1 00:00:01,919 --> 00:00:04,480 Alright. Here's our goal, folks. Leading Saints is 2 00:00:04,480 --> 00:00:06,960 no longer a podcast. Well, obviously, we are 3 00:00:06,960 --> 00:00:09,519 a podcast. We will continue to podcast, but 4 00:00:09,519 --> 00:00:12,400 we're really shifting our focus over to Zion 5 00:00:12,400 --> 00:00:14,179 Lab, which is an online community 6 00:00:14,564 --> 00:00:16,904 put on and developed by leading saints. 7 00:00:17,285 --> 00:00:18,725 And this is where we want to go 8 00:00:18,725 --> 00:00:20,024 and gather the masses 9 00:00:20,324 --> 00:00:23,204 and share ideas about leadership, share ideas about 10 00:00:23,204 --> 00:00:26,024 different callings, share ideas about building Zion. 11 00:00:26,324 --> 00:00:27,844 And this is the place that we want 12 00:00:27,844 --> 00:00:30,105 to make online, where all things are discussed, 13 00:00:30,379 --> 00:00:32,299 great ideas are shared, and that we can 14 00:00:32,299 --> 00:00:34,780 help one another in whatever calling we're in 15 00:00:34,780 --> 00:00:36,859 or what calling we're not in to feel 16 00:00:36,859 --> 00:00:38,699 like, you know, I've got purpose here. I 17 00:00:38,699 --> 00:00:40,619 can really make a difference in shifting culture 18 00:00:40,619 --> 00:00:42,619 in a better way or developing Zion in 19 00:00:42,619 --> 00:00:44,715 my own corner of the kingdom. So join 20 00:00:44,715 --> 00:00:48,975 us over at Zion Lab at leadingsaints.org/zion, 21 00:00:49,115 --> 00:00:51,034 and there you can just jump in. It's 22 00:00:51,034 --> 00:00:53,454 free to join and create a profile and 23 00:00:53,515 --> 00:00:55,435 jump in and and look around and answer 24 00:00:55,435 --> 00:00:57,674 some questions. Leave a comment, pose a question, 25 00:00:57,674 --> 00:00:59,354 and I think you'll benefit from the things 26 00:00:59,354 --> 00:01:02,646 we're doing over at Zion Lab. So join 27 00:01:02,913 --> 00:01:05,890 us. I got an email the other day 28 00:01:05,890 --> 00:01:07,650 from an individual. I forget where he is 29 00:01:07,650 --> 00:01:09,090 in the world, but he says, Kurt, I 30 00:01:09,090 --> 00:01:11,430 love Leading Saints, and I listen to it 31 00:01:11,650 --> 00:01:13,430 every time I'm on the treadmill. 32 00:01:13,825 --> 00:01:15,905 And then one time during an interview, he 33 00:01:15,905 --> 00:01:18,724 heard that Leading Saints has a YouTube channel 34 00:01:18,784 --> 00:01:21,105 and, like, all the interviews, at least the 35 00:01:21,105 --> 00:01:24,064 vast majority of them, are video recorded and 36 00:01:24,064 --> 00:01:26,625 you can watch the video recording of the 37 00:01:26,625 --> 00:01:29,380 podcast episodes. And I'm like, yeah, man. Get 38 00:01:29,380 --> 00:01:31,700 on there. Go subscribe on YouTube to Leading 39 00:01:31,700 --> 00:01:33,859 Saints, and you can get a visual of 40 00:01:33,859 --> 00:01:36,840 the interview and not just an audio experience. 41 00:01:37,219 --> 00:01:39,240 And even if you're not a big YouTube 42 00:01:39,380 --> 00:01:41,540 user, do us a favor because this actually 43 00:01:41,540 --> 00:01:43,219 helps us gain more reach and, 44 00:01:43,984 --> 00:01:47,025 expose our content to individuals who could really 45 00:01:47,025 --> 00:01:49,444 benefit from it, leaders around the world. So 46 00:01:49,584 --> 00:01:51,665 regardless if you are on YouTube a lot 47 00:01:51,665 --> 00:01:53,584 or not, go to YouTube and search for 48 00:01:53,584 --> 00:01:55,825 leading saints, find the familiar red logo, and 49 00:01:55,825 --> 00:01:56,840 just subscribe. Even 50 00:01:57,379 --> 00:01:59,619 if you don't plan to view every episode 51 00:01:59,619 --> 00:02:01,780 there, that's gonna help us, gain a larger 52 00:02:01,780 --> 00:02:04,359 audience and more reach, dial in the algorithm, 53 00:02:04,819 --> 00:02:08,259 and, we'll start showing up on leaders' feeds 54 00:02:08,259 --> 00:02:10,659 that they didn't know how much they're missing 55 00:02:10,659 --> 00:02:12,615 here at leading saints. So head on over 56 00:02:12,615 --> 00:02:15,115 to YouTube, search for Leading Saints, and subscribe 57 00:02:15,495 --> 00:02:17,814 to our channel and leave a comment every 58 00:02:17,814 --> 00:02:19,435 once in a while, but be nice. 59 00:02:22,135 --> 00:02:24,074 So I'm recording this on 60 00:02:24,450 --> 00:02:27,409 09/17/2025, 61 00:02:27,409 --> 00:02:28,469 a week after 62 00:02:28,770 --> 00:02:31,650 the horrific murder of Charlie Kirk on UVU 63 00:02:31,650 --> 00:02:33,750 campus here in my county, 64 00:02:34,050 --> 00:02:36,150 Utah County in Orem, Utah. 65 00:02:36,450 --> 00:02:37,735 And, man, 66 00:02:38,034 --> 00:02:40,514 emotion that came from this, the tragedy, the 67 00:02:40,514 --> 00:02:41,814 the stress, the trauma 68 00:02:42,194 --> 00:02:44,615 that everybody experienced on maybe on different levels. 69 00:02:45,074 --> 00:02:47,715 And I tell the story in this, recording 70 00:02:47,715 --> 00:02:49,875 that you're about to hear about how we 71 00:02:49,875 --> 00:02:52,870 approached it as an elders quorum, and maybe 72 00:02:52,870 --> 00:02:55,270 some things to to consider as there's tragedy 73 00:02:55,270 --> 00:02:57,270 that happens in our community, in our nation, 74 00:02:57,270 --> 00:03:00,469 where there's heaviness or there's hurt happening, there's 75 00:03:00,469 --> 00:03:03,129 anger, there's sadness, there's all types of emotions. 76 00:03:03,669 --> 00:03:05,590 How do we handle that at church? What 77 00:03:05,590 --> 00:03:07,504 do we do with that at church? Do 78 00:03:07,504 --> 00:03:09,905 we ignore it and just get to the 79 00:03:09,905 --> 00:03:12,865 lesson and talk about, you know, the doctrine 80 00:03:12,865 --> 00:03:15,025 and Jesus Christ and these things and pretend 81 00:03:15,025 --> 00:03:16,944 like it didn't happen? Or is there a 82 00:03:16,944 --> 00:03:19,985 way we can actually stimulate unity in our 83 00:03:19,985 --> 00:03:23,260 word, stimulate healing, stimulate connection 84 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:24,780 that maybe 85 00:03:25,159 --> 00:03:27,800 isn't as easy to do when all is 86 00:03:27,800 --> 00:03:29,980 well in the world? Right? So Dan Duckworth, 87 00:03:30,280 --> 00:03:32,520 joined me in the Zion Lab community where 88 00:03:32,520 --> 00:03:34,520 we just had a discussion about this. Me 89 00:03:34,520 --> 00:03:36,685 and him dialogue back and forth. We took 90 00:03:36,685 --> 00:03:39,004 some questions and thoughts and and of course, 91 00:03:39,004 --> 00:03:41,264 we're not experts at any of this. However, 92 00:03:41,805 --> 00:03:44,205 there's so many leadership principles to understand in 93 00:03:44,205 --> 00:03:45,344 this to really, 94 00:03:45,724 --> 00:03:48,685 again, stimulate that connection and unity and to 95 00:03:48,685 --> 00:03:50,870 lead, to lead in those moments of hurt 96 00:03:50,870 --> 00:03:52,889 and that those moments of anger and frustration 97 00:03:53,030 --> 00:03:56,389 and and discord. There's so many places to 98 00:03:56,389 --> 00:03:58,310 lean in here even when it's risky or 99 00:03:58,310 --> 00:03:59,909 it may not go well or how do 100 00:03:59,909 --> 00:04:01,750 I do that? Right? So we we go 101 00:04:01,750 --> 00:04:04,004 through that. I think church has such a 102 00:04:04,004 --> 00:04:06,104 higher purpose than just going to a place 103 00:04:06,324 --> 00:04:08,485 with your neighbors and learning about the gospel. 104 00:04:08,485 --> 00:04:10,324 Like, yeah, that's important. And, of course, the 105 00:04:10,324 --> 00:04:13,204 renewing of ordinances and all that sacred that 106 00:04:13,204 --> 00:04:15,444 sacred process is is crucial. But I think 107 00:04:15,444 --> 00:04:17,285 there's a higher level of why we go 108 00:04:17,285 --> 00:04:19,879 to church, and I think it's, these tragedies 109 00:04:19,879 --> 00:04:22,139 that we experience in our in our communities, 110 00:04:22,680 --> 00:04:24,920 in our, society can teach us a lot 111 00:04:24,920 --> 00:04:27,319 about what church is really for and and 112 00:04:27,319 --> 00:04:29,319 why do we go to church especially when 113 00:04:29,319 --> 00:04:31,414 we hurt. And so I hope this discussion 114 00:04:31,414 --> 00:04:33,495 is not only helpful for this, current event, 115 00:04:33,654 --> 00:04:35,974 this current tragedy, but also for future tragedies 116 00:04:35,974 --> 00:04:38,134 and that we may experience a mortality that 117 00:04:38,134 --> 00:04:40,214 may hit our community, whether it's a death 118 00:04:40,214 --> 00:04:41,435 in the ward, a suicide, 119 00:04:41,814 --> 00:04:43,354 you know, something happening 120 00:04:43,769 --> 00:04:45,529 that just brings trauma to the ward. How 121 00:04:45,529 --> 00:04:47,610 do we handle that well and make it 122 00:04:47,610 --> 00:04:49,769 a healing place at church? So here's my 123 00:04:49,769 --> 00:04:52,509 discussion in a live stream with Dan Duckworth. 124 00:05:02,585 --> 00:05:04,845 Let's jump into it, Dan. Like, I guess 125 00:05:04,904 --> 00:05:06,585 the story behind this is, 126 00:05:07,225 --> 00:05:08,745 and where does where does it start? You 127 00:05:08,745 --> 00:05:09,884 had mentioned something. 128 00:05:10,629 --> 00:05:12,310 We were just kinda going back and forth 129 00:05:12,310 --> 00:05:14,470 about what we're hearing about, you know, the 130 00:05:14,470 --> 00:05:16,970 Sunday experience in different wards. Some had just 131 00:05:17,029 --> 00:05:19,670 maybe read a statement over, you know, the 132 00:05:19,830 --> 00:05:22,629 or reiterated the church's statements that they released, 133 00:05:22,870 --> 00:05:24,569 from their communications departments. 134 00:05:25,024 --> 00:05:27,285 Just read that to kind of, again, emphasize 135 00:05:27,345 --> 00:05:29,285 the, you know, the stand of 136 00:05:29,585 --> 00:05:31,665 our, of the church and the institutional church. 137 00:05:31,665 --> 00:05:33,585 And, I had mentioned, well, actually I'm going 138 00:05:33,585 --> 00:05:34,785 to make it the main focus of my 139 00:05:34,785 --> 00:05:37,444 elders quorum. And so that started a discussion, 140 00:05:37,504 --> 00:05:40,000 but I mean, where's, how do we build 141 00:05:40,000 --> 00:05:41,920 some framing around this? What comes to mind? 142 00:05:41,920 --> 00:05:43,620 Yeah. What comes to my mind is 143 00:05:44,080 --> 00:05:45,779 there's always this constant tension 144 00:05:46,080 --> 00:05:49,120 between what is an institutional response versus what 145 00:05:49,120 --> 00:05:50,420 is a leadership response 146 00:05:51,355 --> 00:05:53,834 when there is crisis or a tragedy or 147 00:05:53,834 --> 00:05:55,754 something like that. And I think that we, 148 00:05:55,754 --> 00:05:57,514 as a church culture, we've been kind of 149 00:05:57,514 --> 00:06:00,574 conditioned to look to the institution to 150 00:06:00,954 --> 00:06:03,134 tell us how we should 151 00:06:03,490 --> 00:06:05,329 approach a situation like this, whether it's a 152 00:06:05,329 --> 00:06:06,949 natural disaster or 153 00:06:07,569 --> 00:06:10,209 a political tragedy or something like that. Or 154 00:06:10,209 --> 00:06:13,169 really any any situation. Right? Even the, you 155 00:06:13,169 --> 00:06:15,409 know, the everyday situations, we look to the 156 00:06:15,409 --> 00:06:17,444 institution church. Yeah. Right. And I think for 157 00:06:17,444 --> 00:06:19,125 me, the core always comes down to the 158 00:06:19,205 --> 00:06:19,944 a leader 159 00:06:20,725 --> 00:06:22,264 intuits the next move 160 00:06:22,725 --> 00:06:24,105 from the moment itself. 161 00:06:24,485 --> 00:06:26,165 Now when I say that, that's gonna sound 162 00:06:26,165 --> 00:06:28,485 a little bit abstract for people, but the 163 00:06:28,485 --> 00:06:30,324 question is always as a leader. So not 164 00:06:30,324 --> 00:06:31,785 a not a called leader. 165 00:06:32,110 --> 00:06:33,550 You know, you maybe you're a Relief Society 166 00:06:33,550 --> 00:06:35,310 president, maybe you're an elder's court president, maybe 167 00:06:35,310 --> 00:06:37,870 you're a bishop, maybe you're not. But if 168 00:06:37,870 --> 00:06:39,629 you show up in the situation and you 169 00:06:39,629 --> 00:06:42,189 feel a call saying something needs to happen 170 00:06:42,189 --> 00:06:44,995 here, there's something going on. And if we 171 00:06:44,995 --> 00:06:46,995 just let the status quo hold or if 172 00:06:46,995 --> 00:06:49,555 we if we let inertia take us where 173 00:06:49,555 --> 00:06:51,235 it's gonna take us, it's not going to 174 00:06:51,235 --> 00:06:53,314 lead us to where we wanna go. We're 175 00:06:53,314 --> 00:06:54,995 not gonna get the outcomes and the results 176 00:06:54,995 --> 00:06:56,995 that we need. And by results, mostly what 177 00:06:56,995 --> 00:06:58,430 I mean is the 178 00:06:58,730 --> 00:07:01,769 unification of the community, the Zion moment that 179 00:07:01,769 --> 00:07:04,089 we can talk about here on, you know, 180 00:07:04,089 --> 00:07:05,069 Zion Lab. 181 00:07:05,689 --> 00:07:07,230 So as a leader, 182 00:07:07,689 --> 00:07:09,529 when you start to feel these tensions in 183 00:07:09,529 --> 00:07:11,610 your community and the disruption that's happening from 184 00:07:11,610 --> 00:07:12,430 current events, 185 00:07:12,854 --> 00:07:15,254 the temptation is to go towards a management 186 00:07:15,254 --> 00:07:15,754 mindset, 187 00:07:16,214 --> 00:07:18,474 which is to return things to peace, 188 00:07:18,854 --> 00:07:21,254 to return things to the status quo, to 189 00:07:21,254 --> 00:07:23,595 return things to predictability and stability. 190 00:07:24,214 --> 00:07:26,954 But leadership looks at it. A leadership lens 191 00:07:27,250 --> 00:07:30,129 looks at it very differently, and it says, 192 00:07:30,129 --> 00:07:32,389 what is needed in the moment? 193 00:07:32,850 --> 00:07:34,129 What do we need to do in this 194 00:07:34,129 --> 00:07:37,089 moment? What can we do with this moment? 195 00:07:37,089 --> 00:07:39,375 So you're looking at the moment itself, and 196 00:07:39,375 --> 00:07:41,694 that involves the values of your community, the 197 00:07:41,694 --> 00:07:44,254 purposes that, you know, the community has, and 198 00:07:44,254 --> 00:07:46,175 the unmet needs that the community has as 199 00:07:46,175 --> 00:07:49,134 well. So what would happen for a group 200 00:07:49,134 --> 00:07:51,875 here in Utah County where the tragedy struck 201 00:07:52,240 --> 00:07:54,720 it might be different than what's needed somewhere 202 00:07:54,720 --> 00:07:56,800 else. Right? So there's not a one size 203 00:07:56,800 --> 00:07:57,539 fits all, 204 00:07:57,839 --> 00:08:00,240 but there is something that has to be 205 00:08:00,240 --> 00:08:02,959 intuitive from this. And, Kurt, this is where 206 00:08:02,959 --> 00:08:04,800 kind of your response comes into play here 207 00:08:04,800 --> 00:08:05,300 because 208 00:08:05,754 --> 00:08:06,495 you felt 209 00:08:07,194 --> 00:08:09,115 something calling to you in the moment saying 210 00:08:09,115 --> 00:08:11,514 something more was needed than whatever you had 211 00:08:11,514 --> 00:08:14,634 planned initially for Elder's Quorum. Yeah. Yeah. And 212 00:08:14,634 --> 00:08:16,314 really, you know, that one size fits all 213 00:08:16,314 --> 00:08:18,154 dream, like, it's not gonna happen. And and 214 00:08:18,154 --> 00:08:20,649 that's the really, that's the only way that 215 00:08:20,649 --> 00:08:21,470 an institutional 216 00:08:22,009 --> 00:08:24,410 any institution can respond is, like, here's our 217 00:08:24,410 --> 00:08:26,089 one size fits all. Like, I hope it 218 00:08:26,089 --> 00:08:28,009 works or it's very vague. Right? And, again, 219 00:08:28,009 --> 00:08:29,610 that's not the fault of the institution. It's 220 00:08:29,610 --> 00:08:32,035 the nature of an institution. Right? That there 221 00:08:32,195 --> 00:08:35,095 Mhmm. There's things locally that we can perceive 222 00:08:35,235 --> 00:08:38,195 or, you know, intuit, like you say, that 223 00:08:38,195 --> 00:08:39,174 the institutional 224 00:08:39,554 --> 00:08:41,715 organization may not pick up on or or 225 00:08:41,715 --> 00:08:43,315 even know to respond to. So in my 226 00:08:43,315 --> 00:08:43,815 experience, 227 00:08:44,220 --> 00:08:45,039 you know, obviously 228 00:08:45,579 --> 00:08:48,779 terrible tragedy at UVU with Charlie Kirk and 229 00:08:48,779 --> 00:08:51,100 and his, his murder there in front of, 230 00:08:51,100 --> 00:08:53,120 you know, thousands of of individuals. 231 00:08:53,659 --> 00:08:55,980 And, you know, here we are just down 232 00:08:55,980 --> 00:08:58,319 the street, essentially, less than 10 miles away. 233 00:08:58,459 --> 00:09:00,825 And I just noticed for myself, like, it 234 00:09:00,825 --> 00:09:03,465 just really took me out. Right. And it's 235 00:09:03,465 --> 00:09:05,144 easy to think like, oh, that just must 236 00:09:05,144 --> 00:09:07,465 be me or, or it was just little 237 00:09:07,465 --> 00:09:09,784 nuances. Like, Hey, I felt like I couldn't 238 00:09:09,784 --> 00:09:11,625 really focus. I wasn't getting a lot done 239 00:09:11,625 --> 00:09:14,000 in my typical day. And so we have 240 00:09:14,000 --> 00:09:16,240 a I'm the elders quorum president, if people 241 00:09:16,240 --> 00:09:18,259 don't know that know that piece of context. 242 00:09:18,720 --> 00:09:20,800 And so we have a text thread, a 243 00:09:20,800 --> 00:09:22,639 group me text thread in our elders quorum. 244 00:09:22,639 --> 00:09:24,480 And so I just put a message in 245 00:09:24,480 --> 00:09:27,504 there, said this was the next day at, 246 00:09:27,965 --> 00:09:29,804 in the morning. 