Kristi Bennett is a part-time cosmetologist, full-time mother and lifelong member of the Church who lives by the motto, “I will make everything around me beautiful.” She lives in North Carolina with her husband, David, and their three young children. She is striving to foster a personal and meaningful relationship with God on a daily basis beyond her church calling into her everyday life. She has served in many capacities but has found a new sense of fulfillment in her current calling as Public Affairs Specialist.  Kristi was inspired to create and offer a non-denominational women’s conference in Durham, North Carolina o\in October 2020. Taking a huge leap of faith in every way, she produced a one-day event that was centered on helping women go all in with God on their everyday lives. Thus help them to find the fulfillment that partnership with Deity brings into seemingly mundane tasks.

Enter Kristi…

This was it. My first big calling. My first ‘real’ calling where I could actually make a difference. I had been a primary teacher, a pianist, a chorister, a Sunday school teacher, a greeter. In my 30 years of life I had served in every capacity asked of me but never as a leader and never in a committee or a presidency. It’s the natural side effect of marrying an incredible man with a boundless heart- he is a man who will always serve the “bigger” calling.

99.9% of the time I am fully appreciative of his willingness to serve and the potential others see in him and not at all jealous or resentful. But every once in a while it is nice to feel…seen. And I thought this was it. Finally it felt like someone saw that I had something of value to contribute and they were giving me a chance to prove it.

Public affairs. Whatever THAT means. Doesn’t matter. I’m down.

So I went to my first meeting that was 45 minutes away with a group of complete strangers on a weeknight.

I was thrilled. My stomach pounced with nervous excitement. I got out my pen and newly purchased empty notebook ready to be the real deal. This was going to be life changing.

Until I looked down at the agenda.

“What in the world…”

We began with a brief, if antiquated but as with all church callings very lovely worded, training about using our local political connections in a positive way.

“Am I supposed to have close relationships with my local government?! I am a work-from-home mom of three little kids, I promise I have zero political influence. I am not even involved in the PTA…”

I continued sitting in silence with a smile. We moved on to cover how relationships with leaders of other religious organizations could be beneficial in working toward common goals.

“Who in the world knows leaders of other religions? I don’t even know the LDS bishop of the next congregation over. Does the stake presidency know I am not besties with the pastor of the closest Baptist congregation? I don’t even know where my neighbors go to church.”

After a few moments of reading we thankfully moved on from training to our next “item of business”.

Thank goodness. Then I read ahead. What in the world? There were activities listed in the past that I had never heard of in my ward. The upcoming action items were all follow-up questions for one single lady in our committee and nobody else. Who is this lady who is doing everything by herself?

“Alright guys sounds good. We will meet next month.” That’s it? No action items? No plan? What in the world am I supposed to do????

How to Help Lead Those Who Serve in Public Affairs

It has now been 12 months of public affairs experience, now the stake communication council, and during that time I have seen incredible growth as well as frustrating stagnation. I’ve seen the successful creation of public events working with local government, the open house and dedication of a local temple, groundbreaking and local government push back for a new church building, months without a committee leader where our stake high councilman stepped up, coordination and continuation of service projects, and growth in understanding how to proactively create updated media outlets.  Many incredible positives have occurred alongside the ever-present failings that naturally accompany any man-made endeavor.

My hope would be to share where my experience has been positive as well as negative. I hope that leaders worldwide can better support and understand this very vague position of communication council specialist.

Support Their External Focus

I get it. As a ward or stake leader you are called specifically to meet the needs of these designated individuals. But as a group, members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints tend to be extremely isolated and internally focused. We are a mass of introverts on the whole. We don’t even know people outside of our ward boundary who happen to live just a few minutes down the road. Oh sure, we do service on a massive scale and that is all well and good but it is too often grand and removed from intimate relationships.  Thus remaining impersonal and faceless. We are more apt to volunteer every weekend for hurricane relief, 6 hours away, than walk to our local nursing home and see if there is any service we can provide.

