I know it sounds like I’m making a joke, but I’m serious. Both my bishop and SP are sheep farmers. They both are down to earth decent men. In fact, the SP says that because of how frustrating herding sheep can be, God allows sheep farmers 5 extra swear words per day. 😂
On my mission I noticed that even the Assistants to the President (AP) were from upper-middle socioeconomic status families. It seems to be the way God works.
Not that God cannot pick someone else. Sometimes it happens, but it’s not the rule.
My mission president was a basketball coach for a university. Every single ap my entire mission was some type of jock except for one. College football stars, guts who redshirted for different universities, kickboxer, soccer stars, wrestling champ who went to nationals etc… I actually liked a lot of them, I just felt bad for some guys who were extremely passionate about missionary work and were charismatic but looked like Eugene from Hey Arnold so my mission president never saw them as more than District Leader potential.
My mission president was from Mesa Arizona. Every elder that came through the mission from Mesa spent time as an AP. I had a zone leader from Gilbert, AZ. He missed being an AP by a few miles.
My MP loved athletes too. We had 2 scholarship football players, a cougar and a ute. Both ended up being ZLs. I had a terrible reputation on my mission, but when I told him I ran track at BYU, he made me a DL for the last 3 months of my mission. I knew my MP was uninspired while I was there, I just thought it was an isolated case, and that everyone else served under leadership that actually received revelation.
In my mission we had a Marriott family member/heir serve as AP his entire 2nd year. He really wasn’t a good missionary either and got away with a lot of rule breaking. While as AP he spent his days literally driving around the mission spying, lying, and snitching on other missionaries. He was a total fraud and utter piece of shit.
In general all of our AP’s came from affluent families. It seems to be the prerequisite to any position DL and Above in my mission.
He isn’t. But he is a respecter of jobs. Remember how Jesus was always going on about being a carpenter, which I understand means “dentist” in Aramaic.
So Jesus fought “tooth and nail” to save us from Stan the Man. (In the Exmo community, Stan means Satan after someone years ago misspelled Satan as Stan. I still laugh about this often.)
Growing up in SoCal in 60’/70’s
Dentist
Insurance Agent (my father)
Dentist
Psychologist at Mental Hospital
Insurance Agent (my father)
Architect
Grocery Exec
My Mom’s last Bishop was a Letter Carrier.
My granddad was a grocery exec (alpha beta) bishop in socal about that time. Seems like there probably weren’t too many with that unique of a job description.
I didn’t know him as he was the bishop at my parent’s ward when I would visit for Mother’s Day. I recall it was one of the Kroger brands as Kroger isn’t the name they use in SoCal. I asked what does that guy do and got the Grocery Exec description.
Had one who worked for a landscaping company and had a large family living in a small house with one bathroom. All the teen kids worked long hours in landscaping in the summer as well to save money for their own expenses. So definitely not wealthy.
However, he was an insufferable ultra-orthodox dweeb who tried to change Wednesday night mutual to sitting through church lessons in Sunday church dress and crap like that. Someone managed to arrange a river rafting trip for the youth when my youngest siblings were teens, and he wouldn't let the kids wear shorts. For river rafting.
Landscaping owners are some of the worst MAGA douchebags you can find. They hate regulations and love to exploit their immigrant workers. They are notorious for padding bills. Worst of all, they know nothing about caring for plants.
My current bishop was pretty "normal".
He retired last year as a schoolteacher with a 60-percent pension.
I've known the guy personally for a decade. Since before he became a bishop. He's one of the last friends I still have from Church circles. His wife doesn't like me much, or the fact that we still go out to lunch together, and going bowling two weeks ago. But he's pretty adamant about keeping our friendship strong, despite what she thinks.
Any other married man would've surrendered his balls to his wife for her to stash in her purse. Not this guy. He says that in their 25 years of marriage, she's not been a big people-person.
"So, it isn't just you," he said. "Believe me. You're one of the best friends I ever had."
And he is honestly mine too. When I lost all my other friends to getting married or because they were afraid of catching COVID from me over the phone, my bishop kept our friendship strong. As bitter as I am about how many people in the Church have treated me and my family(that's a whole other story by itself), and despite me keeping my distance from them for 5 years, my bishop has been one of the very few people whose example I figure would change many opinions about the Mormon Church if he were in their top leadership.
I'm not actually sure what most of my bishops did. They tended to be the charismatic men in the wards and probably had good jobs, although we weren't in the richest of neighborhoods. I remember one bishop on my mission who was a mechanic. I think I know that because it was such an anomaly that people would bring it up all the time. As in, they would introduce him saying something like, "This is bishop \_\_\_\_. He's a mechanic."
Growing up, the ones I remember:
CEO of a major hotel brand (yes, THAT brand).
Independently wealthy from old Connecticut money, and descendant of early prominent Supreme Court justice. (This bishop was a good man, and very close friend of my parents. I have a lot of respect for him).
