Prophet Power Rankings (during your lifetime)

[falafel]

No love for President Kimball and the change to the 3 hour block? I remember it was better than all day church.

old

[Omaha 680]

The best part of being dragged to the Priesthood session was that we would typically stop at Delsa's Ice Cream on the way home from the stake center.

There was a Dairy Queen fairly close to the Omaha Stake Center out on what was then the western edge of the city. I remember being cognizant of the confusion on the workers' faces when dozens of men and their sons, nearly all in white shirts and ties, would invade their lobby on a seemingly random Saturday evening just after 9 pm.

[beefytee]

Those of you that lament the church’s severance from the BSA are cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs. Divorcing the BSA was one of the best things the church has done in my lifetime.

I’m not lamenting the divorce from the BSA and I don’t think most others are either. It was definitely the right move.

I just wish the church had any kind of YM and YW program. I don’t think “Set some goals and do your own thing” cuts it.

My understanding is that the young women’s program was pretty good back in the day. It’s too bad they didn’t keep that and adapt it for the boys too.

[beefytee]

No love for President Kimball and the change to the 3 hour block? I remember it was better than all day church.

I was pretty young when the change happened. What I do remember was that I was really disappointed I would have to wear church clothes to primary.

[SteelBlue]

No love for President Kimball and the change to the 3 hour block? I remember it was better than all day church.

I forgot about this. I can't quite remember how it went, just that I was in church in the morning, went home and then came back again. Did we go to sacrament in the morning then go home then come back for sunday school/ Priesthood/RS/Primary?

[Bo Diddley]

I forgot about this. I can't quite remember how it went, just that I was in church in the morning, went home and then came back again. Did we go to sacrament in the morning then go home then come back for sunday school/ Priesthood/RS/Primary?

We had Sunday School in the morning and then Sacrament Meeting at night. And Primary on Thursday afternoon.

[SteelBlue]

We had Sunday School in the morning and then Sacrament Meeting at night. And Primary on Thursday afternoon.

That's right, primary was on a completely different day. Was mutual already on it's own separate night back then? I was born in 1970 so was just a young kid when it went to the block. Am I correct in remembering something about the fuel crises spurring the change?

[PaloAltoCougar]

We had Sunday School in the morning and then Sacrament Meeting at night. And Primary on Thursday afternoon.

Yup. The worst schedule was Priesthood Meeting at 8 am, Sunday School at 11:30, and Sacrament Meeting at 6;30. Our Primary met Tuesdays at 4, Mutual Tuesdsays at 7:30, and Relief Society met Wednesday mornings (when the women knew their place). Brutal.

“Let us here observe, that a religion that does not require the sacrifice of all things never has power sufficient to produce the faith necessary unto life and salvation.”

[BigPiney]

I’m not lamenting the divorce from the BSA and I don’t think most others are either. It was definitely the right move.

I just wish the church had any kind of YM and YW program. I don’t think “Set some goals and do your own thing” cuts it.

My understanding is that the young women’s program was pretty good back in the day. It’s too bad they didn’t keep that and adapt it for the boys too.

The Bishop as YMP is dumb. Getting rid of scouts was awesome.

I will disagree with the YW program being good. My wife always struggled to put together a program that worked for all the girls. It lacked structure like it does now.

[beefytee]

The Bishop as YMP is dumb. Getting rid of scouts was awesome.

I will disagree with the YW program being good. My wife always struggled to put together a program that worked for all the girls. It lacked structure like it does now.

Yeah. I admit I am not that familiar with the previous program, but I do remember medallions and a set program for accomplishments that helped them work toward something. More than they have now anyways.

[The_Tick]

The Bishop as YMP is dumb. Getting rid of scouts was awesome.

I will disagree with the YW program being good. My wife always struggled to put together a program that worked for all the girls. It lacked structure like it does now.

Facts. I get it, but facts.

I will say this...I raised daughters, and they were always super pissed and jealous of my YM. TK1 would always say, and still does as a 33 year old today "It wasn't fair. You guys said the YM were in charge, and you actually let them plan their stuff. The YW Presidency would say that WE were in charge, but they wouldn't let us plan anything. They did it all."

