Stake conference was this weekend and the theme was "hastening the work of salvation"...I'm sure you could have guessed that though. A lot of the messages were directed towards the youth..."invite your friends, reactivate the inactives, etc..." It was also mentioned that the full time missionaries are wasting more than half of their time and that the members need to fill up their schedules.

I know why the 15 are pushing missionary work, but I don't know why any member would get excited about it. You get reprimanded in stake conference for not doing enough, and then Dieter comes out in GC and says the opposite...people leave for good reason, "let them worship how, where, or what they may." No call to save them, to be actively engaged in a fraudulent cause, etc... In Rough Stone Rolling, Bushman wrote "Joseph insisted more than once that "all who would follow the precepts of the Bible, whether Mormon or not, would assuredly be saved." So, if Joe's goofy temple rituals and sealings aren't necessary, why is the church a missionary church at all?

I have no idea why it is a missionary church other than being a cult.

Check this out.

https://www.lds.org/training/wwlt/2013/hastening/priesthood-leaders?lang=eng
"Capture the Vision

Stake presidents and bishops ... hold keys of responsibility for missionary work in their units, and they inspire members to participate.

Elder Russell M. Nelson "

It's the company sales meeting. Get out there and sell, sell, SELL!!

Yep, the Celestial Kingdom is for closers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

ROTFLMAO

PUT THAT COFFEE DOWN!!! The Celestial Kingdom is for closers!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Rather embarrassingly it's only in recent years that I really now understand why some elders I served with over 20 years ago were branded as being 'poor' and 'wasters', they simply did not like sales and their personalities meant that they generally were not very good at it.

I really get that now. How horrible to be coerced into fulfilling a job role that you're really not suited for.

I'm sure it's the same thing with a lot of members. Even many of those that are genuine TBMs, don't feel at all comfortable trying to build a down line and coerce others.

I'm convinced that the constant HTW rhetoric will have a net loss impact as more and more TBMs become fed up with the persistent sales pitch and start to question.

sherlock Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> They simply did not like sales and their
> personalities meant that they generally were not very
> good at it.

I couldn't agree more. Missionary work and the commitment pattern that is taught in the MTC is nothing more than sales training. If you're not good at sales, you'll suck as a missionary, plain and simple.

The most successful missionaries are the ones that can sell the church. Take a look at this list of successful sales person characteristics, the same could be said of successful missionaries:

http://www.inc.com/young-entrepreneur-council/13-qualities-to-look-for-in-your-next-sales-hire.html

Yeah, I sucked as a missionary because I'm not a salesman, and I refused to follow most of the "commitment pattern" other than getting to know people (known as BRT - Build Relationships of Trust).

I'm not big on manipulating people, and I didn't care about stats/numbers. Thankfully, my MP wasn't big on numbers like that either. As long as we followed mission rules, he was cool with us.

ETA: Plus, I was convinced that if what we had was really the truth, it should sell itself with little to no effort on my part.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/24/2014 04:17PM by utahstateagnostics.

I had a ZL one time who spent a week with us and every day for a few hours we had a district meeting (all 6 of us) in which we read aloud Og Mandino's _The Greatest Salesman In The World_. He treated it as equivalent to scripture. I exchanged with him half a day once and as we walked tracting he would mutter pep talks to himself and make decisive arm movements with fist clenchings. It mattered not a whit to him that no one listened to us, our two scheduled appointments were bogus and a SL address referral was to a nonexistent place. I wonder if he is still that way.

It's not even that they have anything to sell,other than an illusion.

What they are doing is RECRUITING.

The cult needs more workers who are willing to give up their money, work for free and breed more cultists who grow up to recruit others.

Is Hastening the work the same as every member a missionary?

Yes but it's just like new coke.

and the theme was the same. A lot of it was aimed at brining back the lost sheep.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/25/2014 09:39AM by brosephsmith.

Well our Stake presidency couldn't wait for Stake Conference to start pushing the "Hastening the Work" BS. They sent the following email to everyone in the Stake (DH is on their email list):

An Invitation from the _______ Stake Presidency


Dear Brothers and Sisters,

In June 2013 our prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, invited each of us to join in a very important work. He said, "Now is the time for members and missionaries to come together, to work together, to labor in the Lord's vineyard to bring souls unto Him." In D&C 88:73 we read, "Behold, I will hasten my work in its time". Since last year many great things have occurred as we have all tried to move the work forward at a faster pace. As a stake presidency we have been impressed that there are specific things we all can do to better prepare us for the work that the Lord has asked us to do. We invite you to join with us as we prepare more diligently to answer our Prophet's call to hasten the work of salvation.

First, we invite you to read and study Mosiah 23 through Alma 43 in The Book of Mormon. We ask that you do this by our next stake conference April 19 and 20. As you read these chapters, we encourage you to focus on the great stories of Alma, Ammon and the sons of Mosiah and their examples of faith, dedication, love for their fellow beings, and courage in sharing the gospel.

