At the dawning of the Restoration, the Lord through the Prophet Joseph Smith organized His priesthood into quorums of various offices as instruments to carry out the work of salvation among His children. The duties of those offices are outlined in Section 107 of the Doctrine and Covenants.

In that section, the responsibility of an elders quorum president is stated succinctly as being "to preside over ninety-six elders, and to sit in council with them, and to teach them according to the covenants." (D&C 107:89.)That brief description incorporates a broad agenda of duties, which vary in application and emphasis according to the needs, circumstances and personalities in a ward or branch. The duties are delineated in the Melchizedek Priesthood Leadership Handbook (page 9) as follows:

- Preparing prospective elders to receive the priesthood.

- Preparing quorum or group members to receive temple ordinances and covenants.

- Strengthening the less-active.

- Emphasizing missionary responsibilities.

- Participating in family history and temple work.

- Helping care for the poor and needy.

- Providing quality quorum or group instruction.

- Teaching the brethren about home teaching and directing and inspiring them to do it well.

- Involving all quorum and group members in committee assignments and activities that help accomplish the mission of the Church, that being to "invite all to come unto Christ" (D&C 20:59) "and be perfected in him" (Moro. 10:32). That mission has three dimensions, often stated by Church leaders as to proclaim the gospel, perfect the Saints and redeem the dead.

- Overseeing records and reports.

- Teaching the brethren how to perform ordinances.

An elders quorum president's diligence in leading his quorum can impact a ward significantly.

Here are portraits of two elders who have presided over quorums that differ in make-up from each other. One presides over about 70 elders, most of whom are married. The other was recently released as elders quorum president in a ward of unmarried members.

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For John Dahlstrom Jr., elders quorum leadership places one in a position to minister as the Savior taught His disciples.

"We are really in the place where the rubber meets the road in applying the basic principles of the gospel, in visiting people, doing home teaching, showing love and compassion, performing the ordinances, and doing the other things that, really, the Church is set up to do," he reflected.

Brother Dahlstrom, an attorney, husband and father of three daughters and a son, ages 10, 8, 4 and 2, has been elders quorum president in the Federal Heights Ward of the Salt Lake Emigration Stake for about four years. That is enough time to have established a vision of what the quorum should accomplish and to communicate that vision to those he leads and serves.

"The way we have the quorum set up, it almost runs itself at this point," he commented.

There is more to leadership, however, than putting the machinery in place, pressing a button and watching it run, he said.

"Everybody has to be dedicated to the vision. People have to understand the purpose of the meetings and so forth, or else they won't feel motivated to perform and magnify their callings."

He said his quorum is unusual in that most members are over 30. There are few prospective elders in the ward, but many of the older elders have grown less-active. Thus, much of the effort is to encourage them to return to full activity.

"We try a lot of different things," he said. "What has been most successful for us is fostering an environment in which they feel comfortable."

Pres. Dahlstrom and his counselors have worked closely with the bishopric to organize a seminar involving three or four less-active elders and their wives together with a like number of active couples. These informal instruction periods are held three nights a week for three weeks with the goal of improving spirituality and qualifying for temple attendance. The seminars were begun in an effort to implement the counsel of President Howard W. Hunter to improve personal spirituality and to attend the temple.

"Everyone has a need to be more spiritual," Pres. Dahlstrom said. Thus the seminars involve people regardless of their level of Church activity. The seminars are held in conjunction with the gospel principles class in Sunday School. A pot-luck dinner is held following a temple session. After the three-week seminar is over, participants are encouraged to continue to meet together in the Sunday School class and in the case of the husbands, to attend priesthood meeting if they are not doing so already.

"It has worked out better than anyone had imagined it would," Pres. Dahlstrom remarked, adding that all who were invited to participate readily responded, and several are now attending Sunday School each week and are closer to full attendance at all Church meetings.

When it comes to helping people improve their lives, success requires unrelenting effort and attention, Pres. Dahlstrom has found.