Your stake communications specialists have the OPPOSITE role. They are called specifically to look beyond the members of the ward and stake and see who lies outside of our membership. It is not a missionary focused endeavor either so they don’t fit into that category. Instead, they are a group apart, striving to bridge the gap between our internally focused congregation and the community we live within. You can best serve them by understanding that they are externally focused in a non-missionary way and they will present ideas to you that have nothing to do with missionary work and everything to do with appreciation and service.

Be Open Minded to Non-Traditional Ideas

If there is one thing President Nelson has taught us, it is that change is a GOOD thing.

As I soon found out in my committee membership, my job was to come up with creative and positive ways our members could interact with men and women in our area who are not members of our church. Every month I added more and more items to be sent back to the stake presidency for review. With that external focus in mind, be open to suggestions not typical of our church culture as a whole.

The following is a an example of ideas that have and have not been successfully completed in our stake in the last 12 months:

• Non-LDS music in Sacrament meeting
• Community leader appreciation events (teachers, policemen, firemen, etc.)
• Combined Easter/Christmas services with other faiths
• Creation of community interfaith councils
• Recording and publishing of adult conversion stories in our stake
• Joint Bible study groups with other congregations
• Invitation of non-members to join self-reliance or ARP meetings
• Creation of welcome bags for visitors to church
• Use of LDS buildings to host international events (ie. Night To Shine- Prom for special needs)
• Light The World booth or float at community fair or parade
• 5k Run to the Temple free to public at a temple opening
• Hosting of community blood drive or health fair
• Creation of community gardens and seed swap
• Involvement in the town National Day of Prayer
• Old folks home playgroup
• Virtual Easter gallery of images and testimonies

There are endless possibilities of ways your stake can foster relationships in the community. Be open to them.

Provide Some Basic Direction To Your Committee Members And Use Their Unique Talents

Like I said, this calling is magnificent but also unlike any other calling in the church. Outwardly focused but without the confidence that comes from a missionary tag, you can easily feel lost in a sea of possibility and not know where to start. Having a few basic responsibilities for your committee members gives them a place to start and allows the creativity to flow. In my ward, I was set apart as the ward communication specialist (even before the name change) and I am responsible for compiling and designing an email for our ward members sent out once a week as a one stop shop for announcements and information. Of course they mostly open it for my GIFs but either way, they click into it and see a ward calendar, stake information, Come Follow Me links, church news, and auxiliary links. That responsibility gives me a weekly purpose that is in line with my stake calling and supportive of my goals on both levels.

A second idea is the calling of a ward photographer. In an age where media is king (getting to that point in a minute) and perception is paramount, the use of high quality and beautifully crafted images is important to the public image of the Church. The Church knows this but we often forget to bring it down to a local level. With the abundance of the smartphone and the plethora of mom-tographers around the globe, calling a ward member to be a photographer at each ward activity, various youth activities and especially stake ventures, is vital to public perception.

Another idea is to create a stake history. Not the one you’re required to put together annually, but REAL one. That was how I got started before I was even in public affairs in the first place. I looked at our bishopric, two thirds of them were non-returned missionary adult converts (my husband included) and then studiously observed the ward. My incredible little congregation had over 30 adult members who were converted and baptized beyond the age of 15. I wanted to hear their stories. So I asked if I could record them. And the majority of them said yes. That has since extended into a stake-wide project recording interviews of faith, not just conversion, including times of sickness, trial, during various occupations, crossing into mental health. I am certain you can easily list a dozen or more individuals in your stake or ward who have incredible stories of faith.

The collection of their testimonies and histories can have an incredible impact on the members and non-members in your area.

Get Digital

When I was Google searching churches in my hometown to see who I could invite to an inter-faith Christmas service, I was distraught. Twenty-three congregations came up and not one of them was LDS. If you are not online, you are not anywhere.

I know the Church has a website. Let’s be honest, it is beautiful but it is meant to funnel new sources and mold a public image for a global church that has 16.3 million members. It is not the area specific information my town of 30,000 is going to find helpful or applicable. Get…On…Line. Create a stake Facebook group, a ward Instagram.  All those pictures your photographer takes at girls camp and when your Elder’s quorum does service, they go here. Use the big Easter and Christmas hashtag campaigns, create videos for your congregants.

