New Presidency Named In LDS Logandale Stake

The LDS Logandale Stake Presidency was reorganized on Sunday morning, August 9 at a general session of Stake Conference held at the LDS Stake Center in Logandale. President Asahel Robison, who has served as the Stake President for nine years was honorably released from his service, as well as his two counselors in the Presidency, James Robison and Monte Bledsoe.

Called as the new Stake President was Matthew Messer of Logandale; with Mendes Cooper of Overton called as first counselor, and Wilbur Frehner

Presiding at the conference was LDS church general authority, Cecil O. Samuelson of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Samuelson, who was assisted by Area Seventy Randy L. Wilkinson, had been tasked with overseeing the selection process of the new Stake Presidency. The two men said they had spent much of the day on Saturday prayerfully interviewing candidates for the position before determining who would be called to serve in the position of Stake President.

“We were not sent to find the best men in this stake,” said Samuelson in the Sunday morning conference. “That was not our assignment nor was it what we prayed for. Rather we were to find who the Lord wanted to serve in this position.”

Matthew Messer grew up in the Moapa Valley community. He graduated from Moapa Valley High School in 1983. After graduation he spent a year at school in Cedar City before being called to serve a two year mission for the LDS church in Montana. Following his mission, Messer attended college at BYU for a time. There he began dating local girl, Corinne Adams, who he had known in high school. The two were soon married and eventually relocated back to southern Nevada.

Messer continued his education at UNLV where he received a Bachelors degree in Education. He has taught for 13 years in the Clark County School District. Eleven of those years have been spent teaching U.S. History at the Moapa Valley High School. He has also spent those 11 years in the post of MVHS Girls Volleyball coach. He currently is the Athletic Director at the high school.

Messer has served in many positions in the church. For the past two years he has served as the bishop of the Logandale Second Ward. Before that he served as a counselor in that ward’s bishopric under Bishop Berkley Marshall.

“I never thought that I would say this but I was really comfortable as bishop of the Logandale Second Ward,” Messer said at the Sunday conference. “I know that a lot of you are probably asking ‘Is Matt Messer really equal to this task?’ And I would agree with many of you that he is not. But I know that who the Lord calls, He qualifies and I pray for His blessings and support.”

In an interview, Messer acknowledged that, following President Asahel Robison, he has big shoes to fill. “I feel overwhelmed by this calling and inadequate,” he said. “But I do look forward to serving the good people of this Stake.”

In his final address as Stake President, Robison voiced support for the new Stake Presidency. “I am grateful to raise my hand with all of you and sustain this wonderful Stake President and his counselors,” Robison said. “I am grateful to observe the simple order of the church as it moves forward and to know that this is God’s church. He is in charge and His will is done.”

An LDS Stake President is called to preside over a large geographic area including a number of local congregations, called wards or branches. The Logandale Stake President oversees 11 wards and 2 branches located in the greater Moapa Valley area. The LDS church has a volunteer lay ministry. LDS Stake Presidents typically serve for a period of about nine years before being released.