Prison Branch - how to record an Out of Unit Branch President

Hello,

We have a prison branch in our stake and we just changed the branch president. I cannot figure out how to record the new branch president. The individual is listed in the branch as an Out of Unit Member but I cannot see his name from the calling screen. I am trying to do this at the stake level. Does it need to be done at the branch level?

Any help is greatly appreciated. What was easy in MLS appears impossible through lds.org and the LCR tools.

Craig Christensen
Stake Clerk

When you (or the branch) entered the out-of-unit information, did you include priesthood information? He will not show up on the calling drop down unless his out-of-unit record shows that he is an elder or high priest.

You are correct that the stake records the branch president, but it has to come after the branch enters the out-of-unit record, including priesthood information.

lajackson wrote:You are correct that the stake records the branch president, but it has to come after the branch enters the out-of-unit record, including priesthood information.

With wards being able to add out-of-unit records on Leader and Clerk Resources, priesthood information is no longer required. All the ward needs to create the out-of-unit record on Leader and Clerk Resources is the branch president's name, and his membership record number. Then, after his record is created on the ward level, he can be given the branch president calling on the stake level. The branch president (or a bishop, for wards) is the only ward leader who needs to be recorded on the stake level – counselors and clerks can be recorded by the branch president (after he's added) or by a ward-level clerk.

I must have something wrong. The new branch president was the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency. He is recorded as an out of unit member. His Priesthood is recorded.

The error I get is "Your search by name or MRN did not return any valid results, either because the information you entered is incorrect, or because the results are not allowed in this context. For someone serving from outside the ward or branch, please have a clerk add him or her as an out-of-unit member."

His name shows up under the members list as an out of unit member.

I may have to call Salt Lake.

craigbc wrote:The error I get is "Your search by name or MRN did not return any valid results, either because the information you entered is incorrect, or because the results are not allowed in this context. For someone serving from outside the ward or branch, please have a clerk add him or her as an out-of-unit member."

My guess is that for some reason your candidate is not qualified to be a branch president. LCR is quite strict in applying the Handbook. Unfortunately, it's unclear to me what is required to be a branch president. I know a bishop must be married and a high priest. I don't know if either applies to a branch president. The other possibility is that you may have to release him from his current calling. I don't think you can do that directly at the stake level, but perhaps you can release the current branch president and that should auto-release his councilors.

craigbc wrote:I must have something wrong. The new branch president was the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency. He is recorded as an out of unit member. His Priesthood is recorded.

The error I get is "Your search by name or MRN did not return any valid results, either because the information you entered is incorrect, or because the results are not allowed in this context. For someone serving from outside the ward or branch, please have a clerk add him or her as an out-of-unit member."

His name shows up under the members list as an out of unit member.

I may have to call Salt Lake.

I wasn't able to do it by name, but if I put in his MRN it found him. That was from the stake level.

Thank you very much. When I used his MRN I found him.

In my branch (I am the branch clerk), the stake was having the exact same problem. The stake needed to move the 2nd counselor to the Branch President position after reorganization of the branch presidency. This was the exact situation described in this post. 1) We could re-create the problem (meaning, no amount of searches on the name could find the valid out of unit member record that had existed in the branch for the last 3 years) 2) The proposed solution - look them up using the Member Record Number (MRN) immediately found the record and allowed the stake to assign them as branch president.

Posting to simultaneously thank those who pointed out the solution and also note that this quirk still exists ( . . . but I totally get that this is a low impact and low frequency bug . . . so not necessarily at the top of the "fix-it" list)

jonesrk wrote:

craigbc wrote:I must have something wrong. The new branch president was the 2nd counselor in the branch presidency. He is recorded as an out of unit member. His Priesthood is recorded.

The error I get is "Your search by name or MRN did not return any valid results, either because the information you entered is incorrect, or because the results are not allowed in this context. For someone serving from outside the ward or branch, please have a clerk add him or her as an out-of-unit member."

His name shows up under the members list as an out of unit member.

I may have to call Salt Lake.

I wasn't able to do it by name, but if I put in his MRN it found him. That was from the stake level.

I am having the same issue. Did you ever get this resolved?

carldonaldrobertson wrote:I am having the same issue. Did you ever get this resolved?

Earlier in the thread there are several posts that indicate there may be a bug searching by name but you should be successful using the brother's MRN to find him for the calling. Did you try that?

russellhltn wrote:Unfortunately, it's unclear to me what is required to be a branch president. I know a bishop must be married and a high priest. I don't know if either applies to a branch president.

I served as a branch president as an Elder. I am married but replaced a branch president who was single and had been in the calling for 9 years. However, church policies for this topic may have changed since then (it was over 20 years ago in another state).

davesudweeks wrote:However, church policies for this topic may have changed since then (it was over 20 years ago in another state).

I'm finding it real hard to find an answer in the current handbook. But the answer may depend on of it's a branch in a stake or a branch in a mission.

russellhltn wrote:

davesudweeks wrote:However, church policies for this topic may have changed since then (it was over 20 years ago in another state).

I'm finding it real hard to find an answer in the current handbook. But the answer may depend on of it's a branch in a stake or a branch in a mission.

Agreed. In my case it was a regular branch in a regular stake. I still remember when the stake president pointed out that I did not need to be a High Priest to serve as branch president so I would serve as an Elder.