09:30 in the morning, I 247 00:09:29,804 --> 00:09:32,225 said, after such a national political tragedy 248 00:09:32,684 --> 00:09:35,965 happens, so close to home, does anyone else 249 00:09:35,965 --> 00:09:39,404 find themselves spacing out, distracted, and scrolling way 250 00:09:39,404 --> 00:09:41,585 too much? And immediately, 251 00:09:42,044 --> 00:09:45,379 just like message after message. Yep. Yes. Yep. 252 00:09:45,379 --> 00:09:46,839 You know, thumbs up on the 253 00:09:47,379 --> 00:09:49,059 the experience. And one guy says, oh yeah, 254 00:09:49,059 --> 00:09:50,819 I don't even, I don't even have social 255 00:09:50,819 --> 00:09:53,299 media on my phone, but I'm constantly grabbing 256 00:09:53,299 --> 00:09:55,959 my wife's phone and scrolling on that. So 257 00:09:56,615 --> 00:09:58,855 so that was, like, a huge indicator where 258 00:09:58,855 --> 00:10:00,774 I'm, like, I'm perceiving something in me. I 259 00:10:00,774 --> 00:10:03,095 wonder if it's a community experience more generally. 260 00:10:03,095 --> 00:10:04,954 And, obviously, it was a surprise, unfortunately, 261 00:10:05,334 --> 00:10:07,495 that it was. And so and then the 262 00:10:07,495 --> 00:10:08,694 the thought came to me is, like, what 263 00:10:08,694 --> 00:10:11,480 is church for If we can't create a 264 00:10:11,480 --> 00:10:13,820 space as a community to rally together 265 00:10:14,360 --> 00:10:17,879 and, you know, talk about what's going on 266 00:10:17,879 --> 00:10:19,800 and how we're responding to it and how 267 00:10:19,800 --> 00:10:21,639 do we bring the savior into all this 268 00:10:21,639 --> 00:10:23,595 for the the healing. So, anyways, that was 269 00:10:23,595 --> 00:10:25,914 sort of the the moment. Yeah. Before you 270 00:10:25,914 --> 00:10:27,834 keep going with the story, I wanna just 271 00:10:27,834 --> 00:10:29,674 kind of jump on something that you said 272 00:10:29,674 --> 00:10:31,934 there. You said I I was perceiving something. 273 00:10:32,394 --> 00:10:34,254 And I think this is such a critical 274 00:10:34,315 --> 00:10:37,355 aspect of leadership that is overlooked by people 275 00:10:37,355 --> 00:10:39,870 who are trying to perform leadership in terms 276 00:10:39,870 --> 00:10:41,410 of roles and expectations. 277 00:10:42,110 --> 00:10:44,429 You perceive something first because you perceived it 278 00:10:44,429 --> 00:10:47,149 in yourself. Right? You said I'm having a 279 00:10:47,149 --> 00:10:48,049 very human 280 00:10:48,350 --> 00:10:50,590 response to this. Now it could be that 281 00:10:50,590 --> 00:10:52,350 you're having that response because of your own 282 00:10:52,350 --> 00:10:52,850 backstory, 283 00:10:53,424 --> 00:10:54,165 your own 284 00:10:54,545 --> 00:10:56,465 political beliefs, your own whatever, and it could 285 00:10:56,465 --> 00:10:58,304 be that it's not I love that you 286 00:10:58,304 --> 00:10:59,845 then went out to the community, 287 00:11:00,304 --> 00:11:02,945 and you just were vulnerable. And you said 288 00:11:03,105 --> 00:11:04,865 you didn't say, hey. Is any out here 289 00:11:04,865 --> 00:11:06,945 feeling this way? You said, I'm feeling this 290 00:11:06,945 --> 00:11:08,860 way. So you just validate it for anybody 291 00:11:08,860 --> 00:11:10,379 else that if they're feeling that way, you 292 00:11:10,379 --> 00:11:11,759 can jump into this conversation. 293 00:11:12,220 --> 00:11:14,700 You said, I'm feeling this way. And then 294 00:11:14,700 --> 00:11:16,620 you let them jump in and say, yes. 295 00:11:16,620 --> 00:11:19,820 Me too. Right? Now sometimes you don't feel 296 00:11:19,820 --> 00:11:20,559 it yourself. 297 00:11:20,940 --> 00:11:23,040 But if you've been a human being before, 298 00:11:23,445 --> 00:11:25,285 it doesn't take very much to stop and 299 00:11:25,285 --> 00:11:27,764 say, I bet other people are feeling something 300 00:11:27,764 --> 00:11:29,845 right now. Even if I'm not feeling it, 301 00:11:29,845 --> 00:11:31,764 I bet other people are feeling something right 302 00:11:31,764 --> 00:11:33,125 now. And so you could still go out 303 00:11:33,125 --> 00:11:35,605 to the community and say, I was sitting 304 00:11:35,605 --> 00:11:37,970 and thinking about this, and the thought crossed 305 00:11:37,970 --> 00:11:40,610 my mind that some of us, not some 306 00:11:40,610 --> 00:11:42,450 of you, but some of us in this 307 00:11:42,450 --> 00:11:42,950 community, 308 00:11:43,330 --> 00:11:45,409 we might be having an experience with this 309 00:11:45,409 --> 00:11:48,450 even if we weren't there on-site. Number one, 310 00:11:48,450 --> 00:11:49,809 for those of us who live in Utah, 311 00:11:49,809 --> 00:11:51,029 it happened in our neighborhood. 312 00:11:51,355 --> 00:11:52,815 Number two, it happened 313 00:11:53,274 --> 00:11:56,475 in Mormon Land. Right? So the whole world 314 00:11:56,475 --> 00:11:59,035 is sort of associating this with our church, 315 00:11:59,035 --> 00:12:00,955 whether they're saying it or not. That's kind 316 00:12:00,955 --> 00:12:03,294 of a low grade thread going on here. 317 00:12:03,470 --> 00:12:05,629 Number three, it's just the politics of our 318 00:12:05,629 --> 00:12:08,049 time. This is one more among many. 319 00:12:08,590 --> 00:12:10,750 So it's kinda stacking. Right? So you can 320 00:12:10,750 --> 00:12:12,590 go out there and proceed. And then on 321 00:12:12,590 --> 00:12:15,230 a scriptural basis, let's just note, this kind 322 00:12:15,230 --> 00:12:15,889 of leadership 323 00:12:16,205 --> 00:12:19,404 is what the scriptural leaders show us. So 324 00:12:19,404 --> 00:12:20,304 when Ammon 325 00:12:20,764 --> 00:12:21,985 says to King Lamoni, 326 00:12:22,445 --> 00:12:23,264 I perceive 327 00:12:23,725 --> 00:12:24,865 that you are troubled 328 00:12:25,325 --> 00:12:26,144 in your heart. 329 00:12:26,764 --> 00:12:29,965 Mhmm. Yep. That's exactly what you just modeled, 330 00:12:29,965 --> 00:12:31,504 Kurt. And that is 331 00:12:31,940 --> 00:12:33,379 the intuition. You can call it whatever you 332 00:12:33,379 --> 00:12:35,620 want, but that's the holy ghost. Whether the 333 00:12:35,620 --> 00:12:37,299 holy ghost gave you that thought or it 334 00:12:37,299 --> 00:12:39,379 validated that that was a true and good 335 00:12:39,379 --> 00:12:42,039 and worthy thought, that is the holy ghost 336 00:12:42,100 --> 00:12:43,480 with the gift of discernment. 337 00:12:44,095 --> 00:12:46,095 K? So when we talk about these things, 338 00:12:46,095 --> 00:12:47,934 we think we often think way too much 339 00:12:47,934 --> 00:12:49,855 about, like, oh, the gift of discernment is 340 00:12:49,855 --> 00:12:52,254 deciding who's gonna serve and what calling. Now 341 00:12:52,254 --> 00:12:53,315 the gift of discernment, 342 00:12:53,774 --> 00:12:56,014 we would use the word perception in today's 343 00:12:56,014 --> 00:12:58,870 world. It's the gift of perception. I perceive 344 00:12:58,870 --> 00:13:00,950 that there are things happening either in you 345 00:13:00,950 --> 00:13:01,769 as an individual 346 00:13:02,149 --> 00:13:03,529 or in my community 347 00:13:04,070 --> 00:13:05,769 that need to be given a voice. 348 00:13:06,389 --> 00:13:08,709 Yeah. And this is the thing. Like, if 349 00:13:08,709 --> 00:13:11,414 there's any power of inspiration or keys or 350 00:13:11,414 --> 00:13:13,574 things happening here, and it doesn't necessarily happen 351 00:13:13,574 --> 00:13:15,574 to only those who hold that formal, you 352 00:13:15,574 --> 00:13:16,875 know, keys or authority. 353 00:13:17,414 --> 00:13:19,815 But, I think a lot of leaders, you 354 00:13:19,815 --> 00:13:22,054 know, even in or outside of formal callings, 355 00:13:22,054 --> 00:13:23,889 they've had this experience where they're like, man, 356 00:13:23,889 --> 00:13:25,169 I just can't get that person out of 357 00:13:25,169 --> 00:13:26,850 my mind. Right. And I don't necessarily have 358 00:13:26,850 --> 00:13:28,529 a clear prompting of I should go visit 359 00:13:28,529 --> 00:13:30,690 them or whatever, but, you know, I'm gonna 360 00:13:30,690 --> 00:13:32,209 make an extra effort to reach out or 361 00:13:32,209 --> 00:13:34,049 something. And that that perception I think is, 362 00:13:34,209 --> 00:13:35,889 at the core of leadership that we really 363 00:13:35,889 --> 00:13:38,035 have to be tuned into where I don't 364 00:13:38,035 --> 00:13:40,915 necessarily think it's all always, you know, a 365 00:13:40,915 --> 00:13:43,554 clear, direct spiritual prompt, as much as like, 366 00:13:43,554 --> 00:13:46,274 you're just in that cadence of, you know, 367 00:13:46,274 --> 00:13:47,794 you, you want to pick up on those 368 00:13:47,794 --> 00:13:49,794 things that this seem off or not right. 369 00:13:49,794 --> 00:13:52,049 You know? Yeah. So let me give you, 370 00:13:52,049 --> 00:13:54,049 this is a different story of a different 371 00:13:54,049 --> 00:13:55,809 tragedy. So when we first moved into our 372 00:13:55,809 --> 00:13:57,730 ward, there was a suicide in the, in 373 00:13:57,730 --> 00:13:59,730 the house next to us. A 13 year 374 00:13:59,730 --> 00:14:00,389 old boy 375 00:14:00,769 --> 00:14:01,909 took his own life. 376 00:14:02,210 --> 00:14:02,710 And 377 00:14:03,254 --> 00:14:05,735 apparently we were very deep sleepers because we 378 00:14:05,735 --> 00:14:08,054 were not aware of this. The sirens came 379 00:14:08,054 --> 00:14:09,335 in the middle of the night, all the 380 00:14:09,335 --> 00:14:11,174 stuff, and we slept right through it. And 381 00:14:11,174 --> 00:14:12,394 we showed up at church 382 00:14:12,774 --> 00:14:15,035 and had no idea what was going on, 383 00:14:15,330 --> 00:14:18,790 but immediately I perceived that something was wrong. 384 00:14:18,850 --> 00:14:20,070 Just sitting in the congregation, 385 00:14:20,450 --> 00:14:23,330 I'm just sitting there going, something feels really 386 00:14:23,330 --> 00:14:25,730 off right now. And so I texted a 387 00:14:25,730 --> 00:14:27,090 couple of people while I was sitting in 388 00:14:27,090 --> 00:14:28,995 that room saying like, Hey, did I miss 389 00:14:28,995 --> 00:14:31,075 something? Like what's going on here? And then 390 00:14:31,075 --> 00:14:33,495 somebody said, oh, there was a suicide. 391 00:14:34,035 --> 00:14:36,115 And it was so and so who doesn't 392 00:14:36,115 --> 00:14:37,715 actually live next door to us, but his 393 00:14:37,715 --> 00:14:38,774 grandpa does. 394 00:14:39,154 --> 00:14:41,075 And so then, you know, I found out 395 00:14:41,075 --> 00:14:43,009 that it was at the house next door 396 00:14:43,009 --> 00:14:43,909 that it happened. 397 00:14:44,289 --> 00:14:46,149 So now I'm sitting there in that room 398 00:14:46,450 --> 00:14:49,250 and I'm having this really weird experience of 399 00:14:49,250 --> 00:14:49,750 knowing 400 00:14:50,129 --> 00:14:51,990 that a member of our congregation 401 00:14:52,529 --> 00:14:54,535 just took his own life and that his 402 00:14:54,535 --> 00:14:56,795 family is at home right now 403 00:14:57,175 --> 00:15:00,134 grappling with all of the stuff that comes 404 00:15:00,134 --> 00:15:02,375 with that. All of the doubts, all of 405 00:15:02,375 --> 00:15:05,335 the fear, all of the anger, all of 406 00:15:05,335 --> 00:15:06,075 the sadness, 407 00:15:06,535 --> 00:15:08,490 all of that is going on. But we're 408 00:15:08,490 --> 00:15:10,970 sitting here in this meeting as fellow saints, 409 00:15:10,970 --> 00:15:12,429 and it was never mentioned. 410 00:15:13,049 --> 00:15:15,690 Nothing was said. And so I'm having this 411 00:15:15,690 --> 00:15:18,809 dissonance inside of me knowing that there's human 412 00:15:18,809 --> 00:15:21,774 tragedy and human suffering in our body. We 413 00:15:21,774 --> 00:15:23,934 are the body of Christ. It's happening in 414 00:15:23,934 --> 00:15:25,475 our body, and we're pretending 415 00:15:25,934 --> 00:15:27,235 and going through the motions, 416 00:15:27,695 --> 00:15:29,375 running the show the same way that we 417 00:15:29,375 --> 00:15:31,774 would every week. And I couldn't take it 418 00:15:31,774 --> 00:15:33,455 anymore. I didn't have anybody's I didn't have 419 00:15:33,455 --> 00:15:35,455 a calling. I was a nobody in the 420 00:15:35,455 --> 00:15:37,509 ward and just like everybody else, but I 421 00:15:37,509 --> 00:15:38,870 couldn't take it anymore. So in the middle 422 00:15:38,870 --> 00:15:39,769 of the sacrament 423 00:15:40,230 --> 00:15:41,830 with the passing of the bread and water, 424 00:15:41,830 --> 00:15:43,910 I stood and I walked out and I 425 00:15:43,910 --> 00:15:45,830 walked home and I knocked on the door, 426 00:15:45,830 --> 00:15:47,750 even though I was fairly new and, and 427 00:15:47,750 --> 00:15:50,149 these folks didn't really know me. I just 428 00:15:50,149 --> 00:15:52,794 knocked on that door and said, I'm just 429 00:15:52,794 --> 00:15:54,495 gonna come. I'm just gonna be with you. 430 00:15:54,554 --> 00:15:57,195 Right? And blessings were given and prayers were 431 00:15:57,195 --> 00:16:00,495 shared and tears were all the things. Right? 432 00:16:00,634 --> 00:16:02,634 So I just share that as a context 433 00:16:02,634 --> 00:16:04,475 of the same exact thing we're talking about 434 00:16:04,475 --> 00:16:07,059 where a tragedy strikes and it's felt in 435 00:16:07,059 --> 00:16:08,440 the body of the community. 436 00:16:08,980 --> 00:16:10,919 And then what do we do with that 437 00:16:10,980 --> 00:16:13,700 when we're in what is a fairly scripted 438 00:16:13,700 --> 00:16:16,740 and performative experience, like our normal Sunday church 439 00:16:16,740 --> 00:16:17,240 services? 440 00:16:17,700 --> 00:16:19,875 Yeah. And I guess a part like a 441 00:16:19,875 --> 00:16:22,115 very normal experience as we perceive these things 442 00:16:22,115 --> 00:16:24,195 and then attempt to take action or do 443 00:16:24,195 --> 00:16:26,754 something is suddenly we realize there's a risk 444 00:16:26,754 --> 00:16:27,875 in this, right? What if I show up 445 00:16:27,875 --> 00:16:29,475 to the house and they're like, not there? 446 00:16:29,475 --> 00:16:30,995 Like, maybe I shouldn't even bother. Or what 447 00:16:30,995 --> 00:16:33,009 if I make it more uncomfortable? Or what 448 00:16:33,009 --> 00:16:34,449 if they don't want me there? Or or 449 00:16:34,449 --> 00:16:36,129 I was going through this experience going back 450 00:16:36,129 --> 00:16:37,889 to my story of, like, wow. You know, 451 00:16:37,889 --> 00:16:39,169 I don't know if I'm prepared to do 452 00:16:39,169 --> 00:16:40,610 this. I don't know if I can bring 453 00:16:40,610 --> 00:16:42,370 this up in Elder's Corner. Maybe we'll just 454 00:16:42,370 --> 00:16:44,804 go back to the conference talk and, you 455 00:16:44,804 --> 00:16:47,125 know, we'll mention it and make sure everybody 456 00:16:47,125 --> 00:16:49,044 knows to, you know, to to reach out 457 00:16:49,044 --> 00:16:51,365 to somebody, maybe a therapist they need. Right? 458 00:16:51,365 --> 00:16:53,044 And so there is this moment where you 459 00:16:53,044 --> 00:16:54,485 kinda sit in the risk of it or 460 00:16:54,485 --> 00:16:55,144 you're unsure 461 00:16:55,684 --> 00:16:57,490 if I could do this, you know? And 462 00:16:57,490 --> 00:16:59,490 that's where I kind of and, you know, 463 00:16:59,490 --> 00:17:01,250 I must admit, like, I've done a lot 464 00:17:01,250 --> 00:17:03,250 of public speaking, very comfortable in front of 465 00:17:03,250 --> 00:17:05,029 a crowd, very comfortable facilitating 466 00:17:05,330 --> 00:17:06,549 activities and discussion. 467 00:17:06,930 --> 00:17:09,330 And, you know, I'm I literally facilitate discussion 468 00:17:09,330 --> 00:17:11,444 for a living. Right? And so, I wasn't 469 00:17:11,444 --> 00:17:14,744 like totally, you know, afraid of it. However, 470 00:17:14,964 --> 00:17:16,724 I thought, what what resources could I get? 471 00:17:16,724 --> 00:17:19,045 So, and I, you know, most boards have 472 00:17:19,045 --> 00:17:20,724 at least one therapist in it. Right? So, 473 00:17:20,724 --> 00:17:22,724 I reached out to this individual who's a 474 00:17:22,724 --> 00:17:24,404 therapist and I just said, Hey, this is 475 00:17:24,404 --> 00:17:26,119 what I'm perceiving. I explained it to him, 476 00:17:26,119 --> 00:17:28,359 and he's like, you're exactly right. I talked 477 00:17:28,359 --> 00:17:30,039 to another therapist friend, not my ward, but 478 00:17:30,039 --> 00:17:32,599 he said, from the moment that tragedy happened, 479 00:17:32,599 --> 00:17:34,539 the rest of my days, all my sessions 480 00:17:34,919 --> 00:17:37,000 were about that one event. And I'm like, 481 00:17:37,000 --> 00:17:37,980 okay. Like, something, 482 00:17:38,365 --> 00:17:40,444 obviously, you know, it's confirming to me of 483 00:17:40,444 --> 00:17:43,325 that perception. And so and it was interesting 484 00:17:43,325 --> 00:17:45,244 just how he said it's like, I've never 485 00:17:45,404 --> 00:17:47,005 I keep going back to, like, why is 486 00:17:47,005 --> 00:17:48,605 this impacting me so much? Right? And I 487 00:17:48,605 --> 00:17:50,204 kept hearing that from people I talked about. 488 00:17:50,204 --> 00:17:51,904 Why is this impacting me so much? 489 00:17:52,319 --> 00:17:55,440 So having that considering my resources, I thought, 490 00:17:55,440 --> 00:17:56,880 okay, may you know, with his help, he 491 00:17:56,880 --> 00:17:58,159 can be my wing man or I can 492 00:17:58,159 --> 00:18:00,720 be his, and maybe we can facilitate a 493 00:18:00,720 --> 00:18:02,640 discussion. And I kept going back to this 494 00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:04,159 question of why do we go to church? 495 00:18:04,159 --> 00:18:05,599 Like, yeah, we need to take the sacrament. 496 00:18:05,599 --> 00:18:07,434 Yes. We need to renew covenants. Yes. We 497 00:18:07,434 --> 00:18:10,575 need, like, you know, the instruction of doctrine. 