Serving as an adviser in the young men organization really means that you are serving as an adviser to a quorum in the Aaronic priesthood. To do this effectively, you must understand the nature of the Aaronic priesthood, the organization of quorums, and your role as adviser. In fact, the Young Men auxiliary of the church is unique in the sense that it blends the priesthood organization of quorums with an auxiliary with officers typically outside of those quorums.

The Aaronic priesthood is historically and doctrinally a preparatory priesthood. Named after Aaron, the brother of Moses, this priesthood presided over the ordinances of Israel under the law of Moses. Priests, who were descendants of Aaron, oversaw the sacrifices and other rituals in the tabernacle, and later in the temple of Solomon. Other members of the tribe of Levi were assigned specific tasks in relation to the care of the tabernacle and sacrifices. (See Bible Dictionary topics: Aaronic Priesthood and Levites.) Furthermore, we know that the Law of Moses was a schoolmaster to prepare Israel for the higher law (Galatians 3:24-25). The Doctrine and Covenants also teaches that the Aaronic priesthood is a lesser priesthood (D&C 84 and 107) with specific charge over outward ordinances (D&C 107:14,20), including especially baptism and the sacrament.

This contrasts with the higher, or Melchizedek, priesthood which holds keys to all spiritual gifts, particularly to the gift of the Holy Ghost by the laying on of hands (D&C 20:41). In addition, the Melchizedek priesthood is required to establish the church as a body (D&C 107:18-19). Some presiding offices require ordination to the office of high priest, including bishop and stake presidencies (and usually counselors to a bishop). This priesthood is named after the great high priest, Melchizedek, who led his people from wickedness to serve God (Alma 13:17-18). But we also know that this is not the true name of the priesthood, which name reminds us that it is after the order of the Son of God (D&C 107:3). We learn from revelation that this priesthood is necessary for exaltation as part of an oath and covenant with the Lord (D&C 84:33-42). It is required before receiving an endowment or a sealing in the temple.

Thus, the Aaronic priesthood concerns primarily repentance and outward and symbolic ordinances that prepare all members of the Church to receive spiritual gifts, for example through baptism prior to confirmation and through the sacrament to help us remain worthy of the Holy Ghost. However, since the early 1900s, the Church has regularly ordained young men to offices in the Aaronic priesthood with the additional purpose of using this time of service as a preparatory period. I believe that this association of service in the Aaronic priesthood as a preparatory training for later priesthood service is useful, even if it is not the original doctrinal intent of the lesser priesthood.

To what end, then, does this priesthood prepare young men? I find that specific goals are typically the first that come to mind, including events like ordination to the Melchizedek priesthood, serving an honorable, full-time mission, marriage in the temple, and future service in the Church. These goals are reflected in the purposes of the Aaronic priesthood described in the Duty to God program, which are to help each member ordained to:

• Become converted to the gospel of Jesus Christ and live its teachings.
  
• Serve faithfully in priesthood callings and fulfill the responsibilities of priesthood offices.
  
• Give meaningful service.
  
• Prepare and live worthily to receive the Melchizedek Priesthood and temple ordinances.
  
• Prepare to serve an honorable full-time mission.
  
• Obtain as much education as possible.
  
• Prepare to become a worthy husband and father.
  
• Give proper respect to women, girls, and children.
  

But on further reflection, I think that goals focused on events really just touch the surface of deeper issues embedded in these purposes. That is, committing to serve a full-time mission is different than preparing for that mission. Planning on a temple marriage is different than preparing to become a worthy husband and father. Receiving the Melchizedek priesthood is different than preparing to serve effectively in that priesthood.

Before I continue discussing the Aaronic priesthood and its quorums, I feel a need to share some thoughts about the Melchizedek priesthood and its quorums. After all, if the lesser priesthood is intended to prepare for the higher priesthood, would we not be better able to accomplish that preparation if we understand the intended result?

The pattern of the priesthood is discussed in Alma 13. Although discussion of this chapter is usually centered on high priests, I believe that it reflects the pattern of all faithful priesthood holders. First, I learn that God called and prepared us from the foundations of the world, according to our faith and good works. That is, priesthood service is conditioned on developing enough faith that we choose good works. But it must go beyond our own good works. Priesthood service requires that this faith, through our callings as agents of God, leads us to teach and lead others that they also will develop faith in Jesus Christ for their salvation. Thus, we see why Melchizedek exemplifies the priesthood—as a king, he led his own nation from their wickedness to repentance and peace. It also illustrates why the priesthood is patterned after the order of the Son of God, who through his righteousness and sacrifice, accomplished the necessary atonement between man and God. I believe that this fundamental principle underlies the prophet's call that every young man remain worthy and prepare to serve a full-time mission.

From these concepts, I draw some essential characteristics that all bearers of the priesthood must develop. First, they must develop true faith, the faith that drives us to act in righteousness. That is, they must learn to exercise moral agency and live the gospel. Not surprisingly, this is essentially the first stated purpose of the Aaronic priesthood. Second, they must accept a responsibility to help others develop this faith. This is demonstrated repeatedly in the Book of Mormon, such as in the examples of Nephi, his brothers Jacob and Joseph, Enos, King Benjamin, Alma, Alma the younger, the sons of King Mosiah, Nephi and Lehi, Mormon and Moroni. I believe that these objectives naturally fit with the second and third purposes in the Aaronic priesthood.

