Pres. Hinckley: The Church's business is salvation
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BYU President Merrill J. Bateman gives President Gordon B. Hinckley International Executive of the Year Award from BYU's Marriott School of Management Nov. 6.
PROVO, Utah — After receiving the accolade of International Executive of the Year from BYU's Marriott School of Management Nov. 6, President Gordon B. Hinckley explained that the Church's business is salvation.
But, he emphasized, to move forward the great work of salvation, a vast amount of temporal work is mandatory.
President Hinckley noted that it is unusual for the president of an ecclesiastical organization to be honored as a businessman. He said that critics of the Church complain that it has become "a great business institution." However, he emphasized, "the spiritual has never been overtaken by the temporal."
"In fact," he added, "the two go hand in hand, the temporal to provide the means and the way for the accomplishment of the spiritual."
President Hinckley received the honor during a banquet attended by almost 1,600 guests — including General Authorities, leaders from the business community and numerous faculty members and students from BYU's business school.
President Hinckley was accompanied by his wife, Marjorie. Also in attendance were his counselors in the First Presidency, President Thomas S. Monson and President James E. Faust, and their wives, Frances Monson and Ruth Faust; Elder Richard G. Scott and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, both of the Quorum of the Twelve, and Elder Holland's wife, Patricia; and Elder Merrill J. Bateman of the Seventy and BYU president, and his wife, Marilyn.
The International Executive of the Year Award was established in 1974 to honor annually an outstanding executive from the public or private sector who has "demonstrated exceptional leadership and high moral and ethical standards."
During his remarks, President Hinckley explained that from the very beginning of the Church, temporal work has been pursued to move forward a spiritual objective.
"Before the Church was organized, Joseph Smith borrowed from Martin Harris and entered into a contract with E. B. Grandin to print 5,000 copies of the Book of Mormon at a cost of $3,000," he said.
From that small beginning, President Hinckley continued, the Church now prints more than 6 million copies of the Book of Mormon each year. In all, the Church will have printed more than 100 million copies of the book by the year 2000.
"The Church carries on a vast printing undertaking in addition to the Book of Mormon," President Hinckley said. "We publish magazines, special messages, the Church News, and other writings in 65 languages and to the extent of more than 25 million copies a year."
He said that more than 18,000 different curriculum items are also produced and distributed worldwide.
President Hinckley continued, saying that in the midst of the tremendous growth the Church is experiencing, the organization constructs between 350 and 400 new buildings a year. "This involves real estate purchases, title work, building permits, architects and contractors," he said.
And the Church is in a host of other businesses to facilitate its mission to bring "salvation and exaltation to people across the world," he said.
He explained that 10 percent of that profit goes to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Foundation, where it assists literally hundreds of charities.
"In one form or another all these and more temporal undertakings go forward. They are properties of the Church, concerning all of which we feel a very heavy responsibility for we are dealing with the Lord's purse and the Lord's purposes."
President Hinckley then noted that in his 40 years as a General Authority he has served as an officer in almost every facet of the organization. "I know, when all is said and done, that the vast temporal undertakings with which we are involved are necessary adjuncts to the great spiritual mission which we have to perform. As the Lord has said, even though they may be temporal they are spiritual.
"It has been said that these temporal undertakings, when they are all brought together, become a vast and highly complex organization which would rank among the top corporations of the Fortune 500 list of companies. We have no concern about that. Our only interest is to manage all of these in such a way as to move forward the great work of assisting our Father in Heaven in bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of His children of all generations."
