Inauguration at LDS Business College
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President Henry B. Eyring of the First Presidency and Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve spoke Oct. 13 in the Assembly Hall at Temple Square during the inauguration of J. Lawrence "Larry" Richards as the 12th president of LDS Business College.
'He makes the history'
The majority of President Eyring's comments came as counsel for President Richards, who began occupying his presidential post Jan. 1.
"Don't be discouraged when things look bleak nor too proud when things go well, because powers greater than yours are shaping events," President Eyring advised. "The Lord really does reign. Our primary contribution is to help when we can and be wise enough not to get in His way. He makes the history while we write our supporting parts in it."
President Eyring identified three values to be zealously preserved during the tenure of President Richards: determination to provide for students the best experience possible, optimism about the potential of the children of God and unity.
According to President Eyring, LDS Business College administrators should stay abreast of "changes coming outside the college which are largely out of our control yet important to the future." He forecast three areas of such changes including technology, the moral sense of people across the world and a global demand for education.
"Education will not be confined to classrooms or even to campuses as we have come to love them," he surmised. "And the rate of technological change will increase even as the cost will come down. The success of this college and its students will depend on finding ways to take advantage of that flood of technological change."
In President Eyring's opinion, the "most important" advice he rendered to President Richards "is to identify what should be changed within the college to move it towards making the contributions for which the Lord created it."
At the conclusion of his address, and in his capacity as vice chairman of the college's board of trustees, President Eyring formally charged President Richards to do five things: keep LDS Business College firmly rooted in its spiritual heritage, awaken in all students an awareness of their boundless capacities to learn, be an important and integrated part of the Church Educational System, seek recognition for the college and its students, and treat every financial resource as if it were the widow's mite.
"I cannot see clearly all the opportunities before you, but God can," President Eyring said. "He wants for His children what is best for them. And you, President Richards, and the wonderful colleagues you will draw around you, will help the Lord create glorious opportunities for His children who will come under your influence and care."
Stepping stone to a brighter future
Elder Nelson fondly recalled how the skills he acquired at LDS Business College helped him on his path to a career in medicine.
"When I was a teenager, I enrolled at the LDS Business College. I studied here with a specific objective. My long-range goal was to become a doctor. But medical school was an expensive and a distant dream.
"As a youth, I gained employment as a messenger in a local bank. On Saturdays, I was entrusted with the enormous responsibility of filling the fountain pens with ink. … I enrolled at LDS Business College to learn Gregg Shorthand. That additional skill equipped me to become a part-time secretary to the bank's vice president. That gave me additional opportunity for advancement along with commensurate income that supported my pre-medical education at the University of Utah."
Steadfast acceptance
President Richards enthusiastically embraced the charge set forth for him by President Eyring.
"On behalf of the college," he said, "I accept the charge given to us and we will move forward under the direction of the board of trustees to capture the opportunities in our future."
By likening LDS Business College to a temple of learning, President Richards emphasized the importance of guidance from the Holy Ghost in shaping the school's future.
"Because this is the Lord's institution, we do not know all that is in store," he said. "He is in charge and provides inspiration when it is expedient. This is done through living prophets, seers and revelators from whom we take guidance and to whom we express our love and consecrate our service. Without knowing the end from the beginning … we feel the Spirit of the Lord brooding with a particular influence over the college and the hearts of those who work and learn here."
Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve and Relief Society General President Julie Beck gave the invocation and benediction, respectively. Other General Authorities in attendance included Elder Steven E. Snow of the Presidency of the Seventy, Church Educational System commissioner Elder Paul V. Johnson and BYU President Elder Cecil O. Samuelson of the Seventy.