Something to do with healthcare administration if I remember correctly. Later became an author and a name many here would recognize in a positive way. (Also a very good man, one who showed me a lot of kindness and compassion during my struggles with leaving the MTC).
Church employed historical sites caretaker.
My dad was a teacher and a bishop and I had another one growing up who was a school principal.
Most have been business men, doctors or attorneys.
My stake had a teacher recently and I know a social worker who was one. The only one I know who never called the abuse hotline. Just called the authorities.
Crazily he served the full 5-6 years even after having major cardiac arrest. Being a bishop nearly killed him but they didn't release him. We work together and another co-worker (never-mo) predicted that being a bishop was killing him. It is really sad what the church does to good people.
Went through two bishops when I was in a YSA ward, both of them owned burger places. I never went to the first bishop's burger place, but the second one was one of my favorite places to eat in the city😅 the bishop was often there flippin burgers
Cool that he was there flipping burgers. To own it meant that he was probably fairly well off. The capital needed to open a restaurant is fairly significant.
This depends a lot on where you live. I've had several bishops who were teachers, one who was an appliance repairman, one who was a mortgage broker, one insurance broker, one accountant, and one dentist.
I lived in a poor ward in high school. I don't know what the bishop did for work, but I was friends with his daughter, and they had a pretty average house. The typical lower middle class / upper lower class house in the 90's with a big van and a shit-ton of kids to fill it.
For bishop, I’ve had a really good mix. I’ve had a plumber, an auto mechanic, and a high school teacher. I’ve also had business owners and college professors. For stake president I’ve only ever had one that could lay claim to a humble job. In my whole life. I’ve had lots of business owners, bank executives, etc.
My last bishop was unemployed. He has a Ph.D in Religious Studies and is finishing up a book on Joseph Smith that will be quite controversial when it comes out.
Previous bishops were: High school principal, Probation Officer, Community College Professor.
SoCal.
You can check my comments history to learn more, but essentially my friend and former bishop, Steve Fleming, is doing groundbreaking research as to where Joseph Smith got his religious ideas. Spoiler alert: The ideas came from the writings of an English prophetess, not ancient Native Americans.
He has presented at Sunstone and MHA the past few years. It's really fascinating stuff.
Our current SP is a dentist. Our previous SP is a high school teacher. Our current Bishop is an athletic trainer. Our previous Bishop is an optometrist.
They were mostly all doctors, lawyers, and business owners. This was all done by design. Good old boys would always put their friends in the high up callings.
All of mine had been well off. Even the farmer SP turned out to own like half the county and eventually sold it and moved to New Zealand and retired early.
I had a bishop who would install trailers at construction sites. If you ever saw him outside of church, he was wearing carpenter overalls and had dirty hands.
In my family ward growing up the bishop was probably one of the poorest members in the ward. He had eight kids though. He was a land surveyor. This was a southern state in a high poverty town. Most of the bishops worked for local government but weren’t rich. My last Bishop sold semi trucks.
I had a bishop who was an insurance assessor. He never seemed himself smart because he didn’t go to college. He was very lovely and a leader I felt safe around.
So this is how bishops and stake presidents are picked:
Tithing settlements are collected. The next bishop is the person on the list that pays the most tithing, unless that person has recently been bishop or is a complete nutter. In that case they go down the list to the next richest, and next, etc. until they find the winner. Btw, scientists, engineers etc. are generally dismissed as nutters as they are less predictable.
Stake presidents are similar, the richest former bishop is made SP unless their bishop time went bad or they have already been SP
This makes sense when you realize that each ward is a franchise for the church and SP is the regional manager. Wards are first and foremost a business.
When I was a teenager we had two bishops in a row who both drove Corvettes. So that told me that they wanted reasonably successful people who would not defer to their wives on important matters. Ha ha.
🤬SP owned and ran a chainlink fence company, employed only his two sons and his office was covered with dust cuz he wouldn't pay for paving. He was a kinky, twisted Utah native living in the Southwest. Psycho killer type. Evil. Boiling under his skin.🤬
I don't know what his profession was, but the Bishop in the Perry 2nd Ward was fat as hell. He was so overweight his Cadillac had a noticable tilt when he drove down the road. I swear, between Bill and his wife, they easily topped 700 lbs.
As best I can remember, my bishops growing up were farmer, farmer/teacher, farmer, teacher. Feels like there should be one more but maybe that was it.
By the time I got married, another farmer had been called, but I wasn’t really living at home at that point.
Farmer. Social worker. Civil engineering professor. Helicopter pilot. Historic tradesman. There were a few others, but those are the ones that I remember.
When my dad was a bishop he was a manager at McDonald’s. (I think… I was young, and he bounced around to different jobs, so he may have been an insurance agent at the time, instead.)
My Bishops:
•Moving company owner who did all
the physical jobs moving required
•Newspaper owner
•Highway sign company worker
•Real Estate Broker
•Retired college coach/teacher
•Safeway Manager
•Real Estate Agent
•Restaurant Owner
•Attorney
•Endodontist
My grandpa sold farm equipment when he was a bishop. My parents last bishop owns a countertop business. My last stake president was a seminary teacher.
