The Presiding Bishopric

Presiding Bishop Victor L. Brown

The MIA is not now an auxiliary to the priesthood. It has now been brought directly under the umbrella of the priesthood. It is priesthood oriented and priesthood directed. With the advent of this new organization, it is extremely important that the young men leaders and young women leaders recognize their relationships. On the stake level, the high councilor who is assigned as an adviser to the Aaronic Priesthood MIA reports directly to the chairman of the Aaronic Priesthood MIA committee, who is a member of the stake presidency. The young women’s adviser also reports directly to the chairman, not to the high councilor. The young women’s leaders, both on the ward and stake level, have the full responsibility for the young women’s program under the direction of the chairman on the stake level and the bishopric on the ward level.

It is intended that the young men’s leaders work cooperatively and in partnership with their counterparts in the Aaronic Priesthood MIA Young Women’s organization and not take over the responsibility for the young women. When there are joint affairs, the planning will be done on a joint, cooperative basis. The priesthood leader will preside at these affairs. Traditionally, the young women have been about two steps ahead of the young men; we suggest to the young men that we not slow down the young women, but rather that we quicken our pace just a bit to catch up.

As the details of this change unfold during the conference, I am sure you will sense that this program is divine. I hope you will catch the enthusiasm that we who have been involved in its development feel. We have a conviction that as the bishops and the branch presidents of the Church catch the vision and provide the stewardship, we will see miracles take place in the lives of our youth—miracles of growth and development that will surpass anything we have seen in the past. …

May I discuss some parts of this with you. First, we feel an urgency to become boy and girl oriented rather than program oriented. To repeat our objective again, it is to save the souls of every boy and girl and to use programs only as they help reach this objective. When we consider the number of young people who have no interest in or affiliation with the Church except their membership, it is clear that we must broaden the base of all that we are doing in order to bring those who are lost into the fold. The Lord emphasized this principle in Luke when he told of the Lost Sheep. “And when he hath found it, he layeth it on his shoulders, rejoicing. And when he cometh home, he calleth together his friends and neighbours, saying unto them, Rejoice with me; for I have found my sheep which was lost. I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.” (Luke 15:5–7.)

This is what we mean when we say we must appeal to every boy and girl. It is our plan to provide a manual with a great variety of possible activities for local use. Local leaders, including youth themselves, will determine which of the programs will be effective in the lives of the youth in their areas. In other words, the responsibility for developing or selecting much of the program will rest in the hands of local leaders. This will mean that the bishop’s youth committee must be organized and properly used or much of the program will fail. Actually the bishop’s youth committee becomes one of the cornerstones in the Aaronic Priesthood MIA organization.

Another very important principle involved is that of service. When we speak of service, we speak of person-to-person type service, the kind of service that we experienced in the lives of a group of Mia Maids. These young ladies had determined that they were going to visit one of the homes for elderly folk. They spent hours baking, cooking, trying new recipes, planning a program, writing new songs, etc.

At the appointed time, the girls arrived at the home a little nervous and somewhat less enthusiastic about their idea. (Every one of you who has ever visited an old folks home cannot help but have a vivid picture of lost souls.) After the bags of cookies had been placed on a nearby table to ease the strain of the first few moments, the girls began to sing. As they did so, one or two patients raised up from their slumped positions on beds, and a few in wheelchairs pushed closer to the group. At that moment a miracle was taking place as the elderly responded to the sweet voices of youth. The girls then hummed a familiar tune while a foreign exchange student sang the words in German. From a bed in the next room, in soft but audible tones, an elderly gentleman joined in the words of his native tongue. A few quiet words of appreciation were expressed, and a different group of girls walked almost reverently down the steps of the old building. These girls had for a moment lived a principle in a Christlike way. Their lives had been changed, and they wanted to do it again.

