Soon after my mission I made the decision to attend a YSA ward in my area. I’m glad I did, considering this is where I met my beautiful wife. I had only been in the ward a few weeks when I got a call from the Elder’s Quorum secretary asking if I could meet with the president of the quorum. I met with him later that day. I remember the elder’s quorum president telling me how my name came to his mind before he had even met me or knew that I was in his quorum. After the prompting, he looked over the list of 90 or so elders and found my name. He was shocked to see the same name on the list considering he had never met me before. He then extended the call to be the Assistant Elder’s Quorum President (sort of a made up calling for this YSA ward). I remember wondering if this revelatory experience actually happened or if he was just flattering me. I later replaced him as elder’s quorum president a few months later.
The process of calling individuals to specific callings in the ward is unique. Difficult to understand without first experiencing it. All callings are important, but some callings have more weight than others and definitely more riding on whether the person accomplishes the task well. Will you get along with the newly called? Will they help motivate others or will you need help motivating them? There are many variable to consider.
I recently called a new counselor to serve in the bishopric with me. During the process I had a list of good brethren that would all do fine. They had attributes that would play out differently and I took time to consider all of them. At times, it feels like standing in a deli wondering if I want mayonnaise or no mayonnaise on my sandwich–both types of sandwiches will take away the hunger pangs, so does it really matter?
The Magical Moment of Inspiration….or Not.
As I researched this topic I found a variety of perspectives related to how to choose individuals with whom to serve. This first discussion I found was, of all places, on BabyCenter.com which is a community website for pregnant women. Someone had submitted the request to “tell me your stories of choosing your counselors”.
I read through the majority of experiences and most included a moment of inspiration where a name comes to mind, or an innocent glance at an individual during sacrament meeting confirms whom they are suppose to call to a position. These are interesting experiences and I have no doubt they happen–especially those that are new to a ward and don’t know many–but I also hope individuals don’t expect such experiences to happen every time a position needs to be filled. Many times the Lord knows you are completely capable of weighing the options and making a decision that works.
Where’s Waldo?
The person on BabyCenter asking the question refers to a past Ensign article titled Called of God. The article talks about a sister that moves into a ward and is soon called as primary president. She then has to determine who her counselors will be. With the help of the bishop and prayer she has different revelatory experiences and later states “the Lord knew whom He wanted to call”.
After reading this article it gives me the impression that the Lord has specific people in the ward He wants called to those positions and it is up to the leader to find Waldo in the ward–the one individual God wants. That sure puts a lot of pressure on those that have been called.
Called of God
Looking for one specific person to serve in one specific calling is the wrong approach. We are beings created to act in the revelatory process rather to be acted upon by the revelatory process (2 Nephi 2:14). President Gordon B. Hinckley stated:
It is imperative that the president himself select his counselors because theirs must be a compatible relationship. He must have absolute confidence in them. They must have confidence in him. They must work together in a spirit of mutual trust and respect.(“In…Counsellors There is Safety, October 1990)
Compatibility, respect, and mutual confidence play a major roll in a presidency working well. We should not depend on that information coming through pure inspiration.
By reading biographies of past and current general authorities one soon realizes moments of inspiration are developed not by a flash of revelation–rather by years of experiences that influence the personal judgement of a leader to make a given choice. The same goes for anyone seeking revelation about a specific calling or situation. Counselors are called of God because their leader is called of God and ordained with powers (sometimes keys) to make decisions. Those powers come through the priesthood, and also draw upon the personal capability of the leader to make decisions. Never discount your personal abilities to act and to make a decision.
Elder Neal A. Maxwell stated:
Revelation works in a natural way. There is an unmet need [such as Church growth]. As we ponder over it, the mind and experience can put forward an adequate alternative [for the season, and] the confirmation is the inspiration. (A Diciple’s Life: The Biography of Neal A. Maxwell, p. 286)
If the revelation isn’t coming, make your best choice and it will be adequate. Trust the process even when overwhelming inspiration doesn’t appear to happen.
