Being an Effective Elders Quorum President

[Jason_J]

Hey all!

So I've been called as the elders quorum president for my ward (yes, crazy, right?). I've read 'The Effective Elders Quorum", and everything in the church handbook. I was wondering, does anyone have any other tips/resources/advice that would be helpful? Also, what sorts of activities do elders quorums generally like to participate in (since I've been a member, we haven't really had that many quorum activities, just ward ones).

Thanks!

[pam]

Congratulations Jason. Wow you are just moving right along in this journey of yours aren't you? I remember when you were first getting baptized.

[skippy740]

My best advice? Emphasize that home teaching numbers aren't your focus. That all families are taught and visited is your focus.

If you keep your focus on the correct principles and how they're implemented, your home teaching statistics should improve.

[mirkwood]

Don't go in and change all the HT assignments. You won't fix your HT problem that way. Leave the ones that are working alone (i.e. leave their families as they are) and try to find a way to get those who don't go to get a testimony of HT.

[pam]

I've lived in my place for almost 5 years and I've never had a Home Teaching visit.

[Guest]

WOW! Jason... this is GREAT AND WONDERFUL news!

I have no advice as I can barely spell Elder's Quorum, I just wanted to offer my support to your calling. I'm on a different ward by I still move to raise my right hand to sustain your calling. :)

Oh, one thing I remembered when I was going to a temporary ward (while we were looking for a house to move into) - their EQ was very active in get togethers. One time, the EQ announced an activity to go to this guy's house to butcher some hogs that some members of the ward hunted. Yeah, shocked my husband being the "city boy"... LOL! They even have Thursday Football Nights - if there's a Thursday NFL game going on - they get to band together as men (and even young men goes too) without their wives... eating chips and watching football.

But, that was the closest knit EQ we've ever experienced. They moved us in no time flat as there were so many guys that showed up to unload the truck when we moved in and just as many to load the truck when we moved out! It was great.

Edited November 21, 2012 by anatess

[andresjsalazar]

I'm on year 4 of my stint.

Delegate, delegate.

And get good councilors and if they aren't working out, don't be afraid to switching it up. I've been through a bunch, mostly do to moves, but still move things around to keep the energy.

good luck!

Andy

[Guest LiterateParakeet]

Yes, I second the suggestions that have been made about Home Teaching.

Home teaching should be about bearing one anothers burdens. lifting up the hands which hang down, strengthening feeble knees. In short, it is about love, not numbers.

Families/individuals will not share their difficulties with a home teacher that they do not have a "relationship of trust" with. I could go on and on about this, about what true minstering is...but I'll spare you. I think "pray about it"--It--being true ministering is best here.

[JosephP]

I've lived in my place for almost 5 years and I've never had a Home Teaching visit.

This brought to mind a quote from a straight talking member of my bishopric in ward council a couple of months ago, "If you haven't been home taught, you're half the problem!"

When was the last time you invited your home teachers?

[RMGuy]

Congratulations (I think) or maybe condolences.

When I served as an EQ president the one time we had a visit from the stake presidency. The stake president sat in while I conducted and we had our lesson. At the end we had a short PPI. He asked if I had any questions.

Being the flip kind of individual I am I said "Sure. How do you motivate individuals that don't want to be motivated." I figured he wouldn't have a good answer for that.

He paused for a second looked at me and then said something I'll never forget. He said, "Do you really want to know"

Sure I responded.

"You are doing it wrong. The priesthood does work by volunteers. It works by invitation and assignment. Don't ask for people that want to move Sister Smith this weekend...no one "wants" to do that. Instead invite members of your quorum to serve. If they have a reason why they cannot that you were unaware of, then you can excuse them from the assignment, and invite/assign someone else, that is the way it works."

I was like....OH!

-RM

[bytor2112]

I have been EQP for three years now.....my advice is to plan activities that encourage participation and unity, especially for those brethren that tend to not participate. HT is important, but until all the brethren catch fire and desire to serve, it is a real challenge. We have on average between 25-35 brethren every Sunday and have become a very unified and active quorum. The EQ volunteers to sing at Sacrament once a quarter....they SO love that :)

[Anddenex]

Hey all!

So I've been called as the elders quorum president for my ward (yes, crazy, right?). I've read 'The Effective Elders Quorum", and everything in the church handbook. I was wondering, does anyone have any other tips/resources/advice that would be helpful? Also, what sorts of activities do elders quorums generally like to participate in (since I've been a member, we haven't really had that many quorum activities, just ward ones).

Thanks!

