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Joshua Konietz is the grandson of one of the pioneers for the Church in Europe, and served in the England Birmingham mission. He has served as elders quorum president, high counselor, and as a bishop for three years. Joshua manages a development team working in northern Europe to reduce auto and industrial weight and CO2 emissions. He and his wife Janina live in Friedrichsdorf, Germany, near the Frankfurt temple, and are the parents of three children.
Highlights
3:45 The Church experience today in Friedrichsdorf 5:15 Meeting and serving during the pandemic
- 7:20 Seeking personal connections
Leadership principles: 8:20 Principle 1: Personal preparation to lead with authenticity and integrity
- Preparing the next generation of leaders
- 9:20 Felt the desire to serve with the same influence on others that he felt from general authorities
- 11:30 Wrote his vision of his service as a bishop
- Seeks to reconnect with the vision of his responsibilities and who he wants to be
- 16:15 A vision helps him set priorities and set the agenda for ward council
- 19:00 Examples of considering specific questions and objectives
21:35 Principle 2: Empowerment
- Influence from the examples of his Young Mens president and his mission trainer
- 25:00 Mentoring others to catch the vision of why we are doing what we are doing
- 26:30 Turning first to the handbook and seeking their own revelation
30:15 Principle 3: Influence
- Authentic relationships are key
- 32:25 Spending time with the members forms the basis for relationships and influence
39:20 The influence of the Savior and our dependence on the Lord’s counsel helps us do what we could not do on our own
Links
The Science of Church Meetings (including Ward Council) | An Interview with Steven Rogelberg Liahona article with a story about Joshua’s grandfather Read the TRANSCRIPT of this podcast Note: This transcript was machine-produced. We would be grateful for help correcting errors. You can help! Simply copy/paste the transcript text into a document, make the corrections, and then copy/paste the corrected text into a comment on the page (below) and we will get the corrected text published!
I really enjoyed this podcast. I really liked hearing of the things he is doing as the bishop. He had some great experiences to share. Great insights that should be reiterated. Yet they are from someone who didn’t write a book, nor is he a professor, nor CEO of a company.
Having lived outside the U.S. for 8 years, other cultures really interest me. Most countries outside the U.S. have classes of some kind. While in college, one of my professors went to Germany to get his PhD. The branch president was a plumber and was working part-time on a bachelor degree in business. My professor said many people criticized him for trying to move above his class. It was a culture thing.
It would be nice for future international Church leaders and women to discuss the cultural challenges they have to overcome to create a unified branch, ward, district, stake, Relief Society, Elders Quorum where everyone can feel like they are fellow citizens with the Saints with the potential to become as God is.
Bishop Konietz is one of the most genuine people I know. He walks the walk. He is a great, empathetic man! He really helped me and my brother who were living alone feel part of the ward.