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Hey. Welcome back to another episode of Leading
Saints. This is I wanna share a portion
of a conversation I had with a group
of
ward leaders, stake leaders, former ward leaders, former
stake leaders, where we talk all things
ward conferences. I know. You're probably maybe you
jumped onto this because you're looking for a
sleep aid, but I promise you there's some
great content here that you're gonna love, especially
if you're brand new, either on the word
level or the stake level when it comes
to word conferences.
And I so much appreciate a question that,
Bishop asked in this conversation, which was a
vulnerable question of, hey. Wait a minute. I
know it says we gotta do ward conferences
in the handbook, but why are we doing
this? What's the point? What are we trying
to accomplish? And a great conversation ensued, and
we talked about everything from getting the youth
involved to second hour meetings to the days
leading up toward conference. And how do you
just make it an experience that members actually
care about or want to be a part
of rather than just another Sunday where, hey,
look, the stake president actually showed up to
to to talk in church. It can be
so much more of that. It can be
a a unifying
point in in the calendar for for the
ward, a place to reflect and reengage and
really establish a strong culture and vision for
the ward. So here is a portion of
this conversation
all about word conferences. And to get the
full,
conversation, you can go to Zion Lab and
find it there. So let's jump in.
So does anybody have, like, a burning question?
Is anybody, like, week two of stake presidency,
or,
this is your first ward conference
and you've got you just have a question
you wanna start with? Or
alright. Mister Chad Frankem. I'll start.
How do we get past the,
it's always been done x way and
how,
if you will, Sacrament meeting can't be changed
a whole lot.
We kinda have our setup there, but how
can we
make it better or
change it up so that people find
value in the meeting
meetings.
Right.
Love it. Any any thoughts on that, how
you'd respond to
how to not fall into the trap of
doing it, just how it's always been done?
Yeah. David, go
ahead. I think one of the things we've
tried to do
is have a meeting after
after all of them are done,
to say what went well, what would we
like to change.
And it was hard when we would do
previously, I was state president with 11 wards.
We would do one a month because it
was just so much to get 11 done
at the beginning of the year. So we
would try to do one a month and
take up most of the year. That was
really hard.
We tried a couple of times to do
do them closer, and that was easier. And
now our state split, and we have five
wards, so it's quite easy. We get them
done, you know, in two months. And and,
but we try to meet. What we haven't
done is ask any award members. It's all
been, like, feedback from leaders. And I as
I'm been thinking about it,
more of what I'd like to do is
try to understand from a member's perspective if
they're getting value out of the changes that
we're making or what we're focusing on.
Nice. And, David, are you you're currently a
stake president?
Yeah. Mhmm. And how how long you've been
serving there?
Four four years. Okay. So you've had a
few iterations to
test out. So Yeah. Yeah. I love that
thought of, you know, how can we just
get the general ward's perspective
on on on on the meeting. Right? And
I've often been a proponent of obviously, we
have our traditional ward councils,
but maybe at least once, maybe twice a
year have a literal ward council where whether
it's a fifth Sunday, you look by everybody
into a room, circle up, and say, alright.
What are you seeing? What do you what
should we start, stop, and or continue type
of thing? And that could be an opportunity
to
get some perspective there. Sean, go ahead.
Yeah. As far as the
feedback portion goes,
we've we've never been directly asked on it,
but I'm a bishop, but we've never been
directly asked by the stake. Like, hey. How
did it go? How did you like it?
Like, what what can we do better? And
so,
whether they liked it or not, this year
I proactively offered it.
And,
unfortunately, I've missed
the last two years of word covers because
I've just been out of town for work.
And so I really was leaning heavily on
our leaders like, hey, I was I went
to all of our organization presidents and said,
hey, how did it go? Like, give me
your feedback,
like, just raw feedback, positive and negative. And
I and I
compiled that all and gave it kind of
an email to the stake presidency.
And I feel like they sort of kind
of received it well, there was a little
bit of defensiveness
in it.
And, and, you know, we had really tried
to reach out in advance to say, Hey,
we'd like you to do this, we would
we really want to have this. And it,
like, honestly, was kind of a disaster and
it fell apart
and didn't really work out all that great.
But that's why I wanted to offer that
feedback, not to be critical, but to say,
hey, like,
we would love to see these things improved
and changed so that it is a good
experience. And so that we do feel like
there's value
that comes from it. And
so I but I do like that thought
of even getting even
in addition to leaders, more members input for
that as well to provide to the stake.
