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The two wards in Bismarck are splitting today. Last night, my wife and I breathed a sigh of relief that I hadn’t been contacted for an interview. I just got a call from the 1st Counselor in the Stake Preaidency to meet with him before the combined Sacrament Meeting. Given the possibilities that would be extended by someone in his position, I think I will be asked to be a counselor in the Bishopric of the new ward being created or return to the High Council, since some of them probably are being called into Bishoprics. I will let you know as soon as I get back from church.
I am the new Executive Secretary. The Bishop is a wonderful, gentle, somewhat heterodox man whom I love. I would have chosen him, if I had been responsible for choosing the Bishop.
I think executive secretary is a good calling. Used properly you could have a good deal of influence on the bishopric and in councils. On the stake level our ES (as well as our clerk) is always asked for his opinion and knows he is welcome to interject as much as anyone else. When I was set apart, the Stake President said to share my thoughts, feelings, and inspiration with the Bishop and the rest of the Bishopric. I’m not exactly shy or hesitant to do so. 
Congratulations Ray. I feel like you are gifted to be able to adapt many callings to really make them your own. I miss your lesson recaps from when you were teaching the youth. Have you ever needed to decline a calling? Do you have callings in mind that you would decline if asked? Do you have any type of strategy to steer leadership towards the callings that would be the best fit for you? Perhaps insert in casual conversation that you loved calling X or that you have always wanted to do calling Y? That’s a pretty good gig. You’ll add to meetings for sure! Lucky them. May your family and life be blessed while you help steer your raft in Zion. We had our first Bishopric meeting today to try to nail down the leadership callings. I am going to love it. The Bishop came straight from work and was in jeans, an untucked white shirt, and loafers.
How do you think he will handle weekly meetings? Our bishop got rid of PEC. Basically…if the ward leadership needs to meet, he wants to include women leaders just like men, sees no value in meeting with EQ/HP/YM without RS/PRimary/YW…it doesn’t make sense to him so he has ward council 3 weeks/month and 3rd sundays no meetings for anyone but the bishopric.
I like bishops that think smart like that. Jeans and loafers is a good sign. Update us on what you see from your experience.
I still get the feeling the church is more and more lax on some issues that used to bug us back in 2009 (like white shirts, and soda on BYU campus, and women leadership, and some things that have bubbled up through dumb church culture stuff). It’s always hard to assess if it is the “church” or local leadership roulette.
Great news Ray. I think heterodox have more leadership opportunities outside of Utah than inside. I know leadership is a blessing and a curse, but it’s great to have someone like you in a position of leadership, and your bishop sounds really cool. I was a little worried about my bishop, as he seemed excessively TBM, but he has been ok. Since he has been called, I’ve tried to maintain a lower profile in my ward, and he has reciprocated by mostly leaving me alone. It also helps that our quorum leadership changed from a group of highly conservative leaders to mostly boring ones. I wrote a post about it a while back, “Thankful for Boring Church”: https://mormonheretic.org/2017/05/04/being-grateful-for-boring-church/
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