My stake presidency has done an incredible job of supporting my pressure to create a stake website. I was relentless. I pursued this passionately and without ceasing for months and months to get the financial backing and provide the vision to get this approved. And it has been the most incredible asset. It is an externally focused medium for information that is locally centered. All of the verbiage is carefully chosen or copied from the main Church website but it is a source that local community members can look to for information about what we believe, where we worship, who we are, what is that big white building on Highway 55, how do we involve ourselves in hurricane cleanup, what is going on locally, etc. You know all those interviews I did with members of my ward and stake regarding their conversion and faith experiences? They’re all here. People are seeing our faces and hearing our voices. The internet is an incredible tool for letting those around us hear how we talk about the Savior.

Look at what other pastors are doing. They do this for a living and they are good at it. They have podcasts, websites, Instagram’s, meme contests, photos, Facebook live streaming.  They are online because (at the risk of sounding like The Little Mermaid) that is where the people are. As if we hadn’t learned it yet, we live in a digital age. You NEED to get online in order to survive. The Pandemic simply proved my point.

Members are tired of meetings. Yes just as much as you are. They don’t want to be TOLD what to do. They want to be SHOWN. You can use this pandemic as an opportunity to build that digital foundation for your ward and stake. Interview, testimonies, livestreams, bible study, service projects.  Stop having meetings about them and just start doing them.

For example, if you are worried about members getting ministered to in this time of need, you could hold a Zoom call for sure. OR you can strap on your boots, write a note and go live as you doorbell ditch a member in your ward with a flower and a card. Posting an video about anonymous acts of service or how you are showing up in your family doing Come Follow Me or what Sacrament Meeting chaos looks like in your home will go a thousand times farther than a meeting with the same 5 people about the same 6 things. In a world where people crave authenticity, give it to them. They want to hear your voice and see your face. They want to see you lead. So get online and lead them.

Involve Your Youth

Look, our youth are online. Period. There is no going around it. There is no stopping it. Instead of sticking our heads in the sand about it, we can meet them where they are and USE them for the knowledge that they have and the influence they seek. Take your teenager who is on their phone more than breathing air and put them on your public affairs committee. Then sit back with some popcorn and watch the magic happen. Let them take over your stake or ward Instagram account. Instagram is a platform used primarily by those under 27 years of age. They’re perfect for it. With a little guidance as to content, they are far more savvy than you or I will ever be. Without good content, nobody will follow you and since engagement produces results you can post all day long and that algorithm guarantees that nobody will see your content unless they find it intriguing.

Give Your PAC Specialist Some Authority

A few months into my calling I tried to create a stake-wide Book of Mormon initiative encouraging both youth and leader participation. Turns out my newly appointed PAC (Public affairs committee) member self didn’t know that while my job is to create, initiate and plan interesting ways for members to be involved in the community, I have absolutely zero authority whatsoever. Any idea I have must be given to my PAC leader (which I didn’t have at the time), to be given to my stake high councilor, to be given to the stake presidency, to be reviewed at their next meeting, to be given feedback on whether we can move forward with it. Additionally, any idea involving the youth must apparently not only be run by the youth leaders but the youth themselves.

I am not saying we shouldn’t have structure in the church. It is necessary. But I was put in a calling with no real direction and when I came up with an idea and then put all the steps in motion to make it happen, suddenly it was very clear to me that I did not have the authority to fulfill my calling. Creating some guidelines as to what PAC members can and cannot do and then announcing that to not only the committee itself but also your stake as a whole would go a long way in showing support and creating momentum.

Put A PAC Member In Every Ward

There is no better way to make sure you have every ward accounted for or every announcement sent out than to put a PAC member in every ward. This is an ideal situation and perhaps not achievable in every stake but it is a worthy goal to strive for to encompass all geographic issues and ensure accurate mass communication.

At the end of the day, all we can hope to do is our very best. My goal with this article is to spark inspiration and I hope you can take it back to your bishoprics, presidencies and ward councils to begin or continue a dialogue about how to lead with your members in public affairs. I want to express my deepest gratitude for every unpaid, volunteer leader who is spending personal time and resources to fulfill his/her calling in unprecedented ways. Thank you for serving. Thank you for leading. Thank you for being the example of Christ that you are. You are seen.