In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we have a lay ministry. There are two major tenets to a lay ministry. The first is that the positions of leadership and service in the church are not compensated monetarily. This includes teachers, choir directors, youth leaders and our priesthood leaders or ministers. The second is that we do not choose for ourselves where we will serve. Through prayerful inspiration, revelation, our priesthood leaders decide who should serve in the various positions and ask the member if they would be willing to do so. We are then free to decide for ourselves and are encouraged to seek the same inspiration to know from God that this is His will for us. As many of you may know, I was asked to be a bishop of my local congregation (ward) a little over ten years ago. It was a big responsibility to preside and lead over the whole congregation for five years. Though it meant a sacrifice of time away from family and of balancing the demands of my occupation as well, it was a tremendous blessing to me. It enabled me to be an even better father and a better physician also.
After five years, a new bishop was called by our Stake President. He, with two counselors, presides over our geographic region and is responsible for overseeing eight congregations in our area. My new bishop asked me to teach Sunday School which I did for four years, covering the four stand works: The Old and New Testament, The Book of Mormon (another testament of Jesus Christ written by people in ancient America) and the Doctrine and Covenants (a book of modern scripture, revelation in our day). I loved the opportunity to deeply study and ponder God's word and the chance to share that with my ward members. When I was released being a Sunday School teacher, I was asked to serve in our nursery, helping 18-36 month old children so that their parents could participate in their classes. I loved those little children. I loved singing with them the songs of Jesus, showing them pictures of Him and simply playing with them. I was only there for a few short months when I was then asked to be the Boy Scout Master for our young men (mostly 12-13 year old boys) where I have been serving for the last two years.
Serving as a scoutmaster has been one of the highlights of my life. I have so many fond memories of camping with my father growing up. The last two years was very time consuming. We camped once a month as well as having our weekly scout meetings. We had all sorts of activities as we worked on the badges and advancements in scouting. I loved arranging to have the boys meet new people and to do things that they had never done before. I strived to encourage them to think of scouting as a tool to help them become better, to not just earn their eagle scout award but to become an eagle scout. More than that, I wanted them to understand that ultimately the ideals found in the scout law would help them to become more than an eagle scout, it would enable them to become a disciple of Christ.
This last weekend I was asked to serve in a new capacity, as the first counselor to our new Stake President. I am still in awe and quite humbled by this new opportunity. In a letter to my son, who is currently serving a two year mission to the people of St. Petersburg, Russia, I outlined my thoughts as the events unfolded last week. I have felt that I should share some of those with you as well:
"I just got home from my interview with the two leaders assigned by the headquarters of the church to come choose a new Stake Presidency. I wasn't sure what to expect. Would they call me to repentance? What would they ask? Many questions came through my mind. I went there directly from having returned from a scout overnight. I literally got out of the shower, put on my suit and drove to the church. They were running a bit behind schedule so as I waited, more and more people showed up. Our former Stake President who was called to be a new General Authorities was there and it was fun to talk to him. He told about how he was called and going to training in Salt Lake and pretty much ALL of the General Authorities were there and participated. It was fun to be in the room full of men who are either bishops or were bishops. Men of God who have dedicated their lives to serving him. Any of them could be asked to serve as the Stake President and would do a great job.
I enjoyed being part of the process today. I especially enjoyed being able to bear my testimony of the Savior. What respect I have for these men who showed up today, were given a book of names and 7 minutes to meet with each one. Through revelation, they will come to he who should serve.
I'll write more tomorrow. I am going to rest now.
Sunday:
Yesterday seems like a really long time ago now. I fell into a pretty deep coma after finishing writing yesterday. That night I went to Sterling's Pop Concert at school. As it was getting started, I received a phone call stating that the General Authorities wanted to meet with me the next morning at 8:30.
Your mom and I figured that it would be a counselor's position but it was hard to fall asleep that night. When I woke up, I thought, "Oh good, I slept well," but when I looked at the clock it was 4:30 AM. I stayed there till 5:00 AM and then got up. I met the General Authorities at the Stake Center. When I was asked to serve as the first counselor in the stake presidency, my first reaction was, "AWESOME." I knew both the new president and the second counselor and I couldn't imagine serving with two greater men. It immediately felt so right."
I was given a few minutes to share my feelings in the meeting to our whole stake that followed. I wanted to be brief and yet have the Lord's spirit present so that others too could feel the Lord behind this request to serve. After expressing gratitude to those who had served before and especially to my supportive family, I mentioned Devin's advice to me to not worry, reminding me of my previous commitment to the Lord. I then mentioned that just two nights previous, under a star filled sky, I stood around a campfire with a group of 12 and 13 year old boys and talked about what it means to have a testimony of Christ and what it means to be converted to him. The spirit came so strong as I then said, "and so my calling in the church has not really changed. I will now just be doing the same thing with all of you."
I realize that this is rather personal but hope it is received by anyone who reads it in the spirit in which it is intended. When Jesus was on the earth, he called ordinary men to be his apostles. They came from all walks of life and so it is in his church today. We have been promised by our living prophet that "whom the Lord calls, the Lord qualifies." I have faith that He will be with us as we serve and that He will guide and direct us in the work that He would have us do. I invite anyone who may have a desire, to "come and see" the blessings that the Lord has in store for you.
More information regarding our beliefs and doctrine is available at www.mormon.org.
