Simplifying Ministering | A How I Lead Interview with Sarah Randall

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Sarah Randall grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, served in the Portugal Lisbon South mission, and graduated from Utah State University in Elementary Education. She has served in many ward Primary, Young Women, and Relief Society presidencies in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and Alaska. Sarah and her husband have six children and together they love to backpack, hike, bike, and kayak all over Alaska. Sarah recently served as a facilitator for the Church’s new “Emotional Resilience-Strength in the Lord” course and was thrilled to find that it covers the stages of the grief cycle. She has found that understanding the grief cycle has been pivotal in processing the losses in her own life, in therapy, and as a leader in the Church seeking to minister as Christ would. Understanding that the grief cycle applies to any loss in life including trauma and betrayal (not just death) has enabled her to be a better instrument for Christ to honor people’s pain—to learn how to support them through that grief process—to mourn with those who mourn. She also has loved sharing some of her family’s favorite kids’ books for grieving, gaining empathy, and connecting with joy in their Anchorage Stake Women’s Conference, which can be found on her Instagram @strength.through.stories.

Highlights

02:15 Sarah Randall’s background. 06:45 Sarah talks about her experience in the Relief Society Presidency and their approach to ministering. 14:45 Connecting with sisters from all different backgrounds and experiences. Honor their experiences and validate them. 20:50 How to get to the point where people actually do open up to you.

Removing the reporting dynamic when it comes to ministering interviews.
Asking questions like, “what do you want?” or “how can I help you?”

25:25 Sarah shares a personal experience of how she was able to help a sister in her ward who had had a lot of neglect and trauma in her life. 28:10 Codependency is enabling unhealthy behavior. When we are reaching out to help someone they need to be engaged in the process. As a leader you can invite them to take action instead of doing it for them. 33:00 Other questions to ask someone in need:

Who have you already asked for help?
Do you have an extended family that can help?

35:40 When people came to Jesus he would always ask, “what do you want?” He didn’t want to take away people’s agency. 37:45 One thing that leaders should really understand and get familiar with is the grief cycle. Honor other people’s feelings. 39:00 There are lots of unhelpful phrases like, “everything happens for a reason.”

Links

My Approach to Ministering Interviews | A How I Lead Interview with Sharon Kaye Fisher Instagram: @strength.through.stories Read the TRANSCRIPT of this podcast Get 14-day access to the Core Leader Library

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