Kerry Muhlestein is a professor and director of research in the Department of Ancient Scripture at Brigham Young University, and also the director of the BYU Egypt Excavation Project. He has taught in the history department of three universities and has been part of award-winning history publications. He received his BS in psychology with a Hebrew minor from BYU, his MA in Ancient Near Eastern studies from BYU, and his PhD from UCLA in Egyptology. He and his wife, Julianne, are the parents of six children. In his latest book, God Will Prevail: Ancient Covenants, Modern Blessings, and the Gathering of Israel, he encourages readers to take hold of God’s promise to gather His covenant people by recognizing the connection between covenant making and the eternal and transformative love of the Savior.

Highlights

5:20 Found that most of his students didn't really understand the covenant; even the teachers didn't understand it as well as they probably should

9:10 Foundation of what the covenant is: the covenant that has existed since the foundation of the world, was established with Adam and Eve, and needs to be re-established periodically

* THE new and everlasting covenant (vs. "a" new and everlasting covenant)

* The Abrahamic covenant

* The baptismal covenant

* The marriage covenant

13:30 Teaching 8-year-olds prior to baptism about the covenant they are making

* 15:00 Its primary purpose is establishing a closer, higher relationship with God; we can have that as we change our nature and become more like him

* 18:20 "Leveling up"

* 20:15 Blessings: you become a holier person and God will give instructions so you know how to act, and the Holy Ghost is key to that

22:45 Making covenants brings us to neutral ground, and keeping or not keeping the commandments leads to consequences in the form of blessings or curses

* Negative consequences are to humble us (covenant corruption cycle)

* Love and mercy are always available to those in the covenant; He will always give us another chance: this is the gathering of Israel

* There is a long history in the scriptures of the Israelites losing their blessings and consistently getting them back

31:50 Sacrament restriction: the sacrament is a covenant renewal ceremony, so the primary reason to restrict it is to keep people from renewing the covenant when they aren't ready

* 35:00 For everyone who sins, there is a balance in the struggle

* Am I really seeking to do this?

* We are bound together with God

* Follow the Spirit in determining when someone is ready to take the sacrament after a period of restriction

* The goal of leaders should be the same as God: to get people back into the covenant

42:00 Divorce and families in the eternities: We really don't know how sealings will work after this life, but recognize that if we are exalted we will be happy with the results

* 43:45 There is only one thing we can completely control: our relationship with God; once you are in this covenant, God will not leave you

* 45:35 Children and sealings to parents: we need to look at the larger picture and recognize the sealing is into the house of Israel

* 49:30 The doctrine of geography about families being together forever; the empty chairs spectre: odds are, you don't have to worry so much; there is always hope

55:00 Grace in covenants: grace is available to everyone, but it only has its full effects on someone who chooses to form a full relationship with God

* Exalting grace is available to those who have fully bound themselves to Chris...

Norman Hill worked for ExxonMobil for 25 years and then for Reliant Energy as the vice president of Human Resources. He served as the mission president of the Ghana Accra Mission, temporarily including the Sierra Leone Freetown Mission, and is the author of What They Don’t Teach You at the MTC.

Highlights

5:00 What methods have been shown to be successful with online missionaries

7:30 Missionaries can start with their interests and find ways to share those with others

8:00 Norm shares several case studies of missionaries who are sharing naturally by getting involved with others who share interests, including cooking demonstrations, sports groups, Rubix cubes speed solvers groups, etc. Opportunities to share will come naturally.

21:30 Opportunities to develop friendships online can lead to natural questions

23:45 Missionaries can pass off the people they are teaching online to missionaries in the area they live in and remain part of the process online

30:30 Self-reliance classes and English language classes lift the people and open up natural opportunities to share the gospel

36:10 Reverse dinner appointments: the ingenuity of missionaries

Links

What They Don’t Teach You at the MTC

Problem Solving Together to Lift and Improve | An Interview with Norman Hill

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Dustin Peterson is a leadership trainer with Proof Leadership Group and works with organizations to help develop their culture. He is also the author of Reset: How to Get Paid and Love What You Do, and coaches individuals to help them get unstuck in their careers. He has served in a stake presidency in Houston, Texas, and also on a high council and as an early morning seminary teacher, and currently serves as a branch president. In this interview, originally recorded as a Facebook Live session, Dustin talks about clarifying personal purpose to better lead in all areas of your life.

Highlights

4:45 About Dustin and what he does as a leadership trainer and career coach

6:00 Where his passion for purpose came from

7:30 Research study: What makes you an effective leader? Identified the only commonality is a clear sense of purpose with a story to go with it

10:15 Transferring this knowledge into the gospel and the church

12:20 Most of us just want to help other people, but we need to get more specific

13:10 What purpose is: your intention to contribute to the well-being of other people

15:20 The concepts for individual and organizational purpose are the same

16:55 Purpose can be confused with goals or a mission; focusing internally is demotivational

18:00 Your purpose is Your Big Why: What drives you

18:35 To identify your purpose you first need to know three things

* Purpose is broad and ambitious: a big, bold statement

* It serves as an umbrella over everything

* It's what wakes us up in the morning

* It's what motivates us to move forward and pulls us through the hard things

* "Be anxiously engaged in a good cause"

* Example of hospital custodial staff who saw themselves as healers

* 29:20 Macro-purpose, micro-purpose, nano-purpose: everything I do should have purpose

* 32:00 Dissonance of having a strong purpose and having goals that drive you elsewhere: purpose is the unifying force

* 33:20 Purpose is short: 10 words or less

* Share it with other people

* Edit it down

* 36:15 Purpose comes from the ups and downs of your life

* Draw a journey map line

* Purpose lies in the past, not the future

39:00 Routines to keep your purpose top-of-mind: reading it out loud as an affirmation

40:30 Example of ward council/bishopric purposes: look at the evolution of the unit you are in

* Let it guide all your goals

* Let the goals then guide your agenda

44:30 When your calling seems to be outside your purpose: example of educator looking for a way to stop dreading cafeteria duty

48:15 A purpose can't be identified in isolation; we can help others by being a listening ear and by reflecting what we see from the outside

50:10 What has helped shape who I am today? Questions to ask yourself to help identify your purpose:

* What three people have most shaped who I am today, and why?

