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Sharla Goettl lives in Newberg, Oregon, where she serves as a stake Young Women president. In-person activities are still fully restricted there right now, but they have been able to see great success by crafting non-virtual but safely-interactive activities, and are implementing changes that will improve class/quorum leadership. Sharla is the author of the book Spiritual Resilience: Leading Our Youth to Go and Do.
Highlights
3:38 Status during pandemic. No Stake youth conference or activities. Large geographic Stake and difficult to get youth together. Still only small groups, no youth activities, most through zoom. Principles: 1. Have events that are shared experiences without being virtual ie Bingo phone-a-thon. Youth registered through online form. Certain rules. Received bingo card with 25 names, must have 5 minutes conversation by phone over a one week period. Helped with fear of phone conversations, required skills needed to get phone numbers and initiate call. Few conversation starters provided. Required download tools app, and/call parents, and set up church account. Helps with further ripple effect to help with familysearch, Gospel Living app etc. Incentives and prizes awarded. Rented local drive-in for participants and families. 15:10 2. Running effective Stake youth council. Her stake assigned the YW co-president of Stake youth council as honorary members of Stake YW presidency. Also 2 of rhe oldest yw in the Stake as her assistants to form a “YW board”. They are advisors for all plans. The stake youth leadership committee includes the Stake pres, High Council members over youth, Stake YW/YM pres and co-presidents 17:50 More youth leaders allows them to have more visibility for events. “So much more relatable when you see it coming from a youth rather than from an adult”. It is more relevant and hells them recognize they can fill leadership role. 20:33 As a ward leader she would make a plan, fill out agenda but no ownership by the youth. They must be included in the process and planning. Class presidency meetings are so much more important than the adult presidency meeting. Shift focus to class presidency meeting- weekly if possible. (Shorter and more frequent) more ministering, less administration. 26:36 Meetings by zoom may be long-lasting. Or before/after church or activity Include youth leaders in adult presidency meeting, monthly. 29:20 Regarding lessons—be as honest and relevant as we can. Focusing on spiritual resilience. Must be humble, and honest and aware of ways to improve and how the Holy Ghost interacts with us. More aware of small interactions and promptings-they happen daily! How has being a leader helped you be a better follower of Jesus Christ? She feels more confident about the future and the youth today that will find the solutions and implement things that were created by adults.
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Spiritual Resilience: Leading Our Youth to Go and Do 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.
There were some great principles taught in this podcast.
1. Weekly class and quorum presidency meetings make the adult calling so much easier and develop youth leaders so much better. Youth are only in their calling for a relatively short time. Weekly is a must. I have had phenomenal success developing youth leadership skills and having successful ministering and activities when the presidency meetings are weekly and short. Unfortunately, it has been incredibly difficult to get adults who work with youth presidencies to understand the importance of this practice.
2. The bingo activity designed with goals to have youth use a phone, talk with adults, download Member Tools, and talk with youth they don’t know is a great activity to get youth outside their comfort zone and their clique. We have tried to do this. But this activity went beyond anything we have done.
3. I really like the idea of the wards’ class and quorum president or presidency member being assigned to attend the stake level youth activity planning meetings. I think this can give these youth leaders a greater view of Church organization and experience with bigger activities while serving at the ward level.
4. I really like what was said about adults’ primary role to develop youth leaders. I agree that activity planning should happen in the class and quorum presidency meeting, not in the adult presidency meeting.
Please don’t take these next comments as criticisms. They are simply observations. The General Handbook is often written to allow flexibility and might be interpreted differently by different people in different circumstances:
a. GH 29.3.10 Stake Youth Leadership Committee – Purpose: “Counsel together about how to support ward leaders in involving the youth in the work of salvation and exaltation.” I interpret this to mean that the SYLC’s primary purpose is supporting and training ward adult presidencies to develop youth leaders, not activity planning although that is part of it.
b. GH 29.3.10 Stake Youth Leadership Committee – Participants: “… They also invite youth to participate on the committee as needed.” Our stake divides the the SYLC into two portions: Adult only participants first, then we adjourn to the portion where the youth are invited to participate in providing input for stake activities. They also volunteer to take on roles in the implementation of those activities. Although at one time we had YW and AP co-leaders for that portion, we no longer have those roles since they are not part of the General Handbook organization.
c. The General Handbook does not identify anything called a “Stake Youth Council.” It is an old concept going back at least 45 years. We address youth participation as stated above.
d. My experience is that it is super hard for adults working with youth at the ward level to transition to a stake level youth calling. They always want to replicate at the stake level to what should be happening at the ward level. See purpose of the SYLC above. If the stake YW presidency or stake YM presidency need input from youth, they can get it as part of the SYLC 2nd portion or attend ward youth activities, classes, and presidency meetings more frequently and become acquainted with what is happening on the ground throughout the stake rather than adding youth to stake YW presidency meetings or creating a “stake YW board.”
e. GH 5.7.1 – I recommend this entire section be read. But below are a few highlights of the stake YW presidency responsibilities:
– “…build faith and strengthen individuals and families in the stake.”
– “Orient newly called ward organization presidencies.”
– “Offer ongoing support and instruction. Communicate with ward organization presidencies regularly to learn of their needs, discuss the needs of the members they serve,…Arrange with ward leaders to visit their meetings and classes periodically.”
– “Instruct ward organization presidencies during stake leadership meetings… Bishops may request additional instruction for ward organization presidencies.”
– “…plan and coordinate stake Young Women activities and camps.”
Most of what both the stake YW presidency and stake YM presidency are supposed to do is to support and train adults how to develop youth as leaders. Activities should strengthen faith, individuals, and family as well as help youth develop leadership skills.
How can I connect with Sharla and learn more details about their stake phone call activity?