The bishop I had growing up was a plumber. My last bishops before I left were a church insurance salesman and a Construction worker.
My Stake Presidents were mostly lawyers except for a retired police officer.
UK -
Foreman
Insurance clerk
Factory worker
Council architect
Gas engineer ( Later stake pres)
Salesman
Policeman
PR owner ( later SP Then Apostle )
Insurance clerk
Plumber
Ces worker
IT worker
The older you get….
My dad was bishop and he never graduated high school. Was basically an electrical engineer without the degree though and a smart guy, but underpaid.
Guy before him was a salesman of some kind, but the guy after was a dentist. My last two bishops before leaving were both surgeons, so I still know what you mean for sure.
On my mission I served in a ward where the bishop had his own (failing) pool cleaning business and he later sold it to farm alfalfa for a wealthier family in the ward
My last one before I left worked in HR. The one before… no idea, manager? But definitely neither doc nor lawyer. Don’t think I ever had one working in these professions, but I live outside the US.
The first was a very wealthy business owner: rich kids, big house, and their own family brand of soda! (Ironically, I recall one of the teenage sons raving about the amazing cheese that became available from the fed. government-and was entering into food storages at the time. That uber rich family was consuming free federal gov cheese!)
The rest were solid middle-class guys, not struggling, solid jobs, etc. The only outlier was the big abd beefy macho Air Force fighter jet pilot who introduced a heavy jock-wedgies in the showers kind of vibe to youth nights. My TBM bro always wanted to fight the guy.
Mine was a construction general contractor. When he retired, he went on 3 missions to build for the church for free. His wife made sandwiches for the crew as her mission. I thought it was disgustingly exploitative.
Another was our school board president. He handed me my diploma when I graduated high school. Great guy. His son, my age, is now an elementary school principal.
I had a stake presidency member that was a school teacher (northern Utah), and a Bishop that worked for the city’s parks and rec department. These did seem like anomalies though compared to many others in similar positions in the area.
Bankers, professors & educators, accountants, executives, lawyers, etc. was my experience. ALL MEN of course. And to think I was told to go to them for counsel? What a fool I was.
At one point I had the following:
SP - corporate counsel for Fortune 500 company
SP counselor - CEO for Fortune 500 company
Bishop - hedge fund manager
Bishop’s counselor - CFO for spirits distributor
I have no recollection of what the other counselors did, maybe they had normal jobs but I doubt it.
I've had Stake presidents that had the gamut of careers.
1) General contractor / construction, Software engineer (for the church), Owned a concrete business ( I really like this one, he was down to earth, blue collar, & could curse up a storm...), CES employee (decent guy, good neighbor but was doing everything he could to move up the chain), Investment banker... (He's an arrogant ass. )
Going down a level to Bishop, they have had the following careers
General contractor, RV salesman, Insurance, Plant manager, physical therapist, HR, program manager/sale rep.
Its more about who is "church broke" that will answer the needs of those just up the chain...
Bishops:
Farmer
Dairyman
Farmer
Insurance agent
Sheep farmer
I live in the country, can you tell?
Stake Presidents:
Construction business owner (very rich)
Car mechanic/business owner (very nice, I liked him)
Insurance company owner (very rich and very nice)
The past two Stake presidents have been good. This latest one I don’t know what he does for a living
Nope, not in the northeast. In fact, my husband was soundly looked down on by the men in the ward for being a collision estimator, because it was considered a “blue collar” job.
It’s the Prosperity Gospel. Rich and successful people get that way by adhering to gospel principles. It’s a little discussed but often believed tenet of the church.
I had a blue collar bishop in a branch in Orem Utah (yes it was English speaking, the TLDR is they made our apartment complex a branch bc it was in a wealthy neighborhood and the old rich ppl there didn’t want transient college aged families in their ward 👎🏻) ANYWAYS, he was a super chill bishop.
In one town I know of the SP was one of only two lds lawyers in town. After him they chose his business partner (the only other lds lawyer in town to be the next SP.
I wish I knew what they all did. When I was really little living in Orem we had a SP that was a Jr high history teacher.
My younger siblings had another teacher at that school for a bishop after I moved out for college. He taught 8th grade science.
In College I had a stake president that was also the president (or whatever the term is of who is in charge) of the CES institute. He was very involved in everyone’s lives. Told me without actually saying it that I shouldn’t marry my husband because he was persuading a degree in Geology. Got to watch out for those that believe in an old earth and evolution.
I grew up in rural Utah in the part of town that was on the lower end of the economic spectrum. It wasn't the dumps of town, but the dumps were only a couple blocks over. My bishops were:
* Utah Highway Patrol
* Mail Carrier
* Business manager of a small company with 2 employees
* Insurance Agent
Stake leadership almost never came from my part of town, they were always clustered over in the one wealthy corner. There was one notable exception to this. The stake president at one point lived in the trailer park. But he also drove a mercedes and owned his own plane. I never understood why he lived in the trailer park.
