Hastening the Work: Practical Tips for Missionary Work in the Ward

By Joel D. Babbitt

Have you heard the call to do missionary work? Do you need to know where to start? Do you need ideas? Are you ready for the next step? Are you ready to Hasten the Work?

In every LDS Stake there’s usually a Ward that gets missionary work, that’s really making missionary work happen. This Missionary Ward seems to have somehow put all the pieces together; they are truly fulfilling their purpose of saving souls. And the spirit that permeates such a Ward seems to transform the whole Ward; hearts are changed, baptisms happen, reactivations are common, and lives are changed.

This doesn't happen by accident!!! It is a daunting task for an LDS Ward and its assigned Full-Time Missionaries to figure out how to put together all the pieces to build an effective Missionary Ward. That’s where this book comes in. This is your recipe for building a Missionary Ward.

*Join the Missionary List at www.missionarylist.org. Your source for Tips and Stories on Hastening the Work.
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This missionary book is for Bishops, Ward Mission Leaders, Full-Time Elders and Sister Missionaries, Quorum and Auxiliary Leaders, and Missionary-Minded Members serving in Wards and Stakes of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
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5-Star Reviews:
"This is a quick, concise outline of how to reach missionary goals." - R. Hartzell
"This book explains how uniting as a ward and serving with purpose and love can bring about successful Missionary work within a ward." - Julie
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***Link to your Free MP3 Audiobook of this missionary book inside the book***
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Book Categories:
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• Language: English
• Publisher: Joel D. Babbitt
• Release date: Jul 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781940880075

Joel D. Babbitt

Joel Babbitt is an officer in the U.S. Army and a bishop in his church. He has spent his entire adult life living and teaching principles of leadership and team building in a warrior environment. Joel and his family live in Maryland.

Book preview

Hastening the Work

Practical Tips for Missionary Work in the Ward

By Joel D. Babbitt

Have you heard the call to do missionary work?  Do you need to know where to start?  Do you need ideas?  Are you ready for the next step?  Are you ready to Hasten the Work of Salvation?

Table of Contents

The Entire Concept in a Snippet: 3

Bishop 5

A story to illustrate how the bishop with his keys directs the work 6

Preparing your ward for missionary work 7

How we did it, from a bishop’s perspective 8

Ward Mission Leader 21

How we did it, from a Ward Mission Leader’s Perspective 21

A Note on Unity in the Ward Mission 32

Full-Time Missionaries 34

Finding 36

Teaching 39

A Note on Leadership and Unity 43

Ward Auxiliary Leaders 45

How Do You Get Missionary Work Done? 45

In Closing… 52

The Entire Concept in a Snippet:

I was called to serve as the bishop of the Sierra Vista 1st Ward in the Southeastern tip of Arizona, USA. It was a large ward, with almost 700 people on the rolls, with about 230 people attending. The Lord told me he wanted us focusing on missionary work, so we called 12 ward missionaries and effectively organized the work, I went out with the full-time missionaries every Thursday, and the Lord opened our eyes to the many missionary opportunities that surrounded us. The result was that we baptized 18 people that first year, in a stake where no ward had baptized more than 5 or 6 for as long as recent records showed. In the next three years we baptized 42 and retained 80-90 percent, we built the stake’s Spanish group into a Spanish branch, we reactivated many, and got about 20 people to the temple for the first time. Our attendance was consistently over 300 and peaked at 350.

The spirit in the ward was contagious and the Lord’s influence working in the ward members’ lives hugely magnified our missionary efforts. We were unified. One dear sister reflecting back recently on our time together stated how we felt very succinctly:

There was a sense of serving with purpose and love as we reached out not only to each other within our ward, but to those who were seeking truth in our community. You were goal minded and I appreciated knowing what those goals were, how I could help you and our ward achieve those goals and ultimately put those goals into action. It was an uplifting, positive, proactive time where I grew spiritually. Love abounded and I felt united as a ward family.

This book will lay out for you how we achieved just that.

Bishop

"…until the bishop moves, nothing will happen."

Robert D. Hales, Presiding Bishop, April 1985 General Conference

The bishop has huge responsibilities. No one else in the ward has more rights to heaven’s help in the work of the ward, nor more responsibilities for using that help. No one else has the potential to have more impact in the ward.

What does the bishop have that others do not? Keys. Have you ever noticed that your temple recommend is signed by the President of the Aaronic Priesthood in your Ward (your bishop) and the President of the Melchizedek Priesthood in the Stake (your stake president). You may remember that the Aaronic Priesthood holds the keys to the ministering of angels (D&C 13), and the bishop is the president of that priesthood. That means that the bishop is responsible for aligning the work of the ward on this side of the veil with the work of the ward going on on the other side of the veil. To the degree that he does that, he will find great success in that thing which the Lord would have him do. After having experienced the miracles that occurred in the wards I’ve served in, it has become clear to me that the majority of the work of the Lord is done by those angels who minister on the other side of the veil, perhaps