Through His servants, God has called you to serve as elders quorum president.
He knows you. He chose you.
He has prepared a way so that He could issue your call.
As you learn your duties and magnify your calling to exercise priesthood keys, He will enlarge your capacities and help you to succeed.
As the Savior taught His early Apostles, "With men it is impossible, but not with God: for with God all things are possible." There are a lot more people who know more about the Church or more about this, that, and other. But it's not about knowing. It's about how you are.
I'm Ben Blackburn, and I was just released as elders quorum president in the Sheffield First Ward.
I think the greatest thing that I've learnt is the real worth of souls.
An elders quorum president presides over and teaches quorum members. He encourages them to become true followers of Jesus Christ.
He loves those whom he serves, has a willing heart to do the work, and is faithful in keeping the commandments.
I'm Jason Witherington. I'm elders quorum president, and I've been in that calling one day. The biggest question is, What do I have to do?
I didn't know what an elders quorum president did. Yeah. I suppose that was my biggest question.
What do I have to do, and how do I do it?
Trust in the Lord, and make sure that you include Him in everything that you do. Don't try and make any decisions on your own. And if you do that, although you might not know everything, you might make mistakes, but if you trust in the Lord and follow His guidance, then you've got nothing to worry about. He's a confident person, but he's not always been a confident person. And I think the more that he's done it and the more that he's had to work alongside people, I can see that the confidence has come. I'm as green as anything. I only came back into the Church a year ago, so everything's happened pretty fast for me, but I'm progressing my calling. Well, at first I thought, "How is he going to do it with his work commitments?" He was talking a few days before that. He was saying, "If Heavenly Father wanted me to do this, He'd make me a way of doing it." And that's what Heavenly Father's going to do. So I know that it'll work out and it'll all be good. I'm sure it will. I just felt the Spirit really strong. I knew at that particular time that I was going to be all right. And then when they set me apart, that was unbelievable. That's when I felt the Spirit really, really strong. I want that feeling all the time.
An elders quorum president is responsible to help the individuals in his quorum fulfill their priesthood duties as husbands and fathers and to advance the work of salvation in the ward.
I'm not expecting them to do anything that I haven't done or that I won't do. I know that I have to live my life in a way that I can officiate and do everything that I need to do. You know, he's doing well in the home, he's doing well at work, and things just fit into place. And even though sometimes you can be so manic, Heavenly Father always seems to make the days a little bit longer so we can always manage to fit things in. He's happier in himself, he's serving others, and he's happy. I know the feeling.
I don't want it to go away, because it's such a nice feeling.
Asking our Heavenly Father has helped me a lot because I know that if I pray about it, He'll answer my prayer.
I think that's one of the greatest things that I've learnt as I was quorum president, to really love the people. And being in the elders quorum presidency, I've been able to serve them and been able to develop that love for them. I know this Church is true, without a shadow of a doubt.
I know that the Lord's had a hand in my calling. I'm pleased that stake president and branch president and all the counselors have acted on it. I hope I can be there for all the elders. It's a lot like Nephi when he was told to go back and get the plates. He didn't know how he was going to do it, but he knew that if he trusted in our Heavenly Father, that our Heavenly Father would prepare a way for him to be able to do it. And that's the way that I look at it. I don't always know how I'm going to do things, but I know that if I trust in Heavenly Father, if He's asked me to do something, I'll be able to go out and I'll be able to do it.
As you watched, what similarities did you observe between the newly called and recently released elders quorum presidents?
What differences did you observe?
What inspired you about their testimonies and service?
What do you feel inspired to go and do in your own calling?