--- title: Improvement Era description: Monthly periodical of the Mormon church, 1897 onward. This library holds the issues of November 1897 to December 1930. authors: - Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations collections: - periodicals tags: - magazine - improvement-era periodical: Improvement Era volume: 8 number: 1 published: 1904-11 publisher: Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations publisher_place: Salt Lake City language: en type: magazine reference: 'Young Men’s Mutual Improvement Associations, "Our Work," *Improvement Era* 8, no. 1 (November 1904): 68–72.' source: url: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0801unse transcription: Transcribed from the Internet Archive scan of each issue (the item for each issue is named in the issue's own source); unnumbered advertising leaves are omitted, printed page numbers are kept as page markers. identifier: improvementera0801unse start_page: 68 end_page: 72 rights: status: public-domain basis: US publication 1930 or earlier (published 1904-11) source: https://archive.org/details/improvementera0801unse publication_year: 1904 note: The Internet Archive item metadata carries a blanket "© Copyright by Intellectual Reserve, Inc." notice. The library owner judged it inapplicable because this issue was published in 1904, before 1931; a scan-level notice does not restore copyright. --- # Our Work work of striving to make the Era still better and more interesting. We receive suggestions with thanks, and hope that each of our readers will do his part to assist in giving our magazine an increased circulation. This can be done by asking a neighbor to subscribe: Apia, Upolu, Samoa, August 14, 1904. Elder Thomas Hull, General Secretary Y. M. M. I. A., and Manager of the Era: Dear Brother: — wish the I first four volumes of the Era bound Young, Vernal, Utah. in cloth, and sent to A. F. The remittance will be sent you as soon as I can learn how much it will be, if you willt OVR WORK. 69 kindly let me know. I am fully convinced that as a reference, the Era will take first place among Church supplementary publications; and the very thought of not having them on my book shelves makes me anxious to obtain them now. They will not only serve me during my brief stay on earth, but will be a safe guide for my children after me. God bless the Era and those who are making it the best magazine published. Your brother in the cause of truth, Francis M. Young. "FIVE ESSENTIALS FOR A SUCCESSFUL PRESIDENT." The remarks of Elder Preston D. Richards published in the October Era, were followed at the conference by these from Elder Oliver Christensen, superintendent of the Juab Stake. He said: Perhaps I could not do better than to change the point of view from a ward president to that of a stake superintendent and say amen to what Brother Richards has said, and sit down. However, by considering some of these points, perhaps by giving them another name, I may be able to add a little to what has been said. The first point that I have selected as an essential for a ward president is that ef interest in the work. A great many of our ward presidents, as in all other avocations of life, go at a thing half-heartedly, never become thoroughly interested Perhaps they flare up in the work. a little sometimes like a soap bubble, on the evening of their meeting, and then forget all about it until the next meeting. There are those, however, who have the happy faculty of carrying with them the interest of the work throughout the week. Those are the kind of men that we like to have for ward presidents. There are some people, you know, in this world, very fortunately, who become thoroughly interested in all that they undertake in life. Now, if the stake superintendency has this discernment in its of a ward president who has this happy selection faculty, fortunate is that stake superintendency, and more particularly fortunate is the association over which that ward president presides. A man must, in order to be thoroughly successful, be thoroughly interested in his work, and that interest should be interest that lasts throughout the week. He must be one of those kind of men Brother Richards referred to, who lie awake at night thinking how he might best improve his association. Therefore, as an essential in a ward president, this is one of the first —interest in the work —because it means that he, by that interest, will interest the officers and members of the association, and that his association will be measurably successful. Perhaps it is not necessary for me to say anything further about the 70 IMPROVEMENT ERA. subjeet that has been so ably treated, that of punctuality and prompt- ness; however, I have selected that as one of the things I consider essential, and not the least essential either. It has been stated that there seems to be a habit throughout the Church, in the commencement of our meetings, that it is becoming habitual, to begin them fifteen min- utes to a half hour late. That is a very deplorable condition, a thing that I think could be and ought to be remedied. There is also a great lack of promptness in many of our associations. Some ward presidents who pride themselves upon beginning their meetings promptly on time do not appreciate the fact that the lack of promptness throughout that meeting has a very sad effect upon the meeting. To illustrate that point, I might mention what I consider a very common occurrence as an illustration: Perhaps there is a man, a ward president, who has been prompt in calling his meeting to order at the proper time, or at the time set, but as soon as he calls the meeting to order, he turns to the choir leader and asks, "What shall we sing?" The choir leader says he does not know, but that he will consult with the organist, which he does, and that takes about five minutes, and then they are ready to commence the hymn. After they sing it through, the president will see some fellow away back in the gallery, about half asleep, and calls him to pray. The man will look about him in surprise, get up and slowly take off his overcoat and come poking down stairs, with all the eyes of the members of the association following him, and perhaps he will come up the aisle and shake hands with all the sisters, and with the brethren on the stand, and finally pray. The same trouble is experienced with the second hymn, and then, perhaps, the preliminary program drags along the same way. A lady is down on the program, and, upon her number being called, she leisurely