498 00:18:10,875 --> 00:18:12,634 But a big part in all the handbooks 499 00:18:12,634 --> 00:18:15,515 is this community component and unity, and this 500 00:18:15,515 --> 00:18:16,414 is a great opportunity 501 00:18:17,035 --> 00:18:19,695 to really lean into that. Yeah. And 502 00:18:20,049 --> 00:18:21,570 before we dive in more to what you 503 00:18:21,570 --> 00:18:23,250 did, I wonder if we can bring the 504 00:18:23,250 --> 00:18:25,089 audience here since we have such a a 505 00:18:25,089 --> 00:18:25,990 great large 506 00:18:26,529 --> 00:18:28,690 audience with us today. I'm wondering if we 507 00:18:28,690 --> 00:18:30,390 can bring them along in the story. 508 00:18:30,769 --> 00:18:31,970 Wondering if you 509 00:18:32,695 --> 00:18:34,695 whether you had a called leadership position or 510 00:18:34,695 --> 00:18:36,394 not, if you were perceiving, 511 00:18:36,934 --> 00:18:39,174 not just for yourself, but perceiving for your 512 00:18:39,174 --> 00:18:41,355 community, if you were having thoughts about 513 00:18:41,654 --> 00:18:43,575 what does this mean for us as a 514 00:18:43,575 --> 00:18:44,875 community and how 515 00:18:45,319 --> 00:18:46,920 how do we respond to this and what 516 00:18:46,920 --> 00:18:49,579 potential suffering or confusion or anger 517 00:18:50,200 --> 00:18:52,940 or apathy might be being experienced 518 00:18:53,400 --> 00:18:55,880 within our body as you were approaching your 519 00:18:55,880 --> 00:18:56,779 Sunday services? 520 00:18:57,654 --> 00:18:59,974 Or maybe maybe you came with a sense 521 00:18:59,974 --> 00:19:03,174 of expectation or hope, like, I hope nobody 522 00:19:03,174 --> 00:19:04,954 talks about this, or 523 00:19:05,255 --> 00:19:07,335 I really hope this comes up, or something 524 00:19:07,335 --> 00:19:08,315 along those lines. 525 00:19:08,615 --> 00:19:10,714 If you can throw something into the chat, 526 00:19:11,019 --> 00:19:13,019 we'll bring some of that in here. Yeah. 527 00:19:13,019 --> 00:19:14,460 And feel free to use that hand raise 528 00:19:14,460 --> 00:19:16,480 button and I'll keep an eye on that. 529 00:19:16,619 --> 00:19:18,140 And there is, you know, Ricky brings us 530 00:19:18,140 --> 00:19:21,099 up this, this dynamic of it wasn't just 531 00:19:21,099 --> 00:19:22,720 like a murder, but it was a political 532 00:19:22,859 --> 00:19:23,359 assassination. 533 00:19:23,660 --> 00:19:25,599 Right? It was it's a, it was heavy 534 00:19:26,015 --> 00:19:27,934 in the politics scene. That's sort of the, 535 00:19:27,934 --> 00:19:29,775 the big red card we avoid, you know, 536 00:19:29,775 --> 00:19:31,375 in a church setting, we can't go there. 537 00:19:31,375 --> 00:19:33,215 Right? And there is sort of this fear 538 00:19:33,215 --> 00:19:34,755 of like, well, what if it turns 539 00:19:35,134 --> 00:19:37,615 political? Right? And we don't wanna try and 540 00:19:37,615 --> 00:19:40,029 navigate that in church meeting. But and that's 541 00:19:40,029 --> 00:19:41,630 interesting because we do, you know, you know, 542 00:19:41,630 --> 00:19:43,070 there's things that you're not allowed to talk 543 00:19:43,070 --> 00:19:44,769 about, which is politics and religion. 544 00:19:45,150 --> 00:19:47,630 Right? And when those two things combine, then 545 00:19:47,630 --> 00:19:49,950 it's like combustion. It's just like, oh, you 546 00:19:49,950 --> 00:19:51,789 know, this is gonna spin out of hand 547 00:19:51,789 --> 00:19:52,769 very quickly. 548 00:19:53,265 --> 00:19:55,585 Now part of intuiting the moment is also 549 00:19:55,585 --> 00:19:57,984 intuiting what you personally are ready to handle 550 00:19:57,984 --> 00:20:00,545 as a leader in a moment. Because I 551 00:20:00,545 --> 00:20:02,224 want you to think about an analogy for 552 00:20:02,224 --> 00:20:04,464 a quick second. When metal needs to be 553 00:20:04,464 --> 00:20:06,305 melted so first of all, say it this 554 00:20:06,305 --> 00:20:08,220 way. When metal needs to be reshaped, 555 00:20:08,599 --> 00:20:10,279 it has to first be melted or at 556 00:20:10,279 --> 00:20:12,359 least softened. The only way to do that 557 00:20:12,359 --> 00:20:14,140 is for it to go into the fire. 558 00:20:14,200 --> 00:20:16,359 Now the problem with putting metal into fire 559 00:20:16,359 --> 00:20:18,519 is that it's going to get contaminated or 560 00:20:18,519 --> 00:20:20,679 lost into the ashes and the coal of 561 00:20:20,679 --> 00:20:22,734 the fire. So it has to have a 562 00:20:22,734 --> 00:20:23,234 container 563 00:20:23,775 --> 00:20:25,875 that allows it to be in the container 564 00:20:26,335 --> 00:20:28,255 and still go into the fire to be 565 00:20:28,255 --> 00:20:30,174 melted and purified so that it can be 566 00:20:30,174 --> 00:20:33,214 reshaped. Now that container is the crucible. We 567 00:20:33,214 --> 00:20:34,595 often talk about a crucible 568 00:20:35,059 --> 00:20:37,299 as though it's the fire itself. It's the 569 00:20:37,299 --> 00:20:39,460 heat itself, but it's not. The crucible is 570 00:20:39,460 --> 00:20:41,700 the container that allows the metal to go 571 00:20:41,700 --> 00:20:43,779 into the fire and to be purified and 572 00:20:43,779 --> 00:20:45,720 reshaped. Now as a leader, 573 00:20:46,179 --> 00:20:48,579 what your role is in any of these 574 00:20:48,579 --> 00:20:51,434 similar situations that we're talking about is you 575 00:20:51,434 --> 00:20:53,534 have to create that holding container 576 00:20:53,835 --> 00:20:55,994 for the people where they can go into 577 00:20:55,994 --> 00:20:56,654 the fire. 578 00:20:57,034 --> 00:20:59,454 The temptation is to say, oh, it's hot. 579 00:20:59,755 --> 00:21:02,315 There's danger in that fire. So we do 580 00:21:02,315 --> 00:21:04,315 not want the people to go there. And 581 00:21:04,315 --> 00:21:04,815 then, 582 00:21:05,115 --> 00:21:07,259 as I think I and others often say, 583 00:21:07,259 --> 00:21:09,179 a crisis is a terrible thing to waste 584 00:21:09,179 --> 00:21:11,339 as a leader. You don't want the crisis. 585 00:21:11,339 --> 00:21:13,259 You don't want the tragedy. But when it 586 00:21:13,259 --> 00:21:16,380 comes, it brings the necessary heat for the 587 00:21:16,380 --> 00:21:18,779 refinement of the community. And it's a terrible 588 00:21:18,779 --> 00:21:21,044 thing to waste. So instead of running from 589 00:21:21,044 --> 00:21:23,285 the fire, what we as leaders do is 590 00:21:23,285 --> 00:21:24,904 we help create that container 591 00:21:25,605 --> 00:21:27,704 for us to go into that fire. Now 592 00:21:28,085 --> 00:21:30,744 what these moments reveal about your communities, 593 00:21:31,285 --> 00:21:33,125 whether it's your quorum or your relief society 594 00:21:33,125 --> 00:21:34,740 or your ward or your stake or your 595 00:21:34,740 --> 00:21:35,960 council or your family 596 00:21:36,500 --> 00:21:37,320 or your neighborhood 597 00:21:37,779 --> 00:21:38,600 or your nation, 598 00:21:38,980 --> 00:21:41,640 what these kind of moments reveal is fractures. 599 00:21:42,340 --> 00:21:44,039 They reveal the fault lines. 600 00:21:44,340 --> 00:21:47,220 So we've gone on through times of peace 601 00:21:47,220 --> 00:21:49,160 convincing ourselves that we're united, 602 00:21:49,534 --> 00:21:50,355 that we're together. 603 00:21:50,734 --> 00:21:52,335 But the truth of the matter is as 604 00:21:52,335 --> 00:21:54,174 soon as these moments come, it reveals that 605 00:21:54,174 --> 00:21:56,335 we're not. And so that's why it feels 606 00:21:56,335 --> 00:21:58,734 dangerous to go into these sessions is because 607 00:21:58,734 --> 00:21:59,714 it will expose 608 00:22:00,095 --> 00:22:02,335 that we're not together, and it might actually 609 00:22:02,335 --> 00:22:03,634 break us further apart. 610 00:22:04,000 --> 00:22:06,159 But the irony is is that only by 611 00:22:06,159 --> 00:22:07,700 going into the fire together 612 00:22:08,159 --> 00:22:09,539 can we heal 613 00:22:09,919 --> 00:22:12,720 and seal up those fractures that exist in 614 00:22:12,720 --> 00:22:14,799 the community. You wanna talk about one heart 615 00:22:14,799 --> 00:22:17,035 and one mind. You don't get there unless 616 00:22:17,035 --> 00:22:18,255 you go through struggle 617 00:22:18,634 --> 00:22:21,375 and conflict and difficulty and crisis 618 00:22:21,755 --> 00:22:22,255 together, 619 00:22:22,555 --> 00:22:25,035 and you have to navigate that together. And 620 00:22:25,035 --> 00:22:26,795 so if the tragedy was in your ward 621 00:22:26,795 --> 00:22:28,394 or in your neighborhood or in your nation, 622 00:22:28,394 --> 00:22:31,049 but it affects your group, you need to 623 00:22:31,049 --> 00:22:33,049 go the leader needs to take people in 624 00:22:33,049 --> 00:22:35,049 there in a way that they can pass 625 00:22:35,049 --> 00:22:37,470 through it safe enough to not lose themselves, 626 00:22:37,769 --> 00:22:38,829 but hot enough 627 00:22:39,369 --> 00:22:40,750 to remake the community. 628 00:22:41,130 --> 00:22:43,345 Yeah. I think that's if there's anything you 629 00:22:43,345 --> 00:22:45,585 learn or perceive from this experience, even if 630 00:22:45,585 --> 00:22:46,644 it wasn't talked about, 631 00:22:46,944 --> 00:22:49,764 you know, why or why what was the 632 00:22:49,825 --> 00:22:51,424 the fear in that? Right? I didn't mention 633 00:22:51,424 --> 00:22:52,865 it here. I didn't I didn't really want 634 00:22:52,865 --> 00:22:55,125 it mentioned. We have some very strong opinions 635 00:22:55,309 --> 00:22:56,829 on either side of the political aisle, and 636 00:22:56,829 --> 00:22:58,349 our war does not have those kind of 637 00:22:58,349 --> 00:22:58,849 relationships 638 00:22:59,309 --> 00:23:01,069 to speak to that. Right? I think that's 639 00:23:01,069 --> 00:23:03,150 a fair statement. And and you're not alone 640 00:23:03,150 --> 00:23:05,630 in that perception. Right? That the typical Sunday 641 00:23:05,630 --> 00:23:07,390 where we just show up and smile and 642 00:23:07,390 --> 00:23:08,990 shake hands and talk about the law of 643 00:23:08,990 --> 00:23:10,774 the tithing and let's go to DNC, you 644 00:23:10,774 --> 00:23:13,734 know, whatever. Like, yeah, we can be decent 645 00:23:13,734 --> 00:23:15,414 people to one another. Right? But there's some 646 00:23:15,414 --> 00:23:17,174 of these areas we avoid, and that's where 647 00:23:17,174 --> 00:23:19,255 that's a good indicator. And I'm I'm self 648 00:23:19,255 --> 00:23:22,294 aware enough to recognize I'm in Utah County, 649 00:23:22,294 --> 00:23:24,794 the one of the most deepest red conservative 650 00:23:24,934 --> 00:23:27,599 counties in the nation. And so, yeah, was 651 00:23:27,599 --> 00:23:29,359 there less risk of me bringing this up 652 00:23:29,359 --> 00:23:31,519 and us being at odds? Sure. I mean, 653 00:23:31,519 --> 00:23:33,440 I'm sure a DC Ward, it's gonna be 654 00:23:33,440 --> 00:23:35,920 a different experience. However, there it's still worth 655 00:23:35,920 --> 00:23:38,320 leaning into that in my opinion. So Yeah. 656 00:23:38,320 --> 00:23:39,759 And I'm gonna I'm gonna bring up something 657 00:23:39,759 --> 00:23:41,695 else now too, Kurt, because what you just 658 00:23:41,695 --> 00:23:44,914 described was the idea that within your group, 659 00:23:44,975 --> 00:23:46,434 there might have been some 660 00:23:46,815 --> 00:23:47,315 unanimity, 661 00:23:47,855 --> 00:23:50,815 some conformity around political beliefs or things like 662 00:23:50,815 --> 00:23:53,555 that. And so it's really easy 663 00:23:54,095 --> 00:23:56,994 during times of tragedy or crisis like this, 664 00:23:57,190 --> 00:23:59,130 what we do is we we fragment, 665 00:23:59,750 --> 00:24:00,809 but that fragmentation, 666 00:24:01,190 --> 00:24:03,769 once you fragment, once you're in your group, 667 00:24:03,910 --> 00:24:04,970 we now retreat 668 00:24:05,509 --> 00:24:08,250 into that smaller, more localized, 669 00:24:08,630 --> 00:24:10,090 you know, more conformed 670 00:24:10,630 --> 00:24:11,130 mindset. 671 00:24:11,845 --> 00:24:13,924 And so that retreating into that group is 672 00:24:13,924 --> 00:24:15,384 also part of the problem. 673 00:24:15,684 --> 00:24:18,244 We allow the tragedy to say, oh, well, 674 00:24:18,244 --> 00:24:20,404 that's their problem. At least we've got it 675 00:24:20,404 --> 00:24:21,704 figured out in our neighborhood. 676 00:24:22,244 --> 00:24:24,484 And instead, what that's doing is it's actually 677 00:24:24,644 --> 00:24:26,369 the fallings might not be within our group, 678 00:24:26,369 --> 00:24:28,470 but they're around our group. So it's actually 679 00:24:28,529 --> 00:24:30,309 pulling us further away 680 00:24:30,769 --> 00:24:33,089 from this bigger thing that we belong to. 681 00:24:33,089 --> 00:24:35,109 First of all, we belong to 682 00:24:35,490 --> 00:24:37,410 you know, you belong to the state. You 683 00:24:37,410 --> 00:24:38,630 belong to the religion. 684 00:24:39,034 --> 00:24:40,575 You belong to the nation, 685 00:24:40,954 --> 00:24:43,274 and you belong to the humanity, to the 686 00:24:43,274 --> 00:24:44,414 family of God. 687 00:24:44,714 --> 00:24:47,855 But as we retreat into what feels comfortable, 688 00:24:48,394 --> 00:24:49,835 and that could be at the quorum level 689 00:24:49,835 --> 00:24:51,515 or it could be at your family level 690 00:24:51,515 --> 00:24:52,974 around the kitchen table, 691 00:24:53,289 --> 00:24:55,289 It's very easy to start to other and 692 00:24:55,289 --> 00:24:56,970 to point outward and to say like, oh, 693 00:24:56,970 --> 00:24:59,390 yeah. Yeah. It's it's but at least we. 694 00:24:59,609 --> 00:25:02,089 Right? And so that's more work that needs 695 00:25:02,089 --> 00:25:03,789 to be done is if that's your group. 696 00:25:03,930 --> 00:25:05,450 You come and you say, hey. There are 697 00:25:05,450 --> 00:25:07,210 people out there. You might not be suffering 698 00:25:07,210 --> 00:25:09,055 from this, or you might be having one 699 00:25:09,055 --> 00:25:11,295 reaction to this, but there are other people 700 00:25:11,295 --> 00:25:12,595 out there who are probably 701 00:25:12,975 --> 00:25:14,595 who, in this case, definitely, 702 00:25:15,295 --> 00:25:18,095 are having an opposing reaction or a differing 703 00:25:18,095 --> 00:25:18,595 reaction 704 00:25:18,975 --> 00:25:19,715 that is 705 00:25:20,095 --> 00:25:21,955 just as legitimate as yours 706 00:25:22,330 --> 00:25:24,830 in terms of the humanity of the experience. 707 00:25:25,130 --> 00:25:27,070 I'm not talking about political ideology. 708 00:25:27,529 --> 00:25:30,090 Yeah. I'm talking about the humanity of what 709 00:25:30,090 --> 00:25:31,850 people are going through at a time like 710 00:25:31,850 --> 00:25:34,490 this. Yeah. And that humanity really is at 711 00:25:34,490 --> 00:25:36,345 the core. Like, how do we go to 712 00:25:36,345 --> 00:25:38,105 that point? We're not saying we're not going 713 00:25:38,105 --> 00:25:39,625 to a political point. We're going to a 714 00:25:39,625 --> 00:25:42,585 humanity point. Regardless of what happened, they impact 715 00:25:42,585 --> 00:25:44,904 people differently. Right? And this, obviously, this is 716 00:25:44,904 --> 00:25:46,204 a, like, a very 717 00:25:46,744 --> 00:25:47,244 specific 718 00:25:47,625 --> 00:25:48,125 heavy, 719 00:25:48,424 --> 00:25:51,309 like, you know, experience, right, that, that happened. 720 00:25:51,369 --> 00:25:53,210 But there could be even other things that 721 00:25:53,210 --> 00:25:55,930 maybe to me don't seem like a, you 722 00:25:55,930 --> 00:25:58,250 know, a catastrophe, but others are responding to 723 00:25:58,250 --> 00:25:59,309 it maybe more negatively. 724 00:25:59,690 --> 00:26:01,769 And so this is where that perception comes 725 00:26:01,769 --> 00:26:03,289 in place. Again, not that it always has 726 00:26:03,289 --> 00:26:04,955 to be a, you know, church, you know, 727 00:26:04,955 --> 00:26:07,674 second hour discussion or sacramenting topic. But again, 728 00:26:07,674 --> 00:26:09,835 you're always perceiving this where you're trying to 729 00:26:09,835 --> 00:26:12,154 say, where's the harm, where's the hurt, and 730 00:26:12,154 --> 00:26:14,154 how can we show up and step into 731 00:26:14,154 --> 00:26:16,154 that? So Yeah. And to that point, I 732 00:26:16,154 --> 00:26:16,654 mean, 733 00:26:17,130 --> 00:26:18,809 this so first of all, I didn't I 734 00:26:18,809 --> 00:26:21,049 had never even heard of Charlie Kirk before 735 00:26:21,049 --> 00:26:21,950 this last week. 736 00:26:22,329 --> 00:26:23,690 I've never heard of him, never heard of 737 00:26:23,690 --> 00:26:26,089 his movement, never heard of his style, never 738 00:26:26,089 --> 00:26:27,070 heard of his politics. 739 00:26:27,529 --> 00:26:29,289 It shows you a little bit about how 740 00:26:29,289 --> 00:26:31,130 I sort of keep myself out of a 741 00:26:31,130 --> 00:26:33,865 lot of the political stuff because I'm not 742 00:26:33,865 --> 00:26:35,705 on social media. That's what my kids have 743 00:26:35,705 --> 00:26:36,744 all told me. Well, if you were on 744 00:26:36,744 --> 00:26:37,484 social media, 745 00:26:37,865 --> 00:26:39,464 regardless of your politics, you would know who 746 00:26:39,464 --> 00:26:41,065 he is. Okay. Well, you know, that's fair 747 00:26:41,065 --> 00:26:42,525 enough. I'm not on social media. 748 00:26:42,904 --> 00:26:45,224 But this same sim or a similar experience 749 00:26:45,224 --> 00:26:48,799 happened in someone's home. Right? This, Democratic couple, 750 00:26:48,859 --> 00:26:50,000 I think it was Minnesota 751 00:26:50,299 --> 00:26:52,299 or Wisconsin, which again shows you I'm not 752 00:26:52,299 --> 00:26:55,359 that tapping, right? Yeah. Minnesota, I believe. Minnesota? 