Activate or Change the Status of Temple Recommends

Introduction

Stake presidencies, bishoprics, and mission presidents follow instructions and guidelines in the General Handbook: Serving in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when interviewing and issuing temple recommends.

When a member enters the temple and presents his or her recommend at the temple recommend desk, the temple worker will scan the bar code on the recommend. The temple worker will see confirmation that the recommend has been activated.

The membership record of the member must be assigned to a ward or branch in the stake before a recommend can be activated. If needed, you can view the membership list in Leader and Clerk Resources (LCR) or in Member and Leader Services (MLS) to make sure the member’s records have been assigned to your stake.

It may become necessary to change the status of a temple recommend if it is lost, damaged, or stolen, or if the bishop and stake president determine the status should be changed.

Be aware when interviewing a member for a proxy baptisms and confirmations recommend (formerly known as a limited-use recommend), the recommends are issued and printed by the bishopric or branch president.

Temple recommends are issued using one of these processes:

• Digital Signature: Recommends are printed by the stake. Using the Temple Recommends page in LCR, the bishopric or branch presidency indicates who interviewed the member. At the stake interview, a member of the stake or mission presidency indicates who interviewed the member. When the recommend is printed and activated, it will print the signatures of the bishopric or branch president and the stake presidency or mission president. The member physically signs the recommend after it is activated and printed.
• Physical Signature: Recommends are printed by the ward or branch. Using the Temple Recommends page in LCR, the bishop or a counselor or the branch president prints the recommend on white paper and physically signs the recommend. The member physically signs the recommend and takes it to the stake or mission presidency interview. The stake or mission presidency activates the recommend online and the president or a counselor physically signs the recommend.
• Recommend Book and MLS: Units unable to use the digital or physical signature process in LCR will continue to use recommend books. For those using a printed recommend book, the bishop or a counselor or the branch president physically signs the recommend. The member physically signs the recommend and takes it to the stake or mission presidency interview. The stake or mission president or a counselor physically signs the recommend. The recommend is activated online using MLS or the Temple Recommends page in LCR.

Setting Recommend Printing Preferences

The stake or mission presidency designates the process used for each unit (digital or physical signature) on a printing preferences page. The stake or mission should communicate with the ward or branch regarding their printing preferences and capabilities. Be aware when interviewing a member for a proxy baptisms and confirmations recommend (formerly known as a limited-use recommend), the recommends are issued and printed by the bishopric or branch president.

Temple recommends are issued using one of these processes:

• Digital Signature: Recommends are printed by the stake. Using the Temple Recommends page in LCR, the bishopric or branch presidency indicates who interviewed the member. At the stake interview, a member of the stake or mission presidency indicates who interviewed the member. When the recommend is printed and activated, it will print the signatures of the bishop or a counselor or the branch president and the stake president or mission president or a counselor. The member physically signs the recommend after it is activated and printed.
• Physical Signature: Recommends are printed by the ward or branch. Using the Temple Recommends page in LCR, the recommend is printed on white paper and the bishop or a counselor or the branch president physically signs the recommend. The member physically signs the recommend and takes it to the stake or mission presidency interview. The stake or mission presidency activates the recommend online and the stake or mission president or a counselor physically signs the recommend.
• Recommend Book or MLS: Units unable to use the digital or physical signature process in LCR will continue to use recommend books. For those using a printed recommend book, the bishop or a counselor or the branch president physically signs the recommend. The member physically signs the recommend and takes it to the stake or mission presidency interview. The stake or mission president or a counselor physically signs the recommend. The recommend is activated online using MLS or the Temple Recommends page in LCR.

Note: If the printing process for your unit is changed by the stake, recommends issued using the previous process will continue until they are activated; newly issued recommends follow the new process. For example, if a recommend was issued using the digital signature process and the unit’s preference changed to using physical signatures, the recommend issued would continue to use the digital signature process. However, new recommends would use the physical signature process.

1. To access the Recommend Printing Preferences page, go to ChurchofJesusChrist.org and sign in using your Church account.
2. After signing in, select My Account and Ward. Under Tools and Support, select Leader and Clerk Resources. This action will open a new page with menu options.
3. Select Membership from the menu bar at the top. Under Temple, select Unit Recommend Printing Preferences.

Note: This option is only available to stake and mission presidencies.

