One of the more learning experiences I had as Branch President occurred when we as a presidency (meaning Jerry Stroup and I) decided it would be a good idea to buy a permanent church to meet in. All the time we lived in Cavalier, we drove over to Langdon to go to church and for any meetings which involved the Langdon people. Week-day meetings were usually held at people’s homes and other public areas, but Sunday meetings were held in a building which usually housed something like an Elk’s Club.
On Sunday morning, we would get there a little early and we had to pick up from the parties that were held the Saturday night before. We had to set up chairs and get everything in order so we could have Sacrament and Sunday School meetings. I thought the Langdon Branch needed a permanent place to worship.
One day I found out that a local church in Cavalier was selling it’s building. I’m not sure why. Maybe they were building a bigger one, I don’t know, but I thought that would be a great place for the Langdon Branch to meet. The only problem was that it was in Cavalier and not Langdon. Jerry and I looked into it and found out the price and contacted the Church Building people in Salt Lake and found out what we had to do to buy the church.
Salt Lake was pretty favorable about the whole thing. They said that buying an existing structure was a lot easier to get approved than building a building from scratch. So, it was almost a sure thing. We just needed to do one thing. We needed the consent of the branch. I think we could have gone ahead without the consent, but I didn’t want an uprising on my hands, so Jerry and I and the Relief Society leadership (Karen and her counselors) agreed we should have a sustaining of the project before we actually put in a bid on the property.
Now, more than half of the branch lived in the Langdon area and they were close to church. We who lived in Cavalier had the 30 mile drive. If they approved this purchase, then they would be doing the driving and we would live close to the church. Well, there was a lot of discussion. I could tell they weren’t happy with the idea. I tried everything I could think of to convince people that this was a good thing. Then came the Sunday when we decided to put it to a vote. I was conducting. I stood before the congregation and asked for a show of hands the way we do in the church.
I made one fatal mistake. Instead of asking if they sustain the branch president in the purchase of the building (which is the way it should be done), I said “Do you sustain the purchase of the building for the Langdon Branch.” Quite a difference. In all of my life in the church I have never seen so many votes against a sustaining. We weren’t talking about a Sunday school teacher or even a leadership position, we were talking about a real change in the lives of these people.
Being Branch President, I didn’t need to follow the congregation. I had the authority to go ahead and complete the purchase anyway. But, I decided if there was that much negative feeling toward the project, we would drop it. All the people in Langdon were happy. I felt I had learned a lesson in leadership. It’s too bad I never got another chance to use it.
Dad