mountainrider

I heard this phrase for the first time recently when referring to the Prop 8 efforts in California. Do you have "the same 10 people" that do almost everything in the ward? The "same 10 people" that raise their hand when the bishop needs people to get something done? The "same 10 people" that are willing to follow the prophets call and knock doors on a Saturday morning? Just wondering

Absolutely disgusting........ "It's coming, whether you like it or not" Gavin "any twosome" Newsome The indoctrination of our children is real and very sad.

I think the key is "when traveling". I think the general authority you mention was talking about Orem/Provo members of the church who decide to jump in the car and go eat at PF Chang's on Sunday after church rather than the faithful, temple recommend holder who tried but couldn't avoid traveling on Sunday and had to grab a bite to eat while on the road or in an airport somewhere.

I completely agree with you. I certainly didn't mean to imply that all paid preachers are of the televangelist money grubber ilk. I think that is sad when they are. There are thousands of others who are in it for the right reasons. I just wanted to point out that there are all types, good and bad.

that's a pretty broad brush. What about all the ones that are out for filthy lucre, like Swaggert, Baker, Hinn and the dozens of others that are looking out for only 1 thing and it isn't their parishoners well being? There is a reason why the Lord's church is set up the way that it is.

LOL! No, not me!! I think it is absurd for someone to even think about suing the church, no matter how wronged I feel. I would never do it, but i heard of a situation where someone was contemplating suing the church. The idea intrigued me and I got thinking about what it would take for me to be able to take tithing dollars that others have paid in payment for the wrongs that I feel. I honestly couldn't think of a situation where I could do that.

Could you, for any reason, sue the church for hundreds of thousands of dollars? you are a temple recommend holder and completely active in the church. If so, what are some of the reasons.

This is how I do it. I know that I will be fired from my job is I look at anything inappropriate on the computer at work. I have to have self-discipline. I figure if I can be on a computer all day at work, everyday, with access to the internet and can not look at anything inappropriate, I can have the same self discipline at home or anywhere else.

Don't get me wrong, I do make it very easy for my home teacher to come. There is no young man involved, so there is nobody that needs to learn how to communicate with others. I am just saying that I am not going to go inactive or have my feelings hurt if my home teacher is too busy one month (or every month for that matter) to come visit me. This is the same excuse I use when I don't get my home teaching "done" for the month :) My point was that we get too caught up in statistics because that is what we tend to report to the stake. I think the bishop should ask for a monthly written report from the EQ president about the problem families in the ward, rather than we got 40/80 families = 50% home teaching.

Hold on a second. Not all situations are the same in the church. You guys are assuming that the home teachee's want to be "taught". I home teach a lady who is an active member, but her husband is not a member and is not really interested in the gospel. myself and the husband happen to work at the same company and we have alot in common and he appreciates my visits, but has made it quite obvious that he would rather not have gospel discussions. I give her the printed message so she can read it but we talk mostly about non-church stuff when I go visit. They know they can call me any time to help in any way. Am I an ineffective home teacher because I don't "teach" them? I am completely active in the church and I could care less if my home teachers "teach" me. In fact, I really wouldn't mind if they didn't come because I know that I am doing fine, I don't need any help, and I know I can call on him at any time and he will be at my house to help. I think we have gotten into this "100%" hometeaching mentality in the church where statistics are more important than the program. When I am asked to report my home teaching, I am asked "did you visit XYZ". The answer is yes or no. Never am I asked "Is there anything going on with families XYZ that I need to report to the bishop?" That is a much more effective method of reporting because then the EQ Presidency can derive the actual "Statistics" from the answer from the home teachers.

Definitely shrinking.......our whole Stake is shrinking. People wanting to bail out of Commiefornia........including myself

I am a big fan of going through and cleaning out ward lists. That may sound harsh, but here is why. Every 3-5 years, you have a new "administration" in a ward. New bishop, usually new counselors, ward council members get changed, ward mission leader gets changed blah blah blah. Part of the ward's and ward leadership's job is reactivation. There are many people in every ward who DO NOT want anything, and I mean nothing, to do with the church, but have not gone through the hassle of writing a letter to the bishop to get their names removed. So, you get Joe Mission Leader that wants to conquer the ward list and reactivate all the inactives and starts visiting and calling, not knowing anything about the person other than a name on a list. Well, come to find out, Mr. Mission Leader gets an earful from the hostile ward members of the church who tells them to stop visiting/calling/contacting/"harassing" them. So, he does, until the next "administration" comes in. Then the cycle happens all over again. Countless hours are wasted visiting the same hostile people that will most likely never change. Many of these hostile people have probably done "excommunicatable" sins in their lives and in my opinion, the church should go through the process to get them off the books. I know there are eternal consequences and nobody likes to see a ward list shrink, but I am all about efficiency and not wasting time. I have little time as it is that I must balance between wife, little kids, church calling, work and everything in between and the last thing I want to be doing is trying to contact people who have asked to NOT be contacted over and over and over again.

if anyone is a teacher with a state teaching credential but you don't want to be out of the home to teach in the classroom, "virtual academies" are popping up in most states. they need certificated teachers to supervise parents as they teach their children from home using a great curriculum. The schools are publicly funded, which is why they need real teachers to make sure the student is being taught. k12 is the curriculum so you can go to their website to see if there is a virtual academy in your state that uses it. The one in commiefornia is California Virtual Academies Pay in california is 25-35K and you work from home. K12: K12 Inc. - Home schooling curriculum, public school options, virtual academy schools, virtual charter, distance learning programs for elementary & high school grades, in Science, Math, History, English, Language Arts and more!

I think that you usually have a handful of great families in every ward that are the glue that holds the ward together. They do mostly everything in the ward while many other members of the ward sit on the sidelines, for the most part. These families seem to volunteer for everything, serve in the most time consuming callings, etc. Sometimes even to the point of being taken advantage of. "Oh, brother so and so will do it"......."don't worrry, sister so and so will get it done". I think we need to be careful when we keep asking the same people over and over and over again to do things in the ward just because they are willing. We had direction from the stake presidency to talk about being overwhelmed in the church in our ward councils. Obviously the stake presidency is concerned about people "doing too much"

I think that church leaders should look at a person's situation before extending a calling, especially if it is an extremely time consuming calling. I am a husband/father first, an employee second, and then a young men's president third. Some people have a hard time understanding that. I have little kids who need alot of attention, a wife that needs help at home, working 50-60 hrs week, young in my career (meaning I don't have alot of vacation time to take a week off for Scout Camp), working on a Master's Degree and trying to run a young men's program with skeleton adult leadership that I can count on 3 fingers. not to mention all the "meetings" I need to go to every week/month. I am worn out by the end of the week and the last thing I want to do when I haven't seen my kids all week is to spend all day sunday away from home too. I am a big believer in "simplifying our lives" like the GA's have been talking about as of late and I think we can start with eliminating some of the meetings church leadership has to attend.