removes her wraps, takes off her hat, and lays them down on the bench. After having adjusted her attire, the eyes of everybody follow her as she moves down the aisle, goes up and recites, and walks back down: and the president, out of respect for the lady, does not call the next number on the program until she is comfortably seated. That is the way the whole thing drags along, and that is the way the meeting is killed. Therefore, from the point of view of a stake superintendent, we wish to insist that our ward presidents have their program and all their preliminary arrangements made before the opening of the meeting, and see that those who are to take part in the exercises are near the front, and are ready to respond as their names are called, so that everything will be done with dispatch and promptness. Ward presidents should see to it that the choir leaders have the hymns selected before the meeting begins, and they should insist upon it, so OUR WORK. 71 that the hymns may be announced promptly and the work done with dispatch. Too often these little things spoil the spirit of the meeting. Another thing that a president should possess is tact, judgment, discretion. A ward president should be able to discern the abilities of his members, as has already been stated in regard to the stake superintendent. He should know his members individually, and their capabilities. To illustrate further, suppose that a person is on the program who the president knows will not interest the listeners to any great extent. He should have his program so arranged that the one who follows that speaker will be able to cover the ground that the former speaker failed to cover, in such a way that it will give no offense.Very often, — you know, in securing new material of course, that is the right thing to do, to bring all in, it being Mutual Improvement work — the man who attempts for the first time to fill a number on the program is unable to bring intelligently before the members of that association the essential points in the lesson assigned him, in which case the president of the association should have selected a man to take the next number on the program who is capable of covering those points that the first speaker is most liable to omit. This, then, implies discretion; he should be discreet, and those points that are omitted should in some way be brought out by those who follow, so that the subject in hand may be thoroughly covered, and not only that, but that those present might become interested. What I mean is that the best speakers, the ablest members of the association, should not all be selected one evening and then the poorer members, or those who have had less experience, selected to fill the program of the next meeting. Discretion should be used in making up the program, so that each one may become interesting to the members. Then, again, a president should have at least some knowledge of the principles of the gospel. He should be a man able to give aid to his members in preparing their part of the program. It must be very humiliating to a president of an association who is unable to assist his members when called upon to do so. Therefore, he should be acquainted with the subject in hand, and should have a general knowledge of the principles of the gospel. I claim that there can be no excuse for a young man who is worthy to be called to be president of a Mutual Improvement Association for his being ignorant of the leading principles of the gospel. If he is ignorant of the general principles of the gospel, I claim that he is not fit to be the president of a Mutual Improvement Association. Therefore, that is one of the requirements that he should have, one of the essential qualifications — a general knowledge of the principles of the gospel —so that he may be able to lend assistance 72 . IMPROVEMENT ERA. and to stand as an example to the members of the association, that whenever they come to him for advice and assistance he may be able and willing to give the same. It is also absolutely necessary that a person who is called to fill the oflSce of president of an association should be in possession of the Spirit of God; for if he has all the other qualifications, without this qualification he is not fit to be a president of an association, and the associations,if any there be, that are presided over by men, no matter how great their other qualifications may be, who are lacking in this, those associations, I say, are in a deplorable condition. That is the one essential, the all-important qualification, to be in possession of the Spirit of God. No man, in any calling in this Church, can be successful unless he is in possession of the Spirit of God, in possession of that Spirit which causes him to be humble. I do not mean the humility that will cause him to under-estimate his own ability, but that humility which insures him the possession of the Spirit of God. You have no doubt observed in the mission field, or elsewhere, that the humble man, the man who is in possession of the Spirit of God, is the successful one. You have observed in the mission field that the man, though he may be otherwise seemingly unqualified to perform his duties as a missionary, who is humble and in possession of the Spirit of God will do far more good than the man who is qualifiedby education, but has not the Spirit of God, in the converting of souls to Christ; so with the Mutual Improvement president. He must be a man who has faith, who is willing to get down upon his knees and ask his heavenly Father for aid and assistance, a man who is not too proud to speak to and assist the humblest and most lowly member of his association, a man who ever depends upon the Spirit of God to lead and guide him during his meeting, and throughout the week, and during his entire life. He must be a man who is humble enough to call to his assistance and advice those associated with him, a man who will live in such a way that he will be qualified, through living a life of purity and humility, to be in possession of that Spirit which comes from our heavenly Father, and which cannot be enjoyed except by living a life in accordance with the laws which he has established for our observance. Therefore, we, as stake superintendents, insist upon the selection of men to be presidents of our associations who are worthy, through having lived such lives as become Latter-day Saints to live, men who are thoroughly qualified, spiritually, for the performance of the great responsibilities that will devolve upon them.