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This is a rebroadcast. The episode originally ran in March 2018. Tom Christofferson is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints who experiences same sex attraction. He is also the brother of Elder D. Todd Christofferson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Tom grew up in the Church as a member, served a mission and married in the temple. His short marriage ended and he came out as gay and lived that lifestyle for many years. He started coming back to church with Bruce Larson as a bishop and David Checketts as his stake president. His story is told in his book, That We May Be One: A Gay Mormon’s Perspective on Faith and Family, and he has more recently published A Better Heart: The Impact of Christ’s Pure Love. Tom has spent his career in investment management and asset servicing, living in the United States and Europe. He was a founding board member of Encircle, a group providing resources to support LGBTQ individuals and their families in Provo, Utah. Tom is an active member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and serves as a Gospel Doctrine teacher in his Salt Lake City Ward. As leaders we can learn a lot from his experience of coming back to church and being rebaptized.
President David Checketts (far left) and the Christofferson brothers
Episode Highlights
6:30 Tom’s story from the beginning 9:30 His story of excommunication 10:50 How his family wanted their love to be perfect as they accepted him 13:20 Bishop Bruce Larson’s side of the story 16:00 Stake President David Checkett’s side of the story 18:00 Bishop Larson and President Checketts did not know at first that he was related to Elder Christofferson 20:30 Sharing with the ward council how to make feel Tom welcome 22:30 Response of the ward council 24:00 Tom was welcomed and loved unconditionally 29:00 Tom attended the ward for 5 years before wanting to come back to live the commandments 31:45 During the 5 years how Tom felt welcome in the ward 33:20 Everyone focused on the the relationship with Tom and not his progress 34:30 Study sessions with Tom and President Checketts 38:00 Meeting with Tom’s partner 42:00 President Checketts meets with Elder Christofferson about Tom 45:00 Tom Christofferson’s rebaptism 48:00 How this experience has helped Bishop Larson to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ 50:00 How this experience has helped President Checketts to be a better disciple of Jesus Christ
Links
That We May Be One: A Gay Mormon’s Perspective on Faith and Family A Better Heart: The Impact of Christ’s Pure Love Read the TRANSCRIPT for this episode
Tom, thank you for this loving, insightful book. My grandson “ came out” as gay this past summer. It has changed the relationship we have with his ex-wife and two boys —4 yrs and 9 mos. I pray my husband and I can keep our relationship loving and peaceful as we all work thru his change in life.
He too did all the ‘right’ things growing up—mission temple marriage and being children into the world, then one day just didn’t want to play the game anymore.
I pray we may help his parents and brother continue in their relationship. Thank you for sharing.