Second, we ask that each family or individual develop a mission plan and to complete this plan by our upcoming stake conference in April. We encourage you to seek inspiration through the Spirit in developing your plan, knowing that our Heavenly Father knows which of his children's hearts are prepared to hear the restored gospel. Chapter 13 of Preach My Gospel and talks from the October 2013 General Conference by Elder M. Russell Ballard and Elder S. Gifford Nielsen will help provide you some guidance as you develop your plan. We invite you to share your mission plans with your ward leaders.

We are blessed to live during this exciting time in the history of the Church. President Monson continued his comments last June by saying, "He (the Lord) has prepared the means for us to share the gospel in a multitude of ways, and He will assist us in our labors if we will act in faith to fulfill His work." Please join with us as we "Act in Faith" to help hasten His work in the ______ Stake.

With love and appreciation,

The _______ Stake Presidency

From that Letter you posted: "We are blessed to live during this exciting time in the history of the Church."

I heard this phrase in the 70s, 80s, and 90s. And here they are saying it again. Back then, I was a TBM and yet I still asked myself what was so exciting? I remember making stuff up like, more temples or membership is growing. But, then I would look around me and realize my Ward was essentially the same boring people, with occassional move-ins and move-outs. And, one convert baptism a year. Woo hoo! Blessed to live during this exciting time in Mormon history.......

Elder S. Gifford Nielsen

Elder S. Tiff Gourd Nielsen

Who goes by name like these? I'm pretty sure N. Eldon Tanner didn't go by Eldon.

I had a yw leader who knew "The Tanners." She ALWAYS referred to him as "NATHAN Eldon Tanner." Even as a brainwashed 14-year-old, it seemed nuts.

By my mid-30's, I was sick of the constant pressure to help with the missionaries, fellowship non-member friends, etc. Even if there were no other reasons to leave the church, that constant, annoying pressure was enough. Imagine how all those church members in their 50s, 60s, 70s, etc., must feel, hearing that same crap over and over for decades. "We must hasten the work," "The field is white already to harvest," "We're in the last days," blah blah blah.

Eunice-
You are either in my stake or tons of stakes are using this form letter for their stake conferences. I guess it would make sense for all stakes in this area to be having the same stake conference.

Our WML admitted that Hastening the Work is not going well so far. This Sunday we have another combined Priesthood / Relief Society third hour to talk about...Hastening the Work. This will be the third one in the last six months, and it makes church even more excruciating. This will go down as one of the colossal backfires for the church. They are going to push away the casual Mormons like me.

Between cleaning toilets, endless meetings, countless callings, and "no, I can't go out for drinks after work, or for coffee", in which fantasy world do Mormons even HAVE any friends outside the church?

^^^^this. Oh, so this! ^^^^^

Hastening the work, aka running in circles even faster.

Note to mormon leaders: "Your product sucks." (Most mormons probably know this already, or they'd be more willing to share.)

The ship has to be taking on serious water at this point, and all they can come up with is the same very old song and dance?

They'll last until the money runs out (and gawd they got a lot of it), but geez, but they will not gain any butts in pews until they majorly reorganize. But then it's probably more about keeping the current tithe-payer so busy that they cannot tell they're pockets are getting picked.

. . . given by President Lee Green, stake president of the San Jose California South Stake, stake priesthood leadership session of stake conference, Saturday, January 18, 2004, with the visiting general authority Allan F. Packer, of the First Quorum of the Seventy, son of Apostle Boyd K. Packer:

QUOTE:
"The big problem with Hastening the Work of Salvation is if you do it as an ASSIGNMENT you will HATE IT and it will BECOME A THORN IN YOUR SIDE. You have to want to do it and love it for it to become rewarding.” (emphasis in caps, mine)

(The only three speakers at this stake conference were, the GA, Stake President, and Lincoln Watkins, San Jose CA Mission President.)

I gave a summary of the session here: http://exmormon.org/phorum/read.php?2,1140995,1140995#msg-1140995

re: bible followers go to heaven too?

I am certain, targeted advertising is strongly suggested, Remember who is the food provider..host..to this debacle

My TBM husband attended the adult session for this same stake conference this past weekend. He wasn't impressed that Perry was calling out random teenage kids and asking them questions on the spot about whether they were reading the Preach My Gospel Manual (and likened the PMG manual to the scriptures). He thought that could backfire, expecially since they were encouraging people to bring non-members to the meeting. He said that one kid answered "no" to many of his questions and how do they know he's even a member?

My husband also noticed that Elder Perry spent a lot of time name dropping high profile individuals and companies (ie Fox News). It just kind of annoyed him that it was this HUGE deal that he was coming to the stake and he spends little time talking about Christ, but spends time name dropping and pushing missionary work and guilting members into it.

Still re-packaging the turd after all these years. This is still the same big dream of the 1950s: Mormons will overtake the world. Everyone will want to be Mormons. Our ward buildings will not be able to contain the hoards. Temples will dot the land, and will be open day and night saving the Dead. The world will look to the wisdom of the Latter-day Saints. Mormonism will save the US Constitution (and by extension, the world). We must hasten this work. (Yes, they used that word even back then.)