Mark & Lacie Sieverkropp live in Ephrata, Washington where they both grew up as non-members. Examples of LDS friends started their interest in the gospel which led to their conversion. Mark helped fellowship Lacie and they later got married after her baptism. They have now been married 9 years and have two children.
Episode Highlights:
- How Bishop Sieverkropp was called as bishop (11:00)
- Dealing with the complacency of a ward (21:20)
- How Lacie has taken on the role/calling of bishop’s wife (23:00)
- How Bishop Sieverkropp manages the Spanish group in his ward (49:20)
- Bishop Sieverkropp’s approach to home teaching (53:15)
- How has Lacie’s time serving with her husband made her a better disciple of Jesus Christ? (57:00)
- How has Bishop’s Sieverkropp’s time as bishop made him a better disciple of Jesus Christ? (58:00)
5 Principles of Leadership
- Delegate a lot, focus on doing what only I can do (25:00)
- Focus on individuals, connect with members 1-on-1 (31:15)
- Stick with the Brethren (33:50)
- Train, Train, TRAIN (36:15)
- Show appreciation (44:15)
Links:
What I Wish I’d Known Before My Mission, by John Bytheway
Quote by Andy Stanley
Finally, a bishop who focuses on the youth. Thank you for mentioning your interviews more regular with the youth. I have been in a lot of wards and have been in the YMs for the past 14 years in various opportunities to serve and this is something that I have seen a greater need, having the bishop have some focus on the youth. Thanks Mark!
Thanks for your comment Aaron! The youth is definitely a huge focus of mine…especially having more frequent interviews with them! It’s fun now, when I grab a priest or a laurel they always say “Didn’t we just talk?” and I just smile and say, “Yes we did, now let’s talk again!”
It’s awesome to hear their testimonies in a private setting and be able to share mine with them as well.
I enjoyed Bishop Sieverkropp’s ideas about the bishop’s responsibility in training new presidents of quorums and auxiliaries. I can also see how some of my unmet expectations are directly due to my failure to adequately communicate and train on the front end. As a result of listening to the podcast (twice!) I have changed how I am working with my auxiliary leaders. Thanks for great counsel!
Wow Kevin. Thank you for this comment! That makes me feel good 🙂
Shoot me an email (mark@sieverkropp.com) and I’ll share with you the form that we use in our ward when training a new quorum or auxiliary leader.