Clerk Training

Council Bluffs Iowa Stake

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 Overview
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Your sacred responsibility
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Recording ordinances, life events, and callings
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Online tools for leaders, clerks, and members
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Training for leaders and clerks
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Tech forum and wiki
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Sending checks to the stake and other units
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Missionary funds
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Home Storage Center orders
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Young Women's camp
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Budgets

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 A Sacred Responsibility
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"Whatsoever you do not record on earth shall not be recorded in heaven" D&C
128:8
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Clerks and members have a sacred and important responsibility to make sure
ordinances and other information are accurately recorded on the permanent
records of the Church.
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Even though an ordinance has been approved by those with the proper keys and
performed by the proper authority, it is not valid unless it is properly recorded.
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A membership record must be accurate and complete if it is to be of the greatest
value to priesthood leaders.
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All members, including clerks, home teachers, and ward leaders, have
responsibilities to help make sure records are correct.

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 Recording Ordinances
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"When saving ordinances or priesthood ordinations are performed, the appropriate Church
representative should attend and ensure that the ordinance or ordination is recorded. In the
case of civil marriage or other civil events, the ward clerk is responsible to obtain the
necessary information to record these significant events if he or the bishop is not in
attendance." – Presiding Bishopric
– Baptism of convert: Missionary
– Confirmation of convert: Ward clerk (provides a copy of the Baptism and Confirmation
Record to the missionary, who ensures both ordinances are recorded)
– Blessing of an infant: Ward clerk or assistant ward clerk
– Baptism and confirmation of members of record: Ward clerk or assistant ward clerk
– Aaronic Priesthood ordination: Ward clerk or assistant ward clerk
– Melchizedek Priesthood ordination: Stake clerk or a designee (records the ordination in
stake MLS or ensures that the ward clerk records it in ward MLS)
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An ordinance tracking log (as well as a calling tracking log) greatly increases your ability to
ensure nothing is forgotten.

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 Ordinances Not Recorded?
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Priesthood ordinations, births and deaths, baptisms of children of record,
marriages, and other changes can build up over time, and information vital to
recording these events properly can be lost, if the event wasn't recorded soon after
it occurred, when the memories of those present are fresh.
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In the case of ordinations to the priesthood, the failure to record the ordinance
correctly can have a ripple effect, as uncertainty about if and when the ordination
happened leads to uncertainty about ordinances performed by that priesthood
holder.
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If a member's ordinance information is not recorded on his records or appears to be
recorded incorrectly, the Handbook is quite specific about what to do. If proper
witnesses can be found, the ordinance can be recorded. But if a member can't
prove that an ordinance occurred, it must be performed again. If the member has
received other ordinances after this invalid ordinance, they must be ratified by the
First Presidency.

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 Recording Life Events
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It is important to record the life events for all individuals within the unit boundaries.
These events are not recorded as ordinances in MLS, but they still fall under the
responsibilities of the ward clerk to be recorded on the membership record.
– Births
– Born in the covenant (BIC)
– Adoptions
– Full-time missions
– Civil and common law marriages
– Divorce
– Deaths

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While the clerk is responsible for recording these events, the assistance of all
members in the unit is vital to keeping the records accurate. Home and visiting
teachers are crucial in this respect, and need to be reminded on occasion that
major events in the lives of those that they visit need to be passed on to their
priesthood leaders, who will inform the clerks of any events that need to be
recorded.

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 Members
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Members should notify the clerk of the following:
– Change of residential address, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses
– Marriage
– Divorce
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They should also review their IOS during tithing settlement and provide updates
and corrections to the clerk.

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 Home Teachers
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Home teachers should notify the clerk of the following for families they are
assigned:
– Change of residential address
– Marriage
– Divorce

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 Ward/Branch Leaders
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Ward leaders should make sure the clerk receives copies of:
– Child blessing records.
– Baptism and confirmation records.
– Priesthood ordination records.

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 Recording Callings
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Ward clerks are responsible to ensure changes in callings are recorded accurately
and timely. However, this task may be delegated to membership clerks.
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When recording callings in MLS, whenever possible, select Standard Positions from
lists provided by MLS. Access to information on LDS.org that is specific to a position
is determined by the Standard Positions in MLS.
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It is therefore important to record all callings in MLS. Other benefits include:
– It allows priesthood leaders to run various reports that will show the callings for
an organization
– You can see a list of members without callings
– Entering callings for converts will cause the New Member Report to be updated
automatically
– Leadership callings will automatically be populated on the Officers Sustained
Form used at ward conference and stake conference
– Calling information will be sent to the stake and be listed in the Church Directory
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There is now a Custom Position Review tool in MLS to review existing custom
positions to see if there are standard positions that can be used in place of each
custom position.