She still has some animosity toward the YW program to this day, as her oldest is getting ready to join it next year.

[falafel]

Facts. I get it, but facts.

I will say this...I raised daughters, and they were always super pissed and jealous of my YM. TK1 would always say, and still does as a 33 year old today "It wasn't fair. You guys said the YM were in charge, and you actually let them plan their stuff. The YW Presidency would say that WE were in charge, but they wouldn't let us plan anything. They did it all."

She still has some animosity toward the YW program to this day, as her oldest is getting ready to join it next year.

Holy shit. Pretty sure that kid was just born last year. What kind of hormones they got in the milk up there in ID??

[happyone]

No love for Pres McKay

I think PAC and I might be the only two members that remember him

I will always have a soft spot for Pres Hinkley - I actually had dinner with him in 1972. We were at a Service Members Retreat at Bertchgarten Ger that he and Pres Tanner and a few assts to the twelve attended. This was before the Quorum's of the Seventy became Gen Authorities.

The story

My family skipped an afternoon session and hiked up to Hitler's Eagles Nest. My brother got into a race and finished 20-30 minutes ahead of the rest of the family. The brethren had taken a bus up to the EN and we got their just as they were coming out. The Munich Mission Pres saw us and wouldn't let us wait and took us down the hill on the bus with them. We saw the family on the way down and Pres Peterson let Dad know we were with them. That night we were invited to have dinner with both Mission Pres and Elder Hinkley.

Pres Kimball and Pres Nelson are my next two

[BigFatMeanie]

I’m not lamenting the divorce from the BSA and I don’t think most others are either. It was definitely the right move.

I just wish the church had any kind of YM and YW program. I don’t think “Set some goals and do your own thing” cuts it.

My understanding is that the young women’s program was pretty good back in the day. It’s too bad they didn’t keep that and adapt it for the boys too.

Fair enough. I understand that YMMV significantly from unit to unit in the church.

As one example: My ward in South Jordan has had a huge YM/YW organization for the last 10 years or so. We averaged about 120 YM/YW combined on the rolls. And for the 10 years before that we had a massive Primary. Demographics have worked against us recently so now we're down to a very small primary and a shrinking YM/YW - only about 80 YM/YW combined on the rolls now, and it's shrinking every year.

When we were really big we had about ~35-40 adult leaders in YM/YW and had the "full enchilada" in terms of ward-level youth conferences/annual camps/combined activities/weekly activities/regular over-nighters/etc. on top of all the stake-level stuff (treks, stake youth conference, stake camps, etc.) on top of the North-American/Utah Area Church-level stuff like FSY. Now that we're shrinking we're down to ~22 adult leaders although we still run a full program and maintain a lot of the traditions and "organizational inertia" and momentum we had from the heydays. I didn't see a significant change from the YM presidency transition to the Bishopric. In fact, if anything we got bigger and better YM/YW programs under the Bishopric because there was less fear about the budget and about asking for approval/permission for things.

So my ward is way beyond "set some goals and do your own thing"; but I recognize that in some units "set some goals and do your own thing" is probably all there is. Also, from the YW side, I don't know that it changed much from back in the day? What did they get rid of? Maybe the YW Personal Progress stuff? In my opinion, the YM program now more closely matches what the YW program has always been and from my perspective the YW program hasn’t changed much from today to when my four daughters went through it (2008 to 2022).

I don't know that my ward's YM program has something for every boy and, sadly, we do lose boys through the cracks; however, Scouting definitely didn't have something for every boy either and we lost plenty through the cracks in the Scouting days as well.

[Bo Diddley]

I was assigned to one of our wards in the Stake with the largest demographic of youth. Their Bishop is phenomenal. He takes his stewardship for the youth seriously and has done amazing things with those kids.

All the other ward leadership has taken up the slack in practically all other areas of the ward. Just before I was reassigned, I had the thought that the Church should bring in the cameras to Ward Council as an example of how it should be run.

That said, I recognize this Ward is an outlier.