Yeah. And, you know, Chad brings up an
interesting point in the comments here as far
as a lot of the members, you know,
it's just another Sunday for them. Like, other
than maybe the bishop and stake president is
is talking in sacrum meeting. Right? And and
but I think there's some things to be
done to make it a little more of,
like, a rallying point or, like, a reflection
point for the ward in general,
not just to say, oh, yeah. Next week
is ward conference. It's sort of like, okay.
Whatever. Like, get the sacrament. It oh, and
then when we have some you know, the
steak is maybe speaking the second hour or
whatever. So I think there's more to be
done there.
And and and going back to Chad mentioned
earlier, you know, just how to not fall
into
the the same old or just doing what
the last guy did. I remember our first
iteration of word conferences when I was in
a state presidency.
We really forced ourselves to say, let's go
to the handbook and and read it, you
know, word for word
as if we've never experienced a word conference
before. And just take it from there, and
then and then from there, we can lean
on revelation, inspiration, ideas, brainstorm,
rather than asking the previous stake presence. Hey.
What was that format, you know, you gave
us that you printed out or the packet
you'd give words? You know, we'd like to
keep using that and maybe, you know, maybe
it is effective. Maybe you'd wanna do that.
But,
anyways, I think there's just like most things,
you can just assume you know nothing, and
what would it look like if if you've
never experienced something? Chad, go ahead.
So I I was released to stake president,
oh, six months ago when I was first
made state president.
The previous state president handed out
about an 18 page document that gave everything
that they wanted to do
in ward conference.
And,
talking to the bishops, it was
too much. So we shortened it down,
and gave
and just really focused.
I would one thing I learned there is
don't overwhelm.
Don't
I mean, in there, there was, hey. We're
gonna do these four visits, and we want
to visit eight kids, and and it just
brought so much stress to the ward.
How how do you keep stress low,
but yet,
the message and the spirituality
high
is a question I would ask. Yeah. That's
awesome.
I'm just gonna share my screen here.
Here is the actual you know, in the
in the handbook.
So it's just, obviously, four paragraphs says word
conferences word conferences planned to meet local needs.
That's interesting way to start it. It includes
a sacrament meeting planned by the stake president.
The stake president usually presides at the meeting,
and a member of the bishop usually conducts.
During this meeting, a member of the stake
presidency or high council presents the name the
names of general stake and ward leaders for
sustaining. He uses the
officer sustaining form prepared by the ward clerk.
The bishop and stake president usually speak in
the meeting.
The ward
holds regular priesthood and organization
meetings as part of the ward conference. Stake
leaders may give instruction
and assist,
and assistance they minister to ward leaders and
members.
In connection with ward conference, the stake presidency
meets with the bishopric. Together, they review the
progress of God's work of salvation
and
exaltation in the ward. This meeting may be
held on the ward conference Sunday or at
another time. So a few things jump out.
One, the, you know, focus on
the meetings, focus on local needs. I think
that's, you know, what Sean was getting after
as far as giving feedback. Like, what do
we actually need from you or want from
you?
And this way, you know, the bishop and
stake president usually
speak in a sacrament. So it's obviously not
a mandate
there. Some autonomy
to work towards.
And, yeah, I you know, going back to
what Chad says, I I remember in that
Bishoprig kind of getting that packet. Like, here
it is. It was sort of this
this,
burden that was put on the,
on the words. Right? Like, here here's how
we here's the general template we want to
go,
and,
and, you know, that here's your marching orders
type of thing. And then it kind of
being this big assignment that the bishop came
in. And when we shifted to when I
was in this the
the stake presidency,
I I you know, we we came together
and
wanted to be more of, like, a treat
for the wards. Right? Like, hey. We're coming
in. Like, we got it. You show up.
Yeah. We may have you speak in this
meeting or that meeting, but that's really all
you're worrying about rather than, you know, line
up this list of visits or these things.
Right? And visits are great. And, obviously, it's
kinda hard for the state presidency to do
that or if they're not as familiar, but
it can be sort of this burden that,
you know, there can be some ambivalence that
the Bishopric has towards word conferences. And and
I think anytime we can create a positive
experience
on the stake level, for the word level,
and show that, hey. We're actually here to
help you, assist you. Like, what is your
ward need? What do what what can we
do there? I think it goes a long
way. So
alright. Anybody else wanna,
share thoughts or some great comments happening in
the chat?
