1 Hour with the 1st Presidency

[SouthernMo]

Some of us who participate in this forum would like to see some change in the church. Sometimes it’s culture, sometimes it’s policy/procedural.

If you had one hour with the entire first presidency, what would you suggest to them?  What improvements/solutions would you offer?  Extra points for those who are more clear, productive, and avoid general complaining... 😁

[Duncan]

Funny you mention that, years ago I had a dream where I was in Pres. Nelson's office and we were eating M&M's and talking about them, I thought if that actually happened to me I would never talk about eating M&M's with Pres. Nelson! I would want to know more personal stuff, not so much institutional stuff

[SouthernMo]

21 minutes ago, Duncan said:

Funny you mention that, years ago I had a dream where I was in Pres. Nelson's office and we were eating M&M's and talking about them, I thought if that actually happened to me I would never talk about eating M&M's with Pres. Nelson! I would want to know more personal stuff, not so much institutional stuff

What would Freud say about that dream?  What do the M&Ms represent?  😁

[Duncan]

Just now, SouthernMo said:

What would Freud say about that dream?  What do the M&Ms represent?  😁

every dream is a wish! but i wouldn't wish to be eating M&M's with the 1st presidency! maybe the peanut butter kind though😋

[mrmarklin]

31 minutes ago, SouthernMo said:

Some of us who participate in this forum would like to see some change in the church. Sometimes it’s culture, sometimes it’s policy/procedural.

If you had one hour with the entire first presidency, what would you suggest to them?  What improvements/solutions would you offer?  Extra points for those who are more clear, productive, and avoid general complaining... 😁

They need to get out more. I realize that this is difficult, given their duties. 

But from a distance it seems they evaluate the problems of the entire church through the prism of living in and largely being from Utah. 

Hopefully, the new apostles can help with perspective. 

[Judd]

Expanding the concept of a type of hybrid mission between proselytizing and church service mission that allows those with disabilities, or otherwise unable to fully serve, to fulfill a proselytizing mission. This exists to some extent that I’m aware at the MTC with people able to engage in work remotely, but to expand on this in more creative ways.

[SouthernMo]

1 minute ago, mrmarklin said:

They need to get out more. I realize that this is difficult, given their duties. 

But from a distance it seems they evaluate the problems of the entire church through the prism of living in and largely being from Utah. 

Hopefully, the new apostles can help with perspective. 

I’ve had one other leader suggest something similar. Taking a sabbatical to be a bishop in a small ward in Kentucky or something like that.

[Calm]

2 minutes ago, SouthernMo said:

I’ve had one other leader suggest something similar. Taking a sabbatical to be a bishop in a small ward in Kentucky or something like that.

The idea is great imo (kind of like Undercover Boss though I have never watched it, I assume it gives a familiarity with what works and doesn't work at the ground level as well as demonstrates what is important at 'ground level'), but I suspect it would tend to draw crowds.

Not saying that all don't have this experience already, but reminders if it has been awhile can be helpful....just as babysitting grandkids for a couple of weeks can remind us of parenting issues, help us understand the differences raising kids 25+ years later and help grandparents know where their help is needed most.

[SeekerB]

The apostles are busy, but they do get out and do other things. One of our ward members and President Hinckley shared a common ancestor. He  attended their family reunions every once in a while. Just because they are apostles doesn't mean they have forgotten how to be parents. Also, they are Grandpa to lots of their posterity.

[smac97]

1 hour ago, SouthernMo said:

Some of us who participate in this forum would like to see some change in the church. Sometimes it’s culture, sometimes it’s policy/procedural.

If you had one hour with the entire first presidency, what would you suggest to them?  What improvements/solutions would you offer?  Extra points for those who are more clear, productive, and avoid general complaining... 😁

Last fall our Wards Bishop attended a training meeting with Elder Neil Andersen, along with several dozen other Bishops and stake presidents.  The bulk of the meeting was taken up with a question and answer. In which the Bishops, and the Bishops only, we're allowed to ask pretty much any question or express any concern they wanted to. Or Bishop reported that it was a very Illuminating and encouraging meeting.

Elder Andersen advised the Bishops there that this meeting was one of many meetings that Apostles attempt to conduct throughout the year. They are trying to get to the boots on the ground, so to speak, and get their perspective on what is happening in the church.

[kllindley]

1 hour ago, SouthernMo said:

Some of us who participate in this forum would like to see some change in the church. Sometimes it’s culture, sometimes it’s policy/procedural.

If you had one hour with the entire first presidency, what would you suggest to them?  What improvements/solutions would you offer?  Extra points for those who are more clear, productive, and avoid general complaining... 😁

Funny you should ask that particular question. 

If I had one hour with the First Presidency, I wouldn't be talking much or making suggestions. I'd want to spend as much of that time as possible listening.  Especially around the issues where I think change is needed. 

[Maidservant]

While I would have suggestions for new perspectives--mostly with deep sanctification teaching, not policy per se--if I actually had a personal session with a current prophet, and I have imagined this (even before the advent of President Nelson), I would take the opportunity to speak through his mantle, not to the prophet, but to Christ himself.  That's who I want to have a conversation with.  And I have a couple of questions for Him.  I would not waste the hour by talking to the prophet, I would take my chance of the hour to talk through him to Christ.

