Missionary recommendation and assignment approvals for stake presidents: transcript
This transcript is a draft under review and may contain errors. Time links return to that point in the video.
00:00:01 This presentation is intended to help
stake presidents learn how to approve
00:00:06 senior service missionaries and their
assignments. Now, when a missionary
00:00:13 applies for a recommendation, if they
are applying for a full-time mission,
00:00:20 they will end up in the missionary
online recommendation system, MORS, and
00:00:24 that's accessed through LCR. If they're
applying for a at-home senior service
00:00:33 mission, they will end up in the missionary
online recommendation system, MRS.
00:00:33 And that's access through LCR. If they're
applying for a at-home senior service
00:00:33 mission,
00:00:33 they will be processed in the
missionary recommendation system or MRS.
00:00:38 This presentation does not
cover full-time missionaries.
00:00:42 It is only focused on senior service
missionaries that are being processed in
00:00:46 the MRS system.
00:00:48 Now, for an overview of the process for
becoming a senior service missionary,
00:00:55 there are several steps.
00:00:57 Stage one is to find an opportunity
and to fill out an application.
00:01:03 The missionary will hopefully work with
the senior missionary coordinator, with
00:01:07 a stake
00:01:07 missionary specialist, or with an
assigned high counselor to find an
00:01:11 opportunity, and
00:01:13 then apply for it online.
00:01:15 This video assumes that we have already
done steps A and B, and that we're now
00:01:21 in step
00:01:22 stage two, and we've already done
step C, where the bishop has done his
00:01:28 worthiness interview
00:01:29 and has approved the recommendation.
And so we're going to start in step D.
00:01:37 This
00:01:38 video will also include steps F and G
to some degree. We're going to skip,
00:01:45 skip,
00:01:46 we'll mention the operation manager
approval but we won't demonstrate it in
00:01:50 this video. Now there are two websites
that the state president has to deal
00:01:59 with. As stake presidents, you need to
approve their worthiness, and that's done
00:02:03 in the missionary
00:02:04 recommendation system. So you go to
mrs-leadership.church.JesusChrist.org and
00:02:10 then you go through the
00:02:12 questions there and then the second part
of this will be in SMMS, the service
00:02:21 missionary management
00:02:21 management system. But let's focus
on MRS right now. When you go to MRS
00:02:28 -leadership.ChurchofJesusChrist.org,
00:02:32 then you will see this in your dashboard.
Now, by default, this little box only
00:02:40 actionable
00:02:40 candidates will be checked so that you
will only see a missionary who needs the
00:02:46 stake
00:02:47 president's approval. I want to point out
you can get to this from LCR but it's
00:02:53 convoluted, difficult, and a lot more easily
done if it's done
00:02:58 through the direct address. Now once you
see the list of missionaries that need
00:03:06 your your action you can click on their
names one on time. Now if you were to
00:03:17 that are under your jurisdiction,
including all the missionaries that are
00:03:22 waiting for the Bishop's Approval, those
that are now serving, those who are
00:03:26 completing forms, and those who are
waiting approval in SMMS. Let's just go
00:03:32 back to the missionary that needs
processing. Click on the name and then
00:03:37 you will come up to the missionaries
page and it will show you a stake
00:03:45 president checklist and we're going to
go through each of these items and we're
00:03:50 going to click on standards of worthiness
as the initial step in doing this.
00:04:02 Now
00:04:02 this page doesn't require you to fill
out anything it just indicates that you
00:04:07 are
00:04:08 aware of the standards that apply and so
I encourage you to scroll through that
00:04:14 read it, become familiar with it, and
if you've done that once or twice then
00:04:19 you
00:04:20 can easily go to the bottom of the page
and click complete. All you're saying
00:04:26 by clicking complete is that you
understand the standards of worthiness.
00:04:31 Then that gives or earns you your first green
check mark and then you click on
00:04:36 interview questions. When you go into
the interview it begins with a little
00:04:42 preamble explaining the sacred nature
of the interview and the guidelines that
00:04:48 are provided.
00:04:49 And then it goes into the interview
questions with a little preamble for the
00:04:54 missionary.
00:04:56 And then it has 17 interview
questions which you should have.
00:05:00 Some of them aren't quite fully applicable
to senior service missionaries, but
00:05:06 we are
00:05:07 not to omit any questions.
00:05:10 These questions have been prescribed by
the missionary department and approved
00:05:16 by the general authorities.
00:05:19 So once you go through these questions,
then you have completed the interview.
00:05:26 Now to understand certain things, the
churches provide an appendix regarding
00:05:32 repentance,
00:05:33 standards regarding the
law of chastity, the law of tithing, the
00:05:37 word of
00:05:38 wisdom, Sabbath day observance, honesty
and integrity. And those are background
00:05:43 materials
00:05:43 for your benefit. If you've been doing
this for a while, you are already
00:05:47 familiar with
00:05:48 that. Once you are done, then you're
going to click on the complete button in
00:05:55 this section
00:05:57 of the process. At this point you've
earned your second check mark and then
00:06:08 you're
00:06:08 going to click on recommend summary.
The recommend summary shows personal
00:06:13 information so I'm not going to show a
screenshot here but it talks about their
00:06:17 availability when they're available, how
long they plan to serve and if that's
00:06:22 not
00:06:22 accurate there's really no way to edit
it that can be adjusted later when it
00:06:25 gets into the service missionary
management system. For senior service
00:06:29 Missionaries, the photo is optional,
but you have to check the box saying the
00:06:33 photo is compliant.
00:06:36 You can review their education, their
work experience, or church callings.
00:06:40 You can look at the assignments that
they've asked for and the brief medical
00:06:44 questions they've
00:06:45 been asked.
