How President Brigham Young would solve the problem of Poverty

Brigham Young, the second President of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was a wise and direct man.  No matter how long since the time when his talent as a leader shines brightly.  The following quote tells us what we must do to elimante poverty:

Image Provided by Wikipedia

"We need to learn, practice, study, know and understand how angels live with each other.  When this community comes to the point to be perfectly honest and upright, you will never find a poor person; none will lack, all will have sufficient.  Every man, woman, and child will have all they need just as soon as they all become honest.  When the majority of the community are dishonest, it maketh the honest portion poor, for the dishonest serve and enrich themselves at their expense." ( John A. Widtsoe.  Discourses of Brigham Young. Deseret Book.  Salt Lake City. 1976. pg. 232.)

Creating Order from Chaos

I regularly read the Deseret News even though I live far from Utah.  I was fascinated with the clarity of understanding presented in Mr.Carroll's article on the leadership model that exists within the culture of  The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Although the focus of his article  is business, we can gain a lot of appreciation about how we function within our own roles as leaders.  Many Latter-day Saints chose to be leaders because they see disorder in a situation, not because they want power over others.

http://www.deseretnews.com/article/700172565/Globe-looks-at-Mormonism-as-a-business-model.html

Globe looks at Mormonism as a business model

Published: Sunday, Aug. 21, 2011 4:28 p.m. MDT

By Joseph Walker, Deseret News

52 comments

PRINT | FONT + - 

Referring to Mormons as "the original organization men," Boston Globe columnist James Carroll looks at LDS history and doctrine today on the Globe's website and concludes that "outsiders attempting to understand the surprising arrival of the Latter-day Saints can do worse than to think of it as a business model — made perfectly, it turns out, for the 21st century. Made in America.
"The faith has found a way to make God and a genius for commerce work together," Carroll writes. "The reasons begin not in business but in theology."

Click to view

Jeffrey D. Allred, Deseret News

The LDS church office building May 30, 2008, in Salt Lake City.

He cites LDS belief that God did not create the world out of nothing, but "organized it out of chaos."

"The distinction between God as creator and God as organizer matters because the perennial religious call to imitate God made organizing a defining act of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints," Carroll said. "The Book of Mormon organizes a vast and disjointed history. Joseph Smith, and his main successor Brigham Young, who led the exodus to Utah, were men of high religious charisma, yet each had a gift for practical leadership that enabled the organizing of an historic movement."
  This organization's philosophy, Carroll asserts, translated into an LDS penchant for success in business. By the late 20th century, he says, "Mormons were leaders in organizational development and other business-transforming fields."

The column also explores the organizational impact on the church of the its leadership structure, its early period of polygamy, its properties and holdings, the businesses of Mormon entrepreneurs like J. Willard Marriott and the continuing influence of church structure on tens of thousands of missionaries each year.
Through it all, Carroll says, the business ideal and the religious ideal reinforce one another.

Three Styles of Leadership Part IV

Today we are looking at the concluding ideas suggested by the three styles of leadership that were given by Brother Neal A. Maxwell as part of an essay entitled "Looking at Leadership" published in . . .A More Excellent Way":  Essays on Leadership for Latter-day Saints (1967), 15-29.

"Leadership rests to a significant degree on the kind of decision-making that makes effective use of feedback ( communication to another person or group which gives that person information about how he affected others and how he stands in relation to his goals and intentions).  Participative leadership frees those concerned to provide helpful feedback, whereas directive leadership often suffers from the fact that as the leader acquires more prestige and power, his followers may be less and less likely to level with him even though he wishes this were not so.. . .

Both experience and the scriptures suggest a need for a blend of leadership styles -directive and participative,  in which these styles are used in those circumstances most appropriate for them.  We have an unique blend in the church of directive leadership and participative leadership in which everyone grows and everyone moves forward in terms of eternal goals. . . .

There are times, however, when directive leadership is clearly the appropriate kind of leadership.  Brigham Young probably could have spent years working with some lukewarm members of the Church after the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith, encouraging them to join him and go west.  But the saints finally had to cross the Mississippi River; they had to leave Nauvoo.  The time for action had come.  Under some conditions, leaders must 'cross the river.'

A leader is best apt to be able to blend directive and participative leadership if he is personally and seriously engaged in the divinely intended process of improving his attributes of knowledge, faith, justice, judgment, mercy, truth and love.  He will then be more effective and is more to be trusted with power and influence.  If he loves more perfectly, he will have greater sensitivity to the feelings of group members and know when it is appropriate to emphasize participative leadership.  If he is constantly increasing in his storehouse of knowledge and truth, he will have better insights upon which he can draw when he must act in a directive way.  Group members are much more apt to have confidence in a leader when they see him actively struggling to develop these kinds of attributes.  A leader who is careless about power, insensitive to feelings of members of the group, or who is too sure of his own views without adequate knowledge or information cannot inspire followers for long.  A leader who uses status and authority to cover his sins, to gratify his pride or ambition or to exercise control or dominion will fail organizationally as well as spiritually." ( Church Education System. Principles of Leadership Teacher Manual. Salt Lake City. 2001. pgs. 11-13).