Morgan says, we found that the meetings
surrounding the ward conference can provide a lot
of meaning. Organized visits involve the word and
state council, a joint stake and word council
focused on understanding word needs and strengths,
and an activity involving the stake presidency and
the youth before the word conference. It's a
new practice. Yeah. Love that. I I know,
you know, there was a word when I
was serving the state presidency that really did
a fantastic job of making it, like, sort
of a weak experience
for the ward. And it wasn't, like, heavy
handed. Like, you know, the ward members have
to come to everything, and they did everything
from having, like, a temple day the week
prior to work conference.
They'd have an activity on one of the
days. I forget all the other things, maybe
a youth focused activity.
And it it maybe was a lot, but
it definitely made,
like, the it it helped members really,
engage members in a different way to be
like, this is sort of a special week
to really focus in on
on our ward and our culture and all
things happening in our ward that then by
Sunday was sort of this capstone to the
the week.
And I always thought that was a a
unique approach. There was a lot of work,
but they were, like, willing to take it
on because they knew it could be
focused and more special for the the ward
members. So,
Brad says here,
we've always held ward conferences in the first
four to five months at a pace of
about two per month. This makes for a
busy season with eight wards. Have others
tried with a slower pace? Yeah. I'm curious
what, others have tried with just, you know,
how you schedule these. Obviously, you have the
autonomy of
of, doing them
at whatever time that you want throughout the
year. I've seen some that just, like, you
know, book them back to back as much
as they can, you know, skipping fast Sundays.
And, you know, we're gonna get through our
eight, nine, 10 wards
in the next
twelve weeks. And then, you know, sort of
the first of the year, you get them
over, and then you can focus on other
things.
But, curious to know, anybody have a unique
approach or seen a unique approach as far
as how to space them out in the
year? David says,
Brad, we did, one a month for eleven
months, but found that it was hard to
get the similar message out across all awards
because our emphasis was changing.
Not the end of the world, but the
later awards missed out on the early instruction,
and the early ones missed out on the
later instruction. We've also powered through and done
for a month for a few months, and
that was too much mostly just for the
stakeholders. Yeah. That's that's for sure. And that
is a thing. Right? Like, you generally want
a a message, a theme,
as part of
of what you're doing. But if you have
11 wards and, you know, by you're just
doing one a month, like, that
Ward 1 seems like a long time ago
when you finally get to Ward 11. Right?
Morgan, go ahead.
I'm curious how many of the ward how
many of the stakes are coming with a
consistent message,
across the the word conferences,
or is this something that they're catering
to individual awards based upon their needs? Our
stake is one in which we we have
11 units,
and so as a result, we we end
up,
doing it over the course of the full
year. And so that message can definitely change,
and does change over the course of the
year. So I'm I'm curious as to that.
Love it. Any any thoughts on that as
far as, Morgan, like, themes. Right? Yeah. Chad,
go ahead.
I sometimes,
I we would have a main theme, and
then,
once or twice, I would
pray about a given ward and would adapt
my message for the ward. So I did
it both ways. I don't think that there's,
a perfect way of doing it. They both
worked out the same.
So I I didn't see a plus or
minus either way.
Yeah. And and I don't know. I mean,
it's always nice to have a theme.
You know, I guess it kinda helps mold
and shape the direction and help everybody sort
of talk about similar things, but, you know,
sometimes you just visit the ward and share
the gospel and, you know, move on. So,
I think this is also a good time
for stake presidencies to be self aware of,
you know
I often mention this in the context of
stake conference that it's like every six months,
they finally get a venue where they can
speak directly to the entire stake. And so
it's this over overly or or passive,
you know, heavy handed,
like, hey, temple numbers or, hey, you know,
missionary work or, you know, there's sort of
this,
they're the pounding of the drum of, like,
do more, do better.
Here's our numbers. Like, do you really understand
how awesome the temple is? Like, we're gonna
give you three talks to kinda beat over
the head with that doctrine so that you
go to the temple more. And
just be aware of, like, when you have
visiting authorities come to your stake. Right? Like,
what are the things you like they do
like that they do or like that they
don't or don't like that they do? And
then,
you know,
we've all had the maybe visiting authority that
comes, and there's like, let me see the
numbers and just go, oh, wow. Like, you're
you're,
endowed without recommend list. Like, alright. Now I
know what we're gonna speak about, and then
they kinda, you know, beat the stake up
about that. And then they they leave town,
and you're like, woah. Your your head's kinda
spinning. Like, what was that about? Right? And
so this is sort of very similar of
an experience where the stake leaders coming to
the ward
and what are you know, how would you
want that visiting authority to act, and you
can maybe learn from that as well. So,
Sean, go ahead. Yeah. I have all these,
like, thoughts in my head, and I don't
know how to exactly get it out. So
wish me luck. But
it I don't and I don't want it
to come across as cynical, but it kind
of is. I I know that we we
read that handbook section of, like, you know,
they adapt to meet local needs, and there's,
you know, so many things that you could
do with that. And that's really, like, the
focus of it. But I'm I just wanna
ask that kind of especially to those that
are state leaders now or have been,
because I've never held a state calling. And
so I've never been on that end of
things.