00:06:46 It does give you an option to upload
documents, typically that the document
00:06:51 list relates to
00:06:52 medical issues and for most
senior service missionaries.
00:06:56 That's not going to be needed.
00:06:58 But even though no documents are added,
you have to check the box saying the
00:07:02 documents
00:07:02 are adequate or compliant.
00:07:05 And then when all the check boxes are
checked, then you click the complete
00:07:09 button.
00:07:11 Then that gives you your third check
mark, and then you're going to go and look
00:07:14 at what
00:07:15 the bishop had to say.
00:07:17 And then the bishop will check his box
saying that he's interviewed them for a
00:07:23 temple
00:07:23 recommend. They're willing to serve,
giving them a leadership evaluation, and
00:07:28 then
00:07:28 adds comments. And the bishop has
the option of adding confidential
00:07:33 comments that only you will be able to
see. And then he also had an option to
00:07:38 add
00:07:38 documents. And you have an option to add
documents. You don't need to. But when
00:07:43 you're done, then you click complete.
Now you've seen what the bishop had to
00:07:47 say. Now you get to add your own
comments. So you've earned four green
00:07:52 check marks and you get to work on your
fifth one. And the priesthood leader
00:07:57 comments you click the temple recommend
interview completed and when you've
00:08:03 interviewed them for the missionary the
missionary interview includes temple
00:08:06 recommend questions so it basically
serves two purposes then you can add
00:08:11 your own comments in this box and
then you have the option of adding
00:08:16 confidential comments if you check that
box it will give you an option to add
00:08:21 those comments. When you're done with
all that you're going to click complete.
00:08:26 Now
00:08:26 you've got five green check marks. Then
all you have to do is click submit to
00:08:32 get
00:08:33 the recommend going and then there's one
more confirmation screen and you click
00:08:38 yes to submit the recommendation and
this submits the recommendation to the
00:08:51 the missionary's assignment is approved
by the operation manager. That's the
00:08:56 manager of the church organization for
which the missionary will be working.
00:09:01 Once they've approved the assignment as
a good fit, then it'll come back to you
00:09:06 as a
00:09:08 state president to approve the assignment
and then to set them apart and to
00:09:13 give
00:09:14 given their call letter and issue the
formal calling. So that's the end of the
00:09:21 process.
00:09:23 So to review, you go to mrs-leadership.churchofJesusChrist.org, click on the
00:09:29 name of the missionary,
00:09:30 go through the five steps of the
checklist, and then you click submit and
00:09:36 confirm. And
00:09:38 that's the process.
00:09:39 State Presidents need to improve senior
service missionaries on two websites.
00:09:44 One is the Missionary Recommendation
System and the other is the Service
00:09:48 Missionary Management System.
00:09:50 This is part of the presentation focuses
on SMMS or the Service Missionary
00:09:56 Management System.
00:09:58 This assumes that we've had the missionary
find an opportunity apply for it.
00:10:04 The Bishop and the State
President have approved it.
00:10:06 The operation manager has determined
that the assignment that they want to
00:10:10 serve at is a good fit and that they
will work well in their operation.
00:10:15 It is now the stake president's turn
to approve as a priesthood leader the
00:10:22 assignment that has been selected.
00:10:25 This is a relatively simple system.
00:10:28 Again this is just the second part of
what the stake president needs to do.
00:10:34 The stake present needs to log in to
SMMS, servicemissionary.ChurchofJesusChrist.org
00:10:42 and
00:10:43 there will be some action items.
00:10:46 The first thing you want to do is click
on the Assignments to be Approved.
00:10:52 Then it will pop up with a list of
missionaries that need approval, and you're
00:10:57 going to click
00:10:58 on the name of the missionary.
00:11:00 The Missionary's Assignment page will
pop up, and there may be more than one
00:11:06 assignment.
00:11:07 It might be the first assignment, it
might be an additional assignment.
00:11:12 But you're going to look
for an assignment that has
00:11:15 "at ecclesiastical approval", and then
you're going to click on the name of the
00:11:20 operation.
00:11:21 That's the church organization for
which the missionary will be working.
00:11:25 Once you click on the name of the operation,
then you're going to make sure the
00:11:31 start
00:11:32 date and end date are right.
00:11:33 If they need to be changed, this
is the place to change them.
00:11:37 So you click on edit assignment and
then change the dates if needed.
00:11:41 Once that's complete, then you
can click the approve assignment.
00:11:46 And then they are now a
missionary in the SMMS system.
00:11:51 The next step would be to click on
while you're on the profile page for the
00:11:56 missionary click on service documents.
00:11:58 And you'll be given the option
to download their call letter.
00:12:03 You should print it, sign it, give
it to the missionary, keep a copy for
00:12:07 yourself and give a copy to the bishop.
00:12:11 Once that's done, then you're
finished with your assignment.
00:12:15 So here's a review. You log into SMMS,
you click on Assignments to be approved,
00:12:21 you click
00:12:22 on the missionary's name, you find
the assignment that shows that it is
00:12:25 ecclesiastical approval,
00:12:28 click on the name of the assignment,
edit the assignment if you need to modify
00:12:32 the start
00:12:33 or end dates or both, click on the Approve
Assignment to finalize the approval,
00:12:38 click
00:12:39 on Service Documents to download the call
letter, and then sign the call letter
00:12:44 and give
00:12:44 to the missionary. You or a counselor
should set the missionary apart. Now if
00:12:49 this is a second assignment, there are
already a set apart missionary. You
00:12:52 don't
00:12:52 have to set them apart again. So that's
the end of this presentation. If you
00:12:59 have
00:12:59 any questions, let us know.