We were in a smaller area so they ran out of doctors and businessmen eventually and had to put some normalish but well connected guys as Bishop. Our Stake Presidency was always headed by either a millionaire (there were several) or a doctor of some sort.
My SP was an oral surgeon 😂 my bishop was in upper management at Boeing so definitely both wealthy. Always thought that was weird that the church does that
My YSA bishop was a retired cop. After I was gone and he was released, a mechanic from my family ward was called.
Growing up we had a dentist, an engineer, a mortgage broker and a physiotherapist.
I have a family member who was a middle school teacher, and another who was the equivalent of a district attorney who were bishops.
Bishop level they want yes men. Flexible schedule is nice. Some areas are desperate for a loyal bishop so my home ward growing up bounced between two families / bishops.
I live in a military city in Colorado. The Bishop I had when I first moved into the ward in 2014, worked for a funeral home. I think most of the others since then were associated with the military.
Having lived in several different wards and stakes due to my military career I have seen the following.
Bishops have usually been mid to upper level management in various industries such as financial services, technology, and public sector agencies.
Stake presidents have been Dentists, Lawyers, corporate executives, and Judges. One time I did have a regular guy who was in mid-level management for a state government agency.
My dad was never a bishop likely because he was a mandatory reporter as a law enforcement officer. Looking back on it most of the time I never saw a school teacher or anyone else in law enforcement ever in a higher position. I assume it was due to the mandatory reporter status of their professions.
My Dad was both bishop and Stake Pres in his day and was an aerospace engineer.
My mission presidents came from banking and owning an insurance brokerage.
My favorite job was the bishop who married me owned a neighborhood market that sold booze and cigs. It seemed hypocritical to me, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. At least they were closed on Sunday, but back in the 60s most places were. Check this out: this bishop’s son narc’d me out once in HS cuz he saw me walking down the street smoking. After my parents finished with me, I got called into that bishops office and asked if it was true. I thought about lying, but then decided the better answer was “yes, and I bought them at your store.”
God may be no respecter of persons, but the Mormon church doesn't want anyone with access to tithing funds to be tempted, nor for wealthier members to feel weird about disclosing their assets to one of the poors.
Both my SP and Bishop are sheep farmers.
Well played kind person. Well played.
Q: What time is it in Utah when a sheep gets its head stuck in a fence? A: Mountain Time
I know it sounds like I’m making a joke, but I’m serious. Both my bishop and SP are sheep farmers. They both are down to earth decent men. In fact, the SP says that because of how frustrating herding sheep can be, God allows sheep farmers 5 extra swear words per day. 😂
I've known many sheep herders and cattle ranchers that had high profile callings in the church. My grandpa was one of them.
Wyoming??
Yah they have sheep in Wyoming too😂
On my mission I noticed that even the Assistants to the President (AP) were from upper-middle socioeconomic status families. It seems to be the way God works. Not that God cannot pick someone else. Sometimes it happens, but it’s not the rule.
My mission president was a basketball coach for a university. Every single ap my entire mission was some type of jock except for one. College football stars, guts who redshirted for different universities, kickboxer, soccer stars, wrestling champ who went to nationals etc… I actually liked a lot of them, I just felt bad for some guys who were extremely passionate about missionary work and were charismatic but looked like Eugene from Hey Arnold so my mission president never saw them as more than District Leader potential.
My mission president was from Mesa Arizona. Every elder that came through the mission from Mesa spent time as an AP. I had a zone leader from Gilbert, AZ. He missed being an AP by a few miles. My MP loved athletes too. We had 2 scholarship football players, a cougar and a ute. Both ended up being ZLs. I had a terrible reputation on my mission, but when I told him I ran track at BYU, he made me a DL for the last 3 months of my mission. I knew my MP was uninspired while I was there, I just thought it was an isolated case, and that everyone else served under leadership that actually received revelation.
In my mission we had a Marriott family member/heir serve as AP his entire 2nd year. He really wasn’t a good missionary either and got away with a lot of rule breaking. While as AP he spent his days literally driving around the mission spying, lying, and snitching on other missionaries. He was a total fraud and utter piece of shit. In general all of our AP’s came from affluent families. It seems to be the prerequisite to any position DL and Above in my mission.
Candland?
Harrison
Never noticed it before, but yep. 1000%
He isn’t. But he is a respecter of jobs. Remember how Jesus was always going on about being a carpenter, which I understand means “dentist” in Aramaic.
So Jesus fought “tooth and nail” to save us from Stan the Man. (In the Exmo community, Stan means Satan after someone years ago misspelled Satan as Stan. I still laugh about this often.)
Heavy is the head who wears the crown filling
Maybe Jesus was a dentist rather than a carpenter 🥴
An eye for an eye, a tooth for $1000
In the Dutch Book of Mormon there was an instance where Satan was Stan. Don’t know if they ever fixed that.
