“Become.” “Becoming.” These are important words in Latter-day Saint theology. They help fuel our emphasis on personal growth and development. Here are a few ways that they have been used in General Conference addresses: “Mortality is an essential gift in our journey...
You are a Bishop, and a 17-year-old in your ward discloses to you that he has been smoking marijuana You are a ministering brother that has just been given a “special assignment” to help someone on welfare ween off welfare You are a Sunday School President that wants...
I recently joined the board for a professional association. We just had a regional meeting where we discussed how to grow membership. This was not unlike hundreds of church-related meetings that I have been a part of on how to grow and strengthen our wards. But, what...
Shortly after our high priest group and elders quorum were merged together, a newly called presidency member led a discussion about being unified and being an elders quorum where we can all turn to for support. After the lesson, I approached him and asked him if he...
There has been a lot of discussion about “faith crises” or “faith transitions” during the last several years. These labels for individuals’ underlying experiences are problematic for two reasons. First, they can be exaggerated relative to what people are actually...
I used to think that effective leaders and teachers in the church were trying their best, while dysfunctional leaders and teachers were just coasting by, not trying their best. However, my experience has taught me that 99% of all leaders and teachers, whether...
This is the final article in the series on community in the LDS Church. In the first article, I discussed how members in our wards and branches vary in how closely they are connected to their ward or branch communities, and that local ward leaders need to become more...
This is the third article in a four-part series on community within the Church. Read article 1 and article 2 here. In the first article in this series, I discussed how some members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints really enjoy going to church because...
This is the second article in a four-part series on community within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Read part 1 In the first article in this series, I discussed how some members in the church really enjoy going to church because they receive value...
This is the first article in a four-part series on community within the LDS Church. During the Spring of 2017, I was working for Gallup, an engagement consulting firm. The project I was working on was an employee engagement project for a large university in Canada. We...
