Building and Lifting Others

Building and Lifting Others

President Quinn’s Weekly Message

California Santa Rosa Mission

May 19th, 2025

We look forward to this week of zone conferences. It seems too long since we have been together for a zone conference. We have a great deal to cover with you. Please come prepared to counsel together and take notes.

Clayton M. Christensen, a faithful member of the Church and noted business author – also one of my heroes and my brother in law, taught that, unlike the world, the Lord will not judge our lives by the number of people we oversee in our Church positions.  Instead, He will be interested in the individual lives we were able to touch and influence. Clayton shared the following:

“I once felt passed over when another man was called to a leadership position I had felt I might receive. In the crisis of self-confidence that ensued, I realized that because our minds are finite, we create hierarchies and statistically aggregate people. We perceive stake presidents to be higher than bishops and Primary presidents higher than Primary teachers because they preside over more people. But God has an infinite mind. He needs no statistics above the level of the individual in order to have a perfect understanding of what is happening. This means, I realized, that the way God will measure my life is not by the numbers of people over whom I have presided but by the individual people whose lives I have touched with His love and with the gospel of Jesus Christ.” (Ensign Magazine 1997, “My Ways Are Not Your Ways”)

As Clayton teaches us above, the Lord’s focus is on how His disciples bless individuals. The Savior exemplified this repeatedly during His ministry. The Gospels are full of examples where the Savior ministered to the needs of individuals – building, lifting, and healing others. During His visit to the America’s He continued ministering one-to-one:

“Have ye any that are sick among you? Bring them hither. Have ye any that are lame, or blind, or halt, or maimed, or leprous, or that are withered, or that are deaf, or that are afflicted in any manner? Bring them hither and I will heal them, for I have compassion upon you; my bowels are filled with mercy.” (3 Nephi 17:7)

I am grateful to the Savior for His example of serving the needs of individuals. I believe His Atonement was both infinite and intimate. We honor Him by serving others as He would – with compassion and love. My personal relationship with the Savior has deepened as I have ministered one-to-one on His behalf.

As we begin this transfer with a new companion or new missionaries serving in your district or zone, I invite you to look for opportunities to lift each other. High love in our mission begins in your companionships, districts, and zones as you look for opportunities to lovingly encourage, support, and build one another. Please extend yourself to a fellow missionary you sense might be struggling with their health, testimony, or finding their missionary purpose.

Sister Quinn and I love you. We are grateful for the high love and high expectations we witness in your missionary service across CASRM. We pray for your success as we move into this new transfer.

Love,

President Quinn

(630) 881-4030