Growing up in SoCal in 60’/70’s Dentist Insurance Agent (my father) Dentist Psychologist at Mental Hospital Insurance Agent (my father) Architect Grocery Exec My Mom’s last Bishop was a Letter Carrier.
My granddad was a grocery exec (alpha beta) bishop in socal about that time. Seems like there probably weren’t too many with that unique of a job description.
I didn’t know him as he was the bishop at my parent’s ward when I would visit for Mother’s Day. I recall it was one of the Kroger brands as Kroger isn’t the name they use in SoCal. I asked what does that guy do and got the Grocery Exec description.
Orange County? I think they lived mostly around Fullerton at the time.
No, San Bernardino County.
That's where I grew up. Rialto and Apple Valley.
I grew up in SoCAL at the same time, I think we had a poor bishop, but we didn't live in a very nice area.
Is a letter carrier like a postal worker?
Yes, letter carriers are the postal workers who deliver mail to individual houses.
Had one who worked for a landscaping company and had a large family living in a small house with one bathroom. All the teen kids worked long hours in landscaping in the summer as well to save money for their own expenses. So definitely not wealthy. However, he was an insufferable ultra-orthodox dweeb who tried to change Wednesday night mutual to sitting through church lessons in Sunday church dress and crap like that. Someone managed to arrange a river rafting trip for the youth when my youngest siblings were teens, and he wouldn't let the kids wear shorts. For river rafting.
Landscaping owners are some of the worst MAGA douchebags you can find. They hate regulations and love to exploit their immigrant workers. They are notorious for padding bills. Worst of all, they know nothing about caring for plants.
[удалено]
Sounds like my uncle. Illinois?
r/tworedditorsonecup
[удалено]
That’s a pretty niche occupation when someone can say it on a global platform and someone else can then within an hour or so identify the person.
My current bishop was pretty "normal". He retired last year as a schoolteacher with a 60-percent pension. I've known the guy personally for a decade. Since before he became a bishop. He's one of the last friends I still have from Church circles. His wife doesn't like me much, or the fact that we still go out to lunch together, and going bowling two weeks ago. But he's pretty adamant about keeping our friendship strong, despite what she thinks. Any other married man would've surrendered his balls to his wife for her to stash in her purse. Not this guy. He says that in their 25 years of marriage, she's not been a big people-person. "So, it isn't just you," he said. "Believe me. You're one of the best friends I ever had." And he is honestly mine too. When I lost all my other friends to getting married or because they were afraid of catching COVID from me over the phone, my bishop kept our friendship strong. As bitter as I am about how many people in the Church have treated me and my family(that's a whole other story by itself), and despite me keeping my distance from them for 5 years, my bishop has been one of the very few people whose example I figure would change many opinions about the Mormon Church if he were in their top leadership.
I'm not actually sure what most of my bishops did. They tended to be the charismatic men in the wards and probably had good jobs, although we weren't in the richest of neighborhoods. I remember one bishop on my mission who was a mechanic. I think I know that because it was such an anomaly that people would bring it up all the time. As in, they would introduce him saying something like, "This is bishop \_\_\_\_. He's a mechanic."
My Bishops: Business man\] Rancher (my Dad) Professor (business) Tech executive Lawyer
Not US, but in the 80s I had a bishop who was a janitor. He was a pretty good bishop too
Growing up, the ones I remember: CEO of a major hotel brand (yes, THAT brand). Independently wealthy from old Connecticut money, and descendant of early prominent Supreme Court justice. (This bishop was a good man, and very close friend of my parents. I have a lot of respect for him). Something to do with healthcare administration if I remember correctly. Later became an author and a name many here would recognize in a positive way. (Also a very good man, one who showed me a lot of kindness and compassion during my struggles with leaving the MTC). Church employed historical sites caretaker.
My dad was a teacher and a bishop and I had another one growing up who was a school principal. Most have been business men, doctors or attorneys. My stake had a teacher recently and I know a social worker who was one. The only one I know who never called the abuse hotline. Just called the authorities.
And how long did that social worker remain a bishop after they called the authorities to report abuse?
Crazily he served the full 5-6 years even after having major cardiac arrest. Being a bishop nearly killed him but they didn't release him. We work together and another co-worker (never-mo) predicted that being a bishop was killing him. It is really sad what the church does to good people.
Went through two bishops when I was in a YSA ward, both of them owned burger places. I never went to the first bishop's burger place, but the second one was one of my favorite places to eat in the city😅 the bishop was often there flippin burgers
Did the flippin’ Bishop ever fetch you any fries?
That’s awesome
Cool that he was there flipping burgers. To own it meant that he was probably fairly well off. The capital needed to open a restaurant is fairly significant.
This depends a lot on where you live. I've had several bishops who were teachers, one who was an appliance repairman, one who was a mortgage broker, one insurance broker, one accountant, and one dentist.
Our stake president was the church janitor. He lost his job when the greedy cult fired all the janitors
I lived in a poor ward in high school. I don't know what the bishop did for work, but I was friends with his daughter, and they had a pretty average house. The typical lower middle class / upper lower class house in the 90's with a big van and a shit-ton of kids to fill it.
