Last night I started this talk for our Priesthood leadership session of Stake Conference today. We had been trying to get ahold of one of the speakers for a few days with no luck, and we were worried he forgot and wouldn't show. He ended up calling this morning, so I don't have to finish polishing up the talk or giving it this afternoon. I figure I shouldn't just toss it aside, so here you go.
I have twice served as an assistant ward clerk with responsibility over membership. The first time was shortly after returning home from a mission, and settling into a BYU student singles ward. During the issue of the call, the Bishop talked about the struggle he had getting to know new members of the ward, in large part because it took a while to figure out someone moved out of an apartment and someone else moved in. I jumped at the opportunity, the calling I had been serving in was as the priesthood pianist in the ward, and I didn't play the piano.
I began as we headed towards the end of a semester. As I learned all about membership records, how to get them and send them away, and change them, I went out finding who was planning to leave our ward and when they planned to leave. As people moved and new people moved in, I made sure I was out knocking on doors to meet the new people in the ward, to get their relevant information to request their records. The Bishop suddenly knew when people were leaving, who the new people in the ward were, and a little bit about them. (From my little mini interviews.) This quickly resolved this problem for the Bishop, he could focus more on some of the things he needed to focus on, and no longer worried about who was where. I discovered a side benefit. I found that I was getting to know every one of the women in the ward, and I was the first guy in the ward to meet those moving in, in most cases. This is how I first met my wife.
We get some glimpses in the scriptures of the Lord's people taking care to do some administrative work, both in ancient times and new. In the Old Testament, we see numerous examples of the Israelites taking careful measure of their genealogy, tracking the tribe they belonged to, and in the case of the Levites, their rights to serve in the temple. In D&C 128, the prophet Joseph Smith speaks of having a recorder in the work of the dead. This recorders work is important, that which is recorded on Earth is recorded in Heaven. Moroni talks of the newly baptized, whose "
names were taken, that they might be remembered and nourished by the good word of God, to keep them in the right way..." In the church today, blessing of children, baptism & confirmation, ordination in the Priesthood, temple work for th eliving and dead, and many, many more things are recorded. There is clearly something to the keeping of records, a seemingly administrative task, and accomplishing the work of the Lord.
As an Elders Quorum president, it took me a little while to figure out how to get organized to become more effective in my service to the Elders of the quorum and their families. During one of my first PPIs with President Monsivais, he talked to me about having PPIs with members of the quorum. This was a new concept to me, the only formal PPI I ever had in my life was with him and with my mission president, as least as far as I could remember. After a year or so, I finally realized that I didn't need to try to be doing these all by myself, and started having my counselors assist in these interviews.
As we started working with the ward computer in recording the Home Teaching efforts in the ward, we discovered that we could start producing reports like 'families that have not been home taught in 3 months', 'members without callings', and the like. Suddenly if found myself visiting families who I knew were struggling, and whose home teachers were not in their homes, where before I was visiting families, but maybe more because I knew they were there, and less on my knowing they needed me to visit. In some cases, we made changes to home teaching assignments. I also found myself asking my counselors to have PPIs with Elders who were doing their home teaching, and myself visited with Elders who were either struggling with problems in their lives or Elders who were struggling to get out to visit with their families. Over time, I learned that the more effective we were in some of the administration of our calling, the easier it was for us to discover and be inspired with people who needed us to do the work of ministering in our calling.
Does this mean we should let ourselves become so involved in the work of generating reports, collecting statistics, and publishing the results of our efforts? Certainly not. We are here to minister to one another. The programs we administer over should never take precedence over the people were serve. We can not lose site of this. In the October 2006 General Conference, Elder Ballard talked about this, and offered some guiding principles to help us avoid this. He said:
- First, focus on people and principles—not on programs. One of the most important things we do through the gospel of Jesus Christ is to build people. Frankly, it’s much easier to just manage programs than it is to understand and truly serve people. Programs are tools. Their management and staffing must not take priority over the needs of the people they are designed to bless and to serve.