But I just wanna ask kind of a
semi cynical question of what's the point
or conference like, what's the point?
And and I'm like, I can self answer
my own question by like reading that. But
I guess I've just never experienced like a
word conference where
the stake leaders left and we all got
got back together. We're like, that was so
good. We got this. We got this. It
felt like a treat, like like you said,
Kurt. And so I would love I would
love to hear positive, like,
specifics of what made it a treat, what
what specific local needs, like, were truly met
by stake leaders coming once
and
meeting for a few hours or joining a
sacrament meeting. Like, I I guess I'm trying
not to be cynical, but at the same
time, I've just I've never experienced a truly
positive word conference where I'm like, man, I
was fed and it was good, and I'm
so grateful that the stake came. Yeah. Hopefully,
that comes across right.
Yeah. And that's why I'm like,
at bare minimum, like like, let's just give,
like, a an easy week for that ward
leadership to just show up, and we'll do
the rest. Right? Like, even if we don't,
like, have
a barn burner of a talk or a,
you know, whatever, at least we can do
that. But,
Brad, go ahead.
I'm a stake clerk, so I'm not in
a stake presidency or a bishopric,
but I do I do sit in all
the meetings. And,
what our stake presidency did in terms of
local needs versus
kind of a state focus is they took
that second hour, then they assigned a high
counselor to focus in on something that's
that's of high priority for the state presidency.
And in this case, this year, it was,
temple, a temple focus. And it was a
how to, it was how to use family
search,
how to do ordinances ready,
you know, a focus on what is
a what is a what is a family
search discovery experience? What can a Temple of
Family History,
consultant do to with the family? And
while they were doing that, the presidency was
in with the youth who had turned in
questions, and they were answering questions to youth.
And that felt
like a way to kind of address kind
of the big stake needs, their focus, that
they felt like they needed to focus on
was on the temple portion of things
and family history.
And then, the stake presidency
adjusted, the the stake president adjusted his message
by ward
with the bishops when he when he went
to,
give his talk in sacrament meeting.
Awesome.
David, do you have something to add to
that?
Yeah. One one of the things that I
think we did that worked well was in
that portion of the handbook where it says
meet meet with the bishoprics and talk about
the work of salvation,
we
we asked
instead of meeting individually with the bishoprics,
we met as all of the stake bishoprics
together, and we asked them to bring
certain
numbers, certain ideas, certain efforts, and then we
treated that meeting as a council. Whereas a
bishopric, he thought, we're we're working on this
area.
What is everybody else doing? What's working well?
What's not work I mean, kind of a
meeting like we're having right now.
And that seemed to be
a good way to not just focus in
on one word and say you need to
do this better or that better. It was
a chance for them to reflect on their
own efforts
and then come with questions,
come with thoughts, come with ideas, and we
try to get all of them to share
and be able to ask questions and not
just have it be
stake presidency
driven, but more of a council.
Yeah. That's great. That's good.
Any other anybody else as far as what
the purpose
of
you know, I obviously, we have the purpose
in the handbook says award conference.
At word conference, stake leaders instruct, support, and
minister to award leaders and members.
Ward members sustain general and local leaders. Right?
And I guess, you know, feel free to
raise your hand if you share,
if you have something to share. One thing
I was gonna add on is that I
think,
like, I've had opportunity to be in the
priesthood and family department several times. I'm familiar
with some of their processes and, you know,
the councils they hold and things like that.
And it's really interesting to see how they're
trying to influence the church from that level.
And they're very self aware of, like, you
know, just because we write in the handbook
or or they don't you know, they're very
as you can see, all these qualifiers in
this, like, you know, usually, regularly, or isn't
isn't necessary. Right?
Because they don't want it to feel like
a heavy mandate, a lot of things they
put in the the handbook.
And so but I'm just thinking, like,
the general church often looks at the local
church and I think, okay. Like, obviously, priesthood
keys are in motion here. How do we
like, what are the touch points from the
the stake presence keys
and the bishop's keys, and how can the
stake be a resource to the you know,
to the wards. And then it's sort of
like, well,
now then we get into these modes of,
like, well, the high council can speak, right,
on a regular basis, and that's maybe a
touch point. And then every year, we'll do
these word conferences, and that's a touch point.