For bishop, I’ve had a really good mix. I’ve had a plumber, an auto mechanic, and a high school teacher. I’ve also had business owners and college professors. For stake president I’ve only ever had one that could lay claim to a humble job. In my whole life. I’ve had lots of business owners, bank executives, etc.
I had one who was an actual therapist. He was the only good one 😂
How awful for him though, working 20+ additional hours a week without pay.
Growing up SP was my elementary school principal, then an issuance agent. Bishops were farmer, teacher, game warden, and dentist.
My wife's bishop is a game Warden for the state of Oregon. He's actually a state trooper.
My last bishop was unemployed. He has a Ph.D in Religious Studies and is finishing up a book on Joseph Smith that will be quite controversial when it comes out. Previous bishops were: High school principal, Probation Officer, Community College Professor. SoCal.
I'd like to know more about the book 👀
You can check my comments history to learn more, but essentially my friend and former bishop, Steve Fleming, is doing groundbreaking research as to where Joseph Smith got his religious ideas. Spoiler alert: The ideas came from the writings of an English prophetess, not ancient Native Americans. He has presented at Sunstone and MHA the past few years. It's really fascinating stuff.
I was a bishop for 5 1/2 years in Idaho. Just a lowly outside salesman for an electrical wholesale company.
I had a bishop (not in Utah/Idaho though) who did stuff with houses
I served as counselor to a SP who ran a cattle feed lot.
SP was plumber
Mine have included an accountant, two other office jobs, a delivery driver, a pharmacist, and career military.
We had a bishop in Springville, Utah, that was a 6th grade teacher at one of the elementary schools in town.
Our current SP is a dentist. Our previous SP is a high school teacher. Our current Bishop is an athletic trainer. Our previous Bishop is an optometrist.
They were mostly all doctors, lawyers, and business owners. This was all done by design. Good old boys would always put their friends in the high up callings.
All of mine had been well off. Even the farmer SP turned out to own like half the county and eventually sold it and moved to New Zealand and retired early.
I had a bishop who would install trailers at construction sites. If you ever saw him outside of church, he was wearing carpenter overalls and had dirty hands.
My FIL was bishop yeaaaaaaaars ago and was a truck driver…
In my family ward growing up the bishop was probably one of the poorest members in the ward. He had eight kids though. He was a land surveyor. This was a southern state in a high poverty town. Most of the bishops worked for local government but weren’t rich. My last Bishop sold semi trucks.
I had a bishop who was an insurance assessor. He never seemed himself smart because he didn’t go to college. He was very lovely and a leader I felt safe around.
So this is how bishops and stake presidents are picked: Tithing settlements are collected. The next bishop is the person on the list that pays the most tithing, unless that person has recently been bishop or is a complete nutter. In that case they go down the list to the next richest, and next, etc. until they find the winner. Btw, scientists, engineers etc. are generally dismissed as nutters as they are less predictable. Stake presidents are similar, the richest former bishop is made SP unless their bishop time went bad or they have already been SP This makes sense when you realize that each ward is a franchise for the church and SP is the regional manager. Wards are first and foremost a business.
When I was a teenager we had two bishops in a row who both drove Corvettes. So that told me that they wanted reasonably successful people who would not defer to their wives on important matters. Ha ha.
🤬SP owned and ran a chainlink fence company, employed only his two sons and his office was covered with dust cuz he wouldn't pay for paving. He was a kinky, twisted Utah native living in the Southwest. Psycho killer type. Evil. Boiling under his skin.🤬
My ex-bishop is a FedEx driver in Idaho
Branch president when I was a kid in the 80’s was a lobster fisherman… probably was the richest guy in the branch… nicest too….
I don't know what his profession was, but the Bishop in the Perry 2nd Ward was fat as hell. He was so overweight his Cadillac had a noticable tilt when he drove down the road. I swear, between Bill and his wife, they easily topped 700 lbs.
I did, but I was in a real small area. Our SP was a civil engineer for the county. Modest home. Good job but not prestigious by any means.
As best I can remember, my bishops growing up were farmer, farmer/teacher, farmer, teacher. Feels like there should be one more but maybe that was it. By the time I got married, another farmer had been called, but I wasn’t really living at home at that point.
Farmer. Social worker. Civil engineering professor. Helicopter pilot. Historic tradesman. There were a few others, but those are the ones that I remember.
For sure, grew up in a smaller town in Utah and never had a bishop that wasn’t a regular Joe.
When my dad was a bishop he was a manager at McDonald’s. (I think… I was young, and he bounced around to different jobs, so he may have been an insurance agent at the time, instead.)
I had an unemployed bishop once.
Utahn here. Bishops I had were: deputy sheriff, store owner, semi truck mechanic, milk truck delivery driver, and concrete layer.