753 00:26:55,420 --> 00:26:58,619 Yeah. Okay. And so That's coming. Anyways That 754 00:26:58,619 --> 00:27:01,119 that tragedy may not have struck the conservative 755 00:27:01,259 --> 00:27:01,759 crowd 756 00:27:02,265 --> 00:27:04,744 because it wasn't their standard bearer, but that 757 00:27:04,744 --> 00:27:07,785 tragedy most likely struck the liberal crowd if 758 00:27:07,785 --> 00:27:08,525 they identified 759 00:27:08,904 --> 00:27:09,724 with those people. 760 00:27:10,025 --> 00:27:11,964 But it should strike all of us 761 00:27:12,345 --> 00:27:15,005 because of the humanity and the national implications 762 00:27:15,384 --> 00:27:16,859 of, well, what does it mean if you 763 00:27:16,859 --> 00:27:18,380 can express an idea and then someone walks 764 00:27:18,380 --> 00:27:19,980 in your house and shoots you for it? 765 00:27:19,980 --> 00:27:21,339 Or what does it mean if you express 766 00:27:21,339 --> 00:27:23,259 an idea and you stand in front of 767 00:27:23,259 --> 00:27:24,960 a crowd and someone shoots you for it? 768 00:27:25,180 --> 00:27:27,339 That's a different story than the story that 769 00:27:27,339 --> 00:27:28,700 we've all grown up and lived in. You 770 00:27:28,700 --> 00:27:30,539 know, that's a story that's lived by a 771 00:27:30,539 --> 00:27:32,375 lot of our fellow saints 772 00:27:32,674 --> 00:27:34,195 around the world. Right? I've got a guy 773 00:27:34,195 --> 00:27:36,035 in my stake here, and I'm gonna forget 774 00:27:36,035 --> 00:27:37,714 his home country, but it's somewhere in Latin 775 00:27:37,714 --> 00:27:38,214 America. 776 00:27:38,674 --> 00:27:39,894 And he was a bishop 777 00:27:40,195 --> 00:27:41,875 in his area, and he was a store 778 00:27:41,875 --> 00:27:44,755 owner and was successful store owner, and he 779 00:27:44,755 --> 00:27:47,680 was being followed home one night. And by 780 00:27:47,680 --> 00:27:49,759 the time he got home, his house had 781 00:27:49,759 --> 00:27:51,059 been overtaken by 782 00:27:51,360 --> 00:27:52,500 robbers, by thieves, 783 00:27:52,799 --> 00:27:53,940 and they basically 784 00:27:54,480 --> 00:27:56,580 took everything from the house at gunpoint 785 00:27:57,120 --> 00:27:59,039 and said, if you ever turn us in, 786 00:27:59,039 --> 00:28:01,224 we'll kill you all. And he left that 787 00:28:01,224 --> 00:28:02,664 night, got his family on a plane and 788 00:28:02,664 --> 00:28:04,684 left and came to The United States. Right? 789 00:28:04,825 --> 00:28:05,325 So 790 00:28:05,625 --> 00:28:07,544 people around the world are living under a 791 00:28:07,544 --> 00:28:09,565 story like this. But for America, 792 00:28:09,944 --> 00:28:11,304 we don't know what it's like to live 793 00:28:11,304 --> 00:28:13,144 under the story. And just like nine eleven 794 00:28:13,144 --> 00:28:16,140 rocked our story, you know, twenty four years 795 00:28:16,440 --> 00:28:18,599 ago, you know, these events are now rocking 796 00:28:18,599 --> 00:28:20,359 our story and we're saying, well, this is 797 00:28:20,359 --> 00:28:22,619 not the place I thought I live regardless 798 00:28:22,679 --> 00:28:23,900 of my political ideology. 799 00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:26,679 Yeah. And those of you, if there's questions 800 00:28:26,679 --> 00:28:29,025 that come up or thoughts, feel free to, 801 00:28:29,184 --> 00:28:31,345 to raise your hand or use the, the 802 00:28:31,345 --> 00:28:33,845 comment box because we'll we're happy to facilitate 803 00:28:33,904 --> 00:28:35,825 that. So the principles I'm picking up on, 804 00:28:35,825 --> 00:28:37,345 Dan, as we move through this is that, 805 00:28:37,345 --> 00:28:39,105 you know, really be aware of that perception. 806 00:28:39,105 --> 00:28:41,849 If you're perceiving something's off, like, again, we 807 00:28:41,849 --> 00:28:43,690 don't sort of, like, go whisper to the 808 00:28:43,690 --> 00:28:45,210 bishop or text them like, hey. You should 809 00:28:45,210 --> 00:28:46,829 do something about this. Right? 810 00:28:47,210 --> 00:28:49,069 Like, hopefully, we feel empowered 811 00:28:49,529 --> 00:28:51,130 to lean into those. You you told your 812 00:28:51,130 --> 00:28:53,049 story. I'm telling mine. Obviously, I'm more in 813 00:28:53,049 --> 00:28:53,630 a formal 814 00:28:54,125 --> 00:28:56,785 formal leadership role, but you wear those perceptions, 815 00:28:56,924 --> 00:28:59,424 recognize that there's gonna be that feels risky. 816 00:28:59,565 --> 00:29:02,445 It feels, uncertain. Right? And oftentimes, that's a 817 00:29:02,445 --> 00:29:04,525 good indicator of the spirit is when it's 818 00:29:04,525 --> 00:29:05,965 like, ah, that doesn't feel right, but I 819 00:29:05,965 --> 00:29:07,985 feel that prompting and that perception. 820 00:29:08,320 --> 00:29:11,059 And then then lean in. Right. And so 821 00:29:11,200 --> 00:29:12,640 let's go to Jeff. Do you have something 822 00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:14,880 to share? Sure. Maybe while we're waiting for 823 00:29:14,880 --> 00:29:15,380 Jeff 824 00:29:15,680 --> 00:29:17,840 and see if he comes on. Yeah, go 825 00:29:17,840 --> 00:29:19,440 ahead. I do think it would be great, 826 00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:22,400 even though you recognize already your situation here 827 00:29:22,400 --> 00:29:23,299 is your situation 828 00:29:23,825 --> 00:29:25,664 here in Utah County. I do think it 829 00:29:25,664 --> 00:29:26,565 would be really 830 00:29:26,944 --> 00:29:28,785 interesting for all of us to hear how 831 00:29:28,785 --> 00:29:31,525 you approached it because I think your approach 832 00:29:31,904 --> 00:29:33,744 was very unique in terms of what we 833 00:29:33,744 --> 00:29:35,924 typically would see in a Latter day Saint 834 00:29:36,144 --> 00:29:37,045 meeting setting. 835 00:29:37,424 --> 00:29:37,924 Yeah. 836 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:39,840 So, yeah, for as far as my approach 837 00:29:39,840 --> 00:29:40,960 or what I did, so I just sent 838 00:29:40,960 --> 00:29:42,820 out a a message in that, you know, 839 00:29:43,039 --> 00:29:44,019 I think it was 840 00:29:44,640 --> 00:29:45,700 Friday or Saturday. 841 00:29:46,080 --> 00:29:47,519 And I just said, hey. Just so you 842 00:29:47,519 --> 00:29:49,200 know, we're gonna do the elders quorum a 843 00:29:49,200 --> 00:29:51,485 little bit differently on Sunday. I can maybe 844 00:29:51,725 --> 00:29:52,845 let me pull it up just so I 845 00:29:52,845 --> 00:29:54,684 have exactly what I said as I thought 846 00:29:54,684 --> 00:29:56,285 through there. Which while you're pulling that up, 847 00:29:56,285 --> 00:29:57,265 let's just note, 848 00:29:57,805 --> 00:30:00,125 Kurt is creating the crucible. Right? And he's 849 00:30:00,125 --> 00:30:02,225 managing the temperature of that experience. 850 00:30:02,845 --> 00:30:05,325 So just alone by giving them a heads 851 00:30:05,325 --> 00:30:07,899 up, you're already helping to regulate the temperature 852 00:30:07,899 --> 00:30:09,339 of those who are saying, I don't really 853 00:30:09,339 --> 00:30:11,099 want to talk about this. I'm not really 854 00:30:11,099 --> 00:30:12,700 sure where this is going to go. You're 855 00:30:12,700 --> 00:30:14,539 already letting them know we're not going to 856 00:30:14,539 --> 00:30:17,419 surprise anybody. Yeah. And probably gave them a 857 00:30:17,419 --> 00:30:19,019 little bit of a context of what that 858 00:30:19,019 --> 00:30:20,779 was going to be like. Yeah. Yeah. So 859 00:30:20,779 --> 00:30:24,345 I said, hey, gentlemen, FYI, Sunday, we are 860 00:30:24,345 --> 00:30:26,984 not going to focus on conference talks during 861 00:30:26,984 --> 00:30:29,144 elders quorum. Instead, I'd like to take some 862 00:30:29,144 --> 00:30:31,544 time to focus on some teachings of Christ 863 00:30:31,544 --> 00:30:33,244 and also create some space 864 00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:35,799 to process the heaviness that is happening in 865 00:30:35,799 --> 00:30:37,179 our nation and community. 866 00:30:37,559 --> 00:30:39,740 Please make arrangements to be there to support 867 00:30:39,880 --> 00:30:42,700 one another. I only do things by invitation, 868 00:30:42,759 --> 00:30:45,079 so please attend knowing you can participate as 869 00:30:45,079 --> 00:30:47,384 little or as much as you'd like. If 870 00:30:47,384 --> 00:30:49,464 you are in a separate calling during that 871 00:30:49,464 --> 00:30:50,904 time and wish to be with us in 872 00:30:50,904 --> 00:30:52,585 elders quorum, please let me know and we 873 00:30:52,585 --> 00:30:53,804 can make arrangements. 874 00:30:54,585 --> 00:30:56,184 And so, yeah, I kind of prepped the 875 00:30:56,184 --> 00:30:57,625 the audience that that was the direction we're 876 00:30:57,625 --> 00:30:59,144 going. I don't wanna sneak up on anybody 877 00:30:59,144 --> 00:31:01,599 or suddenly make them feel uncomfortable. And we 878 00:31:01,599 --> 00:31:03,220 had definitely more than 879 00:31:03,519 --> 00:31:04,179 the typical 880 00:31:04,559 --> 00:31:07,059 attendees there. There's probably five to 10 more 881 00:31:07,119 --> 00:31:07,619 men 882 00:31:07,920 --> 00:31:10,480 in Elders Quorum. And so from there, I 883 00:31:10,480 --> 00:31:11,759 just thought That is Kurt. Why do you 884 00:31:11,759 --> 00:31:14,000 think that is that you had more come 885 00:31:14,000 --> 00:31:16,134 as a result of that message? Well, I 886 00:31:16,134 --> 00:31:18,694 just think that, you know, just perceiving that 887 00:31:18,694 --> 00:31:21,015 everybody was kinda carrying this around. And and 888 00:31:21,015 --> 00:31:23,335 also just the the culture that I feel 889 00:31:23,335 --> 00:31:25,255 like we've tried to develop in elders quorum, 890 00:31:25,255 --> 00:31:26,694 they knew it would be a safe place. 891 00:31:26,694 --> 00:31:29,115 Right? They've had experience of talking about maybe 892 00:31:29,429 --> 00:31:33,190 heavier things or difficult topics. And so that 893 00:31:33,190 --> 00:31:35,609 safety was hopefully already established in our culture 894 00:31:35,750 --> 00:31:37,750 and knowing that, okay. I'm I'm definitely not 895 00:31:37,750 --> 00:31:40,149 gonna miss this one. Right? So Yeah. I 896 00:31:40,149 --> 00:31:42,309 think that there's a temptation to think like, 897 00:31:42,309 --> 00:31:43,694 oh, it was salacious, and so so they 898 00:31:43,694 --> 00:31:45,134 wanna come and they wanna see the, you 899 00:31:45,134 --> 00:31:47,054 know, they wanna see the boxing match come 900 00:31:47,054 --> 00:31:48,815 out. Right? Yeah. I think as a few 901 00:31:48,815 --> 00:31:50,654 of our viewers here have voiced on the 902 00:31:50,654 --> 00:31:52,815 chat, like, most people don't wanna be part 903 00:31:52,815 --> 00:31:54,414 of the boxing match. They don't even really 904 00:31:54,414 --> 00:31:56,654 wanna witness it either. Yeah. So I think 905 00:31:56,654 --> 00:31:59,029 that if people thought that it was gonna 906 00:31:59,029 --> 00:32:01,130 be addressed in a combative 907 00:32:01,830 --> 00:32:03,670 way or that it might even come out, 908 00:32:03,670 --> 00:32:05,109 and there's some people who might even have 909 00:32:05,109 --> 00:32:05,609 some 910 00:32:05,910 --> 00:32:08,490 anxiety that they're feeling their own past experiences 911 00:32:08,710 --> 00:32:10,470 or, you know, things that they're feeling. They're 912 00:32:10,470 --> 00:32:11,990 like, I just don't even wanna take the 913 00:32:11,990 --> 00:32:14,204 risk of being there. They might not have 914 00:32:14,204 --> 00:32:16,444 even showed up at all on a Sunday 915 00:32:16,444 --> 00:32:17,644 like that and just said, you know, this 916 00:32:17,644 --> 00:32:19,005 is just a Sunday that I don't wanna 917 00:32:19,005 --> 00:32:19,744 be around 918 00:32:20,045 --> 00:32:20,865 these folks. 919 00:32:21,164 --> 00:32:23,565 Mhmm. I think it's important that you send 920 00:32:23,565 --> 00:32:25,825 this message out, you're regulating the temperature, 921 00:32:26,339 --> 00:32:28,740 and it's also important for everyone to realize 922 00:32:28,740 --> 00:32:29,880 that there was 923 00:32:30,339 --> 00:32:32,679 leadership culture building being done 924 00:32:32,980 --> 00:32:34,740 over a period of time. So, this is 925 00:32:34,740 --> 00:32:37,400 what I mean by proceeding from the moment. 926 00:32:37,779 --> 00:32:40,535 So, because you had laid groundwork, the moment 927 00:32:40,535 --> 00:32:42,695 meant something different for you than it might 928 00:32:42,695 --> 00:32:45,195 have otherwise, if you hadn't laid that groundwork. 929 00:32:45,575 --> 00:32:47,335 And so it's not that anybody could just 930 00:32:47,335 --> 00:32:49,494 jump into a meeting and do what you're 931 00:32:49,494 --> 00:32:51,730 about to explain that you did. A lot 932 00:32:51,730 --> 00:32:53,490 of that was the groundwork. And so what 933 00:32:53,490 --> 00:32:55,809 do leaders do during times of peace? And 934 00:32:55,809 --> 00:32:57,029 they lay a lot of groundwork 935 00:32:57,329 --> 00:32:59,250 for moments just like this. And then when 936 00:32:59,250 --> 00:33:02,309 the moments come, you're ready because the crucible 937 00:33:02,369 --> 00:33:04,369 has been being built and formed all along. 938 00:33:04,369 --> 00:33:06,694 It's like, okay, You've got the ship now. 939 00:33:06,835 --> 00:33:08,674 You've got the container. And now that the 940 00:33:08,674 --> 00:33:11,075 fire is firing, we can now go into 941 00:33:11,075 --> 00:33:13,394 it. Yeah. And putting this in the context 942 00:33:13,394 --> 00:33:16,295 of a nonformal leader, like, just consider 943 00:33:16,994 --> 00:33:19,079 how you're how you're doing that in the 944 00:33:19,079 --> 00:33:21,000 the relationship you have with others in your 945 00:33:21,000 --> 00:33:24,039 community. Right? Just those simple moments of stopping 946 00:33:24,039 --> 00:33:26,279 by someone's home, simple moments of chatting in 947 00:33:26,279 --> 00:33:28,359 the hallway. Like, you're you're building this relationship 948 00:33:28,359 --> 00:33:30,119 so they know this is a safe person 949 00:33:30,119 --> 00:33:31,960 to talk with. When tragedy strikes, I can 950 00:33:31,960 --> 00:33:33,625 reach out to this person just to kind 951 00:33:33,625 --> 00:33:35,784 of make it more universal that way. And 952 00:33:35,784 --> 00:33:37,865 the other thing, I think the component to 953 00:33:37,865 --> 00:33:39,144 the lot of people worry about is like, 954 00:33:39,144 --> 00:33:41,865 well, we need this as professional business. Like 955 00:33:41,865 --> 00:33:44,105 we what if I make this worse? What 956 00:33:44,105 --> 00:33:45,880 if I say the wrong thing? I should 957 00:33:45,880 --> 00:33:47,799 get a team of therapists in here. And 958 00:33:47,799 --> 00:33:49,079 that's, you know, kind of where I went, 959 00:33:49,079 --> 00:33:51,960 where I yeah. I think obviously the therapy 960 00:33:51,960 --> 00:33:54,759 and and, that industry knows a lot more 961 00:33:54,759 --> 00:33:57,240 about maybe how to facilitate talking about tragedy. 962 00:33:57,240 --> 00:33:58,359 And that's why I did reach out to 963 00:33:58,359 --> 00:34:00,464 that therapist. However, he had something come up, 964 00:34:00,464 --> 00:34:02,785 a family event that he he, was not 965 00:34:02,785 --> 00:34:04,384 able to be there. So I was back 966 00:34:04,384 --> 00:34:06,625 alone. But my when I go back, especially 967 00:34:06,625 --> 00:34:08,945 to my interviews with, Stephen Shields, if you 968 00:34:08,945 --> 00:34:10,864 haven't listened to those, I highly recommend them. 969 00:34:10,864 --> 00:34:12,465 But he always talks about this concept of, 970 00:34:12,465 --> 00:34:14,590 like, what's the church leader's role? And he 971 00:34:14,590 --> 00:34:15,809 always says, your role 972 00:34:16,190 --> 00:34:18,750 is to drive the hope train. Right? You 973 00:34:18,750 --> 00:34:20,829 just bring as much hope into that meeting 974 00:34:20,829 --> 00:34:21,570 as possible. 975 00:34:21,869 --> 00:34:24,030 And then if they need additional, you know, 976 00:34:24,030 --> 00:34:24,530 professional, 977 00:34:25,085 --> 00:34:27,085 you know, services and things, yeah, we'll get 978 00:34:27,085 --> 00:34:28,684 there and we'll direct them to those paths. 979 00:34:28,684 --> 00:34:31,505 But there's still a vital role of that 980 00:34:31,724 --> 00:34:33,484 leader of driving the hope train. And so 981 00:34:33,484 --> 00:34:34,924 I knew in order to step into that 982 00:34:34,924 --> 00:34:36,525 room, I wanted to have discussion. I wanted 983 00:34:36,525 --> 00:34:38,204 to create a place where if people needed 984 00:34:38,204 --> 00:34:40,769 to decompress from the tension of the experience, 985 00:34:40,769 --> 00:34:43,190 they could do that. But I always knew 986 00:34:43,329 --> 00:34:44,769 that I was always gonna bring it back 987 00:34:44,769 --> 00:34:47,250 to a strong story of Jesus Christ, now 988 00:34:47,250 --> 00:34:49,329 how he showed up, how he healed in 989 00:34:49,329 --> 00:34:50,630 moments of tragedy. 990 00:34:51,090 --> 00:34:53,250 And so I started that meeting with just 991 00:34:53,555 --> 00:34:54,994 and you always have to warm up any 992 00:34:54,994 --> 00:34:57,474 setting. Right? And so we just talked about, 993 00:34:57,474 --> 00:34:59,575 and I got some of this content from 994 00:34:59,715 --> 00:35:01,795 the therapist of my work, but talking about 995 00:35:01,795 --> 00:35:04,755 just different emotions that you may experience. And 996 00:35:04,755 --> 00:35:06,275 I'm not and a lot of times we 997 00:35:06,275 --> 00:35:08,900 go to we go to secondary emotions. Right? 