How I Lead as Elders Quorum President | An Interview with Ben Sabourin

Ben Sabourin has over 25 years of experience managing people in
various industries in the for-profit and nonprofit business worlds
and was most recently employed by the second-largest health
information management company in the U.S. as Director of Accounts
Receivable. Currently, he is a Certified Life Coach, a Real Colors
Certified Facilitator, and is back earning his bachelor's degree in
Business Administration from BYU-Idaho through the Pathways
Program. Ben has served as an assistant ward clerk, elders quorum
president and counselor, and a ward mission leader. Ben served in
the Dominican Republic, Santo Domingo East Mission, where his love
for the Spanish language, culture, and people was fostered. He is
now a high counselor assigned to serve the Spanish Branch in the
Green Bay, Wisconsin Stake. Ben and his wife Cindy have been
married 23 years and have two children and three grandchildren.
Highlights 02:30 Introduction to Ben Sabourin and his backstory
13:50 Leadership opportunities Ben has had outside the church 14:30
After 14 years of inactivity Ben came back to the church. He talks
about his path to come back. 21:30 Getting called as elders quorum
president 6 months after reactivating. It forced him to be a better
disciple of Jesus Christ faster. 24:00 Ben knows how to meet people
where they are because he himself has been there 25:00 Starting out
as elders quorum president and what Ben needed and learned 29:30 As
elders quorum president, Ben noticed that the men were very guarded
and it wasn’t easy to be vulnerable and talk to each other about
their struggles. His goal was to create opportunities to fix that.
30:45 Service is the way that we build a bridge to unity. We have
to be friends besides just the hour that we are at church. 32:00
Ben shares his ideas for socials for men and things that worked for
him. Socials became a way that Ben was able to help create unity in
his quorum. 36:25 Don’t wait for people to ask for a blessing. Ask
them if they need one. People, especially men, have the tendency to
say, “I’m fine.” 39:00 Love, share, invite. People don’t care
unless they know how much you care. In order to teach and lead the
people, you have to love the people. 41:50 What Ben has learned
from his time on the high council serving in the Spanish ward You
are there to love, share, and invite, not dictate Make yourself
available and earn trust After you’ve earned trust, do what you say
As a high councilman, stay out of their way and let them know what
their resources are and that you are available to them 50:45 Ben’s
final thoughts and what he has learned from being a leader Links
"Love, Share, Invite" by Elder Gary E. Stevenson Read the
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