Quote:
Originally Posted by jay santos
You want examples so you can shoot them down. If I could give you examples as a white boy from Utah, then surely the GA's would be aware of them. So I can't. But what I do know is that everytime I've been part of a strategic team, diversity has increased the awareness of needs from different groups. And when diversity is not present, the result suffers--even when the group members make conscious effort to think outside our culture/geography .
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I'll give you an example from my side.
While living in Germany I had the opportunity several times to sit down with Henry Burkhardt, an East German who was pivotal in the church's establishment there during the communist era. He served as mission president there (while the Wall still existed) and as the Freiburg temple's first president, about which I speak. The story is now many years old in my mind but I'll relate it as best I can.
The East German saints, what few there were, had been pestering their government for many years about getting permission to attend their nearest temple, which at the time was the Swiss temple. Occasionally permission was granted, but typically it wasn't (given the political climate) and the government was weary of the petitioning.
Brother Burkhardt was well known to the government--he served as the face of the saints for many years--and was eventually approached by them on this issue. They asked him: how come your church can't just build a temple here? Temples were a little harder to come by in those days (this was the early 80's) and he explained that it was unlikely. But at the DDR's behest and after prayer, he left for Salt Lake City to ask the leadership there about the option.
As he told it to me, he arrived at Church Headquarters, and walked down the hall to greet President Monson (with whom he was well-acquainted). Monson, being unaware of Brother Burkhardt's reason for coming, shook his hand and said (I'm paraphrasing): "Henry, it's wonderful you're here! We want to ask you if you think it would be possible to build a temple in East Germany!"
Brother Burkhardt was stunned. He explained that it was the very purpose for which he'd come, the government was supportive, and the temple was built in near-record time. In fact, it was announced
after the Frankfurt Temple, and still completed and dedicated before it.
Now this is nothing but anecdote, but in my mind it illustrates the remarkable "in-tune-ness" of the brethren to world situations. I can imagine this kind of story being replayed over and over in cultures and nations around the world. Would having a German, even an East German, in the Quorum of the Twelve have accelerated the process? I don't know. Would he have given the Twelve a more accurate view of the circumstances than Henry Burkhardt? I don't know.
What I do know is, the work moves remarkably forward without artificial attempts at diversity for diversity's sake.