Emphasizing that temporal efforts are mandatory in order to fulfill the mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, President Gordon B. Hinckley humbly accepted the Brigham Young University Marriott School of Management's International Executive of the Year award Friday night.

"The business of the church is salvation," he said, adding that temporal enterprises assist in making the salvation of mankind possible. President Hinckley said some critics point to the wealth of the church and conclude it has become a business institution. But, he explained, "Spiritual and temporal go hand-in-hand. They are one in the same."The International Executive of the Year award was established by the BYU Marriott School of Management in 1974 "to honor annually an outstanding executive from the public or private sector who has demonstrated exceptional leadership and high moral and ethical standards."

President Merrill J. Bateman, who bestowed President Hinckley with a plaque, noted that 23 people have been recognized since the award's inception.

"Although the list of honorees is impressive," Bateman said, "the leader we honor this evening has a breadth and depth of experience and accomplishment unequaled by earlier recipients."

President Hinckley received the award following a banquet featuring approximately 1,600 guests, including his wife, Marjorie; members of the church's First Presidency; several members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; and a number of leaders from the business community, including Utah Jazz owner Larry H. Miller and Mark Willes, chairman, president and CEO of Times Mirror. During his acceptance speech, President Hinckley related that when the prophet Joseph Smith borrowed money from Martin Harris to print the first copy of the Book of Mormon, it was the church's first temporal endeavor. "Now we print 6 million copies of the Book of Mormon each year," he said. "It is a temporal undertaking for a spiritual cause."

President Hinckley outlined the numerous businesses that the church oversees and manages. The church, he said, is in the business of construction, travel, real estate, insurance, clothing, food, education, automobiles, family history, humanitarian aid, farming, broadcasting and publishing - and all have been established to facilitate the Lord's work.

"We are in the food business, brothers and sisters, as well as transient housing," President Hinckley said, referring to the Missionary Training Center, housed on BYU's campus, which provides shelter and an enormous quantity of food yearly for missionaries.