So... Stake Public Affairs

[Ironhold]

As I've noted before, I've worked in the newspaper industry since 2009, and have had my own movie review & op-ed column since 2013. 

For about 15+ years now, our stake public affairs group has been virtually non-functional. I was called to be an assistant stake public affairs person due to my working for a local newspaper, but was never elevated to being the main stake public affairs person no matter how many times the position turned over. Finally I was told that my services were no longer needed, at which point stake largely forgot I even existed, let alone that I worked for a newspaper. 

During this time the stake presidency was actually a *stumbling block* to my efforts, in that one particular stake presidency demanded that I submit to them any op-ed or review I wrote that mentioned the church but would then dawdle on giving me feedback. In one incident, it took them three weeks to finally respond to a single column, leaving me a mere 72 hours to create a replacement; when I told them of the situation they had put me in through their delay, the stake president at the time tried to order me to produce a puff piece about an upcoming Choir event. 

More stake public affair reps have come and gone since, with each one doing very, very little to actually get it done. All the while I'm getting roasted for things not making it into the newspaper I work for despite the fact that I was never given anything to give to the newspaper. Either nobody would think to tell me about an event in enough time, or I would just be told "It's on the ward / stake Facebook page!" when those pages were privated as per official church instruction. 

Well... as of today's stake conference we have yet another stake public affairs representative. I met with him after conference, and he promised to keep in touch as he gets things fixed. 

 

For those of you whose stakes have stake public affairs representatives, how's that been going for you? 

[NeuroTypical]

Raising your hand and sustaining fallible humans can be challenging sometimes.   It helps if you understand that sustaining people in their calling occasionally means not putting up with their bullcrap if that's what they're shoveling.  

I learned this lesson once as an executive secretary in a bishopric meeting.  The stake representative was chewing out the bishop for not having all his ducks in a row regarding some priesthood advancements.  The bishop said something to his clerk, who left the room.  Bishop then took out his copy of the handbook and began reading verbatim the section on ward and stake duties and procedures when it came to such things.  After he had read the section, the clerk had returned with several records, and the bishop proceeded to assign dates to every single thing the ward was supposed to do.  Then he turned to the stake responsibilities and read them off, one at a time, saying things like "the stake has had bro Smith's teacher ordination paperwork since [date].  Have you done step 3 and completed the paperwork?"  "the stake was informed about their need to interview bro Jones for advancement to elder on [date].  Has the stake contacted bro Jones to set up that meeting?"  The questions went on and on.  The stake was found lacking on every single item.   After the bishop was done, he asked "ok.  So, is there anything the stake is waiting for on our end?  If not, I think we can move to the next topic."

I've never seen such a royal butt-whipping as I saw the bishop give our stake rep that day.   There was love in the air, and there was also absolutely no mistake about who had dropped the ball.

I mean, you're not bishop, but if you're filling your calling, you can speak with the same authority.  You can say what you will and will not be doing.  You can point out how other people are not doing their jobs.  And even though it's a skill that's hard to master, you can do such things in love. 

[Traveler]

@Ironhold

It often seems in life that whenever given the task of draining the swamp that all of a sudden, crocodiles, snakes, misquotes, horrible storms and all kinds of undesirable swamp creatures ultimately become the primary focus of anyone attempting to do anything with or in the swamp.

I cannot say what you should have done – only what I would have done.  For any possible reference to the Church of Jesus Christ – I would submit (perhaps via email or text) to the stake presidency, high council and stake auxiliary presidencies (or any related person) anything I intended to be printed in the local paper where I was working – with a 48, 72 or whatever hour deadline for revisions.  If I had nothing and nothing was added within the deadline – I would print that there was nothing provided.  If anyone complained, I would simply say please provide your input on time, next time.  Beyond that I would not complain or worry about anything and continue seeking input and to do my job for my employer.

 

The Traveler

[Carborendum]

12 hours ago, Ironhold said:

For those of you whose stakes have stake public affairs representatives, how's that been going for you? 

I've never heard of such a position on the stake level.  So, that should tell you how it's been going.

[mirkwood]

Yeah, what carb said.

[LDSGator]

17 hours ago, NeuroTypical said:

You can point out how other people are not doing their jobs

Remember it’s all volunteer. It’s not a job. People work 65 hours a week-we in the church should be grateful we can find people willing to work their callings at all. 

Before I was certified I used to volunteer to referee TKD sparring matches. I did so for free. I was absolutely willing to accept criticism, but if anyone tried to give me a “royal butt whipping” I’d take my tie off, leave and go find a beach. 

Edited May 19 by LDSGator

[HaggisShuu]

On 5/19/2025 at 9:04 PM, LDSGator said:

Remember it’s all volunteer. It’s not a job. People work 65 hours a week-we in the church should be grateful we can find people willing to work their callings at all. 

Before I was certified I used to volunteer to referee TKD sparring matches. I did so for free. I was absolutely willing to accept criticism, but if anyone tried to give me a “royal butt whipping” I’d take my tie off, leave and go find a beach. 

Hear hear. 
Quite a lot of sentiment gets thrown round to suggest that if somebody isn't perfectly serving in their calling then they are useless. Always makes me uncomfortable, and it's an unrighteous, toxic attitude. 
 

We've a new Young Womans president being called and before she has even been set apart I've heard comments suggesting that this is "the end" of our youth. 

[LDSGator]

On 5/23/2025 at 1:04 PM, HaggisShuu said:

Hear hear. 
Quite a lot of sentiment gets thrown round to suggest that if somebody isn't perfectly serving in their calling then they are useless. Always makes me uncomfortable, and it's an unrighteous, toxic attitude. 

