A bishop is set apart with several pronounced responsibilities.

He serves as the ward's presiding high priest and as "common judge" regarding member worthiness. He stands accountable for donations and all financial matters as well as for the temporal affairs of the ward and members. As president of the Aaronic Priesthood and priests quorum, he has specific responsibilities to care for the youth.

Many are the duties only a bishop can fulfill: authorize ordinances and ordinations, conduct tithing settlement, interview members attending the temple for the first time, disburse Church commodities and funds to help the needy, and counsel members.

"Rejoice in the privilege which is yours," President Gordon B. Hinckley said to bishops, speaking in the 2003 Worldwide Leadership Training broadcast. "Your opportunity will not last forever. Too soon there will be the memory of the great experience you are now having.

"None of us will accomplish all we might wish to. But let us do the best we can. I am satisfied that the Redeemer will then say, 'Well done, thou good and faithful servant"' (Matthew 25:21).

Speaking at the same meeting, President Thomas S. Monson, first counselor in the First Presidency, quoted from Doctrine and Covenants 64:33-34: "Wherefore, weary not in well-doing, for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceed-eth that which is great. Behold, the Lord requireth the heart and a willing mind."

Yes, there is much only a bishop can do.

The opportunity for ward members — bishopric counselors, priesthood and auxiliary leaders, parents and individuals — is to do as much possible to assist so the bishop has the time and ability for tasks only he can do.

Members do not step in to preside, conduct his interviews nor assume his authority. Instead, we can better perform our callings and assignments.

With the bishop focusing on the youth, Melchizedek Priesthood and Relief Society leaders — along with home and visiting teachers — can meet many temporal and spiritual needs of the adults and households. We don't replace the bishop — we assist him and report on efforts and progress.

For example, a home teacher tells the bishop of a family with a faulty water heater needing attention. How much better for that home teacher to inform a quorum leader, who in turn uses quorum resources to assess and address needs and then report to the bishop. Such precludes the bishop's time and effort to either make assignments or handle the situation himself.

Even seemingly little needs add up as impositions on the bishop.

Needing meetinghouse access or a member's phone number? Call someone other than the bishop. Scrambling for a last-minute interview because procrastination prevented a timely appointment? Call the executive secretary to see when the bishop — or, if possible, a counselor — is available, accommodating his schedule rather than simply meeting your own.

"How thankful I am for these men who, without regard for their own comfort, give of their time, of their wisdom, of their inspiration in presiding over our wards throughout the world," said President Hinckley in the April 1999 general conference. "They receive no compensation other than the love of their people."

And besides that love, may we add our efforts to help lessen the bishop's load.