1. The default is Physical Signatures, where the recommend is printed at the ward or branch level and then taken to the stake or mission. Click Digital Signatures to indicate the units that will use the Digital Signature process.

Instructions for Issuing Temple Recommends

• ACCESSING THE TEMPLE RECOMMENDS PAGE IN LCR
• ISSUING A RECOMMEND USING DIGITAL SIGNATURES
• ISSUING A RECOMMEND USING PHYSICAL SIGNATURES
• PRINTING A RECOMMEND
• ACTIVATING A RECOMMEND USING A RECOMMEND BOOK/MLS
• CHANGING RECOMMEND STATUS
• HELP AND FEEDBACK

Accessing the Temple Recommends Page in LCR

1. To access the Temple Recommends page, go to ChurchofJesusChrist.org and sign in using your Church account.
2. After signing in, select My Account and Ward. Under Tools and Support, select Leader and Clerk Resources. This action will open a new page with menu options.
3. Select Membership from the menu bar at the top. Under Temple, select Temple Recommends.

Note: “Membership” is only available to bishoprics, branch presidencies, stake presidencies, mission presidencies, clerks, and executive secretaries.

Issuing a Recommend Using Digital Signatures

Steps 1–4 are usually done by a member of the bishopric or the branch president. Steps 5–8 are completed by a member of the stake or mission presidency.

Completed by bishopric or branch president

1. Find the member by entering his or her name or membership record number (MRN) and select the member from the list.
2. If the member has a current temple recommend, a list of actions and the recommend details will appear. Select “Issue a new temple recommend” as the action.

Note: The system automatically provides the type of recommend (“Temple Recommend” or “Proxy Baptisms and Confirmations”). Any warnings, such as reminders about living ordinances or whether the bishop or branch president must conduct the interview rather than a counselor, will appear.

1. Conduct the temple worthiness interview. Interview questions may be viewed by selecting Temple Recommend Interview Questions in the upper right. Be aware that if you are interviewing a member for a proxy baptisms and confirmations recommend (formerly known as a limited-use recommend), these recommends are issued by the bishopric or branch president and no further action is required.
2. Indicate the priesthood leader who interviewed the member and click Issue Temple Recommend. These actions complete the steps for a bishopric or branch president. Let the member know the next step is to interview with the stake or mission presidency.

Completed by stake or mission presidency

1. Find the member by entering his or her name or membership record number (MRN) and select the member from the list (same as step 1).
2. A list of actions and the recommend details will appear. Select “Activate” as the action.

Note: Any warnings, such as reminders about living ordinances or whether the interview must be conducted by the stake or mission president rather than a counselor, will appear.

1. Conduct the temple worthiness interview. Interview questions may be viewed by selecting Temple Recommend Interview Questions in the upper right.
2. Indicate the priesthood leader who interviewed the member and click Activate Temple Recommend. The temple recommend information will immediately be available to all temples.

Missionaries

Because mission presidencies issue and activate recommends for missionaries, only one screen indicates which mission leader interviewed the missionary. After selecting the mission leader, click Issue Temple Recommend. Print the recommend and have the missionary physically sign it.

Issuing a Recommend Using Physical Signatures

Steps 1–5 are usually done by a member of the bishopric or branch president. Steps 6–10 are completed by a member of the stake or mission presidency. If needed, a ward leader or clerk can issue and print the recommend before taking it to the stake interview. A stake leader or clerk can activate the recommend after the stake interview.

Completed by bishopric or branch president

1. Find the member by entering his or her name or membership record number (MRN) and select the member from the list.
2. If the member has a current temple recommend, a list of actions and the recommend details will appear. If not, just the recommend details will appear. Leave “Issue Temple Recommend” as the action.

Note: The system automatically provides the type of recommend (“Temple Recommend” or “Proxy Baptisms and Confirmations”). Any warnings, such as reminders about living ordinances or whether the bishop or branch president must conduct the interview rather than a counselor, will appear.

1. Conduct the temple worthiness interview. Interview questions may be viewed by selecting Temple Recommend Interview Questions in the upper right. Be aware that when you are interviewing a member for a proxy baptisms and confirmations recommend (formerly known as a limited-use recommend), these recommends are issued by a bishopric or branch president and no further action is required.
2. Indicate the priesthood leader who interviewed the member and click Issue Temple Recommend.
3. On the question “Would you like to print the recommend now?”, click Print Recommend. Printing a recommend can be done later by the ward or branch. See the section “Printing a Recommend” for more details. Both the priesthood leader and member physically sign the recommend. At the bottom of the page, you can indicate the priesthood leader who conducted the interview. This completes the steps for a bishopric or branch president. Let the member know the next step is to interview with the stake or mission presidency.

