He translated some sections of the Doctrine and Covenants into Spanish and in 1887 succeeded Helaman Pratt as the president of the Mexican Mission of the church.
In 1904 Cummings chaired the committee that put together the LDS education exhibit for the Palace of Education at the Louisiana Purchase Exposition, and exhibit that came away with more awards than the other state entrants.
While Cummings was commissioner he was the key figure in investigating a group of professors at Brigham Young University for teaching new ideas, primarily that Joseph Smith's First Vision was not a real, physical event, and was heavily involved in removing these professors for advocating such unorthodox ideas.
[2] He served as Church Commissioner of Education until 1920, when he was succeeded by apostle David O. McKay.
A review in the Journal of Education called it a "delightfully sensible" and "attractive" textbook.