998 00:35:08,900 --> 00:35:09,799 I'm mad. 999 00:35:10,099 --> 00:35:13,139 I'm happy. I'm sad. Right? But why are 1000 00:35:13,139 --> 00:35:15,299 you sad? Oh, that's because I'm hurt or 1001 00:35:15,299 --> 00:35:17,699 that's because I'm in shock. Right? And so 1002 00:35:17,699 --> 00:35:19,539 I just create a a moment for the 1003 00:35:19,539 --> 00:35:20,839 elders to kinda just 1004 00:35:21,184 --> 00:35:23,105 process in their mind. Because here's the thing, 1005 00:35:23,105 --> 00:35:24,644 like, obviously the sacrament 1006 00:35:25,025 --> 00:35:27,425 and sacrament meetings are great place to process 1007 00:35:27,425 --> 00:35:28,945 at times, but I knew that the vast 1008 00:35:28,945 --> 00:35:30,465 majority of these men were sitting with their 1009 00:35:30,465 --> 00:35:33,680 young families, you know, coloring pictures or telling 1010 00:35:33,680 --> 00:35:35,619 them to sit down or right. So oftentimes 1011 00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:37,760 they don't get that chance to really decompress 1012 00:35:37,760 --> 00:35:38,980 effectively in sacramenting. 1013 00:35:39,519 --> 00:35:41,360 So I wanted to just create five to 1014 00:35:41,360 --> 00:35:43,039 ten minutes where we could do that. Right. 1015 00:35:43,039 --> 00:35:44,880 So I had them sit. I gave them 1016 00:35:44,880 --> 00:35:47,085 note cards just right. I said, put one, 1017 00:35:47,085 --> 00:35:49,744 two, three emotions down that have been dominant 1018 00:35:50,284 --> 00:35:52,704 this last week since the tragedy happened. Right? 1019 00:35:53,085 --> 00:35:55,244 So that took place. And then I just 1020 00:35:55,244 --> 00:35:57,405 asked, would anybody be willing to speak to 1021 00:35:57,405 --> 00:35:59,244 that? What was that like? What'd you feel? 1022 00:35:59,244 --> 00:36:01,590 Right? And then it kind of it snowballs. 1023 00:36:01,650 --> 00:36:03,969 Right. One person raises their hand, talks about 1024 00:36:03,969 --> 00:36:06,130 it. Next person does. We had men that 1025 00:36:06,130 --> 00:36:08,449 were, you can see they were visibly angry, 1026 00:36:08,449 --> 00:36:10,210 right? Again, not anybody in the room, but 1027 00:36:10,210 --> 00:36:12,469 they just were in that stage of anger. 1028 00:36:13,644 --> 00:36:14,844 And by the time they're done with their 1029 00:36:14,844 --> 00:36:16,525 comment, you can see that it was a 1030 00:36:16,525 --> 00:36:18,924 little bit less angry. Right? One or two 1031 00:36:18,924 --> 00:36:21,085 kind of broke down in tears about what 1032 00:36:21,085 --> 00:36:23,404 was happening and that, you know, you could 1033 00:36:23,404 --> 00:36:24,304 feel the unity 1034 00:36:24,684 --> 00:36:26,385 build around those, those individuals. 1035 00:36:26,960 --> 00:36:28,019 And then I went into 1036 00:36:28,559 --> 00:36:32,099 almost a story, a sermon about, Christ and 1037 00:36:32,319 --> 00:36:34,319 the Jairus daughter. Is that I always say 1038 00:36:34,319 --> 00:36:35,920 his name wrong. And the woman with, 1039 00:36:36,799 --> 00:36:39,679 you know, the blood disease and how that 1040 00:36:39,679 --> 00:36:43,175 was a pivotal moment, a moment of emergency. 1041 00:36:43,474 --> 00:36:45,954 This daughter's dying. We've gotta be there. And 1042 00:36:45,954 --> 00:36:48,195 just how patient Christ was and all of 1043 00:36:48,195 --> 00:36:51,394 that anyways. And so definitely sort of creating 1044 00:36:51,394 --> 00:36:52,135 that space 1045 00:36:52,515 --> 00:36:53,735 to have that conversation, 1046 00:36:54,309 --> 00:36:56,469 decompress, share what you're feeling. And it wasn't 1047 00:36:56,469 --> 00:36:58,389 that there was no coaching going on, like, 1048 00:36:58,389 --> 00:37:00,309 oh, well, maybe you should try this, or, 1049 00:37:00,309 --> 00:37:01,909 or have you thought about that? Or when 1050 00:37:01,909 --> 00:37:03,190 I feel that this way, this is what 1051 00:37:03,190 --> 00:37:04,710 I do. It was just like, we just 1052 00:37:04,710 --> 00:37:07,210 wanna hear hear you. Right? And so, 1053 00:37:07,510 --> 00:37:09,269 went into the story of, of Christ. And 1054 00:37:09,269 --> 00:37:11,635 then this is something we do every elders 1055 00:37:11,635 --> 00:37:13,875 quorum, which again, laid the foundation of this 1056 00:37:13,875 --> 00:37:16,114 cultural safety, is we always end in a 1057 00:37:16,114 --> 00:37:18,034 circle of trust. We have the men stand 1058 00:37:18,034 --> 00:37:19,795 up, we get in a big circle, there's 1059 00:37:19,795 --> 00:37:21,954 probably 35 to 40 men. And, 1060 00:37:22,610 --> 00:37:24,530 we ask if there's anything specific that we 1061 00:37:24,530 --> 00:37:26,050 can pray for those, those men. And it 1062 00:37:26,050 --> 00:37:28,050 was those individuals who made comments that were 1063 00:37:28,050 --> 00:37:31,090 more emotional. I just said, Hey, brother Joe, 1064 00:37:31,090 --> 00:37:31,590 like, 1065 00:37:31,890 --> 00:37:34,050 how can we pray for you? Right. And, 1066 00:37:34,369 --> 00:37:35,969 he'd already sort of leaned into that. And 1067 00:37:35,969 --> 00:37:38,985 he was much more open to asking for 1068 00:37:39,045 --> 00:37:41,204 support that way. You know, he asked someone 1069 00:37:41,204 --> 00:37:43,525 in the court to pray and and just, 1070 00:37:44,005 --> 00:37:46,005 so many individuals coming up to me after, 1071 00:37:46,005 --> 00:37:48,005 like, they said nothing in the whole meeting 1072 00:37:48,005 --> 00:37:50,485 said, I really needed this this week. Thank 1073 00:37:50,485 --> 00:37:52,359 you for doing that. Right? And again, I 1074 00:37:52,359 --> 00:37:54,539 recognize it could have gone sideways. 1075 00:37:54,840 --> 00:37:56,280 There could have been argument. There could have 1076 00:37:56,280 --> 00:37:57,960 been so many places gone wrong, but I 1077 00:37:58,039 --> 00:38:00,920 I'd rather that happen than pretend like, oh, 1078 00:38:00,920 --> 00:38:02,359 let's just open up a conference so I 1079 00:38:02,359 --> 00:38:04,679 can pretend like nothing happened. Right? So anyways, 1080 00:38:04,679 --> 00:38:06,405 any thoughts come to mind, Dan? Yeah. Well, 1081 00:38:06,405 --> 00:38:08,164 why was it worth the risk to do 1082 00:38:08,164 --> 00:38:09,945 that? Like, you knew it could go sideways 1083 00:38:10,005 --> 00:38:12,085 and it could become something hard to control 1084 00:38:12,085 --> 00:38:13,925 and contain. Like, why was that worth the 1085 00:38:13,925 --> 00:38:16,164 risk to you? Oh, man. I mean, I 1086 00:38:16,164 --> 00:38:18,485 could feel healing happening in the room. Right? 1087 00:38:18,485 --> 00:38:20,324 Not that I was offering it or doing 1088 00:38:20,324 --> 00:38:22,809 it, but just inviting the savior into that 1089 00:38:22,809 --> 00:38:23,309 tragedy 1090 00:38:23,849 --> 00:38:26,489 rather than just looking for updates on this, 1091 00:38:26,489 --> 00:38:28,570 you know, on a phone or in social 1092 00:38:28,570 --> 00:38:31,769 media. And that's the the unity component. Right? 1093 00:38:31,769 --> 00:38:33,609 Like, this is the often asked question when 1094 00:38:33,609 --> 00:38:36,505 it comes to ward culture or quorum culture 1095 00:38:36,505 --> 00:38:38,505 or relief study culture. Like, what do we 1096 00:38:38,505 --> 00:38:40,824 gotta do to, you know, stimulate unity? We 1097 00:38:40,824 --> 00:38:42,505 we need to be more unified, and we 1098 00:38:42,505 --> 00:38:44,344 always go to, you know, let's have a 1099 00:38:44,344 --> 00:38:46,425 pizza party. We'll just get together. We'll get 1100 00:38:46,425 --> 00:38:47,864 to know each other, then three guys show 1101 00:38:47,864 --> 00:38:50,609 up. And it's gotta be every core meeting 1102 00:38:50,609 --> 00:38:51,109 experience, 1103 00:38:51,409 --> 00:38:53,589 right, where you are stimulating, 1104 00:38:53,969 --> 00:38:54,469 like, 1105 00:38:54,769 --> 00:38:55,269 authenticity, 1106 00:38:55,809 --> 00:38:56,309 vulnerability, 1107 00:38:56,849 --> 00:38:58,369 because it's that you know, I always go 1108 00:38:58,369 --> 00:39:00,289 back to the scripture. This is both said 1109 00:39:00,289 --> 00:39:01,889 in the book of Mormon and the Bible 1110 00:39:01,889 --> 00:39:03,109 of Christ 1111 00:39:03,474 --> 00:39:05,635 hung on a cross to draw men to 1112 00:39:05,635 --> 00:39:07,635 him, like, to draw all men to him. 1113 00:39:07,635 --> 00:39:09,795 Right? That it was the moment of the 1114 00:39:09,795 --> 00:39:10,775 peak of vulnerability 1115 00:39:11,474 --> 00:39:13,315 that drew people to him. So it is 1116 00:39:13,315 --> 00:39:15,554 in that practice of vulnerability where we can 1117 00:39:15,554 --> 00:39:17,014 draw people together, 1118 00:39:17,394 --> 00:39:19,920 and that just creates more strength. And to 1119 00:39:19,920 --> 00:39:21,940 me, that is why we go to church. 1120 00:39:22,239 --> 00:39:24,639 Well, so let's press that a little bit, 1121 00:39:24,639 --> 00:39:25,940 because I think a common 1122 00:39:26,239 --> 00:39:28,239 when people hear that you're doing stuff like 1123 00:39:28,239 --> 00:39:30,880 this in elders quorum, a common retort is, 1124 00:39:30,880 --> 00:39:32,340 Hey, this isn't group therapy. 1125 00:39:33,184 --> 00:39:34,784 We're here to learn the gospel of Jesus 1126 00:39:34,784 --> 00:39:36,704 Christ. We're not here to, you know, cry 1127 00:39:36,704 --> 00:39:38,965 on each other's shoulders and sing Kumbaya together. 1128 00:39:39,425 --> 00:39:41,425 So how do you respond to that? Yeah, 1129 00:39:41,425 --> 00:39:43,425 absolutely. And it's not group therapy. Right. And 1130 00:39:43,425 --> 00:39:44,164 that's why 1131 00:39:44,465 --> 00:39:46,945 the focus, the pinnacle was the story of 1132 00:39:46,945 --> 00:39:49,539 Jesus. Like it was His healing that was 1133 00:39:49,539 --> 00:39:51,940 talked about. What is the redemption He offers 1134 00:39:51,940 --> 00:39:54,500 us? Right? And so, again, I just don't 1135 00:39:54,500 --> 00:39:55,000 know 1136 00:39:55,380 --> 00:39:57,059 why we go to church. Like, if we 1137 00:39:57,059 --> 00:39:58,579 go to church to learn things, why can't 1138 00:39:58,579 --> 00:40:00,500 you go on YouTube and learn things? If 1139 00:40:00,500 --> 00:40:01,400 we go to church 1140 00:40:01,780 --> 00:40:03,780 to participate in ordinances, great, that took ten 1141 00:40:03,780 --> 00:40:05,994 minutes. You know? So I just feel like 1142 00:40:05,994 --> 00:40:08,735 if we're so focused and structured on a 1143 00:40:08,795 --> 00:40:09,855 church of community, 1144 00:40:10,315 --> 00:40:11,675 there are purpose in that community. There should 1145 00:40:11,675 --> 00:40:12,894 be healing in that community. 1146 00:40:13,275 --> 00:40:15,054 And everybody felt 1147 00:40:15,515 --> 00:40:18,639 redeemed after that experience because it was a 1148 00:40:18,639 --> 00:40:20,900 community experience focused on Christ. 1149 00:40:21,199 --> 00:40:23,039 I'm trying to look up right now. I'm 1150 00:40:23,039 --> 00:40:23,940 going to the handbook 1151 00:40:24,400 --> 00:40:26,260 and I'm using the new AI assistant. 1152 00:40:26,639 --> 00:40:27,460 Could be dangerous. 1153 00:40:27,920 --> 00:40:29,539 There's some specific language 1154 00:40:30,239 --> 00:40:32,164 around what the purpose of elders quorum is, 1155 00:40:32,164 --> 00:40:33,925 and it's actually the exact same language, not 1156 00:40:33,925 --> 00:40:35,844 the exact, but almost exact same language as 1157 00:40:35,844 --> 00:40:37,304 it is for the relief society. 1158 00:40:37,684 --> 00:40:39,844 Yeah. Okay. So it says the purpose of 1159 00:40:39,844 --> 00:40:42,184 the elders quorum is to strengthen faith, 1160 00:40:42,485 --> 00:40:45,224 build unity, and support families and homes. 1161 00:40:45,539 --> 00:40:47,780 That's the purpose, the stated purpose of the 1162 00:40:47,780 --> 00:40:50,679 elders quorum, is to strengthen faith, build unity, 1163 00:40:50,739 --> 00:40:53,300 and support families and homes. How is what 1164 00:40:53,300 --> 00:40:53,960 you did 1165 00:40:54,340 --> 00:40:55,480 fulfilling that purpose? 1166 00:40:55,860 --> 00:40:57,300 Well, I'd give of course, I hope it's 1167 00:40:57,300 --> 00:40:59,734 fulfilling that purpose, but, you know, I think 1168 00:40:59,795 --> 00:41:02,755 when you model something like that, you know, 1169 00:41:02,755 --> 00:41:04,855 going back to the strengthening homes, 1170 00:41:05,234 --> 00:41:07,795 that father hopefully can go home and do 1171 00:41:07,795 --> 00:41:11,074 something similar, right, and start a conversation and 1172 00:41:11,074 --> 00:41:13,154 ask for prayer and pray together and those 1173 00:41:13,154 --> 00:41:14,214 types of things. So 1174 00:41:14,559 --> 00:41:16,079 then the unity is just like I said, 1175 00:41:16,079 --> 00:41:19,279 like the a vulnerable experience unifies people. And 1176 00:41:19,279 --> 00:41:21,059 then what was the other one in there? 1177 00:41:21,279 --> 00:41:23,760 Strength and faith, build unity, support families and 1178 00:41:23,760 --> 00:41:25,760 homes. And strength and faith. I mean, to 1179 00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:27,679 me, I wanted to model this is in 1180 00:41:27,679 --> 00:41:30,585 this crucible experience, this is how we rely 1181 00:41:30,585 --> 00:41:33,244 on Jesus Christ. We're not just, like, spouting, 1182 00:41:33,465 --> 00:41:36,585 you know, spouting things, platitudes at church because 1183 00:41:36,585 --> 00:41:38,585 that's just what we say. Right? This is 1184 00:41:38,585 --> 00:41:40,905 actually what it looks like is we turn 1185 00:41:40,905 --> 00:41:43,179 to the story of Jesus and remind him 1186 00:41:43,179 --> 00:41:44,940 how he showed up for people there, that 1187 00:41:44,940 --> 00:41:46,780 he's willing to do that for us. And 1188 00:41:46,780 --> 00:41:48,860 is he? Right? And inviting them to to 1189 00:41:48,860 --> 00:41:50,940 lean into that. So, yeah, this comes to 1190 00:41:50,940 --> 00:41:52,940 mind. I think in a little analogy too 1191 00:41:52,940 --> 00:41:54,480 that goes along with that is 1192 00:41:54,780 --> 00:41:56,534 when we think of church, if you use 1193 00:41:56,534 --> 00:41:57,514 a sports analogy, 1194 00:41:57,815 --> 00:41:59,494 you have the practices and you have the 1195 00:41:59,494 --> 00:41:59,994 games. 1196 00:42:00,295 --> 00:42:02,214 And I think that we often think of 1197 00:42:02,214 --> 00:42:04,074 church as being like the practices. 1198 00:42:04,534 --> 00:42:06,534 Right? It's not the real game. We're gonna 1199 00:42:06,534 --> 00:42:08,054 step out of the real world. We're gonna 1200 00:42:08,054 --> 00:42:09,869 take a minute. We're gonna kind of think 1201 00:42:09,869 --> 00:42:11,949 through, get ourselves ready. We're gonna send you 1202 00:42:11,949 --> 00:42:14,109 guys back out into the real world. That's 1203 00:42:14,109 --> 00:42:16,690 one approach and it's valid in some ways. 1204 00:42:16,829 --> 00:42:18,670 But another approach is to say, church is 1205 00:42:18,670 --> 00:42:19,569 about living 1206 00:42:19,869 --> 00:42:21,170 the real thing together. 1207 00:42:21,565 --> 00:42:23,965 And are we living life together as we're 1208 00:42:23,965 --> 00:42:24,945 sitting in the pews? 1209 00:42:25,244 --> 00:42:27,405 Are we living life together as we're in 1210 00:42:27,405 --> 00:42:29,824 our Relief Society or Young Women's or 1211 00:42:30,125 --> 00:42:32,784 Priesthood Corps meetings? Are we living life together? 1212 00:42:32,925 --> 00:42:34,864 And I think that's what becomes so damaging 1213 00:42:34,925 --> 00:42:36,625 sometimes to the body 1214 00:42:37,059 --> 00:42:39,059 is when we show up and pretend, when 1215 00:42:39,059 --> 00:42:40,839 something is affecting the body 1216 00:42:41,139 --> 00:42:42,819 and we show up and pretend that it's 1217 00:42:42,819 --> 00:42:45,559 not because we're locked into the performance of 1218 00:42:45,779 --> 00:42:47,380 so and so had a lesson planned and 1219 00:42:47,380 --> 00:42:49,539 we don't wanna interrupt that lesson that they 1220 00:42:49,539 --> 00:42:51,744 prepared for. You know what I mean? And 1221 00:42:51,744 --> 00:42:54,224 so we get locked into that performance and 1222 00:42:54,224 --> 00:42:56,703 into the script, and we ignore what's really 1223 00:42:56,703 --> 00:42:59,182 happening within the body. We're no longer living 1224 00:42:59,182 --> 00:43:01,661 together. And so as a practice, we become 1225 00:43:01,661 --> 00:43:04,140 hypocritical. If you're going to sit in a 1226 00:43:04,140 --> 00:43:06,619 room and ignore the reality of what people 1227 00:43:06,619 --> 00:43:07,589 are experiencing, 1228 00:43:07,889 --> 00:43:10,210 it's now a hypocritical experience, what I call 1229 00:43:10,210 --> 00:43:11,429 a plastic experience. 1230 00:43:12,050 --> 00:43:14,210 And that can happen as a group going 1231 00:43:14,210 --> 00:43:16,210 through a shared tragedy, like the one that 1232 00:43:16,210 --> 00:43:18,309 we're talking about as a nation here, 1233 00:43:18,609 --> 00:43:20,849 but it can also happen if people are 1234 00:43:20,849 --> 00:43:21,349 suffering 1235 00:43:21,889 --> 00:43:22,389 individually. 1236 00:43:22,944 --> 00:43:24,704 Like, if they're showing up and they're having 1237 00:43:24,704 --> 00:43:27,684 one experience and it's not honored, named, validated, 1238 00:43:27,824 --> 00:43:28,324 expressed, 1239 00:43:28,864 --> 00:43:30,964 seen, heard, touched, all the things 1240 00:43:31,264 --> 00:43:33,424 in that setting, in other words, they're having 1241 00:43:33,424 --> 00:43:35,424 to show up and be fake in that 1242 00:43:35,424 --> 00:43:38,860 setting, They now have to what's called alienation. 1243 00:43:39,240 --> 00:43:40,380 They have to alienate 1244 00:43:40,920 --> 00:43:43,099 themselves. They're fragmenting internally. 1245 00:43:43,559 --> 00:43:45,480 They have to start to silence the parts 1246 00:43:45,480 --> 00:43:47,480 of themselves that don't belong here in this 1247 00:43:47,480 --> 00:43:47,980 space. 