Sustaining with No Meetings?

[ckmcdonald]

Has the Church given guidance on how we are to have Priests sustained to be ordained to the MP when there are no meetings to sustain them in?
This is holding up the advancement of our prospective male missionaries.

[russellhltn]

None that I've seen so far. The General Handbook 38.2.5.1 says

Some brethren may need to be ordained before they can be presented in a general stake meeting. When this occurs, they are presented in their ward sacrament meetings for a sustaining vote. Their names are then presented in the next stake conference or stake general priesthood meeting to ratify the ordination.

Of course that's a bit problematic when there's no sacrament meetings. To date, we've only missed one Sunday.

I'm sure guidance will come before long. Perhaps General Conference. If it can't wait, that's a question for the stake president to raise with the area authority.

[ckmcdonald]

Ironically it isn't holding up the sisters going on missions.
We have a couple brothers we need to advance to Elders here pretty soon so they can get endowed.
We actually have the same problem with a few Stake callings - where to sustain them?

[thawkins3]

I think in both cases, the individuals who were successfully interviewed by their bishop, then stake president, would be presented by the stake president to the high council to be sustained, then later ratified in their home ward and next stake conference. If this were not the case, then it would mean the stake presidency is prevented from moving forward on certain callings without units sustaining their decisions. That seems a bit out of order; the importance of stake-wide sustaining, notwithstanding.

[drepouille]

On a related note, we just changed our ward executive secretary, but we have no way of obtaining a sustaining vote for the change. Our stake presidency has told the unit leaders that without a sustaining vote, we can only make assignments, not callings. Since our old executive secretary is leaving town this week, his records will soon be gone, leaving an empty position.

Even so, I can't update the position in LCR until I am able to sit with a member of the bishopric at the same keyboard to make the change, which requires two passwords.

[eblood66]

Even so, I can't update the position in LCR until I am able to sit with a member of the bishopric at the same keyboard to make the change, which requires two passwords.

You could use a screen share service to allow the other leader to enter their password. I've used Join.me, Google Remote Assistance and Skype in the past (although not for this particular purpose).

[brown67]

Our Stake said no sustainings or new callings while we are meeting at home.

[nwisle]

Our Stake held a webcast and were given instruction that we will be moving forward with meetings via broadcast. There are going to be suggested changes/ callings requiring a sustainment. The President is asking for a reply by email or call for an opposing vote, to be ratified at our earliest meeting with a sustaining vote.

[stevecline]

Our stake had a large boundary change the week before the shutdown, leaving about half the stake positions unfilled. The direction from our stake presidency is to email the membership with the proposed callings, and call for any objections to be sent to the stake presidency, with the presumption of approval unless they hear otherwise. The positions will be ratified at our next in-person stake or ward meetings.

[BrianEdwards]

It's never clear how much unified practice there is between Areas, even in the US. Our Area Presidency has indicated the same as others, that for callings "essential for moving forward the work of salvation", sustaining and releases may be done virtually. We haven't done that yet, but if we do, we might also present the name at our first available sacrament meeting for "ratification" of sustainings done virtually, or recognition of a virtual release.