I do like what they are doing with the ministry--I feel like I invented that and Someone heard me wishing.  Of course that's not true, ministry is Jesus' middle name from the beginning.  But I would offer ideas of how more the stakes of Zion could be established, with members and nonmembers alike, as a community that lives together as one. I know that is where the church is heading anyway, but I feel like I have a talent for seeing and organizing something like that.  Plus a better outline of actual redemption and sanctification and the doctrine of the priesthood and a better process for how to do it step by step rather than generalized references to concepts and principles with no particular order (in my mind).

I would also have more to say about the place and work of women in this day and age, namely what are better uses of Relief Society weekday meetings rather than learning canning and crafts as female support subjects.  Heaven have mercy on me!

Edited August 27, 2018 by Maidservant

[SouthernMo]

34 minutes ago, smac97 said:

Last fall our Wards Bishop attended a training meeting with Elder Neil Andersen, along with several dozen other Bishops and stake presidents.  The bulk of the meeting was taken up with a question and answer. In which the Bishops, and the Bishops only, we're allowed to ask pretty much any question or express any concern they wanted to. Or Bishop reported that it was a very Illuminating and encouraging meeting.

Elder Andersen advised the Bishops there that this meeting was one of many meetings that Apostles attempt to conduct throughout the year. They are trying to get to the boots on the ground, so to speak, and get their perspective on what is happening in the church.

This is great to hear.  I’ve been in similar meetings.

I hope that the bishops were as respectfully candid as possible.  Questions like “How can we be better ministers?” Might not communicate the challenges bishops face as clearly as other messages to Elder Andersen.

Our cultural deference to The 12 can sometimes inhibit full candor about challenges as we attempt to respect their office.  Put differently, when this happens, I sometimes see “softball questions.”

[SouthernMo]

19 minutes ago, kllindley said:

Funny you should ask that particular question. 

If I had one hour with the First Presidency, I wouldn't be talking much or making suggestions. I'd want to spend as much of that time as possible listening.  Especially around the issues where I think change is needed. 

I like the humble attitude. What if, with 20 minutes left, Elder Oaks leaned in, and asked you: “What do you think?  What can we do better to bring the 7.5 billion people on the earth today closer to Christ?”

[Calm]

58 minutes ago, SeekerB said:

 Just because they are apostles doesn't mean they have forgotten how to be parents. Also, they are Grandpa to lots of their posterity.

Of course not, but what is required for parenting and grand parenting can change overtime. Nuances and little things are often forgotten in the sharing of info, they have to be lived to be recognized. My grandparents and parents never had to deal with cell phones. And when my parents attempted to step in to care for one of their teen grandkids, the rules and routine they set up were pretty useless and they ended up possibly causing more difficulties than they helped with 

I am not saying this is necessary for understanding, but the idea appeals to me. I just don’t see how it would practically work out if only because a ward needs continuity of leadership. 

Edited August 27, 2018 by Calm

[Daniel Peterson]

1 hour ago, mrmarklin said:

They need to get out more. I realize that this is difficult, given their duties. 

But from a distance it seems they evaluate the problems of the entire church through the prism of living in and largely being from Utah. 

Hopefully, the new apostles can help with perspective. 

The Brethren are out and about CONSTANTLY.

 

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865612291/Too-old-Out-of-touch-LDS-prophets-and-apostles-engage-globally-to-stay-informed-connected-and.html

 

 

[SouthernMo]

24 minutes ago, Daniel Peterson said:

The Brethren are out and about CONSTANTLY.

 

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865612291/Too-old-Out-of-touch-LDS-prophets-and-apostles-engage-globally-to-stay-informed-connected-and.html

  

 

Can you repost the link or edit your post?  The hyperlink isn’t working, and even copying and pasting the URL isn’t taking me to the story. 

[Calm]

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865612291/Too-old-Out-of-touch-LDS-prophets-and-apostles-engage-globally-to-stay-informed-connected-and.html

or

https://tinyurl.com/ya5abe3m

Edited August 27, 2018 by Calm

[nuclearfuels]

2 hours ago, SouthernMo said:

Some of us who participate in this forum would like to see some change in the church. Sometimes it’s culture, sometimes it’s policy/procedural.

If you had one hour with the entire first presidency, what would you suggest to them?  What improvements/solutions would you offer?  Extra points for those who are more clear, productive, and avoid general complaining... 😁

Honestly I'd like to know why polygamy isn't lobbied for and is lobbied against so vehemently; if it's legalized by SCOTUS and Moses, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David, Solomon, Joseph, Brigham, etc. practiced it and since the demographics of most countries are crumbling, why not?

I almost asked President Nelson this in a stake conference 2 years ago but didn't want to be banished by my stake leaders. 

I'm also interested in LDS K-12 schools

[Hamba Tuhan]

3 hours ago, SouthernMo said:

Some of us who participate in this forum would like to see some change in the church.