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 Online Tools (lds.org)
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LDS.org provides a number of useful online tools.
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Leader Resources: Tools and applications to help local leaders minister in their
callings.
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Clerk Resources: Tools and applications to help local clerks in their callings.
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Missionary Online Recommendation System.
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Facility Issue Reporting (FIR): not yet used by our stake
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Church Directory of Organizations and Leaders (CDOL)
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LUFAS (Local Unit Financial Auditing System)

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 Online Tools for Members
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Tools for the general membership:
– Notes and Journal
– Calendar
– Directory
– Newsletter
– Lesson Schedules
– Maps: meetinghouse locator, ward and stake maps, meeting times, assigned
leaders, and more.
– Mobile Applications: Apple, Android, BlackBerry, and webOS devices.
– Patriarchal Blessing: Request a copy.

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 Leader and Clerk Resources
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The Leader Portal on lds.org provides stake presidencies, bishoprics, executive
secretaries, and clerks with access to helpful resources for their leadership callings.
The resources include links to relevant applications, reports from MLS, calling lists,
and tools for focusing on members.
– Member Lookup
– Communications
– Leadership Training Resources
– Welfare Tools
– Church Handbooks
– Directory of Leaders

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 Leader Portal Resources
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The Applications and Resources menus list applications relevant to leaders and
clerks:
– Missionary Online Recommendation System
– Church Directory of Organizations and Leaders
– Employment Resource Services
– Temple Entry System
– Purchase Materials from http://store.lds.org
– Action and Interview List: children approaching baptism age, unbaptized
members, overdue Aaronic priesthood ordinations, young men approaching
mission age, men who have not served a mission, and potential missionary
couples.
– Key indicators shows a chart of key statistics

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 Leader Portal Resources
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The Membership menu provides access to membership records and the Officers Sustained
Form.
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The Organizations menu shows reports about callings.
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The Reports menu shows many of the reports that were previously only available in MLS.
– Action and Interview List
– Unit Statistics
– Without Recommend
– Members Moved In
– Not Endowed
– Birthday List
– Quarterly Report
– New Member
– Key Indicators
– Temple Recommend Status
– Attendance Rolls
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The Instruction menu provides leaders access to information on various subjects.
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Under the Other menu, the Access table shows which portal resources are available to
each standard position.

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 Clerk Resources
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Clerk Resources also contains links to
– Order Office Supplies from Staples
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Your User ID: LDS#######
– Church Handbooks
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Handbook 1
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Handbook 2
– Clerk Training Lessons

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 Leader and Clerk Training
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Church training web sites are in a transitional state. Training lessons are being
migrated from old sites to new sites.
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On lds.org, click Resources, then:
– Leadership and Teaching
– Melchizedek Priesthood
– All Callings
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Record-Keeping and Technology Support contains lessons for Finance,
Membership, and Meetinghouse Technology
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Some of these lessons are required by the financial and membership audits.

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 Tech Forum and Wiki
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If you can't find an answer in RKATS or the Wiki, then post your question to the
Forum.
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LDSTech Forum: https://tech.lds.org/forum/
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LDSTech Wiki: https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Main_Page
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https://tech.lds.org/wiki/Clerks Is being moved to https://clerksupport.lds.org which
is also
https://www.lds.org/callings/melchizedek-priesthood/records-and-technology-suppo
rt

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 Sending Checks to Other Units
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There are many circumstances that require you to send checks to other units.
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After you print and sign the check (two signatures!), fill out a donation slip. Include
the white copy with the check, and file the yellow copy with your financial receipts.
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Do NOT hand checks to clerks. Checks must be mailed or handed to authorized
priesthood leaders.

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Remitting Surplus Missionary Funds
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The funds in the Ward Missionary account may accumulate through donations and
interest added on the Unit Financial Statement. It is suggested that a unit only have 2 - 3
months of payment surplus in the Ward Missionary fund for each missionary in the field.
When reviewing Ward Missionary funds for surplus make sure that funds donated in
advance for a missionary are not sent in as surplus funds.
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After reviewing the Ward Missionary funds, if you have more money than is needed to
fund your current ward missionaries, please remit the surplus to the stake.
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To do this, write a check from the Ward Missionary account making the stake the payee.
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The stake will then deposit this money as a donation into their Ward Missionary account.
The stake will review the needs of the units in the stake and determine the amount of
funds to hold in the stake's Ward Missionary account. Money held in the stake's Ward
Missionary account can be used to help other units in the stake in need of additional
funds to support their missionaries.
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When a mission is complete, zero out the account. If the balance is negative, ask the
missionary's family if they can pay the remaining balance. If the balance is positive, it
cannot be refunded, so transfer the balance to the Ward Missionary fund so it is available
for redistribution.

