When the Youth Planned Stake Conference | A How I Lead Interview

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In this podcast, Kurt sits down with four members of the Little Valley Stake in St. George, Utah, to talk about what happened when the stake president asked the youth (and their leaders) to plan stake conference. Guests include stake high councilor and Young Men leader Steve Chase, stake youth council member and high school sophomore Lucy Hansen, stake Young Women president Ashlie Bundy, and Brad Simister, second counselor in the stake presidency.

Highlights

01:45 Introductions to the speakers. 03:20 Planning for stake conference. They felt that the stake youth committee should plan and prepare stake conference. 05:15 Lucy, from the youth council, describes how they went about planning everything. 05:45 Ashlie talks about the difficulties they encountered at first and her role as a leader to help the youth open up. 08:45 President Simister goes into how they structured the meetings. Overall, the stake president would just ask for updates but let everyone do their thing. 10:30 Lucy gives advice to other youth councils that might want to do the same thing. 11:15 The stake presidency planned the leadership meeting and youth were in charge of the adult session and general meeting. The youth committee was asked, “What do you want your parents to know?” That was the focus of the planning sessions and conference. 12:30 The benefit of having the youth help plan the conference was that they felt a part of it. It wasn’t just another adult meeting. 13:50 The youth chose the topics. They chose and wanted to hear about anxiety, mental health, how adults can connect with youth, and the second coming. 16:20 How they got the youth to open up, get engaged, and share ideas. 17:30 The leaders really stepped back and let the youth lead. 20:00 The stake president and other leaders were able to teach the youth how to create and get the agenda approved and speakers approved. 22:15 Lucy gives her perspective on how the stake conference went and how planning it changed her experience. 24:15 The youth felt special and valued by being included in the planning process. 26:10 Overall, the experience was positive for the youth and adult leaders. 26:50 There was more effort to include and work with the youth but there is power in it. It will help the youth with their future callings.

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