That applies as well to proclaiming the gospel, he said. "Our quorum has a missionary committee that meets with the ward mission leader monthly and coordinates missionary activities between the quorum and the stake missionaries."

He said the ward boundaries probably contain a smaller concentration of Church members than most Utah neighborhoods, and it has been a challenge in the past to improve relations with non-members. Recently, quorum members have been encouraged to sponsor neighborhood block parties to which everyone is invited regardless of religious affiliation. So successful have they been in fostering goodwill that a non-member family sponsored one of the most recent set of block parties this past December.

Quorum members take their turn with members of other nearby wards in preparing and serving breakfast at a local soup kitchen operated by the Catholic Church.

And they participate with the ward high priests group in monthly temple nights. In conjunction with those, a speaker is invited to address ward members at the meetinghouse, where a potluck dinner is served. Prospective temple-goers are invited to come to the dinner and listen to the talk as well.

In all, the key to success, Pres. Dahlstrom said, is to set reachable goals and work with persistence.

"The amount of energy it takes to make a change in a person's life is greater than you think it's going to be," he commented. "You really do have to pray about them and focus your efforts on them."

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For the year and a half he served as elders quorum president in a single adult ward, Larry Cardon experienced growth and blessings in his own life, coupled with increased capacity to love and serve others and a desire to ease their burdens and motivate them to righteousness.

Brother Cardon, a mechanical design engineer, was recently released from his position in the Stanford 3rd Ward, Los Altos California Stake.

"I often felt as an elders quorum president - and I'm sure many people who serve in the Church have felt this way - that I wished I could make a bigger difference," he said.

He compares it to the thoughts expressed by Alma in the Book of Mormon: "O that I were an angel, and could have the wish of mine heart, that I might go forth and speak with the trump of God, with a voice to shake the earth, and cry repentance unto every people!

"Yea I would declare unto every soul, as with the voice of thunder, repentance and the plan of redemption, that they should repent and come unto our God, that there might not be more sorrow upon the face of the earth." (Alma 29:1-2.)

"In a singles ward, it seems like the needs are not as broad as in a conventional ward," he said. "There may be a few employment needs; mostly the housing is taken care of. Spiritual growth, strengthening of testimonies, and just trying to get people to stay active in the Church were the biggest concerns."

Not having the support of a traditional family household or not having children, single adult Church members in some cases neglect the importance of regular worship and Sabbath day observance, Brother Cardon noted.

"I think single people lose hope sometimes and struggle with the fact that things in their lives have not worked out quite the way they wanted them to."

Home teaching, regular personal priesthood interviews, quality instruction in quorum meetings and personal conversations were the tools he used as quorum president to deal with such concerns, he said.

"We had lessons on hope and the need to not give up, to keep a positive attitude and realize what blessings we do have, that we can make a difference in our lives today," he said.

He recalled one conversation with a quorum member who was divorced and felt victimized.

"We talked it out. I said, `OK, but is this going to affect the rest of your life, or shall we do what we can to improve things?' "

Frequent turnover characteristic of a single adult ward made home teaching the ward members a challenge, he said.

Pres. Cardon and his counselors would frequently compile what they affectionately termed a "search-and-rescue list," names of people who were on the membership roles but who had seldom or never attended Church meetings. They would then try to find those people and establish a communication line with them.

"Sometimes we didn't even have an address," he said. "We would try to contact them through acquaintances, or use whatever resource we could find. Once we made that initial contact we could determine how best to help them."

His quorum used the committee concept outlined in the Melchizedek Priesthood Leadership Handbook to accomplish the mission of the Church.

"We would break once a month into the three committees in the quorum and discuss missionary work in the one, temple and family history work in another, and temporal and spiritual welfare in the third."

To encourage quorum and ward members to share the gospel, sometimes specific people would be given copies of the Book of Mormon with the assignment to give them away and report back on the results.

Brother Cardon said the work as elders quorum president was rewarding but carried a tinge of frustration. "I felt a lot of desire to see people do the things that would bring them more blessings and change their lives for the better. But you have to step back and realize they have their agency and hope they will one day take the proper steps."