Part of our mission at Leading Saints is to share effective leadership ideas—ideas which are inspired and therefore inspire and motivate us to action. Sometimes we recognize an inspired idea and immediately act upon it. This action is helpful and effective, especially when we have lots on our plate and not much time. A more creative approach is to recognize an idea and ponder on it before we act, opening the door for the Spirit to Lead Out and act upon us with inspiration. The Spirit knows what the members and our families need, so this type of action is even more effective as the Spirit can prompt us to modify, add to, or even create a whole new idea. A truly effective leadership idea is Spirit driven. This is the first in a new series of Lead Out articles and offerings from Leading Saints.

April Sorbonne is from Salt Lake City, Utah. She loves studying the gospel and teaching and has a particular interest in the Principles of Righteousness and their impact on relationships. A recent highlight for her was teaching the Friday Devotional at the University of Utah Institute. She is good at problem solving and finding solutions for others’ hard questions. She has four children, an incredible husband, one hairless cat, and three grandchildren who are the JOY of her life!

Enter April…

With the bicentennial General Conference quickly approaching, many are wondering how to help their wards and families focus more on the Restoration. How can we help bring the prophet’s invitations to prepare for April conference to the forefront of the hearts and minds of those we lead and love?

These were questions my husband and I had been contemplating. Ralph serves as a Young Single Adult bishop at the University of Utah and we were eager to figure out how to help our ward prepare for this very special conference. We wanted to act upon President Nelson’s invitations to get immersed in the Restoration so we began to ponder. The inspiration we received on how to do this was both detailed and to the point.

The prophet has invited each of us to prepare for the bicentennial conference, so we prepared for each of our ward members a special envelope with the words “An Invitation from President Russell M. Nelson” on it. These envelopes held each of the invitations that have been extended to us by the prophet, with each invitation printed up on its own card.

Next we decided to hold a special Restoration-themed meeting with our ward members to help them remember the specific things our prophet has invited us to do. We called it “Get Immersed in the Restoration: a Kick-off Meeting to Prepare for the Bicentennial Conference”. We created a lesson to coincide with the theme, which we shared before distributing the invitations from the prophet.

The feedback from our ward and other leaders as well as requests for our lesson outline and the invitation printables prompted us to reach out and share this effective leadership idea with Leading Saints. We hope that these Restoration ideas will inspire you as you Lead Out in your own leadership callings and also in your homes.

Holding a “Get Immersed in the Restoration” Kick-off Meeting

To help plan and prepare for the bicentennial General Conference, we dedicated a joint Sunday School lesson to the Restoration and did the following:

• We shared what Elder Gerald N. Lund recently said when speaking at a Come Follow Me fireside: “The Book of Mormon is a lesson in obedience.” We discussed the difference between blind obedience and trust obedience.
• We shared that our attitude matters to our Heavenly Father. Murmuring is easier to do than we think and blocks blessings. We shared the following excerpts from the February 2015 General Conference talk, “Beware of Murmuring”, by H. Ross Workman:

“The simplest of instructions may reveal the tendency to murmur. I attended a meeting once when the presiding authority invited members of the congregation to come forward in the meeting room. A few stirred. Most did not. Why not?

“I feel sure there were those who questioned why they should leave their comfortable position. “Why should I?” That question was, no doubt, followed promptly by an excuse or rationalization as to why it should not matter whether the seat was changed or not. I believe there followed some irritation that the presiding authority should make such a request. The last step, obvious to all who observed, was slothfulness in responding. Few moved. Was that a small thing? Yes. But it reflected a deeper, more profound lack of willingness to obey. It reflected a spirit of disobedience. That is not a small thing.

“I was recently in a Church meeting in West Africa when a priesthood leader invited the brethren to come forward and occupy the first three rows of the chapel. Every man immediately stood and moved his seat according to instruction. A small thing? Yes. But it reflected a willingness to obey. That is not a small thing.”

• We shared that obedience is essential to realize the blessings of the Lord and reminded them that at last October’s conference the prophet invited us to do several things to prepare for the bicentennial conference in April. We next passed out the “An Invitation from President Russell M. Nelson” envelopes with their invitations inside. Members were called upon to read aloud each of the prophet’s invitations from the cards, which were also enlarged on a keynote presentation. We focused on the “Design Your Plan” invitation where the prophet states, “Design your own plan to immerse yourself in the…Restoration, as you do…conference in April will be…unforgettable.”
• We brainstormed and collaborated ideas with our ward members so they could come up with a variety of ideas to use in their plans. We made one list of ward ideas to help us get immersed in the Restoration as a ward and one for personal ideas to help us get immersed individually. One idea our members came up with was to have weekly ward Facebook and Instagram photos with Restoration themes. Three members volunteered to oversee this.
• We wrote down on our “Design Your Plan” worksheets what we wanted to go and do to prepare for the bicentennial conference and what questions the Book of Mormon answered for us. These printables and all the invitations are included in the Leading Saints Immerse Yourself In the Restoration instant download kit.
• We decided that the Sacrament meeting before the bicentennial Conference would be special and exclusively focused on the Restoration.

Effective Outcomes

• We observed in our meeting that our members did not know specifically what our prophet has invited them to do. Now they know.
• We noticed strong collaboration in them as they brainstormed ideas for their plans. Many of our ward members lingered after the meeting was over to talk about what they were planning to do to prepare.
• Ward members asked for extra invites to share with other roommates and friends. The meeting increased their desire to share the Restoration with others.
• One member reported back the following week that she took her envelope and invites to school at LDS Business College and showed her friends and classmates. They went to the copy room and each of them made their own copies of the prophet’s invitations. They also decided as a group to decorate an information bulletin board at the school with a Restoration theme and include on it each of the invites to inspire school members to also act upon the prophet’s invitations to get immersed in the Restoration.

We hope that these ideas will inspire you and perhaps spark your own ideas as you Lead Out with the Restoration.