Stake President Mike Mabe, center, with first counselor Jamil Corbitt (left) and Duane Stafford (right)
On November 18th, CCPL Director Michael R. Mabe accepted the call to be the new stake president of the Richmond Virginia Chesterfield Stake of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The change in area leadership was announced at the church’s semiannual Chesterfield Stake Conference, which was held at Hopewell High School to better accommodate the large number of local Latter-day Saints in attendance for the historic meeting. Leaders from the Church’s headquarters in Salt Lake City, Utah—including Area Seventy Elder Richard J. DeVries and Elder Robert C. Gay of the Presidency of the Seventy—presided at the meeting.
President Mabe replaces James Matthew Scott as the leader of the stake, which comprises nine different Latter-day Saint congregations south of Richmond down to the North Carolina border, totaling about 3,266 members. President Mabe selected Jamil Khalid Corbitt, of Chester, and Duane Stafford, of Chesterfield, to serve as counselors with him in the presidency.
Former President Scott, who served as stake president for the past nine years, said, “It has been a time of great love, learning and service. We sought to inspire others to exercise faith in Jesus Christ, to repent, and to stay faithful. I received the love of many during my service and it has blessed me and my family. I'm certain President Mabe will enjoy this same support.”
When asked about balancing his job as Executive Director of Chesterfield County Public Libraries and being a stake president for the Church, President Mabe said, “Chesterfield County encourages its employees to volunteer in the community. Over the years that I have volunteered at CCPL, I have used my professional skills as a librarian and an administrator in a number of training, teaching, and leadership assignments.” Some of those previous assignments have included serving as a bishop (pastor), a director of public affairs, and as a full-time missionary for the Church.
With the exception of the highest levels of church leadership, all clergy within the Church of Jesus Christ are lay clergy. They receive calls to serve based on divine inspiration, and most serve in the Church while also holding full-time employment outside of the Church. Church leaders conducted dozens of interviews with several local Church leaders before extending the calls to President Mabe and his counselors.
President Scott said, “There is no politicking, no consensus building, and no predetermined outcomes. Two priesthood leaders who live outside our area and have had little contact with members of our Stake interview a select group of leaders and then prayerfully consider those who they feel inclined to recommend to God. They listen to the Spirit, and when confirmed they call the new stake president. This is consistent with how Jesus Christ organized his Church and it’s a wonderful witness to us today that this is His Church and He directs it.”
Members of the Church on the Chesterfield Stake News Facebook page expressed their support of the new leadership through comments of congratulations, praise, and gratitude for the new presidency.
President Mabe said of the assignment, “I feel humbled and overwhelmed.”
This change in local leadership follows the April announcement made by President Russell M. Nelson, President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that the Church would be building a temple in Richmond, Virginia. Temples of The Church of Jesus Christ are widely known as impressive and beautiful landmarks and reverent places of worship, with notable east coast examples being the Washington D.C. Temple, and the Philadelphia Pennsylvania Temple.
