"Unto whom much is given . . . " Part III

In 1997 a new ward was started in the Peoria Stake, the name of it was Sundance. A ward was made by cutting a square mile off of two distinguished wards and combining them to make this new ward. A friend of mine (who remained in one of the distinguished wards) joked that they took the "riff-raff" of both wards and combined them to make the new ward. Two halves of the ward existed and the gap that existed between them was quickly melded by the youth coming together in the stake road show. A man whose background I still know very little about was called to be Bishop. He surrounded himself with others that were new to their callings. We were an awkward ward as we got to know one another; however, the friendliness was amazing. Bishop Pehrson was our newly called Bishop and he seemed to throw out all previous traditions that seemed to be followed in the church. The Church Handbook of Instruction was his only guide that he prescribed too, never trusting any one's input until it was confirmed in the handbook. Things were always handled differently when the Sundance ward was in charge of things like Stake Baptisms - for once they followed the handbook. Tradition spoke louder to the other wards and so it seemed that we were the ward out of sync. I watched from afar as a Young Men's leader of how things were done - always peculiarly. Eventually I was in the "inner-circle" joining in the PEC meetings weekly. I watched the accountability that was dished out to the leaders - not only were assignments made but reports were constantly being asked for in a follow up fashion. Failure was allowed; embarrassment for not completing the assignments was felt. Stewardship was expected and the principles laid out in the handbook were the expectations. I watched those around me as they grew stronger in their leadership skills. I watched as people became comfortable in the way the handbook directed. I was amazed at how many issues were sidestepped as the handbook was the format we followed. Later I watched one of the counselors of Bishop Pehrson become a Bishop of the same ward. He had been led by correct principles and continued to follow them. The new Bishop, though I had seen him falter at other times in his callings, seemed to be incapable of failure as he continued the practice of following the handbook. Later I became one of his counselors and got to see the intensity of his love and his desire to serve the Lord . . . still using the handbook as his guide. We still needed lots of training, we were always being corrected by leadership - but we were always looking at doing the right things for the right reasons. I do believe that the character of a man must be great to break with tradition and rely on his inspired understanding of the true principles. Bucking a system that should not be, to implement that which always should have been. Accountability, stewardship, growth, the allowance for failure and the expectation to improve - this is all that I attribute to Dean Pehrson, the original Bishop of the Sundance Ward in the Peoria Stake. The man is an amazing example to me of how to be a leader, how to fulfill any calling that is given to you.

Today I am a Ward Mission Leader; it is such a foreign thing to me. I knew nothing of it except for my exposure as a full time missionary. I knew little to nothing of my new ward and felt amazingly overwhelmed. The first thing I did was ask for the handbook, I got online and got trained, found all the info I could. I got in contact with the High Councilman over the mission efforts in the stake. I tried to grasp what I was supposed to do and received constant redirection when I mistakenly misunderstood something. I am still in this struggle to improve and learn my calling but I can say that I am much better prepared because of the example of Dean Pehrson. I'm grateful for such a man that would be more interested in serving his Lord and his God then in worrying what traditions that had been laid out before he was called. In doing this he was truly able to be a better servant to the ward members in his administration and as an example to all those that would notice.

Andrew "I noticed" Brown