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 Transferring Missionary Funding to
Another Ward
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When the family of a currently serving missionary moves to a different ward or branch, financial
responsibility for the missionary is not automatically transferred to the new ward.
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The bishops of the wards involved need to discuss the transfer of financial responsibility. Note
that the bishop of the former ward cannot transfer financial responsibility for the missionary's
support to the new ward unless the bishop of the new ward agrees and willingly accepts
responsibility for the support. Once they have agreed on the transfer of support and the timing,
either one of the bishops or their designated representative who knows the necessary details
should contact the Church to make the arrangements.
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The Missionary Department will need the new contact information for the missionary's parents so
they can keep their records up to date. Call the Missionary Department and they will update the
unit and address for the missionary. They will also create a Ward Missionary subcategory for the
missionary in the new ward's MLS.
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Contact Local Unit Support about the transfer of financial responsibility through a phone call (the
Missionary Department can transfer the phone call for you) or an MLS message and provide the
following information:
– Full name of the missionary
– Unit number and name of the new unit
– Effective date of the change (may be a past date)
– Indication that the two bishops have agreed upon the change

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 Home Storage Center
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Members, Wards and Branches should not write checks to the Home Storage Center
(HSC) for Stake Food Storage trips. The stake collects all payments from the units
and submits one check to pay for all unit orders.
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The Member gives an order to the Food Storage Specialist.
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The Money - exact cash or a check to the Unit - is placed into a tithing envelope under
the “other” category and written “Home Storage Center”. Members then give that
tithing envelope to a member of the bishopric.
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The Unit Food Storage Specialist enters the orders on the HSC’S Google doc
spreadsheet.
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On the last Sunday orders are taken, the Food Storage Specialist must ensure that all
orders have been paid to the Unit and in the correct amounts.
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A report must be generated from the Ward Clerk that shows all the individual
payments of the members from the MLS Other Account under Home Storage Center.
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During that week, the unit specialist reconciles the orders between the printed report
from the Ward Clerk, the paper order forms, and the HSC’S Google doc spreadsheet.

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 Home Storage Center
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The Sunday after orders have stopped being collected, a spreadsheet is printed off
the HSC’s Google doc and given to the Ward Clerk showing member names,
orders, and money totals.
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Ward Clerk should file all related paperwork so that it is available for the auditor to
review in February and August.
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The Stake Food Storage Specialist
– Takes the all totals and orders for each unit from the Google doc and emails it
to Stake Presidency.
– Meets with the Stake Clerk who cuts a single Stake check to take to the HSC.
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The Stake Clerk will then have the exact unit's total amounts from their MLS Other
account under HSC and Ward Clerks will produce a check to the Stake for the
correct amount. Please pay the Stake promptly.

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 Young Women's Camp
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Each girl attending camp pays the same amount (e.g., $75) to the unit's Other
account using a donation slip and envelope.
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Each unit sends one check to the stake for all girls planning to attend. The stake
camp directors then base their whole camp on what they estimate it will cost. They
have not increased this $75 in about 5 years, but it may change this year.
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Each unit then does a fund raiser for the girls specifically for camp. If the unit does
not raise enough money, then they usually send money from their budget to the
stake in addition to the amount raised in the Other account.

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 Budgets
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The fundamental principles of the Budget Allowance program are found in
Handbook 1, section 14.7.2:
– All local unit activities are to be funded from the Budget Allowance
– Members are not to pay any funds out of pocket to participate in activities
(there are exceptions for funding a single camp for youth)
– Members are to submit receipts for reimbursement for all expenses they incur
as they serve in their callings
– Activities are to be simplified to fit within the Budget Allowance
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In 2004, the Budget Allowance was increased to fund activities more effectively and
relieve the financial burden on families. With this increase, units were instructed
that fund-raising activities should be substantially reduced or eliminated.

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 Budgets
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The Church allocates funds to the stake for the next quarter, based on attendance
figures from the previous quarter. For example, the allocation for the first quarter of
2013 was based on attendance reported on the Quarterly Report for the third
quarter of 2012. The allocations are calculated on the following metrics:
– Average Sacrament Meeting Attendance listed on the Quarterly Report (which
comes from the last month of the quarter only).
– Young Men and Young Women attending meetings, as reported on the
Quarterly Report
– Primary children ages 8-11 attending meetings. Since this exact figure is not
available on the Quarterly Report, it is estimated by taking the percentage of
Primary attendance from the Quarterly Report, and multiplying that percentage
by the actual number of Primary children aged 8-11.
– Young Single Adults attending meetings. Since this exact figure is not available
on the Quarterly Report, it is estimated by taking the percentage of Sacrament
Meeting attendance from the Quarterly Report, and multiplying that percentage
by the actual number of Young Single Adults aged 18-30.

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 Budget Reports
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Ward and stake financial clerks should give regular budget reports to their
priesthood leaders. When the clerk obtains the required signature for the monthly
review of the Action Items, it is a good opportunity to review the current status of
the Budget and other financial categories. The Summary version of the Budget
Report in MLS is a helpful starting point for this discussion.
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Auxiliary presidents and other leaders responsible for Budget subcategories should
receive periodic reports of their year-to-date budget allowance, expenditures, and
remaining balance. This is conveniently done in a ward or stake council meeting.
Generally, the Detail version of the Budget Report in MLS provides the necessary
information.

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Questions?

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