- Second, be innovative. As we work to magnify our callings, we should seek the inspiration of the Spirit to solve problems in ways that will best help the people we serve.
- Third, divide the work and delegate responsibility. There is a difference between being responsible for getting the work done and doing the work yourself. Assignments should be made, responsibilities should be delegated, and members should be allowed to fulfill their stewardship as best they can. Counsel, advise, persuade, motivate—but don’t do the work for them. Allow others to progress and grow, even if it means sometimes getting less-than-perfect results on the reports.
- Fourth, eliminate guilt. I hope it goes without saying that guilt is not a proper motivational technique for leaders and teachers of the gospel of Jesus Christ. We must always motivate through love and sincere appreciation, not by creating guilt.
- I once was in a PPI with someone who was just not getting out to do his home teaching. This brother had a companion that needed him to take the lead, and a family that needed him in their home. I had talked to him about these things before, and this time, I simply said "Brent, what is it going to take for you to go out and do your home teaching?" His reply? "I think that was it." It worked in that case, but I never did that again. We have occasions to be bold with people without making them feel bad about themselves.
- Fifth, we need to thoughtfully allocate our resources of time, income, and energy. I would like to let you in on a little secret. Some of you have already learned it. If you haven’t, it’s time you knew. No matter what your family needs are or your responsibilities in the Church, there is no such thing as “done.” There will always be more we can do. There is always another family matter that needs attention, another lesson to prepare, another interview to conduct, another meeting to attend. We just need to be wise in protecting our health and in following the counsel that President Hinckley has given often to just do the best that we can.
We can't do everything. Those who try eventually find themselves frustrated, burnt out, and exhausted. There are reasons for Presidents and Bishops to have counselors, reasons for clerks and secretaries, and reasons why we are in general called to a position for a finite period of time. The Lord wants us to do our best. He wants us to then do just a little bit better, to magnify the things we do and service we give. He wants us to be organized, and seek the guidance of the Spirit in all we do.
I find that when I have even just a little information about something, it becomes much easier to seek and receive desired inspiration. In teaching Oliver Cowdery about revelation, the Lord shows us a key. In D&C 9:8, we read:
"But, behold, I say unto you, that you must astudy it out in your bmind; then you must cask me if it be right, and if it is right I will cause that your dbosom shall eburn within you; therefore, you shall ffeel that it is right."
This is why I became more effective as an Elders Quorum president when we started generating those reports, reviewing them and going from there. We were able get to the heart of what we needed to do when we were organized. The Lord inspired us as we spent the right amount of doing the required administrative work in our call.
As a clerk, secretary, or executive secretary, it can be hard to sometimes see you are making a difference. Much of what you do happens behind the scenes. I have always found during my time as an assistant clerk, Ward clerk, and executive secretary, the more I try to help out in every way I can, the more time the Bishop or Stake President can take not worrying about the things I am taking care of. I don't want the Stake President to have to worry about some of the things that I can take care of for him. He just simply shouldn't worry about something he has given me to take care of. He has other things to do. People to visit with.
Brethren, as we spend the right amount of time doing the work of administration in our callings, delegate what we can, and take care of the things that are most important, we will find that we are better about to do the work of our ministries. We will find ourselves better guided by the inspiration of the Spirit, and not tossed to and fro, stumbling our way through our calls. Our work of ministry is most important, helping to bring ourselves and those around us closer to Christ. Some of us are called to lead out in those efforts, some are called to assist those who lead out, but we can all be effective in what we do to let us do more with the time, talents, and resources we have.
It's a wonderful time to be alive. It is certainly a privilege to be holders of the priesthood and have responsibility in the Church. It's a wonderful opportunity we have to serve in the Lord's work. As we spend a little time organizing ourselves in our work, the Lord will always show us the way to be better ministers to those we serve.
Up to Now: The Autobiography
