M E R I D I A N     M A G A Z I N E

How a Virginia Stake Awakened its Member-Missionary Work

Thinking Out of the Box
To the surprise of some, 24 established leaders from the McLean II Ward high priests group have cast aside any fears, stepped out of their comfort zone and gone door to door to share the gospel in the past year. Six more have committed to go.

They've taken some bold steps in that sometimes challenging assignment to be member-missionaries. Meridian shares their experiences here in "thinking out of the box" for any ideas it might yield for your own ward or stake.

"Do It"
In late 2000, Elder Bill Marriott sent out minutes of the Member Missionary Correlation Council saying, "We need priesthood accountability for missionary work....it must become the number one priority for High Priest and Elders Quorum leadership." Coordinated with this was McLean, Virginia Stake President Kent Colton's development of the "Priesthood Balanced Effort" plan in March, 2002.

The McLean II Ward high priests group leader, Bill Smith, called Mark W. Cannon to be chairman of the high priests missionary committee, and they planned for action. The group agreed that instead of just "talking" about missionary work, they would "do" it. The high priests agreed to do door-to-door finding for at least two hours, and each would provide at least one referral to the missionaries, in addition to splitting frequently with the missionaries for visits.

Bishop Steve Swift and former Bishop Bill Ingersoll and their wives, Lorraine and Carolyn, were among the first to go. Mark Cannon, who is fluent in Spanish, took whatever high priest was available on Saturday mornings in an area of the ward with a fair share of Hispanics. The high priests were generally surprised at how courteously they were received. This was partly because many were immigrants and were eager to know of ideas for a better life.

This canvassing resulted in more than 500 doors being knocked upon, with over 120 referrals inviting the missionaries to come. The missionaries were able to establish contact with about 80% of the referrals. Of those, one third were taught a first discussion. Thus far, there are four known baptisms from this effort, plus three underage children who are expected to be baptized when they are eight years old.

In one case, a young man from Brazil answered the door to a high priest and the elder in charge of missionary work and checked "yes" to all four questions. One of the McLean II missionaries, Elder Maruri, was from Ecuador. He quickly worked out an exchange with a missionary from Brazil and they had a wonderful visit. The parents came to church the next Sunday, went through the lessons, and were baptized in about two months.

In another case, a lady answered the door with a super-active 12-year-old and three crying younger children in the background. She agreed to answer the questions and then said: "Just two days ago, my son said, ''Maybe we ought to join the Mormon Church.'' I said, 'That would require a real sign as far as I was concerned.' And here you are!"

One of the high priests, Bill Jonas was a convert who had never served on a mission. He was delighted to shepherd this family through the Temple Visitors Center and have a missionary lesson for them in his home, while his daughters took care of the children. Another helpful high priest, Chuck Goodnight, had previously been a member of her Church and helped her clarify the differences. Pat Knight and Relief Society sisters were also helpful. The mother, Amy Deal, and 12-year-old Gunnar were baptized, and with the younger children, have become regular church attenders . She says she was originally motivated to join to help her son. Now she realizes the enormous blessings it has also brought to her.

Freshen Desire
One of the goals of the program was that the experience would freshen the desire of the high priests to find investigators from their own contacts. David Duncan was inspired enough by the canvassing that he and his wife Karen invited a friend to come to church. She came to the McLean II Ward and was so overwhelmed by the Christian love that she asked to have the missionary lessons as quickly as possible. She was baptized the following Saturday.

For evaluation, most participating high priests answered a questionnaire. Three-fourths felt very positive about their experience and another 19% felt somewhat positive. Three fourths also felt very positive about this as a method of finding possible investigators. 87.5% believed that those approached were more likely to think more about Jesus Christ and his gospel. 75% were stimulated in their desire to find new investigators. The experience inspired 75% to be more attentive to friendshipping investigators and new members. 87% were willing to go clipboarding again. Several added written comments that this experience had made them more aware of the need to be alert to investigators and to help them. Some questions elicited some neutral responses, but no negative ones.

