While I was finding things to help them meet those needs, I came to a realization regarding my new calling, and even regarding leadership callings in general.

You see, it seems to me that often we view those in leadership callings as set up to tell us what to do, whether that is in our own callings or how we live the gospel. And even some who serve in leadership callings have that idea, that they are to tell people what to do, that they are to manage the ward (or stake or whatever).

But as I was going about getting the resources my teachers need, it hit me that this was not what I was doing. Getting something for someone else wasn’t a form of control or management: it was a form of service.

And it reminded me of the Last Supper, when Jesus washed Peter’s feet. At one point, he said:

Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you. Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.

John 13:13–16

He taught the same thing at another point during his ministry:

Ye know that they which are accounted to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so shall it not be among you: but whosoever will be great among you, shall be your minister: and whosoever of you will be the achiefest, shall be servant of all.

Mark 10: 42–44

and:

Neither be ye called masters: for one is your Master, even Christ. But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.

Matthew 23:10–12

and:

And there was also a strife among them, which of them should be accounted the greatest.And he said unto them, The kings of the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and they that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so: but he that is greatest among you, let him be as the younger; and he that is chief, as he that doth serve. For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? Is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth.

Luke 22: 24–27

These scriptures helped me to realize that if we aim to follow the example of Jesus in our lives, then a leadership calling isn’t about directing and managing and controlling: it’s about service.

In my specific calling, as a Christlike leader, I am to serve my teachers. I am not to tell them how to teach or control their classrooms. Instead, I am to serve them: my purpose is to get them what they need so they can magnify their teaching.

This is by no means the first leadership calling I have held, but this new realization has completely changed how I view my new calling and the role I am to play over the next year or two. And should I serve in additional leadership callings after this one, I will use the lessons I learn as a I try to serve my teachers to guide my efforts in those callings.

I’ve taught quite a bit in our ward. I was Gospel Doctrine instructor twice, a substitute seminary teacher, and an elders quorum instructor. I was a Primary teacher before my mission, and of course I taught quite a bit both times I was elders quorum president, when I was ward mission leader, and when I was in the young men presidency.

I love public speaking, but the next best thing is being able to teach. :)

This won’t be a teaching calling per se (although I anticipate I’ll get chances to teach), but I’ll be able to help improve teaching in our ward. I’ve learned a few things over the years, and as someone with ADHD who struggles to keep engaged in boring classes, I think I have lots to offer.

Here are all the callings I’ve had since being home from my mission:

• Elders quorum second counsellor
• Elders quorum president
• Ward mission leader
• Stake mission secretary
• Young men president
• Ward clerk
• Elders quorum president
• Gospel Doctrine instructor
• Executive secretary
• Seminary teacher
• Stake website editor
• Gospel Doctrine instructor
• Elders quorum instructor
• Sacrament coordinator (for a seniors care facility)
• Family history team lead
• Elders quorum communications coordinator

How can both have received a confirmation regarding each calling?

This is my second time around. Last time was 5 years ago, after I was released as elders quorum president. I was looking forward to the following year, when we would be studying Old Testament. Unfortunately, it was short lived; I was released after only 8 months so I could serve as executive secretary.

Luckily, this year, we’re studying the Old Testament this year, and we still have the majority of the year left, so I can get a pretty good OT fix this year. I’m also looking forward to teaching the Gospels next year.

I love public speaking, but the next best thing is being able to teach. :)

• elders quorum second counsellor
• elders quorum president
• ward mission leader
• stake mission secretary
• young men president
• ward clerk
• elders quorum president
• Gospel Doctrine instructor
• executive secretary
• seminary teacher
• stake website editor

I have served as elders quorum president longer than the four presidents prior to me. I’ve reflected on my efforts often. My bishop seems to think I am doing swell, bang-up job. He must see something I don’t see because I don’t see any evidence that anything I’ve done in the last 2.5 years has made a difference.

Anyone who’s been a longtime reader has probably picked up on this through some of my posts. It doesn’t take much to read between the lines. In fact, it may even be more obvious than I thought.

Anyhow, while studying my scriptures tonight, I came across this scripture.

“When my brethren saw that I was about to build a ship, they began to murmur against me, saying: Our brother is a fool, for he thinketh that he can build a ship; yea, and he also thinketh that he can cross these great waters.” (1 Ne. 17:17)

The word “great” got me thinking, and my mind was shortly thereafter brought to D&C 64:33. In particular, the last line:

Out of small things proceedeth that which is great.

I decided to turn to the verse and read it in context. That’s when the first part of the verse jumped out at me.

Be not weary in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work.

That verse hit me pretty hard. It gave me some comfort.

I still don’t know if what I am doing is making a difference, but at least I have the feelng that I’m going in the right direction.

If verse 33 provided comfort, verse 34 provided encouragement:

the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind; and the willing and obedient shall eat the good of the land of Zion in these last days.

If nothing else, I’ll try to be less self-deprecating and more optimistic. More willing I suppose would be a better phrase.

If we turn to the scriptures, we find in the fifth article of faith that “a man must be called of God, by prophecy, and by the laying on of hands by those who are in authority, to preach the Gospel and administer in the ordinances thereof.”