Amen brother. 

 

On 5/23/2025 at 1:04 PM, HaggisShuu said:

We've a new Young Womans president being called and before she has even been set apart I've heard comments suggesting that this is "the end" of our youth. 

I’ve heard comments like that. Very sad. 

[HaggisShuu]

17 hours ago, LDSGator said:

I’ve heard comments like that. Very sad.

What's funny is people will say it but then not have the minerals to oppose the sustaining. 

Edited yesterday at 11:28 AM by HaggisShuu

[Carborendum]

3 hours ago, HaggisShuu said:

not have the minerals to oppose

I've never heard this expression before.  I'm assuming it is some sort of British euphemism?

[LDSGator]

4 hours ago, HaggisShuu said:

What's funny is people will say it but then not have the minerals to oppose the sustaining. 

Agree again. To be fair though, it’s more a problem with human nature. 

[NeuroTypical]

I'm a big fan of taking critics and saying "oh, you seem to have it all figured out - let's put you in charge of doing it right."

I still remain a fan of being a critic of stake people with an overinflated notion of their stewardships and importance in the lives of people living at the ward level.  At this point I'm sort of hoping someone approaches me with a Stake calling - I'll speak energetically and passionately about my thoughts that the stake needs to stay in it's own lane and stop trying to do bishop things.  We'll see if they still want me.

My heart goes out to all of us random saints just trying to be good disciples and have enough energy for our callings.   I am challenged to love the stake representative that just comes up with some activity he wants everyone in all the wards to do and begins pushing it out expecting everyone to jump, without so much as checking with bishops or aux presidents in any wards.

Edited yesterday at 04:44 PM by NeuroTypical

[Ironhold]

32 minutes ago, NeuroTypical said:

I'm a big fan of taking critics and saying "oh, you seem to have it all figured out - let's put you in charge of doing it right."

I still remain a fan of being a critic of stake people with an overinflated notion of their stewardships and importance in the lives of people living at the ward level.  At this point I'm sort of hoping someone approaches me with a Stake calling - I'll speak energetically and passionately about my thoughts that the stake needs to stay in it's own lane and stop trying to do bishop things.  We'll see if they still want me.

My heart goes out to all of us random saints just trying to be good disciples and have enough energy for our callings.   I am challenged to love the stake representative that just comes up with some activity he wants everyone in all the wards to do and begins pushing it out expecting everyone to jump, without so much as checking with bishops or aux presidents in any wards.

With what I'm dealing with, it seems that the vast majority of people - both stake presidency and subsequent public affairs reps - had no experience whatsoever in public affairs, let alone media, and so didn't understand just what it takes to make things happen. 

The problem is that instead of trusting me and others who had the knowledge and experience to get things done, we were either ignored & so didn't have what we needed or micromanaged to the point that we couldn't actually do what we needed to do. 

[LDSGator]

55 minutes ago, Ironhold said:

The problem is that instead of trusting me and others who had the knowledge and experience to get things done, we were either ignored & so didn't have what we needed or micromanaged

Did you ever say to them “Since you know what to do…do it.” And then walk out? Best feeling in the world. 

1 hour ago, NeuroTypical said:

still remain a fan of being a critic of stake people with an overinflated notion of their stewardships and importance in the lives of people living at the ward level.

You are in an increasingly growing group. More and more people my age (tail end of Gen X,  Xennial) are unwilling to sit there and take abuse, especially when we aren’t getting paid for it. 
 

The old school “Sit there, shut up and let me scream at you.” just doesn’t work anymore. 

Edited yesterday at 06:10 PM by LDSGator

[Traveler]

8 hours ago, HaggisShuu said:

What's funny is people will say it but then not have the minerals to oppose the sustaining. 

Something often overlooked is that with such comments not only are they not sustaining the person being called but as well as all those who were involved in the call being given.

As a side note.  I was attending a stake conference when a person was called to the stake high council.   When the sustaining vote was asked, a person in the midst of the congregation stood up holding their hand up as high as possible in opposition.   The stake president left the stand, got that person and quietly left the meeting.  After a short time, the stake president returned (I did not see the person opposing) and the person previously called was not called and was never set apart.  As far as I know – they never received any call to any position.  I assumed that there was some issue that was never addressed prior to the call and when the stake president was made aware – it changed everything concerning the call.

I would suggest that if something is known to you that prevents your sustaining – you should rase your hand accordingly and make your witness known to the proper authority.  There is a reason for this formality.

 

The Traveler

[HaggisShuu]

46 minutes ago, Traveler said:

Something often overlooked is that with such comments not only are they not sustaining the person being called but as well as all those who were involved in the call being given.

As a side note.  I was attending a stake conference when a person was called to the stake high council.   When the sustaining vote was asked, a person in the midst of the congregation stood up holding their hand up as high as possible in opposition.   The stake president left the stand, got that person and quietly left the meeting.  After a short time, the stake president returned (I did not see the person opposing) and the person previously called was not called and was never set apart.  As far as I know – they never received any call to any position.  I assumed that there was some issue that was never addressed prior to the call and when the stake president was made aware – it changed everything concerning the call.

I would suggest that if something is known to you that prevents your sustaining – you should rase your hand accordingly and make your witness known to the proper authority.  There is a reason for this formality.

 

The Traveler

Interesting story, apart from the odd tiktok video where you see somebody filming themselves oppose the first presidency as a "protest". I've yet to see anybody oppose an individual.  

[HaggisShuu]

19 hours ago, Carborendum said:

I've never heard this expression before.  I'm assuming it is some sort of British euphemism?

It's a more fun way to say somebody hasn't got the ⚽️'s to do something.