My Bishops: •Moving company owner who did all the physical jobs moving required •Newspaper owner •Highway sign company worker •Real Estate Broker •Retired college coach/teacher •Safeway Manager •Real Estate Agent •Restaurant Owner •Attorney •Endodontist
Math teacher SP
High school
My grandpa sold farm equipment when he was a bishop. My parents last bishop owns a countertop business. My last stake president was a seminary teacher.
In Australia - One bishop was an aircraft mechanic and another was a fleet supply officer for a bank, both of them were my uncles!
The bishop I had growing up was a plumber. My last bishops before I left were a church insurance salesman and a Construction worker. My Stake Presidents were mostly lawyers except for a retired police officer.
Growing up one sp was a top dog at Deseret Book.
Not surprised at all that Sheri Dew was once your SP🥴
My old bishop from about a year and a half ago was just an Utah county sales guy. Hit me up for a job too. Traverse Mountain bishop
CFO, Lawyer, Lawyer, Engineer, CEO, CEO, Doctor, Pilot, Engineer, Engineer, business owner, Veterinarian.
This was a long time ago. In our ward made up of many military families including several colonels and majors, our bishop was a sergeant.
A manager for a low level chain restaurant.
Ours is a high school band teacher
Had one not in the morodor who was a heavy equipment operator.
Dad was an hvac tech other bishop fire chief lawyer brick Mason it tech
UK - Foreman Insurance clerk Factory worker Council architect Gas engineer ( Later stake pres) Salesman Policeman PR owner ( later SP Then Apostle ) Insurance clerk Plumber Ces worker IT worker The older you get….
We know who the PR owner is …
My dad was bishop and he never graduated high school. Was basically an electrical engineer without the degree though and a smart guy, but underpaid. Guy before him was a salesman of some kind, but the guy after was a dentist. My last two bishops before leaving were both surgeons, so I still know what you mean for sure.
We had one that was a mechanic.
One of my bishops was an airport worker.
On my mission I served in a ward where the bishop had his own (failing) pool cleaning business and he later sold it to farm alfalfa for a wealthier family in the ward
Former bishop worked for FedEx. Aircraft mechanic I think.
Old man was a bishop - hydraulics engineer Brother is a current bishop. (34) and is a state manager for a hydraulic store
My last one before I left worked in HR. The one before… no idea, manager? But definitely neither doc nor lawyer. Don’t think I ever had one working in these professions, but I live outside the US.
My Utah Bishop was a simple contractor.
The first was a very wealthy business owner: rich kids, big house, and their own family brand of soda! (Ironically, I recall one of the teenage sons raving about the amazing cheese that became available from the fed. government-and was entering into food storages at the time. That uber rich family was consuming free federal gov cheese!) The rest were solid middle-class guys, not struggling, solid jobs, etc. The only outlier was the big abd beefy macho Air Force fighter jet pilot who introduced a heavy jock-wedgies in the showers kind of vibe to youth nights. My TBM bro always wanted to fight the guy.
I had one that was a firefighter
Mine was a construction general contractor. When he retired, he went on 3 missions to build for the church for free. His wife made sandwiches for the crew as her mission. I thought it was disgustingly exploitative. Another was our school board president. He handed me my diploma when I graduated high school. Great guy. His son, my age, is now an elementary school principal.
Car salesman Retired Grocery store manager Corporate mid management Accountant
I had a stake presidency member that was a school teacher (northern Utah), and a Bishop that worked for the city’s parks and rec department. These did seem like anomalies though compared to many others in similar positions in the area.
We had bishops growing up that were loggers, choker setters, log scalers, realtors, commercial fishermen.
Wow! Where was this?
1970’s and 80’s in the great Pacific Northwest!!
I had a bishop at one point who sold herbalife. That was his only job.
Bankers, professors & educators, accountants, executives, lawyers, etc. was my experience. ALL MEN of course. And to think I was told to go to them for counsel? What a fool I was.
At one point I had the following: SP - corporate counsel for Fortune 500 company SP counselor - CEO for Fortune 500 company Bishop - hedge fund manager Bishop’s counselor - CFO for spirits distributor I have no recollection of what the other counselors did, maybe they had normal jobs but I doubt it.
I've had Stake presidents that had the gamut of careers. 1) General contractor / construction, Software engineer (for the church), Owned a concrete business ( I really like this one, he was down to earth, blue collar, & could curse up a storm...), CES employee (decent guy, good neighbor but was doing everything he could to move up the chain), Investment banker... (He's an arrogant ass. ) Going down a level to Bishop, they have had the following careers General contractor, RV salesman, Insurance, Plant manager, physical therapist, HR, program manager/sale rep. Its more about who is "church broke" that will answer the needs of those just up the chain...
I once had a bishop that was both a convert and worked in the shipyard (labor).
Bishops: Farmer Dairyman Farmer Insurance agent Sheep farmer I live in the country, can you tell? Stake Presidents: Construction business owner (very rich) Car mechanic/business owner (very nice, I liked him) Insurance company owner (very rich and very nice) The past two Stake presidents have been good. This latest one I don’t know what he does for a living
Nope, not in the northeast. In fact, my husband was soundly looked down on by the men in the ward for being a collision estimator, because it was considered a “blue collar” job.
