Missionary recommendation approvals for bishops: transcript
This transcript was generated automatically from the recording and may contain errors. It has not been manually verified. Time links return to that point in the video.
00:00:00 This presentation is intended to help bishops improve senior service missionaries on the missionary recommendation system or MRS. Now, full-time, away from home missionaries are handled and administered through the missionary online recommendation system or M-O-R-S, and that's accessed through LCR or leader and clerk resources. The Live at Home senior service missionaries are approved by bishops and stake presidents in
00:00:30 MRAS or the Missionary Recommendation System, and it's this system that this video is focused on.
00:00:38 The process of becoming a senior service missionary begins by finding a place to work,
00:00:44 an opportunity, as we call it, a position with a church organization that uses senior service
00:00:51 missionaries. This is done on the senior missionary website, seniormissionary.church.org.
00:00:57 We encourage potential missionaries to work with a senior missionary coordinator, a senior
00:01:05 missionary specialist from their stake, or an assigned high counselor to help find senior
00:01:12 missionary, senior service missionary opportunities.
00:01:15 Once the opportunity is found, then the missionary can apply for that online and they submit
00:01:23 their application online.
00:01:25 line. This video assumes that that's already been done and we're now at stage 2 where the Bishop goes
00:01:32 to step 3, which is where he goes to MRS-leadership.church.JesusChrist.org and processes the application on
00:01:41 that website. MRS is the place where both the Bishop and the State President approve the missionary's
00:01:48 worthiness. The process is simplified if Bishops and State Presidents consider delegating one
00:01:57 or more viewers or designated approvers to access MRS and let them know when work is needed.
00:02:04 There is a way to get to MRS through LCR, but it is convoluted and we recommend you use
00:02:12 the direct link, MRS, hyphen or dash leadership dot church with Jesus Christ
00:02:17 dot org. Once you've logged into that website, you will see a list of missionaries
00:02:24 requiring your action. Now, this is because by default, there's a check
00:02:30 box by the action only indicator. And so only missionaries that need your
00:02:38 action will show up on your list. Now if you uncheck that action only box, then all the
00:02:45 missionaries that are in your ward, including currently serving missionaries and missionaries
00:02:50 that are completing applications, will show up on the list. So once you have identified
00:02:58 a missionary that needs your action, then you click on the name of that missionary to
00:03:03 start the process. You will take you to the missionaries profile and in the bottom left
00:03:08 hand corner you will see the Bishop checklist. Typically you go through these in order. You
00:03:15 do not have to. Sometimes you might want to look at the recommend summary first just to
00:03:20 see what the application is and what position they've applied for. Once you click on the
00:03:33 overview of the worthiness issues. This is something that you won't have to do
00:03:39 over and over again, but it is important to review when you do your first
00:03:44 application. Once you're fully conversant with the situations that are outlined
00:03:52 in this, you click complete. You are just confirming that you understand the
00:03:58 process of worthiness. There's nothing else to fill out. But by doing that you get your
00:04:06 first checkbox. And so you've got a check mark and then you click on interview questions.
00:04:14 When you go into the interview it begins with a little preamble explaining the sacred nature
00:04:19 of the interview and the guidelines that are provided and then it goes into the interview
00:04:25 review questions with a little preamble for the missionary and then it has 17
00:04:32 interview questions which you should have. Some of them aren't quite fully
00:04:37 applicable to senior service missionaries but we are not to omit any questions.
00:04:45 These questions have been prescribed by the missionary department and approved
00:04:51 approved by the general authorities. So once you go through these questions, then you have
00:04:59 completed the interview. Now to understand certain things, the churches provide an appendix
00:05:06 regarding repentance, standards regarding the law of chastity, the law of tithing, the
00:05:12 word of wisdom, sabbath, the observance, honesty and integrity. And those are background materials
00:05:18 materials for your benefit. If you've been doing this for a while, you are already familiar
00:05:22 with that. Once you are done, then you're going to click on the complete button and this section
00:05:32 of the process. At that point, you've earned your second check marks and your second check
00:05:42 mark and the next thing will be to go to the Recommend Summary. Now, the screenshot would
00:05:49 show personal information so we're not going to do that but you're going to review all of the
00:05:54 information on this. You're going to review their personal information, their availability and
00:05:59 term of service. Now if they change their mind about when they want to start or how long they
00:06:03 want to serve, that can be adjusted later. There's really no way to edit it in MRS. It does show a
00:06:09 photo, the photos optional but you still have to check the box saying that the photo is appropriate.
00:06:14 You can review all the other information that's provided in the Recommend Summary.
00:06:20 And at the end, it allows you to upload documents.
00:06:25 Those are really for medical issues and not typical in senior service visionary situations.
00:06:33 But you do, again, have to check the box saying that the documents are adequate,
00:06:37 even if there are no documents.
00:06:39 And then once the checkboxes are checked, you can click that it's complete.
00:06:45 Then you go in and go.
00:06:48 The next section is the priesthood leader comments.
00:06:53 And you are going to check the box saying you've done a temple recommender view.
00:06:59 By doing the mission interview, you've done a temple recommender view.
00:07:02 And you click the box that the candidate is willing to serve.
00:07:05 and then there's a drop-down box for the Missionary Candidates Leadership
00:07:10 capability and you can pick one of the choices there. And then you have the
00:07:15 option of whether to not to check the confidential comments. If you check the
00:07:19 box there, it will pop up with this information here indicating there might
00:07:25 be certain situations where you might want to add comments. And you can add
00:07:28 comments and add documents. We're going to assume in this situation that we're
00:07:34 not going to do confidential comments here. But if there's a notation on the record that
00:07:39 needs to be explained on the membership record that needs to be explained, go ahead and add
00:07:44 the confidential comments. And then once you've done that, you're going to click on
00:07:47 complete. And then that will take you to the end of the process because you have completed
00:07:56 all the checkboxes. And now you click on submit recommend to complete to the submit to the
00:08:03 stake president and then you have one more yes to click to say that you really
00:08:09 meant to submit the recommendation and then that process is complete. So in
00:08:15 review you go to MRS-Leadership.church.JesusChrist.org click on the name of the
00:08:22 missionary who needs your approval go through the Bishop checklist get a
00:08:26 green checkbox for each one of those things and you submit and confirm. Now
00:08:31 Now if you have any questions or problems, if there are problems, click clear your browser
00:08:38 cache because sometimes it needs to refresh itself before it.
00:08:43 Sometimes the button won't click or there might be an issue, but clear your browser
00:08:47 cache.
00:08:48 And if there are other issues, it always helps to take a screenshot to show your SMCE, a
00:08:58 senior missionary coordinator.
00:08:59 If you need a list of the senior missionary coordinators in the North America Southwest,
00:09:03 you don't know who yours are, you can click on that.
00:09:06 And if you have any questions about who the SMCs might be or anything else, you can contact
00:09:13 us as support advisors.
00:09:15 And our contact information is shown at that link, seniormission.org slash SA.
00:09:20 And that's the end of this video.