I'd just like wards and stakes to actually know and follow the Handbooks and training that we receive. I'm not sure I have any advice to give to prophets on that point ...

[SouthernMo]

4 minutes ago, Calm said:

https://www.deseretnews.com/article/865612291/Too-old-Out-of-touch-LDS-prophets-and-apostles-engage-globally-to-stay-informed-connected-and.html

Thanks for posting the hyperlink.

Lets go forward with the assumption that the 1st presidency and 12 are as in touch as they can possibly be with the “front lines” of church operations and the specific needs of locals.

Maybe the operative question is why so many members believe they aren’t as connected as they are?

[Hamba Tuhan]

15 minutes ago, SouthernMo said:

Maybe the operative question is why so many members believe they aren’t as connected as they are?

When I was a newly called Young Men president, a member of the Young Men General Presidency came to do a regional priesthood leadership training. He told us that we were failing our boys by not fully implementing the Church's guidelines, based on a mistaken notion that somehow we were the exception to the general rules based on our small numbers, different social and cultural situation, distance from Church headquarters, etc. He basically told us to stop it, that the same obstacles that we face here are faced by wards in Salt Lake City, and that only prophetic guides will ever really work.

I came back determined to do as I'd been instructed. My then bishop wasn't impressed. We couldn't do it, he argued. Our numbers were too small, our situation too different, etc. Church leaders from SLC don't understand what the reality 'on the ground' is for us here. I told him I disagreed. For the next nine months, we clashed on nearly every issue relating to my calling and how to work with young men.

Then we got a new bishop. I was his very first PPI the Sunday he was ordained as bishop. In our meeting, he said, 'I trust you and the prophets. Let's do everything we've been told to do'.

Over the next five years, we went from three active boys at church to about 35. Our Aaronic Priesthood quorums became the best functioning parts of our entire ward. Our deacons, teachers and priests ministered not only to fellow quorum members but to the entire ward. When one of our sisters lost her husband for six months on an overseas posting and had a very sick newborn, it was our teachers quorum that was assigned to care for her temporal welfare needs. They performed fantastically. Our Aaronic Priesthood holders regularly visited elderly shut-ins, not only to take them the sacrament but also to provide companionship, assist with manual tasks, etc. They re-started the collection of fast offerings in our ward and expanded the number of less-active families visited. One of those families had previously asked for no visits. At this point, I still visit them every month.

We regularly had 40-50 boys at mutual activities because so many friends would come. One of these boys was later baptised. After about 20 years with no young men from our ward serving missions, we soon had a whole string of missionaries leave, and this has never slowed. We currently have three in the field.

In short, those who said that the prophets didn't understand our situation here were wrong. I can only speculate why they would say such things, but I strongly suspect that it's a matter of getting out of doing the things that work. It's much easier to just keep doing half-measures that don't work.

Edited August 27, 2018 by Hamba Tuhan

[kllindley]

1 hour ago, SouthernMo said:

I like the humble attitude. What if, with 20 minutes left, Elder Oaks leaned in, and asked you: “What do you think?  What can we do better to bring the 7.5 billion people on the earth today closer to Christ?”

I haven't ever been to a third world country. I don't have a clue what the people there need. I've never been in China or India. I'm only fluent in English and Finnish, so I don't even know what the vast majority of the world even talks or thinks about. How would I know how to bring them to Christ?  I don't have any stewardship over the world.  I honestly don't think there is anything that i could offer from within my incredibly narrow and limited perspective, that would be more accurate or useful than what a prophet, seer, and revelator called to be a witness of Christ to the whole world would see. Maybe that is humility. . . To me it just seems like common sense. 

[kllindley]

18 minutes ago, SouthernMo said:

Maybe the operative question is why so many members believe they aren’t as connected as they are?

Do "so many" really believe that, or is that just a more common opinion among a specific demographic of people? (Those who post online, predominantly upper middle class, English speaking, generally educated)

Maybe we tend to assume they aren't connected to the average member because, in reality, we aren't the average member. 

 

[SouthernMo]

Just now, kllindley said:

I haven't ever been to a third world country. I don't have a clue what the people there need. I've never been in China or India. I'm only fluent in English and Finnish, so I don't even know what the vast majority of the world even talks or thinks about. How would I know how to bring them to Christ?  I don't have any stewardship over the world.  I honestly don't think there is anything that i could offer from within my incredibly narrow and limited perspective, that would be more accurate or useful than what a prophet, seer, and revelator called to be a witness of Christ to the whole world would see. Maybe that is humility. . . To me it just seems like common sense. 

My mission President shared the story of when his son was Elder Monson’s chauffeur while Elder Monson was in the 1st presidency visiting Germany.  This was in the late 90’s.

Just the two of them were in the car. During a long drive, Elder Monson asked this young adult for some advice. The young man laughed and knew he was walking into a trap. He wisely responded - “You should be giving me advice!”  Elder Monson apparently did just that.

I didn’t get the sense Elder Monson was trying to manipulate this man, but rather engage him in conversation in a humorous way.

But, your point is valid.  We all need to be aware of our place in the societies with which we associate.