Teaching in the Church | An Interview with Russell Osguthorpe

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Russell T. Osguthorpe has served as Sunday School General President, Area Seventy, and with his wife Lolly as mission leaders and temple president and matron. They are currently serving as virtual BYU-Pathway missionaries for students in the Caribbean. He holds a Ph.D. in instructional psychology and has served as a professor and administrator at Brigham Young University. He speaks several languages and enjoys swimming, hiking, and biking. He and his wife are the parents of five children and live in Provo, Utah.

Highlights

01:30 Brother Osguthorpe relates his experience of how he got called to be Sunday School General President. 07:00 His calling is equal parts revelation and using his professional background of education and teaching. The Lord prepares us with gifts to help us in our callings. 10:30 Brother Osguthorpe’s professional background 12:30 Brother Osguthorpe explains how he balanced using his professional background and using revelation from God when making decisions about Come Follow Me. 15:30 Gospel learning is distinct from educational learning. 18:00 Discussion on the struggle leaders face when it comes to trying to motivate the ward or fix problems in the ward 19:30 The lesson doesn’t come from the manual or from a group of people. It comes from inside the learner. Leaders are to motivate, invite, and inspire the learner to look inside themselves. 21:45 Elder Bednar says that we don’t want teachers to act upon the students. As students we need to act and the desire needs to come from within them. 23:45 As leaders we think that we are there to just help fix problems and try to meet needs. However, what really needs to happen is we need to think of how we can magnify their gifts. 25:00 How do you teach doctrine rather than application? 29:00 How do we approach balancing lecturing and discussion? 36:00 Brother Osguthorpe talks about how he prepared General Conference talks and what he has learned from it. 41:45 Brother Osguthorpe discusses his new book, Filled with His love: Strengthening Our Attachment to God and to Others, and why he wrote it. 46:00 Attachment theory and fixing relationships 50:50 Kurt talks about how leaders can best help individuals that are struggling with their relationship with God. Oftentimes we focus on behaviors rather than the deeper cause of their struggles. It’s so important to listen to their story. 52:52 We need to analyze the relationships we had growing up to understand why we are struggling with relationships as adults. 53:15 Relationships are at the core of our doctrine. Covenants with God can be likened to creating a deeper relationship with God. 55:40 Brother Osguthorpe explains more about attachment theory and how it affects our relationships. 1:01:30 How to help negative self-talk in the individuals that we are trying to help. 1:10:25 Leaders should remember that every trial, sin, problem, etc., begins with an attachment problem and a detachment from God. 1:10:55 Brother Osguthorpe simplifies attachment theory and gives an example of how to use it to help individuals dealing with relationship problems. 1:11:45 A person’s desire can change their attachment style. 1:15:30 Our attachment to God has the most powerful influence on our attachment to others.