A Zion University Part III

 This is our third and final Cougar Friday focusing on a speech given by former BYU President Merrill J. Bateman.  I began my college career at a state university.  There were many things I liked, but something was definitely wrong.  Very shortly after entering my program, I realized, I would be required to compromise my LDS standards, if I wished to continue in my chosen major.  I knew I could get a good education at my state university, but how would my testimony be doing by the time I had my diploma?

Brigham Young University is unique in that it offers a world class education, yet throws the worldly out of the process.  I have worked in my field for almost 30 years and my memories of my education are clean and uncompromising.  BYU provided me with a great foundation to build upon.

President Bateman shared a person testimony moment, at the conclusion of his address, "A Zion University."

A Message to the Students

"May I paraphrase an earlier president of Brigham Young University: 'Our reason for being is to be a university.  But our reason for being a university is the students.'  For more than 120 years this campus has had a distinctive character.  Strangers who visit are struck by the cleanliness and orderliness of the buildings, the grounds, and especially the people. . . .It was so refreshing to return to this campus, to see the clean young people, and to feel the peace that prevails here.

May I share with you a flash of insight given me by the Spirit twenty years ago in which I learned about this university's major role in building the kingdom . 

. . . .I realized that 27,000 students were being prepared to enter the world.  Every year approximately 6,000 would leave Provo, scattering across North America with some going on to Europe, others to Asia, some to Africa, and a number to South America.  Some might even go Down Under.  If the university performed its roles well, deepening spiritual roots and providing a first-class education, in the course of time strong Church families would grow up in hundreds and thousands of communities all over the world.  These BYU families would be waiting when later missionaries arrived.  My earlier experiences in London, Boston, Colorado Springs, High Wycombe, Lancaster, Bedminster, Accra and Lagos had pointed to the importance of just one or two strong families to form a core around which the Lord could build a branch, then a district, and finally a stake.  The BYU families would be good neighbors; have strong relationships with business associates; and, if well-trained, be leaders in their communities.  These strong families, by example and invitation, would open doors for missionaries to enter. 

. . . .This institution will not fail.  As Daniel prophesied, the kingdom will not be left to other people.  Joseph's and Brigham's vision that the spiritual can be combined with the secular without the latter overcoming the former will prove true because of faith and priesthood power.  Brigham Young University will continue to be a light to the world, dispensing truth for the public good and for individual happiness." (Merrill J. Bateman. Learning in the Light of Truth. Deseret Book. 2005 pgs. 24-6)

Blue and White Friday

A few weeks ago, our youngest son wanted to drive the car.  He was informed that he must first pass a test of knowledge.  He was asked to sing the Cougar Fight Song.  After weighting his pride vs the use of the car, my son began singing, "Rise and Shout the Cougars are out. . ."

Why are we attached to BYU?  We live in an area of the country where BYU is the rival, not the home team.  Our house is still stuffed to the brim with college age youth who are attending a local community college and not a church school.  So, why does our youngest need to know the Cougar Fight Song?  I think its because BYU is part of what it means to be a Latter-day Saint.  When our kids take a college class, they compare what is being taught with what they might expect to be taught at Brigham Young University.  For our family, BYU is the measuring rod of a good education.   Brigham Young, spoke prophetically to the early Utah pioneers, when he said:

"The Lord has chosen the poor of the world,--rich in faith--and the time will come when he will give the earth to his poor for an everlasting inheritance.  I speak this for the comfort of my brethren and sisters who have been poor.  They have come here, and what do we see?  The youth, the middle-aged and the old improving in letters, in mechanism and in the arts and sciences.  We bring them here to improve them, and if the Lord will bless us sufficiently, and the people will bless themselves, we will have a nation that understands all things pertaining to the earth that it is possible for man to grasp.  Will this people be praiseworthy?  Yes, and honored and honorable.  Will they be looked to as examples?  Yes; and it is the duty of the Latter-day Saints to live their religion so that all the world can say there is a pattern for us, not only in our business and worship, but in our knowledge of things that are, things that have been and of things that are yet to come, until the knowledge of Zion shall reach the uttermost parts of the earth, and the kings and great men shall say, "Let us go up to Zion and learn wisdom."   (Young, Brigham. John A. Widtsoe, ed.  Discourses of Brigham Young.  Deseret Book. 1976 pg. 246).

No blind followers Part I

There is much interest, of late, on the workings of the Latter-day Saint mind.  Whether those inquiring are  sincere or sensation seekers, we are often asked similar questions. One that comes up frequently is whether or not we are blind in our obedience to our leadership.  Did you know that President Brigham Young wondered the same thing? 

Creating "searching questions" is one of the reasons for the vibrancy of LDS life, but have we ever been less thrilled when the questions come from our 15 year old?  In his book Reaching Up for the Light, (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 1990. pg. 115)  Elder James E. Faust gives us a quote from President Brigham Young:

" 'I am more afraid that this people have so much confidence in their leaders that they will not inquire for themselves of God whether they are led by Him,  I am fearful they settle down in a state of blind self-security, trusting their eternal destiny in the hands of their leaders with a reckless confidence that in itself would thwart the purposes of God in their salvation, and weaken that influence they could give to their leaders, did they know for themselves, by revelations of Jesus, that they are led in the right way?  Let every man and woman know, by the whisperings of the Spirit of God to themselves, whether their leaders are walking in the path the Lord dictates, or not.'(Journal of Discourses 9:150.)"