1. Remember, you are there to invite those within your stewardship to come unto Christ.

2. With less active members, again, extend an invitation to come unto Christ. One of the best lessons from a G.A. Seventy (Elder Snow), was that we don't invite people to come to church. We invite them to come unto Christ. For some less active members coming to church is to much of a task, but praying nightly to come unto Christ is a simple task. As their love for the Lord grows they will eventually come to church.

3. I would recommend two books: "Increase in Learning" and "Act in Doctrine", both of which are authored by Elder David A Bednar. I wish these two books would have been written when I was EQP.

4. Set a specific week to always have your stewardship interviews, for Home Teaching. As Elder Bednar has said, the more we teach correct doctrine and principles, and if our members understand them, then behavior problems will tend to no longer be an issue.

5. The Elders Quorum is not a moving company. The primary resident is responsible for making sure they have enough people, cars, trucks, etc... for the move. The Elder's Quorum is there to assist their brethren.

6. Relax, especially when you see a vision and have a hard time helping others to see the same vision.

7. Honor agency. I remember I had one brother who had back problems and one day approached me and said, "President Exon, I am unable to do my Home Teaching sometimes due to my back." I responded, "That is fine brother, the Lord knows our hearts and he knows when we are incapable of honoring our assignments, and doesn't expect us to do more than we can. He also knows when our back really doesn't hurt and we are shirking our responsibility."

I assume he understood my point, because he was my home teacher and never missed a month of home teaching for two years.

8. Follow the Spirit.

These are some of my thoughts.

[pam]

This brought to mind a quote from a straight talking member of my bishopric in ward council a couple of months ago, "If you haven't been home taught, you're half the problem!"

When was the last time you invited your home teachers?

Actually I asked again just two weeks ago when I ran into him at the local grocery store. My home teacher is my Bishop. I've had contact with him, just never an official visit.

[Jason_J]

Congratulations (I think) or maybe condolences.

When I served as an EQ president the one time we had a visit from the stake presidency. The stake president sat in while I conducted and we had our lesson. At the end we had a short PPI. He asked if I had any questions.

Being the flip kind of individual I am I said "Sure. How do you motivate individuals that don't want to be motivated." I figured he wouldn't have a good answer for that.

He paused for a second looked at me and then said something I'll never forget. He said, "Do you really want to know"

Sure I responded.

"You are doing it wrong. The priesthood does work by volunteers. It works by invitation and assignment. Don't ask for people that want to move Sister Smith this weekend...no one "wants" to do that. Instead invite members of your quorum to serve. If they have a reason why they cannot that you were unaware of, then you can excuse them from the assignment, and invite/assign someone else, that is the way it works."

I was like....OH!

-RM

Thanks, that's really helpful! I've been in the calling for over a month now (we haven't had church for a couple weeks though because of Hurricane Sandy, and our stake decided to have Mormon Helping Hands service projects for the last 2 weekends (including Sunday, after a short Sacrament Meeting). One of the things I've had a problem with is having brethren volunteer for things, like church building cleaning. I know that the last EQP assigned brethren to do things like the Bishop's storehouse when it was our ward's turn, but I don't think he assigned people to do the cleaning. I guess I felt a little wary about assigning members to do things, but it's something I've thought about doing lately, since it's so hard to have people volunteer for things, at least at this time. So this was really helpful, thanks!

FYI, for everyone, this is a YSA ward, if that makes a difference.

[Jason_J]

I have been EQP for three years now.....my advice is to plan activities that encourage participation and unity, especially for those brethren that tend to not participate. HT is important, but until all the brethren catch fire and desire to serve, it is a real challenge. We have on average between 25-35 brethren every Sunday and have become a very unified and active quorum. The EQ volunteers to sing at Sacrament once a quarter....they SO love that :)

That's great, I would like to have my EQ unified and active! Singing at Sacrament is a great idea, I like that.

[Jason_J]

1. Remember, you are there to invite those within your stewardship to come unto Christ.

2. With less active members, again, extend an invitation to come unto Christ. One of the best lessons from a G.A. Seventy (Elder Snow), was that we don't invite people to come to church. We invite them to come unto Christ. For some less active members coming to church is to much of a task, but praying nightly to come unto Christ is a simple task. As their love for the Lord grows they will eventually come to church.

3. I would recommend two books: "Increase in Learning" and "Act in Doctrine", both of which are authored by Elder David A Bednar. I wish these two books would have been written when I was EQP.

4. Set a specific week to always have your stewardship interviews, for Home Teaching. As Elder Bednar has said, the more we teach correct doctrine and principles, and if our members understand them, then behavior problems will tend to no longer be an issue.

