerf for his new job at Google Inc.

The company, based in Mountain View, Calif., announced earlier today that Dr. Cerf will be leaving MCI, where he is senior vice president of technology strategy, to be one of a dozen or so vice presidents working closely with Eric Schmidt as the company continues to move beyond its roots as an Internet search engine.