1248 00:43:48,295 --> 00:43:49,655 So now all of a sudden people are 1249 00:43:49,655 --> 00:43:51,974 showing up at church, and the travesty in 1250 00:43:51,974 --> 00:43:54,135 all of this is when our youth experience 1251 00:43:54,135 --> 00:43:56,534 this. When they show up to church and 1252 00:43:56,534 --> 00:43:59,034 they can't have their real lived experience 1253 00:43:59,735 --> 00:44:00,474 at church, 1254 00:44:00,890 --> 00:44:02,910 And that's where they learned to perform 1255 00:44:03,530 --> 00:44:05,769 a certain role, a certain expectation, a certain 1256 00:44:05,769 --> 00:44:07,949 language, a certain attitude at church 1257 00:44:08,410 --> 00:44:10,030 versus what the lived 1258 00:44:10,410 --> 00:44:13,289 experience is. And it's no wonder that over 1259 00:44:13,289 --> 00:44:15,449 time, those begin to separate to the point 1260 00:44:15,449 --> 00:44:18,065 where you either have to deny your own 1261 00:44:18,065 --> 00:44:18,964 lived experience 1262 00:44:19,585 --> 00:44:21,585 and bury that and tuck that deep down 1263 00:44:21,585 --> 00:44:23,184 inside of you. And that might be from 1264 00:44:23,184 --> 00:44:23,684 trauma 1265 00:44:24,065 --> 00:44:25,744 or just might even be like a call 1266 00:44:25,744 --> 00:44:26,964 that you feel inside 1267 00:44:27,264 --> 00:44:28,944 or a way that you see world through 1268 00:44:28,944 --> 00:44:29,924 your own experiences. 1269 00:44:30,449 --> 00:44:32,130 You have to tuck that down deep inside 1270 00:44:32,130 --> 00:44:34,070 so that you can continue to perform, 1271 00:44:34,609 --> 00:44:35,109 or 1272 00:44:35,489 --> 00:44:37,650 you have to shed the performance so that 1273 00:44:37,650 --> 00:44:39,809 you can lean into this, which generally means 1274 00:44:39,809 --> 00:44:41,969 leaving the church and saying, I can no 1275 00:44:41,969 --> 00:44:44,050 longer be here because I can't be what 1276 00:44:44,050 --> 00:44:46,150 I've become to myself. I can't be here. 1277 00:44:46,425 --> 00:44:48,925 Whereas what Jesus in the scriptures is repeatedly 1278 00:44:48,985 --> 00:44:51,164 saying is is bring those together. 1279 00:44:51,545 --> 00:44:53,965 That vulnerability that you talked about, that authenticity, 1280 00:44:54,105 --> 00:44:57,785 like, bring those together as leaders. And that's 1281 00:44:57,785 --> 00:44:59,945 a formal leader standing up leading the meeting, 1282 00:44:59,945 --> 00:45:02,440 or it's, hey. I'm sitting in this room, 1283 00:45:02,579 --> 00:45:04,420 and I can sense the inauthenticity of what 1284 00:45:04,420 --> 00:45:05,239 we're experiencing. 1285 00:45:05,859 --> 00:45:07,880 And I'm going to step into the breach. 1286 00:45:08,179 --> 00:45:09,400 I'm gonna be the person 1287 00:45:09,940 --> 00:45:12,920 that gives the real experience in this room 1288 00:45:13,139 --> 00:45:15,795 that nobody's asking for and that might 1289 00:45:16,094 --> 00:45:18,195 shock everybody, and I have no idea 1290 00:45:18,574 --> 00:45:20,434 if I'll be hurt by doing this. 1291 00:45:20,815 --> 00:45:22,275 Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. 1292 00:45:22,815 --> 00:45:24,414 And this is the you know, I guess 1293 00:45:24,414 --> 00:45:26,414 I'll go to this question here. Rick's asked, 1294 00:45:26,414 --> 00:45:28,175 how do you unify an entire ward who 1295 00:45:28,175 --> 00:45:30,030 is feeling disconnected or a stake? How do 1296 00:45:30,030 --> 00:45:31,410 you move the whole organization 1297 00:45:32,110 --> 00:45:33,869 and not just a quorum or class? I 1298 00:45:33,869 --> 00:45:35,469 have some thoughts, but what comes to what 1299 00:45:35,469 --> 00:45:37,550 comes to mind for you, Dan? Well, go 1300 00:45:37,550 --> 00:45:40,030 ahead. Jump in. Well, I I guess to 1301 00:45:40,030 --> 00:45:40,910 me, this is the 1302 00:45:41,550 --> 00:45:43,869 like, who says you have to change? Like, 1303 00:45:43,869 --> 00:45:46,414 if it, you know, we we enter different 1304 00:45:46,414 --> 00:45:48,594 contexts all the time where there's no unity. 1305 00:45:48,655 --> 00:45:50,974 Right? But this is where we can step 1306 00:45:50,974 --> 00:45:53,054 in and be that catalyst of that change. 1307 00:45:53,054 --> 00:45:55,775 Right? Where let's say, okay. This cute story, 1308 00:45:55,775 --> 00:45:58,210 Kurt. You're the eldest quorum president. You have 1309 00:45:58,210 --> 00:46:00,289 this experience or, you know, I can't do 1310 00:46:00,289 --> 00:46:01,890 that. I don't I don't get to determine 1311 00:46:01,890 --> 00:46:04,309 what happens in the second hour. Right? Well, 1312 00:46:04,369 --> 00:46:05,890 you could still you can invite people over 1313 00:46:05,890 --> 00:46:07,410 to your home. You could, you know, reach 1314 00:46:07,410 --> 00:46:08,930 out to people, like, you know, walk over 1315 00:46:08,930 --> 00:46:10,449 the home, knock on their house and and 1316 00:46:10,449 --> 00:46:12,195 say, are you feeling off like me? Right? 1317 00:46:12,195 --> 00:46:13,474 This is where I'm at. Where are you 1318 00:46:13,474 --> 00:46:15,474 at? Right? And and it's I wish it 1319 00:46:15,474 --> 00:46:17,155 was easier, had the five step plan, but 1320 00:46:17,155 --> 00:46:19,075 it's that going back to the principle of 1321 00:46:19,075 --> 00:46:21,095 it was looking for those perceptions 1322 00:46:21,795 --> 00:46:24,135 that you're feeling and leaning into that prayerfully 1323 00:46:24,195 --> 00:46:26,510 and saying, alright, I'm gonna act. Like, what 1324 00:46:26,510 --> 00:46:28,110 do I need to do? Right? And it 1325 00:46:28,110 --> 00:46:30,110 doesn't always go great. But this is, like, 1326 00:46:30,110 --> 00:46:30,849 the constant 1327 00:46:31,389 --> 00:46:32,369 struggle of 1328 00:46:32,750 --> 00:46:35,710 stimulating culture is that it's messy and it 1329 00:46:35,710 --> 00:46:38,135 doesn't make sense, but we can't sit in 1330 00:46:38,135 --> 00:46:39,494 the back, fold our arms and say, well, 1331 00:46:39,494 --> 00:46:41,175 if the Bishop just got on board, you 1332 00:46:41,175 --> 00:46:42,694 know, he could fix this or the elder 1333 00:46:42,694 --> 00:46:44,214 court president just did what, you know, Kurt 1334 00:46:44,214 --> 00:46:46,054 did, then that'd be great. Like, no, there's 1335 00:46:46,054 --> 00:46:47,734 a lot that we have way more power 1336 00:46:47,734 --> 00:46:49,655 than we think we we do. And I 1337 00:46:49,655 --> 00:46:51,679 would say, I don't know if it's necessarily 1338 00:46:51,679 --> 00:46:53,440 your job to shift that culture. You can 1339 00:46:53,440 --> 00:46:55,279 be, as catalyst as much as you can, 1340 00:46:55,279 --> 00:46:57,679 but we can't grade ourselves on, you know, 1341 00:46:57,679 --> 00:46:59,699 well, you know, my ward's not that unified. 1342 00:46:59,760 --> 00:47:01,760 Like, well, go find a group in, in 1343 00:47:01,760 --> 00:47:04,074 your ward and unify that. Right. So I 1344 00:47:04,074 --> 00:47:06,394 it's, it's a tough question. Anybody else have 1345 00:47:06,394 --> 00:47:09,195 a thought question, want to speak to anything 1346 00:47:09,195 --> 00:47:11,375 you can disagree with us? Again, we're just 1347 00:47:11,434 --> 00:47:12,175 two guys, 1348 00:47:12,474 --> 00:47:12,875 but, 1349 00:47:14,394 --> 00:47:16,449 we're open to that. Steve, go ahead. We 1350 00:47:16,449 --> 00:47:18,289 don't hear you, Steve. I know there was 1351 00:47:18,289 --> 00:47:19,890 someone speaking when I first jumped on, so 1352 00:47:19,890 --> 00:47:21,650 it's not Yeah. I know it's very not 1353 00:47:21,650 --> 00:47:24,849 a settings issue. Yeah. Just to kinda speak 1354 00:47:24,849 --> 00:47:26,369 to what you just brought up there on 1355 00:47:26,369 --> 00:47:27,969 the topic of how do you unify a 1356 00:47:27,969 --> 00:47:29,730 whole ward or or stake, I guess what 1357 00:47:29,730 --> 00:47:31,570 I'm feeling in that question, which may or 1358 00:47:31,570 --> 00:47:33,464 may not be right, is you're not the 1359 00:47:33,464 --> 00:47:34,924 bishop or you're not the stake president. 1360 00:47:35,304 --> 00:47:37,625 Can you hear me now? Oh, yeah. Okay. 1361 00:47:37,625 --> 00:47:38,764 I'm just wondering 1362 00:47:39,304 --> 00:47:42,045 the church has has supplied us with circles, 1363 00:47:42,505 --> 00:47:43,404 wide e 1364 00:47:44,585 --> 00:47:46,664 and as I say that, let me or 1365 00:47:46,664 --> 00:47:48,050 in the proviso 1366 00:47:48,349 --> 00:47:49,410 that there's 1367 00:47:49,869 --> 00:47:51,250 100 and plus 1368 00:47:51,710 --> 00:47:54,349 elders, quorum members in our ward, and we've 1369 00:47:54,349 --> 00:47:56,449 got 30 that are signed up on circles. 1370 00:47:56,829 --> 00:47:57,329 Uh-huh. 1371 00:47:57,869 --> 00:47:59,730 Yeah. So answered the question. 1372 00:48:00,110 --> 00:48:02,474 Yeah. Exactly. I think the church made an 1373 00:48:02,474 --> 00:48:04,795 attempt at having some type of group chat, 1374 00:48:04,795 --> 00:48:07,514 but it hasn't overcome the other better options. 1375 00:48:07,514 --> 00:48:09,194 So that's why we use GroupMe. Not that 1376 00:48:09,194 --> 00:48:10,714 GroupMe is the best, but I've, you know, 1377 00:48:10,714 --> 00:48:11,454 some use 1378 00:48:12,074 --> 00:48:14,619 Slack or what's the other one? Anyways, but, 1379 00:48:14,619 --> 00:48:16,940 yeah, whatever gets the the job done or 1380 00:48:16,940 --> 00:48:18,380 some just do a big, you know, text 1381 00:48:18,380 --> 00:48:19,119 thread. So 1382 00:48:19,420 --> 00:48:20,780 Well, it just comes back down to the 1383 00:48:20,780 --> 00:48:21,920 principle of 1384 00:48:22,300 --> 00:48:24,239 reading the moment, reading the situation. 1385 00:48:24,539 --> 00:48:26,619 So if you're a leader who says, I 1386 00:48:26,619 --> 00:48:27,519 just do whatever 1387 00:48:36,204 --> 00:48:38,364 ward that's willing to use circles. Or if 1388 00:48:38,364 --> 00:48:39,724 you're a leader who says, I'm going to 1389 00:48:39,724 --> 00:48:41,244 go to where the people are, I'm going 1390 00:48:41,244 --> 00:48:42,765 to gather them in a way that they'll 1391 00:48:42,765 --> 00:48:43,265 gather, 1392 00:48:43,700 --> 00:48:45,300 then you're going to get a lot higher 1393 00:48:45,300 --> 00:48:47,700 hit rate with your communication. So that's just 1394 00:48:47,700 --> 00:48:50,260 something everybody has to work out for themselves 1395 00:48:50,260 --> 00:48:52,180 of how they want to approach that. Back 1396 00:48:52,180 --> 00:48:55,059 on the other idea of, unifying a ward 1397 00:48:55,059 --> 00:48:56,820 or stake, and I can see maybe Ricky 1398 00:48:56,820 --> 00:48:59,515 is typing in, but assuming that you're not 1399 00:48:59,575 --> 00:49:01,815 a bishop or a stake president because you 1400 00:49:01,815 --> 00:49:04,394 have completely and wildly different levers 1401 00:49:04,934 --> 00:49:07,095 as a bishop, it looks like you were 1402 00:49:07,095 --> 00:49:09,255 at point, or as a stake president. When 1403 00:49:09,255 --> 00:49:11,480 you are the authorized institutional 1404 00:49:11,780 --> 00:49:12,280 leader, 1405 00:49:12,659 --> 00:49:14,739 you have levers that you can pull that 1406 00:49:14,739 --> 00:49:16,679 nobody else can pull, not even your counselors, 1407 00:49:17,140 --> 00:49:19,699 just because people orient you differently. It has 1408 00:49:19,699 --> 00:49:22,019 nothing really to do with your formal authority 1409 00:49:22,019 --> 00:49:23,880 per se. It's just the way you're perceived 1410 00:49:23,940 --> 00:49:24,760 in the community. 1411 00:49:25,244 --> 00:49:26,304 So, a bishop 1412 00:49:26,684 --> 00:49:28,844 can say something and get a very different 1413 00:49:28,844 --> 00:49:30,444 response than if someone else were to say 1414 00:49:30,444 --> 00:49:31,664 the exact same thing. 1415 00:49:32,045 --> 00:49:35,085 So, as someone who's not the bishop or 1416 00:49:35,085 --> 00:49:36,924 a stake president, who's trying to make change 1417 00:49:36,924 --> 00:49:39,085 in an organization that you don't have authority 1418 00:49:39,085 --> 00:49:39,585 over, 1419 00:49:40,000 --> 00:49:40,900 you have to recognize 1420 00:49:41,599 --> 00:49:42,099 that 1421 00:49:42,719 --> 00:49:45,460 authority and legitimacy are two different things. 1422 00:49:45,840 --> 00:49:48,719 So anyone who holds authority ultimately has to 1423 00:49:48,719 --> 00:49:51,440 earn legitimacy. They can lose legitimacy that comes 1424 00:49:51,440 --> 00:49:54,425 with their office. But legitimacy is not granted 1425 00:49:54,425 --> 00:49:56,285 by the institution. Stake president 1426 00:49:56,664 --> 00:49:58,285 doesn't give the bishop legitimacy. 1427 00:49:58,905 --> 00:49:59,565 The legitimacy 1428 00:49:59,945 --> 00:50:00,445 comes 1429 00:50:00,985 --> 00:50:01,485 through 1430 00:50:01,945 --> 00:50:04,664 the relationship and the trust that you build 1431 00:50:04,664 --> 00:50:06,989 with the people. So Kurt was describing a 1432 00:50:06,989 --> 00:50:08,989 situation where he said, I I think given 1433 00:50:08,989 --> 00:50:10,610 the things that we've done in the past, 1434 00:50:11,070 --> 00:50:12,910 they assumed it was gonna be a safe 1435 00:50:12,910 --> 00:50:14,910 and controlled environment and that I was gonna 1436 00:50:14,910 --> 00:50:17,070 do well with this. That's because he earned 1437 00:50:17,070 --> 00:50:17,570 legitimacy 1438 00:50:17,949 --> 00:50:19,410 through his previous actions. 1439 00:50:19,815 --> 00:50:22,375 Legitimacy is earned though not necessarily through what 1440 00:50:22,375 --> 00:50:24,635 you do, but through how you're perceived 1441 00:50:24,934 --> 00:50:25,675 by the community. 1442 00:50:26,295 --> 00:50:28,474 So if you don't have legitimacy 1443 00:50:29,255 --> 00:50:32,214 in the ward as a spokesperson who can 1444 00:50:32,214 --> 00:50:34,135 speak for the community, I'm not saying speaking 1445 00:50:34,135 --> 00:50:36,579 for the ward as a institution. I'm saying 1446 00:50:36,579 --> 00:50:38,579 speaking for the ward as a community. If 1447 00:50:38,579 --> 00:50:39,880 you don't have that legitimacy, 1448 00:50:40,659 --> 00:50:43,780 you will approach the situation very differently. And 1449 00:50:43,780 --> 00:50:45,219 there's there's a whole lot to say here. 1450 00:50:45,219 --> 00:50:46,739 That's why I'm kinda stuttering over this. I 1451 00:50:46,739 --> 00:50:48,835 don't wanna get too deep. But it basically 1452 00:50:48,835 --> 00:50:50,914 comes down to this. Your work as a 1453 00:50:50,914 --> 00:50:51,414 leader 1454 00:50:51,715 --> 00:50:52,215 is 1455 00:50:52,675 --> 00:50:55,075 to disrupt the status quo. And that's what 1456 00:50:55,075 --> 00:50:57,795 leadership is. Leadership is creating power in the 1457 00:50:57,795 --> 00:50:58,295 moment 1458 00:50:58,755 --> 00:51:02,135 through transformative action. So you do the thing 1459 00:51:02,559 --> 00:51:04,799 that needs to be done that nobody else 1460 00:51:04,799 --> 00:51:07,359 is willing to do. And through that action, 1461 00:51:07,359 --> 00:51:09,760 you will start to earn legitimacy from the 1462 00:51:09,760 --> 00:51:12,000 people because they will say, oh, you're willing 1463 00:51:12,000 --> 00:51:14,000 to bear a cost to do the right 1464 00:51:14,000 --> 00:51:15,965 thing, to do the thing we all wish 1465 00:51:15,965 --> 00:51:17,324 we could do. And that's why it becomes 1466 00:51:17,324 --> 00:51:19,485 legitimate. We all wish this would happen. We 1467 00:51:19,485 --> 00:51:21,965 all wish this word was united. We all 1468 00:51:21,965 --> 00:51:23,644 wish this thing could be said. We all 1469 00:51:23,644 --> 00:51:25,885 wish blah blah blah. And you were willing 1470 00:51:25,885 --> 00:51:27,644 to do what I wasn't willing to do 1471 00:51:27,644 --> 00:51:29,920 because there was a cost involved. And so 1472 00:51:29,920 --> 00:51:32,340 now I start to attach legitimacy to that. 1473 00:51:32,480 --> 00:51:35,039 If there's no cost involved, I perceive you 1474 00:51:35,039 --> 00:51:38,800 as rogue, as self interested, as dangerous, as 1475 00:51:38,800 --> 00:51:39,300 whatever. 1476 00:51:39,679 --> 00:51:42,079 But if there's cost involved, I now know, 1477 00:51:42,079 --> 00:51:43,920 dude, you're not doing this for yourself. You're 1478 00:51:43,920 --> 00:51:46,164 doing this for us. You're doing this for 1479 00:51:46,164 --> 00:51:48,724 the we. And here's why there can never 1480 00:51:48,724 --> 00:51:50,505 be a how to. And this is 1481 00:51:50,804 --> 00:51:53,224 this is the problem with the leadership industry 1482 00:51:53,364 --> 00:51:56,484 as it exists today. It's so focused on 1483 00:51:56,484 --> 00:51:58,484 telling leaders how to show up and what 1484 00:51:58,484 --> 00:52:00,405 to do to solve all these problems. And 1485 00:52:00,405 --> 00:52:02,670 it's that right from the get go is 1486 00:52:02,670 --> 00:52:04,750 built on a lie. It cannot come down 1487 00:52:04,750 --> 00:52:06,269 to that. It always has to come down 1488 00:52:06,269 --> 00:52:07,969 to a leader in the moment, 1489 00:52:08,349 --> 00:52:09,250 reading the moment, 1490 00:52:09,550 --> 00:52:11,710 and that moment includes who you are, the 1491 00:52:11,710 --> 00:52:13,710 legitimacy you do or you don't hold, the 1492 00:52:13,710 --> 00:52:15,494 talents that you do and you don't have. 1493 00:52:15,575 --> 00:52:17,434 Kurt said he's good with public speaking. 1494 00:52:17,815 --> 00:52:19,575 If you're not good with public speaking, you're 1495 00:52:19,575 --> 00:52:21,115 gonna approach the situation 1496 00:52:21,655 --> 00:52:23,575 very differently. You might actually pull in somebody 1497 00:52:23,575 --> 00:52:25,095 else and say, I'd like you to lead 1498 00:52:25,095 --> 00:52:25,914 this conversation. 