Everything done in the Church — the leading, the teaching, the calling, the ordaining, the praying, the singing, the preparing of the sacrament, the counselling, and everything else — is done by ordinary members, "the weak things of the world," said President Boyd K. Packer.

President Boyd K. Packer

Speaking Saturday morning, President Packer, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve, said it is not hard for the Church to fill positions.

"Once the gospel is preached and the Church is organized, there is an inexhaustible supply of faithful brothers and sisters who have that testimony and are willing to answer the call to serve," he said. "They commit themselves to the work of the Lord and live the standards required of them."

President Packer said that after their baptism, members have conferred upon them the Holy Ghost, who teaches and comforts them. The members are then prepared to receive guidance, direction and correction, whatever their position or needs require.

"This principle sets the Church on a course different from all of the other Christian churches in the world. We find ourselves in the unusual position of having an endless supply of teachers and leaders, among every nation and kindred and tongue and people, all over the world.

"There is a unique equality among members. No one of us is to consider himself of more value than the other."

President Packer recounted serving as an assistant teacher in a class in the Lindon Ward, when he received his call as a General Authority.

President David O. McKay and his counselors asked President Packer to bear testimony that Jesus is the Christ. In response, he bore his testimony the same as he might have in a fast and testimony meeting in his ward.

"To my surprise, the Brethren of the Presidency seemed pleased and proceeded to confer the office upon me," he recalled. "That puzzled me greatly, for I had supposed that someone called to such an office would have an unusual, different and greatly enlarged testimony and spiritual power. It puzzled me for a long time until I finally could see that I already had what was required: an abiding testimony in my heart of the Restoration of the fullness of the gospel through the Prophet Joseph Smith, that we have a Heavenly Father, that Jesus Christ is our Redeemer. I may not have known all about it, but I did have a testimony, and I was willing to learn."

President Packer said that over the years he has come to see how powerfully important that simple testimony is.

"There is the natural tendency to look at those who are sustained to presiding positions to consider them to be higher than and of more value in the Church or to their families than an ordinary member. Somehow we feel they are worth more to the Lord than are we. It just does not work that way....

"As General Authorities of the Church, we are just the same as you are, and you are just the same as we are. You have the same access to the powers of revelation for your families and your work and your callings as we do.

"It is also true that there is an order to things in the Church. When you are called to an office, you then receive revelation that belongs to that office and would not be given to others.

"No member of the Church is esteemed by the Lord as more or less than any other. It just does not work that way! Remember He is a father — our Father....

"And so the Church moves on. It is carried upon the shoulders of worthy members living ordinary lives among ordinary families, guided by the Holy Ghost and the light of Christ which is in them."