Completed by stake or mission presidency

1. Find the member by entering his or her name or membership record number (MRN) and select the member from the list (same as step 1).
2. A list of actions and the recommend details will appear. Select “Activate” as the action.

Note: Any warnings, such as reminders about living ordinances or whether the interview must be conducted by the stake or mission president rather than a counselor, will appear.

1. Conduct a temple worthiness interview. Interview questions may be viewed by selecting Temple Recommend Interview Questions in the upper right.
2. The stake or mission interviewer physically signs the recommend.
3. Online, indicate the priesthood leader who interviewed the member and click Activate Temple Recommend. Recommends may be printed and activated by a stake clerk or executive secretary by entering the activation code. Once activated, the temple recommend information is immediately available to all temples.

Note: If the ward or branch interviewer was not identified, indicate who conducted the interview at the ward or branch level.

Missionaries

When mission presidencies issue and activate recommends for missionaries, only one screen will appear to indicate which mission leader interviewed the missionary. After selecting the mission leader, click Issue Temple Recommend. Print the recommend and have the mission leader and missionary physically sign the recommend.

Printing a Recommend

There are several ways to print a recommend. If you need to reprint a recommend, it may be reprinted by the stake within the same day the recommend was originally printed. If a recommend is marked lost, damaged, or stolen, the ward or branch can reprint the recommend if the signatures were recorded in LCR. If the recommend has digital signatures, it may be reprinted without re-interviewing the member.

1. Select a method below to print a recommend.
   
   • On the pop-up window after issuing or activating a recommend, select Print Recommend.
   • Search for and find the member. Under Actions select Print. If more than one recommend is displayed, select which recommend to print. Click Print Temple Recommend. For a proxy baptisms and confirmations recommend, click Print Temple Recommend.
   • On the Leaders and Clerk menu page under Membership and then Temple, select Recommend Activations. Either click a member’s name and under Actions select Print, or under Recently Activated choose Print. A PDF of the recommend will be displayed. Load the printer paper tray with white paper (US Letter or A4 size).
2. Select CTRL + P to display printer settings. In the Print window, make sure the following options are checked:
   
   • Under Paper Size & Handling choose Actual Size.
   • Under Orientation choose Portrait.
   • Ensure the paper size is set to US Letter or A4. To do this, select Page Setup. (If a Page Setup dialog box opens, select Yes. This window may be bypassed by checking the “Do not show this message” box.) Select US letter or A4 in the Page Setup menu. Close this window and go back to the Print window.
3. Select Print.
4. Verify that the size of the recommend is 3.0 in. by 4.75 in. (7.6 cm by 12.0 cm). Note: If the printed recommend is smaller or larger than the required dimensions, repeat the print setup steps. If the recommend is still printing out incorrectly, adjust the scale under Paper Size & Handling in the Print menu. After verifying the size, you may cut out and fold the recommend.
5. Ensure the proper interviews have taken place at the ward and stake levels and that the recommend has been signed by the applicant and their priesthood leaders. The recommend is activated in the system but is not valid at the temple without signatures.
6. Destroy the old recommend. Once a new recommend is activated, the old recommend is automatically canceled in the system.

Physical Signature PDF

The Physical Signature PDF has an extra section below the recommend where priesthood leaders can indicate who conducted the interviews. This detail is important if a stake clerk will activate the recommend after interviews. You cannot reprint a recommend without the priesthood leader interviewers being identified.

Activating a Recommend Using a Recommend Book or MLS

After conducting temple worthiness interviews at the ward or branch and stake or mission levels and signing the recommend, the recommend will need to be activated. The person activating recommends, typically the stake clerk or executive secretary, usually receives canary copies of signed temple recommends from the stake presidency. Once he has the canary copies, he should use MLS or the Temple Recommends page in LCR to activate the recommends.

Activate recommends as soon as possible. If the recommend is not activated, the member could be delayed at the temple while a member of the temple presidency or the temple recorder contacts the member’s priesthood leaders to make sure the recommend is valid. Use one of the methods below.