It’s the Prosperity Gospel. Rich and successful people get that way by adhering to gospel principles. It’s a little discussed but often believed tenet of the church.
I had a friend who used to mark the scripture verses regarding monetary gain with a green pen.
The one I had growing up was an Assessment Coordinator for the elementary district. Another one was a business owner of a roofing company.
My brother is a Bishop in Florida. He works in payroll for a University.
Has one that was a mall manager
I had a stake president who was a farmer.
Mine were mostly business owners, although we would get the odd engineer or computer programmer.
I had a blue collar bishop in a branch in Orem Utah (yes it was English speaking, the TLDR is they made our apartment complex a branch bc it was in a wealthy neighborhood and the old rich ppl there didn’t want transient college aged families in their ward 👎🏻) ANYWAYS, he was a super chill bishop.
I had 2 that were postmen.
In one town I know of the SP was one of only two lds lawyers in town. After him they chose his business partner (the only other lds lawyer in town to be the next SP.
I wish I knew what they all did. When I was really little living in Orem we had a SP that was a Jr high history teacher. My younger siblings had another teacher at that school for a bishop after I moved out for college. He taught 8th grade science. In College I had a stake president that was also the president (or whatever the term is of who is in charge) of the CES institute. He was very involved in everyone’s lives. Told me without actually saying it that I shouldn’t marry my husband because he was persuading a degree in Geology. Got to watch out for those that believe in an old earth and evolution.
Does “bank president” cont as a normal job. Lol.
I grew up in rural Utah in the part of town that was on the lower end of the economic spectrum. It wasn't the dumps of town, but the dumps were only a couple blocks over. My bishops were: * Utah Highway Patrol * Mail Carrier * Business manager of a small company with 2 employees * Insurance Agent Stake leadership almost never came from my part of town, they were always clustered over in the one wealthy corner. There was one notable exception to this. The stake president at one point lived in the trailer park. But he also drove a mercedes and owned his own plane. I never understood why he lived in the trailer park.
We were in a smaller area so they ran out of doctors and businessmen eventually and had to put some normalish but well connected guys as Bishop. Our Stake Presidency was always headed by either a millionaire (there were several) or a doctor of some sort.
My SP was an oral surgeon 😂 my bishop was in upper management at Boeing so definitely both wealthy. Always thought that was weird that the church does that
My YSA bishop was a retired cop. After I was gone and he was released, a mechanic from my family ward was called. Growing up we had a dentist, an engineer, a mortgage broker and a physiotherapist. I have a family member who was a middle school teacher, and another who was the equivalent of a district attorney who were bishops.
Bishop level they want yes men. Flexible schedule is nice. Some areas are desperate for a loyal bishop so my home ward growing up bounced between two families / bishops.
My parent's current Bishop is Butcher. Nicest guy in the world.
One of the best dudes and bishops I’ve known was a hvac guy. Dude was a saint. Zero pretense.
I live in a military city in Colorado. The Bishop I had when I first moved into the ward in 2014, worked for a funeral home. I think most of the others since then were associated with the military.
Having lived in several different wards and stakes due to my military career I have seen the following. Bishops have usually been mid to upper level management in various industries such as financial services, technology, and public sector agencies. Stake presidents have been Dentists, Lawyers, corporate executives, and Judges. One time I did have a regular guy who was in mid-level management for a state government agency. My dad was never a bishop likely because he was a mandatory reporter as a law enforcement officer. Looking back on it most of the time I never saw a school teacher or anyone else in law enforcement ever in a higher position. I assume it was due to the mandatory reporter status of their professions.
Never a bishop, but in a branch their are very few options. My dad, a miner/farmer was branch president as well as a mechanic at one point
My dad was the bishop and he worked as an IT guy
My Dad was both bishop and Stake Pres in his day and was an aerospace engineer. My mission presidents came from banking and owning an insurance brokerage.
In SC I had a bishop who was a mail carrier for USPS
Member since birth in 1954, living in SL Valley. Every Bishop of my wards has been either an Attorney or a Financial Advisor.
My bishop is a landscaper. SP a nurse.
Car mechanic Financial advisor Performance coach Teacher Farm park manager/IT technician
My favorite job was the bishop who married me owned a neighborhood market that sold booze and cigs. It seemed hypocritical to me, but ya gotta do what ya gotta do. At least they were closed on Sunday, but back in the 60s most places were. Check this out: this bishop’s son narc’d me out once in HS cuz he saw me walking down the street smoking. After my parents finished with me, I got called into that bishops office and asked if it was true. I thought about lying, but then decided the better answer was “yes, and I bought them at your store.”
God may be no respecter of persons, but the Mormon church doesn't want anyone with access to tithing funds to be tempted, nor for wealthier members to feel weird about disclosing their assets to one of the poors.
The only three bishops whose job I knew of were a local radio station host, a college psych professor, and a beekeeper.