Romney was a high priest in the Melchizedek priesthood of the LDS, and beginning in 1944 he headed the Detroit church branch (which initially was small enough to meet in a member's house). By the time he was AMC chief, he presided over the Detroit Stake, which included not only all of Metro Detroit, Ann Arbor, and the Toledo area of Ohio but also the western edge of Ontario along the Michigan border. In this role, Romney oversaw the religious work of some 2,700 church members, occasionally preached sermons, and supervised the construction of the first stake tabernacle east of the Mississippi River in 100 years. Because the stake covered part of Canada, he often interacted with Canadian Mission President Thomas S. Monson. Romney's rise to a leadership role in the church reflected the church's journey from a fringe pioneer religion to one that was closely associated with mainstream American business and values. Due in part to his prominence, the larger Romney family tree would become viewed as "LDS royalty".