1499 00:52:26,454 --> 00:52:27,675 So you're constantly 1500 00:52:28,215 --> 00:52:30,295 looking towards the moment and all of the 1501 00:52:30,295 --> 00:52:31,469 factors, all of the materials, all of the 1502 00:52:32,750 --> 00:52:33,969 strengths and the weaknesses 1503 00:52:34,510 --> 00:52:36,289 and all that's built in 1504 00:52:36,590 --> 00:52:39,469 to that moment. And then your intuition confirmed 1505 00:52:39,469 --> 00:52:40,530 by the Holy Ghost 1506 00:52:40,829 --> 00:52:42,510 is gonna lead you to that one thing 1507 00:52:42,510 --> 00:52:44,750 that you can do. It will feel risky 1508 00:52:44,750 --> 00:52:46,530 because if it's not risky, it's not leadership. 1509 00:52:46,744 --> 00:52:48,985 You will feel risky, but the temperature won't 1510 00:52:48,985 --> 00:52:50,664 be so hot that it feels like it's 1511 00:52:50,664 --> 00:52:53,405 gonna destroy you if it goes wrong. Yeah. 1512 00:52:53,465 --> 00:52:55,704 And on that note, like, you know, when 1513 00:52:55,704 --> 00:52:57,804 it comes to, like, the institutional church, because 1514 00:52:57,864 --> 00:52:59,679 as I'm out and about or in different 1515 00:52:59,679 --> 00:53:01,599 meetings and more private settings, like, the most 1516 00:53:01,599 --> 00:53:02,340 common question 1517 00:53:02,640 --> 00:53:05,360 or the most typical discussion I have with 1518 00:53:05,360 --> 00:53:07,519 individuals who meet me and have, like, a 1519 00:53:07,519 --> 00:53:09,360 private moment with me, they they ask me 1520 00:53:09,360 --> 00:53:10,179 a direct question. 1521 00:53:10,480 --> 00:53:12,800 They know that again, I'm not in we're 1522 00:53:12,800 --> 00:53:14,640 leading states as independent with the church, though 1523 00:53:14,640 --> 00:53:16,614 we work with the church and have great 1524 00:53:16,614 --> 00:53:18,375 communication with the church. So they know I'm 1525 00:53:18,375 --> 00:53:20,394 kind of aware of things, maybe 1526 00:53:20,694 --> 00:53:23,174 more inside the church than the the average 1527 00:53:23,174 --> 00:53:24,855 member. And they always go to this place 1528 00:53:24,855 --> 00:53:27,335 of, like, okay. When is the institutional church 1529 00:53:27,335 --> 00:53:29,579 gonna do this more training? When are they 1530 00:53:29,579 --> 00:53:30,940 gonna release this? When are they gonna change 1531 00:53:30,940 --> 00:53:32,539 this program? When are they gonna fix that? 1532 00:53:32,539 --> 00:53:34,940 Right? And just what Dan said, that that 1533 00:53:34,940 --> 00:53:37,179 legitimacy, like or with that, 1534 00:53:37,819 --> 00:53:39,339 you know, we want the plan. When are 1535 00:53:39,339 --> 00:53:41,099 they gonna send the plan to us that 1536 00:53:41,099 --> 00:53:43,434 that we can execute? And the the gnarly 1537 00:53:43,434 --> 00:53:45,355 thing about leadership is that, like Dan said, 1538 00:53:45,355 --> 00:53:47,835 there's no plan. Like, the institutional church, it's 1539 00:53:47,835 --> 00:53:50,014 impossible for them to give a plan, 1540 00:53:50,394 --> 00:53:51,295 generally speaking, 1541 00:53:51,674 --> 00:53:54,155 other than just general policies and guidelines that 1542 00:53:54,155 --> 00:53:55,355 way, but they can't give you a plan 1543 00:53:55,355 --> 00:53:56,920 of how to stimulate culture or give you 1544 00:53:56,920 --> 00:53:58,319 a plan of how to perceive things in 1545 00:53:58,319 --> 00:53:59,760 your word. That's where you have to feel 1546 00:53:59,760 --> 00:54:00,500 that enabling 1547 00:54:00,960 --> 00:54:01,460 power 1548 00:54:01,760 --> 00:54:03,760 on yourself and saying, oh, that's because I'm 1549 00:54:03,760 --> 00:54:05,679 the leader, and I have to, you know, 1550 00:54:05,679 --> 00:54:07,920 perceive these things and and take action. Am 1551 00:54:07,920 --> 00:54:10,694 I inbounds there, Dan? Absolutely. And, you know, 1552 00:54:10,694 --> 00:54:12,454 just along those lines, the church did put 1553 00:54:12,454 --> 00:54:14,934 out a formal statement. Mhmm. You know? And 1554 00:54:14,934 --> 00:54:17,174 it's the same statement that we all would 1555 00:54:17,174 --> 00:54:18,855 have guessed that they would have written because 1556 00:54:18,855 --> 00:54:20,234 what else can you write 1557 00:54:20,534 --> 00:54:23,014 when you are the head of 18,000,000 people 1558 00:54:23,014 --> 00:54:25,760 across a 100 and whatever number of countries, 1559 00:54:26,059 --> 00:54:27,900 what else can you write other than we 1560 00:54:27,900 --> 00:54:29,599 condemn this act and 1561 00:54:30,059 --> 00:54:32,619 we sue for peace and we, you know, 1562 00:54:32,619 --> 00:54:34,079 ask etcetera, etcetera. 1563 00:54:34,460 --> 00:54:36,300 But here's the interesting thing, and I wish 1564 00:54:36,300 --> 00:54:37,739 I had the quote brought up right now, 1565 00:54:37,739 --> 00:54:40,775 but their statement ended with an appeal 1566 00:54:41,235 --> 00:54:42,054 to build 1567 00:54:42,514 --> 00:54:43,014 communities 1568 00:54:43,715 --> 00:54:45,335 of some kind, peaceful communities. 1569 00:54:45,715 --> 00:54:47,715 I can't remember what it was. And if 1570 00:54:47,715 --> 00:54:48,994 somebody has it, they can throw it in 1571 00:54:48,994 --> 00:54:51,414 the chat. But that is a license 1572 00:54:52,089 --> 00:54:54,409 to the real leaders among us. It's not 1573 00:54:54,409 --> 00:54:56,489 a license to those people who don't even 1574 00:54:56,489 --> 00:54:57,789 have the first concept 1575 00:54:58,170 --> 00:55:00,409 of what a Zion community is. And there 1576 00:55:00,409 --> 00:55:03,130 are many bishops and Relief Society presidents and 1577 00:55:03,130 --> 00:55:05,414 elders court presidents and stake presidents who don't 1578 00:55:05,414 --> 00:55:07,735 really have the first conception of what Zion 1579 00:55:07,735 --> 00:55:10,454 is, a people who are united in one 1580 00:55:10,454 --> 00:55:12,454 heart and one mind. But if you are 1581 00:55:12,454 --> 00:55:15,494 a Zion builder, because God has put in 1582 00:55:15,494 --> 00:55:16,235 your heart 1583 00:55:16,614 --> 00:55:18,579 a vision of what it means to have 1584 00:55:18,579 --> 00:55:20,659 a Zion family or a Zion board or 1585 00:55:20,659 --> 00:55:22,420 a Zion team at work or a Zion 1586 00:55:22,420 --> 00:55:22,920 classroom 1587 00:55:23,460 --> 00:55:25,859 at school or a Zion whatever that you're 1588 00:55:25,859 --> 00:55:28,280 part of. If God has put that vision 1589 00:55:28,739 --> 00:55:30,679 on your heart, then you are a Zion 1590 00:55:30,739 --> 00:55:33,535 builder. And so when you hear the prophet 1591 00:55:33,535 --> 00:55:35,875 of the Lord say, we call on you 1592 00:55:36,175 --> 00:55:36,675 to 1593 00:55:37,055 --> 00:55:39,215 bring forth communities, I wish I had the 1594 00:55:39,215 --> 00:55:40,735 exact quote. I was hoping somebody put it 1595 00:55:40,735 --> 00:55:41,394 in there. 1596 00:55:41,775 --> 00:55:43,375 Oh, here we go. Okay. We call upon 1597 00:55:43,375 --> 00:55:46,175 people everywhere to build communities of greater kindness 1598 00:55:46,175 --> 00:55:46,769 and love. 1599 00:55:47,250 --> 00:55:50,050 Zion people. This is the prophet without saying 1600 00:55:50,050 --> 00:55:51,890 the word Zion. He's saying, we're calling on 1601 00:55:51,890 --> 00:55:54,150 you to build Zion in your community. 1602 00:55:54,690 --> 00:55:56,449 And what I'm saying to you right now 1603 00:55:56,449 --> 00:55:56,949 is 1604 00:55:57,329 --> 00:55:59,429 Zion is always a leadership project, 1605 00:55:59,954 --> 00:56:02,035 and leadership is not something that can be 1606 00:56:02,035 --> 00:56:02,535 assigned. 1607 00:56:03,155 --> 00:56:03,655 Management 1608 00:56:04,275 --> 00:56:06,695 supervision can be assigned by the institution, 1609 00:56:07,075 --> 00:56:08,855 but leadership is a force 1610 00:56:09,235 --> 00:56:11,394 in the world that you exert through the 1611 00:56:11,394 --> 00:56:13,555 very process we just talked about, stepping into 1612 00:56:13,555 --> 00:56:15,910 the breach, doing the hard thing, bearing the 1613 00:56:15,910 --> 00:56:16,809 cost, shaping, 1614 00:56:17,269 --> 00:56:20,010 creating the crucibles. That's what leadership is. 1615 00:56:20,309 --> 00:56:22,309 And any one of us can do that. 1616 00:56:22,309 --> 00:56:25,349 It's just we'll have different levers depending on 1617 00:56:25,349 --> 00:56:27,829 who we are and the resources that are 1618 00:56:27,829 --> 00:56:29,369 available to us in the moment. 1619 00:56:29,755 --> 00:56:31,355 Yeah. Shout out to Carson. Thanks for getting 1620 00:56:31,355 --> 00:56:32,554 that for us. And I want to go 1621 00:56:32,554 --> 00:56:35,195 to another comment Carson said. And Carson says, 1622 00:56:35,514 --> 00:56:38,014 I think, there are two concerns to navigate 1623 00:56:38,155 --> 00:56:41,355 at church here. Managing strong emotions, pain, hurt, 1624 00:56:41,355 --> 00:56:43,755 anger, etcetera, in tragedy. Sounds like Kurt did 1625 00:56:43,755 --> 00:56:44,414 this beautifully. 1626 00:56:45,210 --> 00:56:48,670 Managing highly charged and contentious differences of political 1627 00:56:49,130 --> 00:56:50,269 opinion in tragedy. 1628 00:56:50,730 --> 00:56:51,710 This is a common 1629 00:56:52,170 --> 00:56:54,170 place that people go of like, well, what 1630 00:56:54,170 --> 00:56:54,670 about 1631 00:56:55,050 --> 00:56:57,929 the emotional person, the highly charged person, the 1632 00:56:57,929 --> 00:57:00,349 person that's responding way too much, 1633 00:57:00,704 --> 00:57:03,505 or the person that overshares. Right? And I 1634 00:57:03,505 --> 00:57:05,825 have to try and flip that around. Like, 1635 00:57:05,825 --> 00:57:06,885 if you're experiencing, 1636 00:57:07,905 --> 00:57:09,525 tension with somebody oversharing 1637 00:57:09,825 --> 00:57:12,545 something, it's often something going on in you, 1638 00:57:12,545 --> 00:57:14,625 not necessarily the person. Right? And I get 1639 00:57:14,625 --> 00:57:17,630 there's maybe outliers of I'm sure you've evolved 1640 00:57:17,630 --> 00:57:19,230 to have, have a story like that, but 1641 00:57:19,230 --> 00:57:21,250 nonetheless, more often than not 1642 00:57:21,630 --> 00:57:24,769 the managing strong emotions, that is the greatest 1643 00:57:24,829 --> 00:57:25,329 opportunity 1644 00:57:25,630 --> 00:57:27,090 for the community to signal 1645 00:57:27,390 --> 00:57:30,235 you're okay here. You're one of us. And 1646 00:57:30,235 --> 00:57:31,594 there were I mean, there were some strong 1647 00:57:31,594 --> 00:57:33,514 emotions like I mentioned. And the way I 1648 00:57:33,514 --> 00:57:36,795 responded was, hey, John. Like, we hear you, 1649 00:57:36,795 --> 00:57:39,034 man. We're here for you. Thank you for 1650 00:57:39,034 --> 00:57:41,855 sharing that. Thank you for being so willing 1651 00:57:42,090 --> 00:57:43,769 to talk. Or if I saw people nodding 1652 00:57:43,769 --> 00:57:45,769 along with their Sam, there's lots of heads 1653 00:57:45,769 --> 00:57:48,110 nodding in here when you're speaking. Thank you. 1654 00:57:48,250 --> 00:57:50,410 Well, like, we got you. Right? And that 1655 00:57:50,489 --> 00:57:52,590 again, that stimulates safety. That safety, 1656 00:57:52,890 --> 00:57:55,164 the more we stimulate that safety, I think 1657 00:57:55,164 --> 00:57:57,824 the emotions will stay more balanced or regulated 1658 00:57:57,885 --> 00:57:58,545 that way. 1659 00:57:58,844 --> 00:58:01,244 And just the highly charged and contentious differences. 1660 00:58:01,244 --> 00:58:03,324 I mean, this is, this is the question 1661 00:58:03,324 --> 00:58:04,844 of the century in my mind when it 1662 00:58:04,844 --> 00:58:06,684 comes to our churches. I know that I 1663 00:58:06,684 --> 00:58:08,525 think there's more official statements and this is 1664 00:58:08,525 --> 00:58:10,530 why I don't sit in red padded chairs, 1665 00:58:10,690 --> 00:58:13,489 during general conference. But we have got to 1666 00:58:13,489 --> 00:58:14,309 figure out 1667 00:58:14,610 --> 00:58:16,849 how to talk to one another in the 1668 00:58:16,849 --> 00:58:19,090 setting of church about these things. I know 1669 00:58:19,090 --> 00:58:20,690 we default to this place of, like, oh, 1670 00:58:20,690 --> 00:58:22,635 no politics here. We can't talk about it. 1671 00:58:22,795 --> 00:58:24,635 You know, if me and my wife had 1672 00:58:24,635 --> 00:58:26,394 an issue that we just couldn't talk about. 1673 00:58:26,394 --> 00:58:28,155 No, we can't talk about that. Like there's 1674 00:58:28,155 --> 00:58:30,474 a problem with our relationship. Right. We need 1675 00:58:30,474 --> 00:58:31,994 to get help. We need to do something. 1676 00:58:31,994 --> 00:58:33,275 And this is where the leaders in the 1677 00:58:33,275 --> 00:58:35,849 Zion Builders step up of saying, no, there 1678 00:58:35,849 --> 00:58:37,210 is a way to talk about this, and 1679 00:58:37,210 --> 00:58:38,809 we can talk about it and see the 1680 00:58:38,809 --> 00:58:40,569 humanity in it and connect. And that will 1681 00:58:40,569 --> 00:58:43,130 unify people. We will never reach the peak 1682 00:58:43,130 --> 00:58:45,130 of unity until we can do that. We 1683 00:58:45,130 --> 00:58:47,049 can never reach Zion until we we figure 1684 00:58:47,049 --> 00:58:48,250 out how to do that. And I I 1685 00:58:48,250 --> 00:58:50,454 get that it's a tough gig or a 1686 00:58:50,454 --> 00:58:52,375 tough road to hoe, and there's no five 1687 00:58:52,375 --> 00:58:54,214 step plan. Like Dan said, we have to 1688 00:58:54,214 --> 00:58:56,214 perceive these things and lean in even when 1689 00:58:56,214 --> 00:58:58,295 the risk is present. Yeah. I love that, 1690 00:58:58,295 --> 00:58:59,974 Kurt. That is so beautiful. And I think 1691 00:58:59,974 --> 00:59:01,574 that just a quick note. I think you 1692 00:59:01,574 --> 00:59:03,974 did lean into number two, even though Carson 1693 00:59:03,974 --> 00:59:05,835 was saying you did number one really well. 1694 00:59:06,069 --> 00:59:08,150 You may not have had an environment without 1695 00:59:08,309 --> 00:59:10,069 that would have been as politically charged as 1696 00:59:10,069 --> 00:59:12,069 a different Right. You know, locale. Like, we've 1697 00:59:12,069 --> 00:59:14,549 already covered that. Yeah. But you did set 1698 00:59:14,549 --> 00:59:16,309 the frame. So number one, you did set 1699 00:59:16,309 --> 00:59:18,150 the frame. You said, we're gonna talk about 1700 00:59:18,150 --> 00:59:19,875 this in terms of the stories of Jesus 1701 00:59:20,195 --> 00:59:22,275 and how he approached these things. And this 1702 00:59:22,275 --> 00:59:24,835 is I mean, it's not a guarantee that 1703 00:59:24,835 --> 00:59:26,434 that's gonna bring people down, but that's a 1704 00:59:26,434 --> 00:59:27,715 one way of saying, like, this is what 1705 00:59:27,715 --> 00:59:28,855 we're here to talk about. 1706 00:59:29,155 --> 00:59:30,934 Now, Carson, I would just say, 1707 00:59:31,235 --> 00:59:33,394 and again, this is not a five step 1708 00:59:33,394 --> 00:59:35,655 plan, but let's just do a thought experiment. 1709 00:59:36,059 --> 00:59:38,460 Now, if I was in a ward where 1710 00:59:38,460 --> 00:59:40,000 I wanted to have this conversation 1711 00:59:40,300 --> 00:59:41,980 or in a family where I wanted to 1712 00:59:41,980 --> 00:59:42,960 have this conversation 1713 00:59:43,340 --> 00:59:44,960 and there was one or two people 1714 00:59:45,500 --> 00:59:48,059 that I knew were highly charged and highly 1715 00:59:48,059 --> 00:59:50,125 likely to say something that would offend other 1716 00:59:50,125 --> 00:59:51,825 people and shut down the conversation. 1717 00:59:52,204 --> 00:59:53,965 They may not argue back. They may not 1718 00:59:53,965 --> 00:59:55,885 be like getting ready to go to blows, 1719 00:59:55,885 --> 00:59:58,684 but it may like stifle what we're trying 1720 00:59:58,684 --> 01:00:00,684 to do here, eliminate that safe space that 1721 01:00:00,684 --> 01:00:02,045 we need for the number one on your 1722 01:00:02,045 --> 01:00:03,184 list, the strong emotions. 1723 01:00:03,659 --> 01:00:05,739 I would go to that person first. And 1724 01:00:05,739 --> 01:00:07,260 I would say, here's what's gonna happen in 1725 01:00:07,260 --> 01:00:09,179 this meeting today. And I would just speak 1726 01:00:09,179 --> 01:00:11,519 the truth to them. You have a tendency 1727 01:00:12,139 --> 01:00:15,819 to speak in highly charged, highly political ways. 1728 01:00:15,819 --> 01:00:17,339 And I know you think you're right. And 1729 01:00:17,339 --> 01:00:18,859 I know you think that God has asked 1730 01:00:18,859 --> 01:00:21,045 you to convince every single one of us 1731 01:00:21,045 --> 01:00:22,565 to see the world the same way that 1732 01:00:22,565 --> 01:00:24,644 you see it, but that's not what we're 1733 01:00:24,644 --> 01:00:26,644 coming here to do. So I wanna have 1734 01:00:26,644 --> 01:00:28,244 a conversation with you, first of all, to 1735 01:00:28,244 --> 01:00:29,844 help you understand what we're coming here to 1736 01:00:29,844 --> 01:00:31,864 do and to ask you to support that. 1737 01:00:32,164 --> 01:00:33,704 Now I want you to know 1738 01:00:34,119 --> 01:00:36,359 that if you cross the line, I'm going 1739 01:00:36,359 --> 01:00:37,639 to call you out in front of the 1740 01:00:37,639 --> 01:00:40,519 group. And I'm gonna say, you're crossing a 1741 01:00:40,519 --> 01:00:42,679 line. I want you to know if you 1742 01:00:42,679 --> 01:00:44,519 cross it a second time, I'm gonna ask 1743 01:00:44,519 --> 01:00:46,280 you to leave the room. I want you 1744 01:00:46,280 --> 01:00:48,059 to know if you won't leave the room, 1745 01:00:48,105 --> 01:00:50,525 I'm gonna end elders quorum on the spot, 1746 01:00:50,585 --> 01:00:52,664 and we're all gonna leave the room. Now 1747 01:00:52,664 --> 01:00:54,585 you do that in private because it gives 1748 01:00:54,585 --> 01:00:56,824 them a chance to now prepare themselves and 1749 01:00:56,824 --> 01:00:59,065 to think through those things and to come 1750 01:00:59,065 --> 01:01:01,170 in in the right mindset. But also you 1751 01:01:01,170 --> 01:01:02,389 you put them on notice. 