Announcing special Leadership training meeting

Bishops and Branch Presidents…

Thank you for planing to attend the Stake Leadership Training meeting at 3:00 pm this Saturday. If you watched all sessions of General Conference live then this will be the second weekend in a row where your personal time, like ours, is being limited greatly.

The Lord is mindful of our sacrifice and, as you so well know, will honor our obedience and extra-mile service—He always does.

You may be wondering how long the Leadership Meeting will go? Will you have time to go home and return for the 5:45 pm New and Returning Member meeting, if you choose to attend, and then the 7:00 pm Adult session?

We are hopeful that the Leadership meeting will last 90 minutes (hour and a half). While we were directed by the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to focus on ministering in this meeting, we received new instructions right after General Conference to conduct training soon for all Stake and Ward Councils  on the new Come, Follow Me curriculum designed for the new two-hour block schedule. (BTW…this is training the Brethren are asking you to give to all members of your ward or branch before the end of the year).

So rather than call a later meeting for all those coming to the Leadership meeting this Saturday, we decided to present an abbreviated version of this new training in our meeting this Saturday. 

We recognize our hope to complete the training of both subjects in 90 min. may be optimistic. But we’re going to try very hard to do it so we can avoid calling another stake meeting for you and your ward / branch leadership and still get you out of the meeting in time to go home, if possible.

There are two reasons we want to complete this training in 90 minutes.

1. As you were notified earlier, we plan to have you and your ward/branch leaders sit together in the chapel. The reason is that we would like to give all of you 10 minutes after the meeting to discuss briefly what you heard in the training and what you feel is what the Lord wants you to emphasize or focus on in your training before the end of the year.

2. During that same 10 minutes, we are asking all bishops and branch presidents to go into the High Council room for a brief, but very important, meeting with the stake presidency. There is a matter we would like to present to you. So please assign either one of your counselors or your EQ president to conduct the brief discussion with the ward council in the chapel after the Leadership meeting while you go into the High Council room for a brief presentation from the Stake Presidency.

So…questions:

1. Will you please make an extra effort to invite and encourage your ward council members (and their counselors and secretary) to attend this special Leadership Training at 3:00 pm this Saturday. And then reply to this email to report to me who you’ve designated to conduct the brief council meeting immediately after the Leadership meeting in the chapel?

2. Will you please reply to this email and let me know if you plan to attend the Leadership Training this Saturday? I very much hope all of you can be there. But, if not, will you please let me know which counselor will fill in for you in the special meeting afterwards in the High Council room?

Gratefully,

President Lewis

P.S. Please respond ASAP with answers to questions 1 ad 2 above,