I think the lay clergy concept is terrible. Preachers get paid to do what bishops do, and generally their church work is their full-time job.

Bishops, on the other hand, have their own full-time jobs and their families with 1000+ children. This must be a horrible strain on the bishop and his work and family life.

If you were once a bishop, how did you do it?

I was! Well, it didn't last. ;-)

You must be one of them RLDS folk!

Sorry, couldn't resist...

'exbishfromportland' is a moniker for one of the contributors on this site. I'm guessing he was....

There have been several over the years plus a stake pres or two. Who knows how many former and current bishops lurk- and wish.

A Bishop is just an Elder taking his turn. He is the guy who keeps saying yes- Eventually in the Borg that makes you a Bish.

They used to have a saying in the church- "The cream always rises to the top". Well, cream isn't the only thing that floats.

Poor suckers.

I was a Bishop for about 7 years. It was very challenging to balance your time between work, family, and church.

I was a branch president during my missionary stint. So there were all the mystical judge in Israel powers--just for fewer people. There was no training in even the most rudimentary things. They basically threw the manual and the ward list at me and said get to work. It's hard to ask the high councilor for help, when you don't even know enough to ask informed questions.

It didn't help that the most useless other missionaries in the mission were assigned to that city. One was sick, and the other two were complete goofs.

I do not believe I was sane during that time--let alone inspired.

BTW -- there were plenty of qualified women in the branch to do the job. There was no need for an outsider.

No, but I lied to several,

Branch President in overseas military branch and 1st Counselor in three bishoprics (I was lucky to be transferred before any SP had time to tag me as a Bishop).

I quit the church after I retired from the military, so I dodged that bullet once again.

In my experience, I cut corners at church, home and work to make it work. I cut the fewest corners with my own children though....made every game, coached their teams, read to them every night, spent lots of time at the playground, etc. Still, I could have and would have spent many more weekends camping, traveling, goofing off with my family if not for the Sunday duty. We never missed church.

When you don't have time to do the job right, you find a way to do it anyway at the expense of quality.