Well, I guess one out of two ain’t bad…

President Packer gave a good talk on callings. He points out that:

“When there is a need for someone to serve, the leaders talk about it and pray about it?¢‚Ǩ‚Äùoften more than once. They seek a confirmation from the Spirit, for calls should be made prayerfully and accepted in the same spirit.”

As a lowly member of the ward, am I asking too much that my leaders follow the prescribed pattern in making callings?

President Packer goes on to say:

“One who has authority to issue a call must rely on inspiration to avoid overburdening those who are always willing.”

I wonder if the reason why these bishoprics have such a problem staffing the ward is because they consistently fail in this one area? This talk is a goldmine in information for anyone issuing callings out of “desperation”.

Let’s see what the handbook says regarding issuing callings:

Doctrines of Callings and Releases

A person must be called of God to serve in the Church (see Articles of Faith 1:5). These callings come as the Holy Ghost inspires presiding officers to issue them. Releases from Church callings should also come by inspiration, except when a person’s change of residence necessitates a release or when a calling is for a specific time period, such as full-time missionary service.

Again, we see the need for inspiration in issuing callings in the church.

So, I guess my question is “why do bishoprics take shortcuts and offer calls of desperation, and then wonder why they have such a hard time staffing the ward?”

I was talking to a friend about this.?Ǭ† His profession is in finance and investing.?Ǭ† Because of this, he was shackled to the financial clerk chains for many years, even though he knew nothing about accounting.?Ǭ† His leaders always commented that they were grateful that they had him because someone with his experience made things go so much smoother in the ward.?Ǭ† He would always joke to me that he had zero experience before he took the calling.

I believe we have others who are typecast into certain callings.?Ǭ† Of course this won’t be 100% of the time, but it is very common in my experience.?Ǭ† I was in a ward where a lady worked as a head librarian at a city library… bet you can guess what her calling was.

To me, the odds of this being “inspired” 100% of the time is pretty small.?Ǭ† I believe these are callings of convenience.?Ǭ† To me, it was disheartening to have to do my computer job all week long, and then in my spare time have to tend to the computer needs of the ward and the family history center.?Ǭ† I never got a break.

Locally, (again, not 100% of the time) my experience is that the leadership callings of the ward and stake are reserved for the “professionals”.?Ǭ† High councils are mostly full of doctors, dentists,?Ǭ†and lawyers.?Ǭ† Bishops are dentists, lawyers and doctors.?Ǭ† And I can see why, it’s because there is no calling in the gospel that coincides with their profession.

This leads me to think that we need some new callings in the church.?Ǭ† We need to have the ward doctor, the ward, dentist, the ward lawyer.?Ǭ† They would then be on call 24/7 and be able to use their professional expertise to help the members of the ward FOR FREE, just like I do when I use my computer skills in a calling.?Ǭ† Who knows, maybe we’d see more convert baptisms if people knew they had access to those types of resources as a result of being a member of the church!

Any guesses on either of the replacements?

On a weekly basis, I get a few more drops of courage to actually raise my hand.

?Ǭ†Why is it that we don’t oppose when it’s how we feel sometimes??Ǭ† I must admit, I have never done it in a public meeting.?Ǭ† The closest I ever got was a few weeks ago when I had a PPI / HT interview with the EQP.?Ǭ† I told them point blank that I opposed a number of things they were doing in the quorum.?Ǭ† I didn’t try to be a jerk about it, but I let them know how I felt and why.?Ǭ† And, then to make it clear, I told them if they continued, I could not sustain them.?Ǭ† I / They left it there.?Ǭ† Nothing has changed.?Ǭ† They now know where I stand.

So, I’m thinking about our ward and stake conference that are comming up, where I’ll have another chance to oppose in public.?Ǭ† Honestly, I don’t know that I have the guts to do it.?Ǭ† I think I’d be more inclined to not raise my hand to sustain and afterwards, go to whoever and voice my opposition.?Ǭ† I admit that is the easier way out.

My entire married life, the only callings I have received have been leadership callings. Elders quorum presidencies, ward mission leader, young men presidency, stake mission presidency, ward clerk. I have no idea why. I don’t think I do a particularly good job, and I honestly don’t think I have any leadership skills; I’m certainly not a very good motivator.

But what really gets me is that this is completely opposite of my mission experience. I never once had any leadership experience on my mission (except for my last trunky month training). No district leader, no zone leader, no AP. I was never even a senior companion (always a “co-companion”).

I don’t know why there’s this contrast either. On my mission, I read my scriptures every day (for at least an hour). I prayed often. I got along with my companions. Sure, every so often, I slept in or caught a video. But I loved to teach and I was good at it. I struggled with resolving concerns for the first half of my mission or so, but the last half, I was a pretty good teacher.

I hated finding though. I detested it in fact. I wish back then I had a secretary to make my appointments for me like I do now. I hated asking for referrals and knocking on doors (selective tracting is what we called it in Utah). All I wanted to do was teach.

The baptisms weren’t even that important. Sure I was caught up in all the hype and the numbers game, but teaching and seeing progression was the real thrill for me.

I certainly teach less now. I read my scriptures less. I pray less. I watch TV and movies more. I listen to music more. I even kiss more.

So why? Why is it now that I seem to be focusing less on spiritual things and more on temporal things, I am given leadership callings? And for that matter, only leadership callings?