The greatest safeguard in the Church is "a strong, firm, committed, dedicated and testifying Melchizedek Priesthood base," President Thomas S. Monson declared in his priesthood session address Saturday evening.

President Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, spoke of two earthen containers in his office, both filled with water, one from the Dead Sea and the other from the Sea of Galilee.

"Occasionally, I will shake one of the bottles to insure that the water has not diminished," he related. "When I follow this practice, my mind turns to these two different bodies of water. The Dead Sea is void of life. The Sea of Galilee is filled with life and with memories of the mission of the Lord, Jesus Christ."

He then spoke figuratively of another "body of water" found throughout the Church today, the pool of prospective elders in each ward and stake.

"Picture in your mind a river of water gushing into the pool," he said. "Then consider a trickle of water emerging from that stagnated pool — a trickle which represents those going forward into the Melchizedek Priesthood. The pool of prospective elders is becoming larger and deeper more rapidly than any of us can fully appreciate."

Far too many boys falter, stumble, then fall without advancing into the quorums of the Melchizedek Priesthood, "thereby eroding the active priesthood base of the Church and curtailing the activity of loving wives and precious children," President Monson declared.

To reverse the trend, the place to start is at the headwaters of the Aaronic Priesthood stream, he explained. The bishop, by revelation is president of the Aaronic Priesthood and of the priests quorum in his ward. He cannot delegate those responsibilities, but he can place accountability with quorum advisers. Bishop's counselors, ward officers and teachers, and particularly parents can be of immeasurable help, he added.

"This, then, is our assignment: to save every young man, thereby assuring a worthy husband for each of our young women, strong Melchizedek Priesthood quorums, and a missionary force trained and capable of accomplishing what the Lord expects."

A recent survey showed that the influence of the home is the dominant factor in determining missionary service and temple marriage, President Monson reported.

"I know of only three wards with a full complement of 48 priests," he went on. In those wards, "almost without exception, each young man filled a mission and married in the temple." One of the keys to the success in those wards was the call "to serve as Aaronic Priesthood advisers men who were models for the young men to follow. An ideal model is a returned missionary, fresh from his mission and filled with testimony, where a young Aaronic Priesthood holder can say, 'That's the man I want to follow.'

"As we dam off that inflow of Aaronic Priesthood streaming into the pool of prospective elders, we will solve more problems than we realize," President Monson affirmed. "We will ensure that every young man will more likely than not go on a mission and will marry in the temple. Then there will not be that disproportionate number of worthy young women with few worthy young men to select as an eternal companion. We are not talking about a boy; we're talking about husbands, fathers, grandfathers, patriarchs to their own families. Let's put a solid foundation beneath our Aaronic Priesthood young men."

Turning to the brethren who are already in the "stagnant pool of inactivity," President Monson said he has kept records of stakes that have been successful in rescuing fine men trapped by no outlet from the pond. In each case, the work was best done one-on-one at the ward level. The bishop, as president of the Aaronic Priesthood and presiding high priest in the ward, must be involved, and worthy and well-prepared instructors must be called to help, he noted.

In saving both youth and prospective elders, he said, "we can look up and reach out for divine help."