Ministering with Leader and Clerk Resources (2024)

by Larry Richman | Feb 17, 2015

This article is from tech.lds.org:

You might be surprised to learn that priesthood and auxiliary leaders, clerks, and secretaries do not need to travel to the meetinghouse to perform administrative tasks in the Member and Leader Services (MLS) software on the clerk’s computer. Instead, they can use the Leader and Clerk Resources (LCR) tool anywhere the Internet is available. This leaves more time for leaders to minister to members while having the information to do so close at hand.

When you become a leader, the clerk records your calling in MLS. This gives you calling-specific access within LCR. From LDS.org, sign in and select “Leader and Clerk Resources” from the Tools and Support menu. The landing page opens to a central location to view your ward calendar, link to training materials, and open menus with many pre-built reports, statistical summaries, and configurable lists. The help system automatically covers tasks you would perform within LCR as part of your calling.

All leaders have access to reports to help them identify who has a calling and who does not, as well as general information to aid their stewardships. Other reports are specific to organizations. A Primary leader may pull up a list of children sorted by age group to help manage class sizes, or to promote advancement of children in programs and through developmental milestones. A youth leader may look up profile information to find the membership record number (MRN) of youth to help them get started with family history. A priesthood leader may access missing ordinance information to help members set goals. One convenient feature of LCR for all organizations is the ability to print blank roles for taking attendance at meetings.

Advantages multiply as developers continue to integrate the functionality of MLS into LCR. According to Stephen T. Carlile, LCR product manager, the development of home and visiting teaching modules are high priorities. With many opinions on how best to record and track home visits, Carlile points out, “Moving functionality to LCR is immensely complex, requiring the creation of new databases for information once stored locally.”

If you currently have access to LCR, you will notice many places in the program where you are invited to submit feedback. Your comments are important to the people who prioritize tasks in the software development process. Do not hesitate to let yourself be heard as you become familiar with this remarkable resource.