1752 01:01:02,769 --> 01:01:03,909 They won't be surprised 1753 01:01:04,289 --> 01:01:05,909 if you do that in the meeting. 1754 01:01:06,289 --> 01:01:07,589 And so 1755 01:01:07,969 --> 01:01:10,550 now why would you even take that chance? 1756 01:01:10,849 --> 01:01:12,929 Right? If you know that's a possibility in 1757 01:01:12,929 --> 01:01:14,449 your quorum, why would you even take that 1758 01:01:14,449 --> 01:01:16,454 chance? For the very reason Curt just laid 1759 01:01:16,454 --> 01:01:19,335 out. Because we cannot be one body as 1760 01:01:19,335 --> 01:01:22,154 long as we have these fractures among us. 1761 01:01:22,295 --> 01:01:25,355 And tragedy is the only way to 1762 01:01:25,734 --> 01:01:26,234 forge 1763 01:01:26,614 --> 01:01:28,554 these cracks back together again. 1764 01:01:28,989 --> 01:01:31,550 It's like you were mentioning Kurt this before, 1765 01:01:31,550 --> 01:01:33,230 but in the business setting, you know, they 1766 01:01:33,230 --> 01:01:35,550 often do team building exercises. We're gonna go 1767 01:01:35,550 --> 01:01:36,989 to an escape room. We're gonna go do 1768 01:01:36,989 --> 01:01:38,510 a high ropes course, blah, blah, blah, blah. 1769 01:01:38,510 --> 01:01:41,309 We're gonna build the team that does almost 1770 01:01:41,309 --> 01:01:44,714 absolutely nothing for building a cohesive and unified 1771 01:01:44,714 --> 01:01:47,675 team because the paths and the culture and 1772 01:01:47,675 --> 01:01:48,494 the expectations 1773 01:01:48,875 --> 01:01:50,714 and the dependencies and the trust of that 1774 01:01:50,714 --> 01:01:52,335 team is built 1775 01:01:52,635 --> 01:01:53,135 through 1776 01:01:53,594 --> 01:01:54,894 the difficult times. 1777 01:01:55,250 --> 01:01:57,409 And it's only in the difficult times that 1778 01:01:57,409 --> 01:01:59,429 those can be rewired and reworked. 1779 01:01:59,889 --> 01:02:01,730 So as a community, you have or as 1780 01:02:01,730 --> 01:02:03,089 a leader, you have to be willing to 1781 01:02:03,089 --> 01:02:05,730 say, it's worth going into this. I'm gonna 1782 01:02:05,730 --> 01:02:07,089 do all that I can to build the 1783 01:02:07,089 --> 01:02:08,789 crucible, to manage the temperature, 1784 01:02:09,355 --> 01:02:11,835 but I might lose control of this. If 1785 01:02:11,835 --> 01:02:14,394 that risk isn't there, it's not disruptive enough 1786 01:02:14,394 --> 01:02:16,474 to actually do any real work in terms 1787 01:02:16,474 --> 01:02:17,614 of community building. 1788 01:02:17,914 --> 01:02:20,155 So I might lose control of this. Someone 1789 01:02:20,155 --> 01:02:22,474 might say something that offends somebody else. That 1790 01:02:22,474 --> 01:02:23,614 is a real possibility. 1791 01:02:24,200 --> 01:02:25,800 So do all that you can think of 1792 01:02:25,800 --> 01:02:26,700 as you're proceeding 1793 01:02:27,160 --> 01:02:29,160 to manage that, build the crucible, bring the 1794 01:02:29,160 --> 01:02:31,480 temperature down, all of those things, but then 1795 01:02:31,480 --> 01:02:33,500 also just know that that's not necessarily 1796 01:02:33,800 --> 01:02:34,300 failure 1797 01:02:34,599 --> 01:02:37,454 because you've now just created another opportunity to 1798 01:02:37,454 --> 01:02:39,535 step into that breach. Okay? So say it 1799 01:02:39,535 --> 01:02:41,375 does blow up on you. Now you have 1800 01:02:41,375 --> 01:02:43,535 a chance to go have conversations with so 1801 01:02:43,535 --> 01:02:45,775 and so. You have conversations with subs to 1802 01:02:45,775 --> 01:02:47,775 come back the next time. Right? You've now 1803 01:02:47,775 --> 01:02:48,275 created 1804 01:02:48,815 --> 01:02:50,894 a real lived experience in which your group 1805 01:02:50,894 --> 01:02:52,414 is coming together. And then last thing I'll 1806 01:02:52,414 --> 01:02:54,230 say on this, this, Kurt, is if you 1807 01:02:54,230 --> 01:02:54,969 think about 1808 01:02:55,429 --> 01:02:56,570 the prophecies 1809 01:02:56,949 --> 01:02:59,769 about the contention that will dominate our world 1810 01:03:00,070 --> 01:03:02,170 coming into the coming of Jesus Christ, 1811 01:03:02,630 --> 01:03:04,789 if we cannot learn how to talk about 1812 01:03:04,789 --> 01:03:07,289 these things together, regardless of our political 1813 01:03:07,670 --> 01:03:08,170 ideologies, 1814 01:03:09,005 --> 01:03:11,085 we are not creating Zion and we are 1815 01:03:11,085 --> 01:03:11,824 not prepared 1816 01:03:12,204 --> 01:03:15,164 to exist and survive, let alone thrive as 1817 01:03:15,164 --> 01:03:15,664 communities 1818 01:03:15,965 --> 01:03:17,985 in that world that has been prophesied 1819 01:03:18,445 --> 01:03:21,005 is upon us and will continue to deepen 1820 01:03:21,005 --> 01:03:22,144 in terms of the contention. 1821 01:03:22,700 --> 01:03:24,220 Yeah. And as you were speaking there, I'm 1822 01:03:24,220 --> 01:03:25,980 just thinking like there's a lot of leaders, 1823 01:03:25,980 --> 01:03:27,340 a lot of wards who try and keep 1824 01:03:27,340 --> 01:03:29,500 that beach ball under the surface of the 1825 01:03:29,500 --> 01:03:31,260 water as long as they can, and you 1826 01:03:31,260 --> 01:03:33,680 can keep pushing it down, holding it there. 1827 01:03:33,820 --> 01:03:36,160 But the more tragedy, the more more mortality 1828 01:03:36,619 --> 01:03:37,440 puts pressure 1829 01:03:37,744 --> 01:03:39,505 on that ball, it's gonna have to come 1830 01:03:39,505 --> 01:03:41,105 up and you don't know which direction it's 1831 01:03:41,105 --> 01:03:43,105 going. So the the more of these opportunities 1832 01:03:43,105 --> 01:03:45,585 you have to kinda release that valve a 1833 01:03:45,585 --> 01:03:47,985 little bit and unifying people, then you build 1834 01:03:47,985 --> 01:03:50,940 strength that you can handle anything. Right? And 1835 01:03:51,239 --> 01:03:53,320 that's that's Zion. You know, I appreciate, you 1836 01:03:53,320 --> 01:03:55,880 know, Carson's candidness here is, like, I'm concerned 1837 01:03:55,880 --> 01:03:58,039 about the minority of the different opinions feeling 1838 01:03:58,039 --> 01:04:00,280 like they don't belong. The two people in 1839 01:04:00,280 --> 01:04:02,954 Kurt's class who had different than the majority, 1840 01:04:03,014 --> 01:04:05,094 they weren't nodding along. They went home wondering 1841 01:04:05,094 --> 01:04:06,775 if they should go to church again. Did 1842 01:04:06,775 --> 01:04:08,934 that happen? Maybe. I don't know. Right? But 1843 01:04:09,094 --> 01:04:11,094 know somebody in your quorum. Yeah. Yeah. It 1844 01:04:11,094 --> 01:04:11,594 is. 1845 01:04:12,054 --> 01:04:14,070 Hey. It's Carson. He's in my quorum. No. 1846 01:04:14,309 --> 01:04:16,489 But the point being, we weren't, like, pushing, 1847 01:04:16,869 --> 01:04:19,030 like, oh, we're all angry, so let's all 1848 01:04:19,030 --> 01:04:20,869 be angry. Right? But what we were doing 1849 01:04:20,869 --> 01:04:21,690 is witnessing 1850 01:04:22,230 --> 01:04:23,449 the hurt in the room. 1851 01:04:23,750 --> 01:04:26,390 And so most likely when that person feels 1852 01:04:26,390 --> 01:04:28,694 hurt at some point, they can say, well, 1853 01:04:28,694 --> 01:04:30,454 that can be witnessed here. Right? I'm not 1854 01:04:30,454 --> 01:04:32,474 saying I nailed it. I'm not saying I 1855 01:04:32,694 --> 01:04:34,554 pitched a perfect game by any means, 1856 01:04:34,934 --> 01:04:37,494 but this effort is worth the effort rather 1857 01:04:37,494 --> 01:04:40,699 than everybody just, you know, telling mission stories 1858 01:04:40,699 --> 01:04:42,780 as we talk about conference talks. And then 1859 01:04:42,780 --> 01:04:44,539 we go home and wonder why we even 1860 01:04:44,539 --> 01:04:45,679 hang out with those people. 1861 01:04:46,699 --> 01:04:47,900 Yeah. And I think if that was a 1862 01:04:47,900 --> 01:04:49,500 real concern that you had, Kurt, you could 1863 01:04:49,500 --> 01:04:52,239 follow-up with a message to the group me, 1864 01:04:52,325 --> 01:04:54,325 and you could say, I recognize that some 1865 01:04:54,325 --> 01:04:55,465 of you might not have 1866 01:04:55,765 --> 01:04:57,525 experienced that the same way that I did, 1867 01:04:57,525 --> 01:04:59,545 and it might have been hard for you. 1868 01:04:59,765 --> 01:05:01,525 And so I would like you to I 1869 01:05:01,525 --> 01:05:03,045 would like to invite you to please reach 1870 01:05:03,045 --> 01:05:05,610 out to me and share with me if 1871 01:05:05,610 --> 01:05:08,410 that experience was different for you than what 1872 01:05:08,410 --> 01:05:09,710 I might've thought it was. 1873 01:05:10,090 --> 01:05:11,530 And again, you don't treat it like a 1874 01:05:11,530 --> 01:05:12,890 one and done. You treat it like this 1875 01:05:12,890 --> 01:05:14,970 is a journey that we're on together. And 1876 01:05:14,970 --> 01:05:17,450 the more that I can understand you, and 1877 01:05:17,450 --> 01:05:19,210 the more you can understand me, the more 1878 01:05:19,210 --> 01:05:21,204 we're going to find where we are human 1879 01:05:21,204 --> 01:05:23,045 together, and that will become that's the thing 1880 01:05:23,045 --> 01:05:24,344 about Zion folks. 1881 01:05:24,804 --> 01:05:27,364 Ideology and even doctrine is not the basis 1882 01:05:27,364 --> 01:05:28,505 of a Zion community. 1883 01:05:28,885 --> 01:05:31,445 It is our shared togetherness as children of 1884 01:05:31,445 --> 01:05:34,150 God. When you base a community off of 1885 01:05:34,150 --> 01:05:36,309 our shared identity and our shared nature as 1886 01:05:36,309 --> 01:05:38,410 children of God, Zion flourishes. 1887 01:05:38,949 --> 01:05:40,869 And we have to strip back. I know 1888 01:05:40,869 --> 01:05:43,269 it's hard to say in this setting, but 1889 01:05:43,269 --> 01:05:45,210 we even have to strip back the religious 1890 01:05:45,269 --> 01:05:45,769 ideology. 1891 01:05:46,454 --> 01:05:49,175 Jesus met people where they were. He created 1892 01:05:49,175 --> 01:05:50,715 Zion with them in a moment, 1893 01:05:51,015 --> 01:05:53,575 not because of what they believed about even 1894 01:05:53,575 --> 01:05:56,075 about him. He just saw their humanity. 1895 01:05:56,535 --> 01:05:58,775 He let them see his humanity. And in 1896 01:05:58,775 --> 01:06:01,130 that moment, Zion was created, and that became 1897 01:06:01,130 --> 01:06:03,309 the basis for everything they did together. 1898 01:06:03,849 --> 01:06:05,210 It's not doesn't mean there's not a role 1899 01:06:05,210 --> 01:06:06,969 for doctrine. It doesn't mean I'm challenging the 1900 01:06:06,969 --> 01:06:08,570 doctrine or saying it's not true or the 1901 01:06:08,570 --> 01:06:11,690 handbook's not, you know, whatever, etcetera. I'm just 1902 01:06:11,690 --> 01:06:13,530 saying if you want to have that kind 1903 01:06:13,530 --> 01:06:15,610 of Zion experience that we've been called to 1904 01:06:15,610 --> 01:06:18,065 build, you've got to learn how to bring 1905 01:06:18,065 --> 01:06:19,844 the group to that core 1906 01:06:20,224 --> 01:06:22,224 identity. It is the only thing in these 1907 01:06:22,224 --> 01:06:25,364 latter days that we will fundamentally share together 1908 01:06:25,585 --> 01:06:26,565 is our humanity, 1909 01:06:27,105 --> 01:06:29,184 which by the way, when I say humanity, 1910 01:06:29,184 --> 01:06:31,585 I mean our divinity as children of God. 1911 01:06:31,585 --> 01:06:34,199 Right. Yeah. Yeah. That's good. And there's so 1912 01:06:34,199 --> 01:06:36,599 many layers to this, you know, like, maybe 1913 01:06:36,599 --> 01:06:38,199 there were one or two who felt like, 1914 01:06:38,199 --> 01:06:40,280 man, I'm, you know, I'm the outlier here 1915 01:06:40,280 --> 01:06:42,679 that my opinions are different. I would probably 1916 01:06:42,679 --> 01:06:44,679 guess 90% of the elders in that room, 1917 01:06:44,679 --> 01:06:46,440 I have sat in their home one on 1918 01:06:46,440 --> 01:06:46,940 one 1919 01:06:47,244 --> 01:06:49,405 visiting with them. Right. So there's an effort 1920 01:06:49,405 --> 01:06:51,324 of establishing a relationship, but I hope that 1921 01:06:51,324 --> 01:06:52,684 if they feel that way, they're willing to 1922 01:06:52,684 --> 01:06:53,804 reach out or they know that I'll be 1923 01:06:53,804 --> 01:06:55,644 in their home at some point again. Right. 1924 01:06:55,644 --> 01:06:57,405 And so there's so many layers of culture 1925 01:06:57,405 --> 01:06:58,545 building that to take 1926 01:06:59,005 --> 01:07:01,405 into consideration here, but I think it was 1927 01:07:01,405 --> 01:07:04,400 just well worth the effort of leaning into 1928 01:07:04,400 --> 01:07:06,000 that, even though it could have gone sideways 1929 01:07:06,000 --> 01:07:07,440 or even though I could have offended one 1930 01:07:07,440 --> 01:07:08,960 or two or, you know, I think it 1931 01:07:08,960 --> 01:07:11,679 was well worth the effort. So, Dan, any 1932 01:07:11,679 --> 01:07:12,579 final encouragement 1933 01:07:12,880 --> 01:07:14,159 as we sign up? Yeah. I think I 1934 01:07:14,159 --> 01:07:15,920 think why are we doing this today? Right? 1935 01:07:15,920 --> 01:07:17,594 Like, we're doing this 1936 01:07:17,974 --> 01:07:19,515 because at Leading Saints, 1937 01:07:20,135 --> 01:07:22,775 we have a sense of purpose and mission 1938 01:07:22,775 --> 01:07:24,474 that we're trying to help leaders 1939 01:07:25,015 --> 01:07:26,315 who have the Zion 1940 01:07:26,695 --> 01:07:28,695 vision, who have the Zion mindset in their 1941 01:07:28,695 --> 01:07:30,315 heart. We're trying to help them 1942 01:07:30,829 --> 01:07:32,929 see how this looks in the real world. 1943 01:07:33,150 --> 01:07:35,389 And so when we were feeling this tension 1944 01:07:35,389 --> 01:07:38,050 for our own wards and quorums and stakes, 1945 01:07:38,269 --> 01:07:40,909 and when Kurt was leaning into this with 1946 01:07:40,909 --> 01:07:42,449 the opportunity that he had, 1947 01:07:42,764 --> 01:07:43,964 I didn't get a chance to talk about 1948 01:07:43,964 --> 01:07:45,005 some of the things that we did here, 1949 01:07:45,005 --> 01:07:46,464 but we'll save that for a different 1950 01:07:46,844 --> 01:07:49,264 day. We're sharing them not as the prescription, 1951 01:07:49,885 --> 01:07:51,824 we're sharing them to open the mindset 1952 01:07:52,364 --> 01:07:53,264 and to say, 1953 01:07:53,644 --> 01:07:55,644 look at these experiences, look at these moments, 1954 01:07:55,644 --> 01:07:56,704 look at these opportunities 1955 01:07:57,190 --> 01:07:59,989 with a different lens on. Not the lens 1956 01:07:59,989 --> 01:08:02,230 of the standard and the script and the 1957 01:08:02,230 --> 01:08:05,349 performance and what's the right thing to do 1958 01:08:05,349 --> 01:08:06,409 in the institutional 1959 01:08:06,710 --> 01:08:07,210 sense. 1960 01:08:07,590 --> 01:08:09,670 The lens of, if we were Zion, what 1961 01:08:09,670 --> 01:08:11,594 would we do? Or if I was trying 1962 01:08:11,594 --> 01:08:13,835 to build Zion in a moment, what would 1963 01:08:13,835 --> 01:08:16,635 I do? And I think that perception, that 1964 01:08:16,635 --> 01:08:17,614 spirit of discernment, 1965 01:08:18,154 --> 01:08:20,494 we have access to the Holy Ghost and 1966 01:08:20,954 --> 01:08:23,130 he will teach us all things that we 1967 01:08:23,130 --> 01:08:25,310 should do. And that includes 1968 01:08:25,689 --> 01:08:28,090 how to build Zion in this moment, in 1969 01:08:28,090 --> 01:08:28,989 this space, 1970 01:08:29,289 --> 01:08:30,189 at this time. 1971 01:08:37,314 --> 01:08:39,875 That concludes this episode of the Leading Saints 1972 01:08:39,875 --> 01:08:41,715 podcast. Hey. Listen. Would you do me a 1973 01:08:41,715 --> 01:08:44,114 favor? You know, everybody's got that friend who 1974 01:08:44,114 --> 01:08:46,594 listens to a ton of podcasts, and maybe 1975 01:08:46,594 --> 01:08:48,914 they aren't aware of Leading Saints. So would 1976 01:08:48,914 --> 01:08:50,835 you mind taking the link of this episode 1977 01:08:50,835 --> 01:08:53,130 or another episode of Leading Saints and just 1978 01:08:53,289 --> 01:08:55,130 texting it to that friend? You know who 1979 01:08:55,130 --> 01:08:57,529 I'm talking about, the friend who always listens 1980 01:08:57,529 --> 01:08:59,449 to podcasts and is always telling you about 1981 01:08:59,449 --> 01:09:01,449 different podcasts. Well, it's your turn to tell 1982 01:09:01,449 --> 01:09:04,489 that friend about Leading Saints. So share it. 1983 01:09:04,489 --> 01:09:05,850 We'd also love to hear from you. If 1984 01:09:05,850 --> 01:09:07,994 you have any perspective or thought on this 1985 01:09:08,074 --> 01:09:09,914 episode, you can go to leadingsaints.org 1986 01:09:09,914 --> 01:09:12,635 and actually leave a comment on the, episode 1987 01:09:12,635 --> 01:09:14,795 page or reach out to us at leading 1988 01:09:14,795 --> 01:09:16,335 saints dot org slash contact. 1989 01:09:26,329 --> 01:09:28,750 It came as a result of the position 1990 01:09:28,810 --> 01:09:31,789 of leadership which was imposed upon us 1991 01:09:32,250 --> 01:09:34,350 by the God of heaven who brought 1992 01:09:34,685 --> 01:09:37,985 forth a restoration of the gospel of Jesus 1993 01:09:38,125 --> 01:09:38,625 Christ. 1994 01:09:39,164 --> 01:09:40,305 And when the declaration 1995 01:09:40,605 --> 01:09:43,885 was made concerning the own and only true 1996 01:09:43,885 --> 01:09:46,284 and living church upon the face of the 1997 01:09:46,284 --> 01:09:46,770 earth, 1998 01:09:47,329 --> 01:09:49,909 We were immediately put in a position of 1999 01:09:50,130 --> 01:09:50,630 loneliness, 2000 01:09:51,010 --> 01:09:52,550 the loneliness of leadership 2001 01:09:53,170 --> 01:09:56,229 from which we cannot shrink nor run away, 2002 01:09:56,930 --> 01:09:59,409 and to which we must face up with 2003 01:09:59,409 --> 01:10:00,949 boldness and courage 2004 01:10:01,409 --> 01:10:02,229 and ability.