The LDS Church has reciprocated. Machen has been asked to speak annually at church devotionals at the university's LDS institute of religion. He has used those occasions to tweak the church and the local community by talking about tolerance toward gays and lesbians and the evils of polygamy and its effects on the state.

"The first time I spoke at the Institute they gave me a monogrammed Quad," he says, referring to the large book that consists of four books of scripture (Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price).

Machen also was invited to speak at a Christmas program last December in the Salt Lake Tabernacle — "There I am, a Methodist from Michigan, standing at the same pulpit that Brigham spoke from," he says — and he became the first sitting U. president to speak at a Brigham Young University devotional. ("They call it a forum when a heathen like me speaks there," notes Machen.)

He has done his homework, reading books about Utah and Mormons, including parts of the Book of Mormon. He also has become friendly with LDS Church leaders, including his counterpart at BYU, Merrill J. Bateman.

"A couple of the apostles have become advisers to me," he says. "I'll call them and say, 'I want to talk about this; do you have a quote from the Book of Mormon that would help?' "

Such relationships have undoubtedly paved the way for Machen in certain matters. He persuaded the church this year to build a six-level parking lot on land the latter owns near the Huntsman Center and to allow the university to use it.

"Merrill Bateman asked me how he could get a deal like that," says Machen.

Machen finds it curious that an outsider and a liberal now finds himself in the strange role of explaining and even defending Mormonism and Utah to the outside world.

"Utah is a very misunderstood place," he says. "I'm now part of this culture, so I'm a bit defensive about it. The first question I'm asked when I travel is, 'Are you a Mormon?' It's the same thing every place I go. 'What are they like?'

"I've become a spokesperson for the local culture."

Hog heaven

If there's anything else that has surprised Machen it is that he and Chris have fallen for life in this new world of Utah.

"Everything we want is here," Machen has told acquaintances.

They share the 10,000-square-foot U. president's home on several acres with their two dogs.

They have a getaway house in midtown Heber — an ordinary house in a working-class neighborhood just off the main drag, where nobody knows them and a neighbor has a torn-up car parked in his front yard.

"It's just a place to get away from the phones," he says.