AMERICAN FORK — Jeff Sermon's days are generally filled with numbers, money, board meetings and financial stress. As president and CEO of the Utah Community Credit Union with 10 branches, 84,000 members and $25 million in assets, he's a busy guy.
But he's also a father of five, a grandfather and a man concerned about his children and his fellow man. He wants to do all he can to serve his God.
So he sings. He lectures.
And he finds opportunities to connect with others through music and shared experience.
This past week, he was on the Brigham Young University campus teaching a series of classes to youths and adults about helping others. He brought along his accordion — one his parents bought from a traveling salesman in Swan Valley, Idaho, 40 years ago.
"I love music. I wanted a piano but my parents couldn't afford one so when the accordion salesman came through, this is what I got," Sermon said, as he demonstrated his prowess on the red and white, double-bellowed instrument.
"I wanted to play in the PTA talent show and I wanted to impress the judges," Sermon told his audience. "So I tried to get the bellows open all the way but I was only 8 and my arms were too short so the only way I could do that was to stretch out and lean back, so far that I fell over. It felt like I had the Mormon Tabernacle organ on my chest. I didn't know what to do so I tried to do what my mom always told me, which was to finish what I started. I finished the song lying on my back.
"Those judges didn't have a chance," he said. "I have a first-place trophy, for being the best in the show? No, for being a little 8-year-old kid who wouldn't give up."
He shared a story about taking time on a particularly bad day to see the "dead rainbow" his 5-year-old son had discovered in the oil puddle on the driveway.
He talks about dogs who get so accustomed to chasing mechanical rabbits that they often miss the live rabbits and how people can miss their chances to serve.
"This is my first time (hearing Sermon)," said Krista Barbett, a Utah County move-in from South Carolina. "I like how he talked about how we all have to go through our struggles like the caterpillar trying to be a butterfly. And I liked how he tells us to always help others on their way."
Sermon hasn't always been self-confident. In fact, one of the ways he relates to his audiences is to tell stories of trying to fit into a big high school in Idaho Falls after growing up milking cows on a farm.
"I was the hayseed from Swan Valley in a flannel shirt and red leather boots," he said.
He said he could hear the derision in the laughter around him and grew more and more discouraged as the day wore on. When the desk turned over on him in seminary class he was done in.
"I was going to hide in the bushes until the bus came and go home and never come back," Sermon said, "when a boy by the name of Mark Law appeared holding up a green plastic lunch token. He made a life-changing difference."
Sermon said he's often reflected on where he might be if that boy had ignored his impulse to help him out.
"God meets our needs through other people," he said, "Don't miss a chance to act on his behalf."
Sermon started writing songs and working the speaker circuit 15 years ago. He was featured in 1995 as one of the LDS "Night of the Stars" entertainers in Abravanel Hall. He travels around the country for "Especially for Youth" events. "I do firesides and I don't charge," Sermon said. "I do whatever I can to build the kingdom."
He believes his musical talent is a gift and often he feels his inspiration is truly from a heavenly source.
"Sometimes I feel sheepish saying I wrote something when it really just comes through me," he said.
He's cut two CDs that he gives away to those who want a copy: "One Step at a Time" and "Building Bridges to the Heart."
One song, written for his wife's sister after she and her husband lost twin babies, is often requested at funerals.
He doesn't make any effort to market the CDs, an oddity for a money manager.
"I never wanted to get into it for the money. Some people play golf, I give away CDs," he said. "People call me and I just mail them one. If they don't like the songs, they always make good Frisbees."
E-mail: haddoc@desnews.com