Tools of the Trade
Posted in: What's the Buzz
November December 2025
I got a new calling: Ward Executive Secretary. My second time serving in this capacity.
The first time was way back in the log cabin days (1985) where the only tool of the trade was a 6” x 8” gray-covered calendar book I found laying around the apartment. That book never left my side as I kept track of every official move my bishop made. He and I communicated often, and anyone wanting to see the bishop made an appointment through me. Or they did not see the bishop. In those days bishops dealt with all temporal as well as spiritual issues. They conducted all temple recommend interviews. My bishop was the “Transient Bishop” as well, so he met often with anyone who was in the Stake, or anyone who wandered into the Stake (“Uh, ya, I’m a member and the pastor of my last congregation sent me here for some car payment money…” Mmm hmm…) that needed special temporal help.
All of it was well managed through my little gray book.
Forty years later, things have changed a bit. Now all calendaring is carried out electronically via apps and Google calendar and JotForm. Our ward has an Assistant Executive Secretary, which is wonderful! There are no more transient bishops; there are, however, Deseret Industries and Family Services and Employment Centers, and Home Storage Centers and Bishop’s Storehouses. And the bishop is focused mainly on the youth, with the Elders Quorum President and Relief Society President doing the temporal needs heavy lifting.
I have found that my biggest challenge as Executive Secretary is keeping my mouth shut during Bishopric Meetings. I was part of a bishopric once, but now I “work closely with the bishop and his counselors, but [I am] not a member of the bishopric.” Hey! I got ideas! Well, that is not my current role. And I respect that. I respect the organization of the Church.
Another person of note with a new calling: Dallin H. Oaks. Only he has the reverse issue I have. Where he was in a position to offer counsel, he’s now expected to open his mouth as the “mouthpiece of the Lord.” He respects the organization of the Church. Ezra Taft Benson was the President of the Church when I was called the first time as Executive Secretary. Things have changed for Dallin H. Oaks since then as well.
The common denominator for both President Oaks and I (pretty sure that both of us getting new callings at about the same time makes us buddies) is of course the Gospel. The tools of the trade change as the world changes, as technology, programs, organization and administration in and of the Church changes. But the Gospel never changes. And neither does its purpose. With that in mind, carrying around a little gray book or an iPad to conduct Church business matters not, as long as the primary purpose is kept front of mind: faith, repentance, baptism, Holy Ghost, endure. That … I have written on my heart. In pen and in gigabytes.
Thank you for reading…
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