5. The Elders Quorum is not a moving company. The primary resident is responsible for making sure they have enough people, cars, trucks, etc... for the move. The Elder's Quorum is there to assist their brethren.

6. Relax, especially when you see a vision and have a hard time helping others to see the same vision.

7. Honor agency. I remember I had one brother who had back problems and one day approached me and said, "President Exon, I am unable to do my Home Teaching sometimes due to my back." I responded, "That is fine brother, the Lord knows our hearts and he knows when we are incapable of honoring our assignments, and doesn't expect us to do more than we can. He also knows when our back really doesn't hurt and we are shirking our responsibility."

I assume he understood my point, because he was my home teacher and never missed a month of home teaching for two years.

8. Follow the Spirit.

These are some of my thoughts.

Thanks, that was very helpful. I have an eBook copy of Increase in Learning, and I just bought Act in Doctrine as well. I'll definitely be prayerfully reading them, thanks for the suggestions.

[skalenfehl]

"When thou are converted, strengthen thy brethren."

Once you truly understand the gravity of your stewardship (not necessarily implying that you now don't), strengthen your counselors. Teach them to focus on the Lord's work and glory as laborers in the vineyard. When their testimony of this is solid, move outward to your strongest and most valiant elders in your quorum. When they have followed suit, have them do the same for their hometeaching companions.

etc

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H2f7kfAHgJw

The author of this hymn truly understood the work of the Lord. Each verse is very specific to our work with profound implications.

[tubaloth]

I have learned that a leaders job is to really motivate. Motivate to be good Husbands, motivate to be good Priesthood Holders. Motivate to do Home Teaching.

HT is hard for some people to do. Some people never did it as a youth and thus still don't fully understand it. There are those that always expect the other guy to call them. The problem is the other guy is waiting for somebody to call him.

I do suggest you do PPI's as often as you feel you need them. Our ward never really did PPI's until our last Presidency was put in. I have a strong feeling that if Home Teaching is just a casual thing to the presidency, then it becomes a casually thing to the Elders. A good PPI isn't worried about numbers, but about how the Companionship is doing and how the families are doing.

Side note -- I grew up having the same Home Teachers come every month. We knew that we sat on the couch and got the lesson. But now that I am in my own ward, I run into families and most kids that never had Home Teachers come. I was a little fearful that we had a rising generation that didn't know what Home Teaching was.

Activities are good, but hard to do. It seems like people are more willing to come if they don't have to find a babysitter. Meaning something for the whole family. Also remember that some people might not be married.

Communicate with your counselors and secretary. Have a presidency meetings as often as you feel is needed. But really set a schedule to have them. If you keep in contact them your presidency you might not need them as often. But the key is to have them.

Last-- the challenge we are having is most of our Elders serve in Young Men or even in the Primary. So giving lessons on Home Teaching doesn't really reach most of the quorum. The key is always stay in contact with these (Back to PPI's) but to find ways to let them know what is going on in the quorum.

Good Luck!

[Vort]

Do PPIs semiannually (at least) for every member of your quorum. You should be the man that your quorum members come to if they have any needs or problems, except for (1) moral issues affecting temple recommend or Church membership status and (2) Church welfare (Bishop's storehouse) needs, both of which are handled by the bishop.

Have your counselors do home teaching PPIs at least quarterly. Do not bother doing home teaching PPIs yourself; let your counselors handle that. (Note that home teaching PPIs are much different than the "full" PPIs that you will be doing.)

[MsMagnolia]

We recently had an Elder's Quorum sponsored chili cook off in our ward. everyone was invited but the Elder's quorum set it up. It was lots of fun. They also have the semi-annual priesthood ice-cream social that just happens to coincide with the priesthood session of general conference. (think ice cream sundaes right before the session) You sound like you are very excited to have this calling! Good luck and pray lots.

Mags

[JimiSand]

That's great, I would like to have my EQ unified and active! Singing at Sacrament is a great idea, I like that.

Ha! I mentioned a Priesthood choir once in my ward and received several death stares.

[Praetorian_Brow]

The Principles of Leadership

1. Achieve professional competence.

2. Appreciate your own strengths and limitations and pursue self-improvement.

3. Seek and accept responsibility

4. Lead by example.

5. Make sure that your followers know your meaning and intent, then lead them to the accomplishment of the mission.

6. Know your soldiers and promote their welfare.

7. Develop the leadership potential of your followers.

8. Make sound and timely decisions.

9. Train your soldiers as a team and employ them up to their capabilities.

10. Keep your followers informed of the mission, the changing situation and the overall picture.

(CFP 131(1), para 405)