High Priest's Group Leader

I was recently called to be High Priest's Group Leader. The calling feels very different this time around than I remember it in about 1996 when I was first called.

The first difference is that I'm now about the median age for a high priest in the group, rather than being one of the younger ones.  With the additional years of experience, I better appreciate some of the trials family members in the group may be experiencing. For instance:

• all of our children except Lisa have been through and past their teenage years
• we've had missionaries leave and return
• children have attended and in many cases completed with college educations
• we have grandchildren
• many of our children have married
• a few couples have struggled a bit with things in their marriage (and all worked them out so far, thankfully)

Through professional, church, and community opportunities I think I've learned some things about effective leadership in a group like this.  In particular, I think I'm better at framing a vision and setting and achieving goals in that direction.

Even though I should have understood earlier about the importance of effectively ministering in priesthood callings, I feel like I'm better at understanding that and more effective at doing it.

I've learned some things about effective teaching and am in a better position to bless the lives of group members through my own instruction and encouraging good practices in the teaching of others.