Replacement temple recommends?

New Ward Clerk here.

My Bishop (he's new too) told me he thought he heard there is such thing as a "replacement temple recommend" that is different than the normal temple recommend. (We have a sister in the ward who lost her wallet and, alas, her temple recommend.

When I called the Distribution Center, they hadn't heard of it.

Anyone out there know if these exist, and if so, where I can order some for my Bishop?

Thanks!

-Josh

I'm not seeing any such thing in the handbook. I'd check the instructions found in the temple recommend book. Failing that, it's a do-over.

Note Handbook 1: 3.3.6 for reporting stolen recommends. They need to be reported so they can be canceled.

joshbingham wrote:We have a sister in the ward who lost her wallet and, alas, her temple recommend.

There is no such thing as a "replacement" recommend. "Replacement" merely refers to the fact that an existing recommend is being replaced by a new recommend.

The new recommend form is the same. The bishop reports to the stake that the current recommend has been lost or stolen. The stake updates the old recommend as lost or stolen so it cannot be used.

The bishop issues a new recommend to the member based on worthiness and the usual interview process. The member visits with a member of the stake presidency. If all is in order, the stake activates the new recommend.

In one sense, every temple recommend that is not for living ordinances is a replacement recommend. We struggle to get bishoprics to tell the stake presidency promptly when recommends are lost or stolen. They usually just issue a replacement, and the stake presidency is confused when the member can't produce the old recommend for destruction.

The big question is whether a full interview is required if a recommend that was issued fairly recently is washed, destroyed, lost, or stolen. After how many months do you require a full interview?

With me, it is six months. And then I ask them if there are any worthiness changes since our interview.
I also "back date" the new recommend to the month it was issued.

TinMan wrote:I also "back date" the new recommend to the month it was issued.

While this is certainly acceptable (mission presidents are instructed to do it), the first question from the stake presidency is probably going to be, "What took you so long to get here?"

Worthiness is always required. Unless the last interview was conducted very recently, I usually ask all the questions. Even if it was only a month or two ago, I usually pick a few questions I am prompted to ask, and always include the last one.

Although a prior worthiness interview does not determine current worthiness, there is precedent in the instructions we received when the old-style recommends were replaced with the newer bar-coded recommends.

Does anyone here remember when every temple recommend in the Church expired on May 31st every year? How about when the stake president had to send them to Church Headquarters for endorsement by the prophet? No last minute recommend and temple trips in those days. [grin]

Thanks all for your help. Makes sense.

One follow-up question: So the "tab" in the temple recommend book for "Replacement Recommends" What should actually go into that tab? (Is it just the carbon copies of ALL recommends issued, or it is just the carbon copies of recommends issued that were for those members who lost their recommend and then had to be issued a new one?)

I have a new Bishop and we are just trying to figure out what goes where.

A thousand thank-yous for your help. This forum has been an INVALUABLE tool for me.

-Josh

lajackson wrote: While this is certainly acceptable (mission presidents are instructed to do it), the first question from the stake presidency is probably going to be, "What took you so long to get here?"

Answer: "Because I lost it, so the bishop backdated it to the date it was issued?"

If it is longer than three months without that excuse, the SP is supposed to send the applicant back to the bishop for another interview. At least in our stake.

TinMan wrote:Answer: "Because I lost it, so the bishop backdated it to the date it was issued?"

If it is longer than three months without that excuse, the SP is supposed to send the applicant back to the bishop for another interview. At least in our stake.

That would work just fine for me. In our stake, if it has been longer than a few months, or if the recommend has been expired for a while, the stake president does the interview himself instead of letting his counselors do it.