Bishop H. Burke Peterson,
First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric

We have experienced, as long as our minds will let us remember, war in various parts of the earth on which we live. There have been many great and significant battles fought, and in each of these battles there has always been planning on the part of the opposing leaders, those who are trying to overthrow each other. Now there is a very real conflict going on in the earth, more real than any battle that we read about or participate in on this earth, and this is the battle that is going on between the forces of good and the forces of evil. Every Thursday morning in the temple these brethren of the First Presidency and the brethren of the Twelve meet and discuss ways to thwart the forces and advancements of Satan. They discuss plans whereby we might overcome his influence in the earth. I am confident that in every stake in the Church and in every mission likewise there are like meetings held—and, if you please, battle plans, where great stake presidents and great priesthood leaders meet and discuss ways to overcome the advancements of Satan.

I also would hope that in every home there are these kinds of meetings held where mothers and fathers would discuss the ways to safeguard their children against the advancements of Satan.

Bishop Vaughn J. Featherstone,
Second Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric

My beloved leaders of youth: I would like to pose a question. What will you take back from this conference? And then I would like to suggest maybe one or two additional items you might consider.

In connection with our young people, I do not believe they like things sugarcoated. I believe that sometimes when we try to sugarcoat it for them, we make it hard for them to really understand what we are saying and we do them a disservice.

Let me give you an example of how I think we ought to present it to them. This is a response from President Spencer W. Kimball, this great Christlike man, to a youth who sat in his office and said, “These are your own opinions.” And then President Kimball responded, “Yes, if that were true, I would agree with you. Your mind may be broader than mine, your gray matter thicker and grayer, your logic and thinking processes may be far more alert than my own, but you have forgotten one thing: Your opinion, no matter how erudite, is matched not by mine but by the composite of the inspiration of all of the ancient prophets of at least six millennia and of the Creator himself. Your logic is hardly equal to the inspiration and revelation from the Lord that I am representing to you. Your deliberations look rather puny when compared to the knowledge and wisdom of the God who made your little mind and gave it function. God said the act is sin. Numerous prophets claim the act is sin. The act is sin. Yes, my friend, if it were your mind against mine, your logic against mine, your perception against my limited ability, then I would retire and leave you to your deliberations and conclusions. But I am expressing not my own opinion but the word of the Lord of heaven, and I am telling you God’s truth. The act is sin. To compare your opinion with the Lord’s proven truth might be like a grain of sand compared to the bulk of Mt. Everest.”

Isn’t that a beautiful way of saying it clear and un-sugarcoated? …

I had the privilege as a general secretary of the Aaronic Priesthood one time of going to a home, and I thought about this visit. I wanted specific guidance. I didn’t want to shoot with a shotgun. I wanted this boy and he was the only one I was concerned about at this hour. And so as I walked up on the porch and knocked, here came a fine, sharp-looking fellow in a T-shirt. He was working in cement work and he was strong, a towhead in the sun, and as he stood there in the door, I said, “Duane, I have come to arm-wrestle you.” And he motioned me to come in.

I want you to know I thought I had been had, but I went in anyway. He took everything off the coffee table and we knelt down, and then we arm-wrestled. And I slowly put down his right arm, and he said, “Do you do it with the other arm?” And I said, “I do,” and so we arm-wrestled with the other arm, and I slowly edged him down. Then he said, “Do you Indian-leg wrestle?” I made a great mistake and said yes. We got down on the floor, and I don’t recall what happened after that. He rolled me over about three times to the fireplace. Then I made a second mistake and I said to him, “Do you do it with the other leg?” He said yes; then he rolled me back from the fireplace.

After this was over, I looked at him and said, “Duane, we need you over at church. We need your kind of person. Can you make it Sunday morning at priesthood meeting?” He looked at me for quite a while and said, “I will be there.”

I want to tell you, when we communicate on the right wavelength and we focus in on one individual soul, as the God of heaven does, we get results. God cares about every one of us, and he knows there is a burden that each heart carries. We must care and love, as the prophet has said, every soul that walks the earth.