The Hayden Lake Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints recently reorganized its local leadership, naming Fred Sharpe as its new stake president. The event brought together former stake presidents spanning nearly 40 years of local service.

“It is a humbling honor to be able to serve both our local membership and the community in which we live and which we all love,” Sharpe said.

Lyal Zaugg served in the same capacity beginning in 1982 and provided some historical perspective.

“When I was called to serve as a stake president nearly four decades ago, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in the Coeur d’Alene area was comprised of one stake (a unit comprised of several local congregations), six wards (similar to a local congregation or parish), and around 5,000 members. We met in the building on Fourth Street and Anton Avenue, and we sometimes had to work hard to fill it up. Now the church is fortunate to have two stakes, 15 wards, and over 10,000 members in the nearby area, including the Post Falls area.”

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which is sometimes casually nicknamed the “LDS Church” or “Mormon Church,” stake presidents typically serve approximately nine years and are called to serve by general authorities of the church. The leaders all serve as head of an unpaid church hierarchy structure that includes local bishops serving individual congregations. The church is based in Salt Lake City and has over 16 million members and 65,000 volunteer missionaries worldwide. In 2012, the National Council of Churches ranked the church as the fourth-largest Christian denomination in the USA. In 2018 the church had more than 6.5 million members.

Because local church leaders all serve as lay-ministers in addition to their normal professions, past stake presidents have held a diverse array of careers during their callings, making for a challenging assignment. Ron McIntire, who served as Hayden stake president from 1991-2000, during which time he was also CEO of regional retail grocery chain Super 1 Foods, commented: “We all were intimidated and humbled, and felt inadequate when we were asked to serve in this calling. But you receive an enormous amount of help from others here, and Heavenly Father above.”

Sharpe, the newest Hayden Stake president, added: “In this room we have some good and selfless men who served as stake presidents while they ran companies, headed up industry organizations, coached teams, balanced family life, and worked hard to serve the local community. It is an honor now to work with others to seek what all of these men sought. We want to continue to grow and support our membership and make a difference in this amazing community.”

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Additional information on the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints can be found at https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org.