Tithing Faithfulness — “The Lord looketh on the heart…”
by Elder Glen L. Rudd
Elder Glen L. Rudd served as President of the Florida Mission during the late 1960’s, and he related the following story, which occurred during the time that he served in Florida.
“A new branch president was needed in a certain branch of the Church within our mission area, and I felt strongly that a certain brother should be called to serve in that position. However, we became aware that this brother had not paid tithing for several months. My two counselors in the mission presidency vetoed my suggestion. We decided to wait a few months before making a change in that branch, but I continued to insist that we consider and talk to this brother in the branch. My counselors finally agreed that it would be appropriate for me to interview this brother, but they were adamant that a non-tithe-payer should not serve as a branch president. At that time, the Florida Mission consisted of 39 branches in four districts, and every person serving in any position of responsibility was a full tithe-payer. I took the opportunity to interview this brother and expressed my concern about the fact that he was not paying his tithing. He told me that he believed in the principle of tithing and that he had always been a faithful, full tithe-payer I asked him why he had recently stopped paying hsi tithing, but he was very hesitant to tell me of the reason. I persisted with my questioning, and he finally responded. He said, “Well, I know that you and your counselors are going to call a new branch president for our branch very soon. I do NOT want to serve as the branch president, so I stopped paying my tithing to the Church, knowing that you would not call a ‘non-tithe-payer’ to serve in that very responsible position. However, each month I have been putting my tithing money into a special bank account, and when you have called the new branch president, I will withdraw the tithing money from the bank, including interest, and pay it promptly to the Church.” With that response, I recommended to my counselors that this brother be called as the new branch president. The call was extended and accepted, he promptly paid his tithing, and he served faithfully and well for many years!”
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