Based on the images provided, here is the transcription of the preface of Counseling with Our Councils:
​PREFACE
​In 1997 the first edition of this book, Counseling with Our Councils, was published. That was the year that total membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints first exceeded the 10 million member mark. These 10 million-plus Latter-day Saints lived in some 2,700 stakes and missions and just under 25,000 wards and branches (including mission branches). So, in my mind, we were providing important information for tens of thousands of priesthood and auxiliary leaders who were serving at that time throughout the Church—not to mention millions of parents who were presiding over the most important council in the world: the family council.
​Those closest to me knew that the subject had been much on my mind for many years. The effective use of councils in gospel governance was always a favorite subject of mine during stake and regional conference assignments. I was so concerned about the need and value of ministering to God's children through our Church councils that I spoke on the subject during two consecutive general conference speaking assignments: October 1993 (“Strength in Council”) and April 1994 (“Counseling with Our Councils”).
​During the years since the release of Counseling with Our Councils, I have continued to speak on the subject during stake, regional, and area training meetings. And recently in the worldwide leadership training broadcast, I stressed the divinely inspired council to meet the spiritual and temporal needs of those who live within their respective congregations.
​All of this has strengthened my conviction that the principles that have helped me for over thirty years in my ministry as an Apostle should now be restated for those serving in this book. As I am writing today, there are more than 14 million members worldwide and nearly 30,000 congregations. Comparatively few of those who are currently serving as stake, district, ward, or branch presidents, bishops, or auxiliary leaders had served in that capacity when the first edition came out. There are tens of thousands of new priesthood and auxiliary leaders in our stakes, districts, wards, and branches of the Church. There are many more who are currently serving in leadership positions who were even members of the Church in 1997. Also, there are tens of thousands of parents who are either new members of the Church or new to the wonderful world of parenting during the past decade and a half. In that time, there also has been a renewed emphasis on councils in the new Church Handbook, which was released in June 2010. So it occurs to me that it is time for this fresh, updated look at what it means to counsel with our councils.
​This is especially true when considered in the context of the times in which we live. Just as it was in 1997, the world is filled with things that are in direct opposition to the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ. In fact, that is probably even more true today than it was in 1997. Great pressure from Satan encircles all around us. Our families are under attack, and our youth are being bombarded with evil influences. During the last few decades we have been blessed with marvelous technological advances of all sorts, but sadly, the same periods have seen a dramatic increase in immorality, divorce, child abuse, drug abuse, alcohol abuse, crime, and marital unfaithfulness.
​Of special concern is the effect these trends have had on the family. For example, one social concern that worries me is that the percent of marriages that are unhappy and end in divorce has been an upward trend since 1960. It is well understood in American history that where family structure is strong, there is a strong nation. In 1960 President Thomas S. Monson said, “Family relationships are the soil in which the most treasured characteristics of society, state, and church are bred.” The role of natural fathers in the lives of their sons and daughters has been in decline since 1960, and for a short time, this problem has been noted by almost all who are concerned with the future of American society. “Without Fathers,” he said, “the family is under attack.”
​Today, the Church and family under attack. Media managers suggest a “worldly” picture of what families should be as they advertise on TV, in movies, and in print. I believe we have an opportunity to give greater instruction on the eternal and temporal blessings and power in the more meaningful and purposeful relationships within the family and to discuss what the functions of the family in a societal relationship mean about the respective roles of husband, wife, and children. But even for families that are strong, a higher sense of stewardship and a more effective use of council in the family is an absolute necessity if we are to strengthen the eternal character of the patriarchal order of the family—a vital part of the gospel plan that will allow children to return to their Heavenly Father.
​Circumstances are very different today from when I was a teenager or a young bishop, and even a bishop of fifty or sixty years ago. President Thomas S. Monson said, “We will be significant in the world, which has turned its back on that which is spiritual.” The world is us to do and be prepared for the day when we shall see him” (“To the Women of the Church,” 96).
​President Gordon B. Hinckley said: “There is strength and great capacity in the women of this Church. There is leadership and direction, a certain spirit of independence, and yet great satisfaction in being a part of this, the Lord's kingdom, and of working hand in hand with the priesthood to move it forward” (“Women of the Church,” 68).
​As President Thomas S. Monson has taught: “When we can work together cooperatively . . . we can accomplish anything. When we do so, we eliminate the weakness of one person standing alone and substitute the strength of many serving together” (“Our Brothers' Keepers,” 38).
​My sincere desire is that this new and updated edition of Counseling with Our Councils will help all those who have been called to lead and serve in the gospel kingdom gain a wider vision of the power that exists in the councils that have been put in place in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.