Next, I consider the organization of the priesthood through quorums. My thoughts here are strongly influenced by articles of Elder Christofferson (Ensign, November 1998) and a remarkably similar lesson in Aaronic Priesthood 3 manual. Elder Stephen L. Richards taught that “A quorum is three things: first, a class; second, a fraternity; and third, a service unit.” Because the quorum meets together every Sunday for a lesson, satisfying the commission to be a class seems easy. Effectively becoming a fraternity and a service unit, however, is much more difficult. Both of these require that members become selfless, considering the needs of others and acting in ways to help them. They require feeling a sense of belonging, which of necessity requires that members provide a sense of acceptance and love for others.

Now, with this background, consider what might characterize an ideal elders quorum. Members of the quorum know and love each other. They provide acts of service on one another’s behalf. We learn that such quorums should have organized and functioning committees relating to the work in perfecting the saints, proclaiming the gospel and redeeming the dead. But these committees are not just by assignment; members take an active role in seeing that the work goes forward. Quorum members faithfully serve as home teachers because they love the families over which they have stewardship, and even follow up with families that they previously home taught simply out of love. In short, members of such a quorum are actively engaged in doing the work of the quorum.

The Doctrine and Covenants describes the role of the president of a quorum in Section 107: “And again, verily I say unto you, the duty of a president over the office of a deacon is to preside over twelve deacons, to sit in council with them, and to teach them their duty, edifying one another, as it is given according to the covenants” (D&C 107:85). For a long time, I thought of the phrase “sit in council” as being the same as “teach them their duty,” or in other words, I thought that the duty of the president was to counsel the members about their duty. But as I have learned more about the role of councils (in particular, the talks and book of Elder Ballard), I have realized that the phrase “sit in council with them” actually involves the process of establishing a united direction of action as a quorum. The ideal quorum that I described earlier will not just happen out of chaos but requires a president (actually, a united presidency) that will unite and rally the quorum members in such a cause.

So, having captured a vision of an ideal quorum in the Melchizedek priesthood, we turn our attention to the quorums in the Aaronic priesthood. Is such a vision of an ideal deacons quorum going to be equivalent to this vision? Yes and no. I believe that the same unity and faithfulness that I described for an ideal elders quorum can be achieved by a deacons quorum. However, these young men will not be prepared to implement such vast objectives. So what is my vision of the ideal deacons quorum? A group of young men gather together, united in their faith and desire to choose the right, committed to support and strengthen each other through service, and rallied together under the direction of their quorum president.

Elder Christofferson, in his 1998 article, introduced me to a now-favorite quote from President Hinckley:
“It will be a marvelous day, my brethren—it will be a day of fulfillment of the purposes of the Lord—when our priesthood quorums become an anchor of strength to every man belonging thereto, when each such man may appropriately be able to say, ‘I am a member of a priesthood quorum of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I stand ready to assist my brethren in all of their needs, as I am confident they stand ready to assist me in mine. Working together, we shall grow spiritually as covenant sons of God. Working together, we can stand, without embarrassment and without fear, against every wind of adversity that might blow, be it economic, social, or spiritual.’ ”

And so, when I think of the Aaronic priesthood as a preparatory priesthood, I consider it an opportunity to introduce the young men to this glorious vision of priesthood service and the strength of priesthood quorums. I believe that these themes should permeate our objectives in how we approach training young men in their classes, activities, and leadership opportunities. We must learn to think of meetings and responsibilities as opportunities to experiment with the principles of the priesthood, priesthood leadership, and quorum organization with an eye on reaching this ideal setting. In a sense, the Aaronic priesthood provides a laboratory opportunity to learn how the priesthood functions while working with duties and opportunities that are more tangible than the sometimes complicated issues that a Melchizedek priesthood quorum faces.

Let me share a personal example. I wrote in the introduction that one of my surviving strong memories from my own experience in the Aaronic priesthood came from participating in teachers quorum presidency meetings. Our quorum adviser was Brother Harper. He taught us that our duty as a quorum presidency was to watch out and reach out for our fellow quorum members. I remember actively making efforts in this direction, although I don’t know that there were any obvious results. One Sunday afternoon, we were discussing upcoming quorum lessons. Brother Harper instructed us to first brainstorm, listing those lessons from the manual that we thought, as a presidency, would be most beneficial for our quorum’s members. We made our list. Then we were asked to pray for guidance from the Lord, as a presidency, as to which of the lessons on our list was most important. After our prayer, we were instructed to contemplate quietly for a minute before discussing the question again. I remember that a particular lesson topic came clearly to my mind during this time of reflection, and I remember being amazed that each of us had reached the same lesson. I remember this example because it illustrated to me many principles of priesthood leadership, not the least of which included the knowledge that God takes a personal interest in our quorum and the importance of counseling together as a presidency.