One high priest, who, over the years, had refused to do any direct member missionary activity, agreed to come on this canvassing project and liked the non-confrontational method of inviting people to answer questions. He enjoyed himself and volunteered to go again.

Many of the adults who went were high level executives, lawyers and scholars -- who presented themselves humbly at doors because they knew the gospel could be so beneficial to people.

Some 2000 doors were knocked upon and half of those were opened. Despite many people saying they were "too busy," this resulted in 151 questionnaires filled out with at least one "yes." Of these, 74 checked "yes" to having missionaries bring them the Book of Mormon. This was more referrals than the McLean Stake, and probably many other stakes, had received from the Church members the entire previous year. And it was the result of one morning's activity with only about 150 person hours of door-to -door effort. This member effort appears to produce a vastly higher yield than normal missionary tracting..

President Colton and Bill Ingersoll went together. After about 18 door knocks that yielded minimal interest, a young businessman answered who was in the McLean area for three months. He read the questions and said: "How could any genuine Christian not answer 'yes' to each of these questions?" He invited them in and said he read the Bible daily and was looking for the right church. They talked about the restoration for half an hour. He enthusiastically accepted an invitation to start missionary lessons in President Colton's home. His interest was so sincere and the Spirit so strong that President Colton and Brother Ingersoll count this discussion as one of their particularly choice spiritual experiences and are eager to follow-up.

The gung-ho Hispanic Bella Vista Ward under Bishop Royal Shipp, with returned missionary Danny Montoya as ward mission leader, provided almost one third of the members and missionaries who went door to door -- and over 40% of the referrals were from Spanish questionnaires. A young Guatemalan, newly in the U.S., was one who responded positively. Within eight days he had attended three different Church events.

Before the door-to-door effort, a light breakfast was provided and a meeting of instruction and inspiration was held where President Colton emphasized the priority the Church was giving missionary work by giving the coordinating responsibility to the bishop. Following the effort, a testimony meeting was held. President Colton started off sharing his wonderful experience. He was followed by several young people. A repeated theme from them was that they were surprised at how much more willing to talk about religion young people were than older people which encouraged them to discuss their religion more with their friends. Rachel Smith almost did not participate because she was afraid she would run into someone she knew. At one door, she, in fact, did meet a friend -- and found that talking religion with him was easy. He answered the questions positively. She decided to talk to more of her friends about the Church in the future.

Jeff Goodsell noted how excited two young people on bicycles became and concluded that he should talk more with his friends about the Church because young people tend to be curious and open. All of Andrea Griffith's "yes" responses came from teenagers, which convinced her that she could share the gospel with young people she knew. Liz Oliphant told of finding a lonely person who had had a stroke. She read him the questions and wrote down his yes answer to every question. Stephen Flamm said it made him much more appreciative of what his missionary brothers were going through and that this experience helped him in deciding to become a missionary.

Claudia Claros, the lively second counselor of the Bella Vista Relief Society had remarkable success in her "great experience."

Ten doors opened to her; she obtained 8 forms with "yeses." Amberly Taylor, returned Argentine missionary, said: "There are people who are waiting for the gospel, and knocking on doors will find some of them. That was how my ancestors were found." She and 12-year-old Paula Claros of Bella Vista obtained four diamonds (four "yeses") and Paola concluded that people's outer appearance sometimes differs from what is inside.

Participants felt that any discouragement they felt was overcome by the occasional honest in heart that they found, and the warm feeling that they were doing the Lord's work.

President Colton wound up this very spiritual testimony meeting emphasizing the Doctrine and Covenants admonitions to thrust in our sickle with our might for the field is white, ripe and ready for the harvest. He promised more stake missionary events in the future.

The use of questionnaires that encourage spiritual truth seekers to identify themselves has been successfully used previously in such states as California, particularly by Robert Daynes and his family of 10 and Texas by Del Rogers and member missionaries. It has also been successful in such foreign countries as Norway, Korea, and New Zealand.

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