* What are three experiences that have most affected you and why?

* What are three interests that are most motivating and fulfilling?

* Imagine you could write the script for you life, knowing everything would go as well as it possibly could. What is the story you'd like to see unravel before you?

* What is a problem that you see in your family/church/community/city that really bothers you and you want to solve? What is a problem you see that you really want to get to the heart of, that's near and dear to who you are?

52:05 Two forces push against us when it comes to the choice to step up and lead: resistance from the adversary telling us not to grow (fear, lack of confidence,

This is a re-broadcast. The episode originally ran in February 2018.

Dan Conway is a bishop in Newcastle, in northeast England, and has also served as an elders quorum president. He served a mission to Scotland and works as a digital marketing executive. In this episode, Dan walks us through his crisis of faith prior to being called as bishop, and how that affected how he leads now.

Episode Summary

5:45 Mission to Scotland

8:45 Faith crisis

14:40 Reading and praying didn’t work as a solution

19:20 Call as Elders Quorum president in the midst of a faith crisis

21:50 Finding the answers to his questions

28:30 Experience bearing his testimony of Joseph Smith

31:15 Becoming the bishop after a faith crisis

43:45 Understanding that people can change and become better

46:15 First year as a bishop

51:20 How he does ward council: short meetings every other week, then visits

56:35 Using an agenda and PPIs

1:01:00 Visiting people after ward council

1:04:00 PPIs

Links

Interview with Arthur Boutin

FAIR Mormon

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Note: This transcript was machine-produced. We would be grateful for help correcting errors. You can help! Simply copy/paste the transcript text into a document, make the corrections, and then copy/paste the corrected text into a comment on the page (below) and we will get the corrected text published!

Jana Spangler is an Integral Professional Life Coach with Symmetry Solutions who specializes in coaching individuals and couples who are experiencing shifts in their religious belief or are affected by a loved one’s shifting belief. Her work centers around understanding faith and spiritual development and offering tools to manage the challenges of relationship, identity, spiritual growth, and spiritual connection that emerge during times of shifting faith. She currently serves as a Relief Society Compassionate Service Coordinator in her ward. Jana attended The Living School—a wisdom school run by the Center for Action & Contemplation under the direction of Fr. Richard Rohr. During this two-year program, she studied Contemplative Christianity and other Wisdom Traditions and how they can support the transforming work of love in ourselves, our communities, and the world. Jana is a frequent speaker at conferences, workshops, firesides, retreats, and on podcasts, and has lectured as a guest at BYU on issues of faith and development. She lives in Holladay, Utah with her husband and three teenage children. In this episode, Jana talks with Kurt about how church leaders can have solidarity with those they lead, and the importance of having solidarity—not just service—in the church.

Highlights

7:15 Everyone needs to have their own faith journey

10:15 What is solidarity vs service?

11:00 We love to serve but hate to be served

12:30 When we are going through difficulties we don't want anyone to know

13:30 What is solidarity? The move of being one with another person

15:00 We do service more than we do solidarity

17:45 The hierarchy of our church is a blessing and a curse

19:00 The shame cycle with service and solidarity

21:00 Being aware of our ego needs and how it's getting in our way of journey

22:30 The bishop is not the only one who can facilitate solidarity

23:00 A barrier to solidarity is someone who shows that they have everything together

25:00 Vulnerability is not oversharing

26:30 Jana's faith struggle and how vulnerability helped her and others

29:30 Vulnerability can help solidarity

31:00 Sharing with family

32:00 Our worth is separate from worthiness

33:30 Jesus showed us how to descend into the abyss of the difficulty of humanity

34:00 Sometimes when things are new they are uncomfortable and that's ok

40:00 A key to solidarity is that we can all learn from others, even other faiths

40:30 Another pitfall is lack of mutual accountability

42:00 It's hard to feel that we are broken and those who are listening don't share their struggles with us

42:30 Give the people who are ministered-to a chance to serve their ministers

44:00 Lean more into empathy than sympathy

46:00 Getting in the hole and not fixing things for others but make others feel heard and understood

48:30 Solidarity makes others feel heard and understood

49:30 Don't judge people in their need

52:00 When you really get to know another person your esteem of them only goes up

53:30 Stop talking people out of their experiences

54:30 Imagine that people are really doing their very best

55:15 We don't want to be attached to weakness

55:30 Solidarity as it relates to sin: being one with those who are sinners

57:00 Withhold judgement of those who sin

58:15 If you have not been through something you have no standing to have an opinion on it: just listen to them

59:30 We do a lot of damage when we think we know better because it's working for us

59:45 How do we create solidarity?

1:01:00 Connecting people who have been through similar experiences