Using LCR: Search by Member Name

1. Find the member by entering his or her name or membership record number (MRN) and select the member from the list.
2. Select “Activate” as the action.
3. Enter the last four digits of the membership record number (MRN).
4. Enter the recommend number
5. Select the issue year and month.
6. Click Activate Temple Recommend. The temple recommend information will immediately be available to all temples.

Using LCR: Search by Recommend Number

1. Enter the recommend number.
2. Select the issue year and month.
3. Find the member by entering his or her name or membership record number (MRN) and select the member from the list.
4. Enter the last four digits of the membership record number (MRN).
5. Click Activate Temple Recommend. The temple recommend information will immediately be available to all temples.

Using MLS

1. On the MLS menu bar, click Membership. Click Temple Recommends and then Activate Recommends.
2. Find the name of the member who is on the recommend by scrolling or by using the Find Member option in the list field. When you find the member’s name, click Activate.
3. In the window that appears, type the last four numbers of the membership record number as shown on the recommend.
4. Scan the bar code to add the recommend number to MLS. (You can also type the recommend number, which is located just above the bar code.)
5. Click the arrows on the issue date field and choose the month and year that the recommend was issued.
6. Click Continue.
7. Check the information that appears in the window to make sure it is the same as the information on the recommend.
8. If it is correct, click Activate. If it is not correct, click Back and make corrections.
9. When finished activating recommends, go to the panel with the stake name and click Send/Receive Changes. This action should not be delayed.

The temple recommend information will be available within a few minutes unless there is an error. Click Send/Receive Changes again to see if there are any error messages about the temple recommend activations.

Changing Recommend Status

Recommends that were issued online may be cancelled or reported as lost or stolen on the Temple Recommends page in LCR. If you used MLS to activate the recommend, use MLS to change the recommend status.

Using LCR

1. Find the member by entering his or her name or membership record number (MRN) and select the member from the list.
2. If the member has a current temple recommend, a list of actions and the recommend details will appear. Select “Change status of active recommend” as the action.
3. Select a status and click Save. The change in status will immediately be added to the member’s record, and the temple recommend information will be available to all temples.
   
   • Active: The recommend is valid and may be used by the member.
   • Cancelled: The member can no longer use the recommend to enter the temple.
   • Damaged, Lost, or Stolen: The recommend has been damaged, lost, or stolen.
   • Not Issued: The recommend is not valid and will not show in a member’s recommend history.
   • In Progress: The recommend is assigned to the member but not yet activated.

Using MLS

1. On the MLS menu bar, click Membership. Click Temple Recommends and then View/Edit Recommends.
2. Find the name of the member whose recommend status has changed. Click Edit next to the member’s name.
3. On the window that shows the member’s temple recommend information click Edit.
4. In the Recommend Status field, click the down arrow and click the new status of the recommend (“Cancelled” or “Lost or Stolen”). Click Save.
5. Click Yes to verify that you want to cancel the recommend. The change in status will immediately be added to the member’s record, and the temple recommend information will be available to all temples.

Help and Feedback

If you experience problems with issuing a recommend, please contact the Global Service Center for your area by going to Contact Information. A contact page will display where you may select your country and view the contact numbers.

Viewing Recommend Status

• VIEWING RECOMMEND STATUS
• ACTIVATING OR REPRINTING RECOMMENDS

Viewing Recommend Status

You can view recommend status on the Recommend Activations page in LCR. From this page, stake leaders can quickly activate or print recommends.

1. In LCR, select Membership from the menu bar at the top. Under Temple select Recommend Activations.
2. The Recommend Activations page lists member recommends Awaiting Stake Activation and Recently Activated. If needed, you can search for a member by name or click the name column to sort the list.

Note: The information icon next to a name has notifications, such as for living ordinances. The square with a pencil icon indicates units with physical signatures. Those without an icon use digital signatures.

Activating or Reprinting Recommends

If you need to reprint a recommend (this can only be done on the same day the recommend was originally printed), under Recently Activated select Print and click Print Temple Recommend. See the section “Printing a Recommend” in “Instructions for Issuing Temple Recommends” for more details.

Only stake or mission leaders will see the activate action.

• To activate a recommend, click Activate. Select the stake interviewer (and ward interviewer if requested) and click Activate Recommend.
• Recommends that have not been activated may be marked as Not Issued. To void a recommend, click the member’s name, click the option “Change status of in-progress recommend,” select Not Issued, and click Save.