A system for managing a message store in a network includes an object acting as a message store. In one embodiment, the message store is for Java Message Service. A lead server is selected from several servers. The lead server uses a distributed consensus algorithm to select a host server. The selected host server hosts the message store, providing sole access to the message store. The other servers are notified of the new host by messaging. In one embodiment, servers can send messages to the message store on the host and pick up any messages from the message store.