Every six months stake conference is a symbolic mile marker for most stake presidencies. When one ends the next one is ready to be planned for. Having the experience of going through my first stake conference as a member of the stake presidency, I realized what a hectic time it is for stake presidencies as they plan each detail. Not to mention we had a visiting authority that makes you feel like you are being graded each step of the way.
With so many items to consider when planning a stake conference, stake leaders can be left holding their breath when the weekend arrives, hoping that people actually show up.
I’d like to share with you a strategy we used to assure that people showed up to stake conference. It’s hard to say what works and what doesn’t, but we were very pleased by the results and we calculated that we had about 20% more people in attendance then prior stake conferences.
In this interview I sit down again with Liz Wiseman who has been such a wonderful resource for Leading Saints and I truly consider her a great friend and mentor.
Liz recently spoke at a BYU Forum and spoke wonderfully about the power of rookie smarts and how what one knows can be a disadvantage to a growing leader. She discusses how learning how to learn is more important than the content of what one is learning.
She also shares some rich stories of what she learned from Lee Perry (Dean of BYU School of Business, and son of L. Tom Perry), when she was a student at BYU, why her husband was recently called to a bishopric, and how to focus on being a hungry, and humble leader.
There’s a lot of information here and it is definitely worth a thorough listen.
In this episodes we continue the conversation with leaders from North Star as we focus on Brigit Pack’s story of finding peace and faith in her home and in her Church. Her spouse was born Ryan, but now prefer the name Ann. Ann is a transgender Mormon and Brigit tells her story of how leaders are working on finding a place for Ann in their LDS ward.
It’s an inspiring discussion that will definitely help other leaders understand available resources and where to start in loving transgender members of their ward.
In this episode we meet again with member of North Star, a non-profit organization that is a faith-affirming resource for Latter-day Saints addressing sexual orientation or gender identity, and who desire to live in harmony with the teachings of Jesus Christ and the doctrines and values of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
On March 17-19, North Star is having a conference in Provo, Utah. A portion of that conference will be dedicated to helping Church leaders understand this delicate subject. We hope this episode gives you a clear understanding of why all leaders should attend this fantastic conference.
This is a review of an episode recorded last April 2015. I am posting this here so that it can be reviewed by the podcast audience prior to the release of Part 2 and Part 3 which will be posted in a few days.
To read and review the original see here: https://leadingsaints.org/how-to-support-gay-members-in-your-lds-ward/
Glenn Wright is a Sunday School president in Saratoga Springs, UT. In this interview we discuss his focused approach to really making an impact in his ward Sunday School program. His ward is also participating in a Church pilot program to test out adjustments to the ward teaching that should be rolled out next year.
Every Sunday School presidency and bishopric should listen to this episode. It’s inspiring and informative to learn about how he is magnifying his calling and to also learn about upcoming changes to the Sunday School curriculum.
Cindy Burt is a counselor in her ward young women’s program in Kirkland, Washington. She has also served as a Relief Society president, stake Young Women’s President, and seminary teacher. She joined the LDS Church at 26 soon after she married her husband.
We hear it all the time in sacrament meeting; the invitation, coming from the lectern, to “stand after your name is read.” This means members of your ward are getting a calling. Most callings that are extended to us require no leadership responsibilities.
Recently I had lunch with a friend. This wasn’t just a friend but also a past bishopric counselor of mine. At the time of our lunch I had recently been released as bishop and he had recently been called as bishop in a different ward. These scenarios led to a discussion about leadership vacuums.
Imagine if you sat on the board of directors for a large Fortune 500 company that needed to find a new CEO to improve the dismal progress of the company. You are not allowed to conduct any formal interviews. You can only choose from people that live in a specific geographical neighborhood (about 350 people). To top it off, you have to make your decision in only 2 weeks.
