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Latter-day Saint Judge hopes to make positive impact in Alabama
He pays attention to the stewardship, not the honor
By Deseret News | Nov 24, 2012, 12:00am MST
Gerry Avant
A county probate judge in Alabama exercises original jurisdiction without monetary limitation over cases involving estates, conservatorships, guardianships, commitments, adoptions, legitimations, municipal annexations and condemnations.
During his last 10 years of law practice, he won 13 of 14 cases he argued in the appellate courts of Alabama.
Brother Enslen and his wife of 43 years, Dianne, had never met a Latter-day Saint until after he had graduated from law school at the University of Alabama in 1972. He was serving as a first lieutenant in the U.S. Army at Ft. Benjamin Harrison in Indiana during the Vietnam War when he and Dianne met an LDS couple.
A native of Hartwell, Ga., Sister Enslen, said, “We will forever be grateful to Lee and Ilene Barney of Oregon for sending a referral to President Spencer H. Osborn of the Alabama-Florida Mission in Tallahassee, Fla.”
In 1973, the Enslens became the first converts to the Church living in his hometown of Wetumpka, Ala., home to seven generations of his family. By late 1974, there were enough members in the Wetumpka area to form a branch. Brother Enslen served as branch president from 1976 to 1978, the year he was called to serve as a counselor in the Montgomery Alabama Stake presidency. He was called as president of the stake in 1986.
After he was released as stake president in 1994, he served the next 12 years as a counselor to four presidents of the Alabama Birmingham Mission: Eldon McKell, Perry Webb, Jerry Peterson and Douglas Johnson.
Brother and Sister Enslen served as senior missionaries in Cambodia from 2007-2008. With the assistance of four young elders and the sustaining support of mission president Robert W. Winegar, they opened a new branch of the Church in Siem Reap, Cambodia, with Brother Enslen serving as the branch president.
A subsequent tour of missionary service, 2009-2010, fit well with Brother Enslen’s avid journal-keeping propensities. He has not missed a day of making journal entries since beginning a personal journal on Aug. 18, 1976. He and Sister Enslen labored in the newly opened Church History Library in Salt Lake City, taking oral histories from emeritus General Authorities and others. He serves on the stake high council and Sister Enslen is a counselor in the stake Relief Society presidency.
“I am a total newcomer to politics,” Brother Enslen said. “I decided to seek the office about a year prior to the primary election. I had serious concerns about our nation’s future and simply wanted to make my little contribution where I felt I was best qualified to serve in our government.
During his last ten years of law practice, John E. Enslen won 13 of 14 cases he argued in the appellate courts of Alabama. Credit: Photo by Barry Chrietzberg
“From the outset, I did not know what the Lord might have in store for me, but I did feel after prayerful consideration that I should seek the office. There was certainly no guarantee with respect to the outcome, and I actually feared that the Lord’s purpose might be to give me a valuable lesson in humility. So, before actually undertaking my very first political venture as a candidate, I asked myself how I would feel about losing, despite my personal belief that I would be the most qualified candidate in the race. I came to the conclusion that if I were called upon to lose a political election primarily because I was an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, then I would count the defeat as one of the highest honors in my life. Thus, Dianne and I pressed on into the unknown.”
He said his personal choice of religion spontaneously surfaced as an issue with regularity.
“For better or for worse, that’s just the way it is in the South. I was regularly asked questions by individual voters: ‘What church do you attend?’ ‘Are you a Christian?’ ‘What are your religious beliefs?’
“My intentional compound-sentence answer usually went something like this: ‘I am a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and I am so grateful for the amazing grace of Jesus Christ who has provided me with my only opportunity to be cleansed from my sins so that I can return to live with my Heavenly Father.’ That answer, which to the best of my knowledge does not compromise or dilute our canonized beliefs, seemed to satisfy almost everyone who asked a direct question about my religion.
“A high percentage of the voters already knew that I was a Mormon. It is my firm belief that familiarity with Latter-day Saints on a personal level reduces the prejudices resulting from decades upon decades of misinformation. Because so many people knew me well, they could not be persuaded with claims that seemed totally illogical to them.”
Preparing to take office in January, Brother Enslen said, “Now that Alabama has its first LDS judge, I feel there is a heavy responsibility to make sure that I pay exclusive attention to the stewardship and not the honor.”