What has been your experience with choosing who to call? It would be interesting to hear about the obvious moments of inspiration and also the laborious process of indecision.
I learned an important lesson about callings and revelation.
When I was first called as an Elders Quorum President, I employed a method of looking over the entire quorum and picking those that I felt would be the best choice. I narrowed the list down to about six and then prayerfully arranged the brethren in my mind until finally a powerful witness from the Spirit came over me and I knew that these two were who the Lord wanted and in what order they should be called (1st counselor vs. 2nd counselor).
Interestingly, they both turned down the calling. I didn’t know what to do. I decided to pray over some names again but nothing was coming. I was effectively stuck and so I kept pressing forward on getting an answer from the Lord on who he wanted.
Then the answer came, “I trust you, you decide and I’ll make them work”. Into my mind came the example of the Brother of Jared offering the best solution to the Lord that he could imagine. In his case, the only way for his plan to work was the divine intervention of the Lord.
In the same way, I made choices that I felt the most comfortable with and prayed for the Lord to bless them to be fit for the task.
I’ve always remembered this lesson.
What an awesome story! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you. This is what I needed to hear.
I had the same instance in my ward that Steve did in trying of find an EQ President. I had fasted and prayed to find who was best and sent two names to the stake. Each brother had said no. I later found out there were things in each of their lives that needed to be worked out. In my mind this is one of the only way it would push these issues to the forefront of their lives to be addressed.
What a great example of being “called to repentance”. Being brought in by appointment to visit about worthiness and a possible calling. The end of which is no to the calling, but the beginning of a road to repentance for the individual. Hope it helped those Brothers or Sisters.
I have had similar experiences calling counselors since being called as EQP. When I was first called I had little to no experience in calling members of my presidency.
Since the 1st & 2nd counselors had only been serving for 6 months, I prayed about leaving them in place and felt confident that they should stay. Calling my Secretary was the challenge.
My Bishop recommended a couple of names to me, and without hesitation I took them to The Lord and felt I had received my answer of whom to call. Long story short, both people that I called turned it down. I was devastated, but quickly learned that they still have their free agency, and it didn’t mean the calls weren’t inspired.
Had I done a little more homework, I now believe I may have come to a different conclusion. Since this time, I have called another secretary and 4 different counselors. Each one has been different.
One counselor the answer came when I was on exchanges with the missionaries, and another while I was doing a move with the brother I ultimately would submit to the Bishop. I more commonly use the process you write about above, and wish I had come across your website earlier in my service.
Thanks for the insight I get from reading your site!
Glad your wife sent this to me and I read it early on.
I was also an Elder’s Quorum President in Germany. We were in the Mannheim Ward and I was a Captain in the US Army. When asked to select my counselors I natuarlly wanted the best, brightest and most spiritual men in the ward to select from.
Unfortunately my bishop refused to give me the best and the brightest men in the ward. So I ended up choosing from the “left overs”. I was very depressed and even mad and angry that I couldn’t get the best men to be my counselors.
What I found out though was that the Lord knows what is best for each of us. Those two counselors rose to the occassion and we had a dynamite quorum. Many of our elders went through the temple prep class and got sealed in the temple. Home teaching went from 20% to 80%. We had lots of fun and grew together as a quorum. Two brethren who had been excommunicated we were able to help get their membership records restored!
The bottom line is that the Lord knows what is best for us and his church organization.
I have had the privilege of working as a counselor under 3 different Bishops. I learned that for me there were three different ways callings came. There were some that I just knew, through inspiration, whom to call to a position. There were other times when I looked at several different people, made an informed choice, then took that choice to Father. There were times that He would confirm my choice, & some times He would send me back to start again. Then, there was the third way, where I would study my candidates out & take them to Father, only to receive the impression that He trusted me to make the call & He would sustain & support my choice. Ironically, I always received a confirmation after faith was exercised & the call was extended.
Such a helpful article & comments. Thank you!
Thank you so much for this, it is just what I needed.