So I think
I don't think there's, like, a clear,
you know, obvious purpose unless,
you know, a specific word has one and
and turns to the stake for that. But
it's sort of like, let's just make sure
that because especially outside of maybe the Wasatch
Front,
it's probably very easy for a ward to
kinda be
on an island.
And, yeah, maybe the state presidency checks in
every once in a while, the high council
or whatever, but
maybe this forces those sort of words say,
okay. Just, like, at least take one one
Sunday a year and just go focus on
that as a stake and see if you
can offer
something to them. Right? But, unfortunately, just in
our human nature, it kind of becomes rote
or just like, well, what what what do
you mean what the purpose is? The handbook
says it's that's just what we're doing. Right?
So, Sean, go ahead.
Yeah. I think you hit it on the
head for me there is that
at least my experience here in Tennessee is
that we are so far apart from each
other's list. The
we have third we have 12 units in
our steak
and
and we spread out it takes it easily
will take three to four hours to drive
from one end of the stake to the
other, I think.
And
so we feel very distant. And we also
kind of have a style of leadership in
our state presidency that they're very hands off.
And it's which makes us be very, very
self reliant. And so
that's my experience is the stake is this
very, very distant thing
that I honestly only ever reach out to
when the handbook says I have to, otherwise,
I don't ever talk to stake leaders, and
they don't ever necessarily reach out. And I
know that I could probably reach out to
them more to involve them. But at the
same time,
I just don't feel the need to. And
so I guess that's where some of my
cynicism comes in of, like, I would love
to hear how
there's some just like really, really positive interactions.
And I've heard like all these examples that
have kind of been shared here and there,
you know, since I asked my that question
a few minutes ago.
And I just like, I go, Yeah, that
sounds great. But it just hasn't been my
experience, and and I just don't know how
that would help because they feel so distant.
Because they feel distant, when they do come,
it's kinda just like, wow. Why are you
here? It kinda throws off our cadence and
doesn't feel all that helpful.
Yeah. Yeah. And I think having that real
conversation,
you know, I remember being that bishop, and
I I,
I knew this was a helpful data for
my stake president in in, one of our
one on one meetings.
I just said, hey. Just so you know,
like, when we have our stake bishop meeting
or bishop meeting, like, it's long. It's boring.
I feel like most of that can be
in an email. I just want you to
know, like, I struggle with that meeting. Happy
to show up, happy to participate, and have
a good attitude about it. But I think
this is important for you. You know? Right?
And he really appreciated that.
And I think there's a dynamic with this,
stake ward
relationship
to consider.
You know, I'm serving as a state or,
elders quorum president right now, and my stake
president does a phenomenal job of meeting with
us quarterly. Like ever since I've been called,
I've met with him quarterly and I know,
and I've even mentioned him. I'm like, I
hope, you know, like not all elders core
presidents.
Get this treatment. Like this is, I really
appreciate this. And,
and he was kinda
surprised by that, but anyways,
and and meeting with them and and the
you can imagine my my world as a
lay member is a little bit weird because
I'm, you know,
my ward and stake leadership know I'm the
leading saints guy, you know, and I don't
want to perceive, like, I'm walking around my
ward with a clipboard and be like, oh,
that's that's terrible culture. I'm gonna do an
episode about that. Right. So I try and
play it cool.
But my state president was really open. He's
like, hey, wait a minute. Like, we can
talk about whatever your quorum needs, but I
got some questions about some things we're doing.
Hey, thanks for listening to this episode. We're
actually gonna cut it short a little bit.
If you wanna listen to the entirety of
this conversation, head on over to the Leading
Saints community. You can, find the link in
the show notes and you can watch the
extended cut there and I think you'll benefit
from it. So come join us over at
the Leading Saints community. Now that we've reached
the end of the episode,
I quickly wanna thank you for supporting the
Leading Saints podcast.
There's so much content out there to consider
and you picked this one. If Leading Saints
has made an impact in your life, we
would sure like to hear about it at
leadingsaints.org/contact.
And if you could quickly text or email
this episode
to a leader you know, I bet it
will bless their life. You can mark off
your good turn daily and let's even call
it ministering. Okay. Maybe not that far. But
seriously, thank you and help us share this
content.
It came as a result of the position
of leadership which was imposed upon us
by the God of heaven who brought forth
a restoration
of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And when the declaration was made
concerning the own and only true and living
church upon the face of the earth,
we were immediately put in a position of
loneliness.
The loneliness of leadership
from which we cannot shrink nor run away,
and to which we must face up with
boldness and courage
and ability.