Leading Saints Podcast

Karri Stoker discusses with Kurt Francom and Dan Duckworth what will go on at this Gathering Saints Women's retreat and how to determine if you should be there. For all the details related to the Fall 2022 Women's Retreat visit leadingsaints.org/gathering Listen to all of this 3-part series of short podcasts about the women’s retreat starting HERE.

John Eldredge is a bestselling author and counselor. He is also president of Wild at Heart, a ministry devoted to helping people discover the heart of God and recover their own hearts in God’s love. John and his wife, Stasi, live near Colorado Springs, Colorado. Highlights 2:00 Introduction and updates with Wild at Heart. 4:30 We are now in the after effects of the pandemic. How do we recover? 6:00 One of the after effects of the pandemic is that many people are walking away from traditional religion. They are going to other places to try and find relief. They are walking away from the source of their rescue and recovery. 8:50 The Edens in our life. The things that we long for. Instead of finding replenishment in God we go on vacations, we scroll our phones, etc. to find relief. 10:00 We are dealing with the traumatic aftermath of the pandemic. John explains how it has changed us and our ability to deal with everyday life. The classic trauma symptoms are: Mental fragmentation A loss of a sense of time

Karri Stoker, the director of the 2022 Gathering Saints Women's retreat, discusses with Kurt Francom and Dan Duckworth the purposes of a women's retreat like this. For all the details related to the Fall 2022 Women's Retreat visit leadingsaints.org/gathering Continue listening to this short series of podcasts about the women’s retreat HERE.

Karri Stoker, the director of the 2022 Gathering Saints Women's retreat, discusses with Kurt Francom and Dan Duckworth the purposes of a women's retreat like this. For all the details related to the Fall 2022 Women's Retreat visit leadingsaints.org/gathering Continue listening to the short series of podcasts about the women’s retreat HERE.

Sarah Randall grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, served in the Portugal Lisbon South mission, and graduated from Utah State University in Elementary Education. She has served in many ward Primary, Young Women, and Relief Society presidencies in Iowa, Pennsylvania, Oklahoma, and Alaska. Sarah and her husband have six children and together they love to backpack, hike, bike, and kayak all over Alaska. Sarah recently served as a facilitator for the Church’s new “Emotional Resilience-Strength in the Lord” course and was thrilled to find that it covers the stages of the grief cycle. She has found that understanding the grief cycle has been pivotal in processing the losses in her own life, in therapy, and as a leader in the Church seeking to minister as Christ would. Understanding that the grief cycle applies to any loss in life including trauma and betrayal (not just death) has enabled her to be a better instrument for Christ to honor people’s pain—to learn how to support them through that grief process—to mourn with

We are excited to launch Gathering Saints where we will provide remarkable in-person experiences in order to help individuals transform as leaders in their church, community, and home. To see the details of all upcoming retreat experiences, visit LeadingSaints.org/Gathering Find more information about the Gathering Saints Women's Retreat in a series of podcast conversations starting HERE.

Mat Duerden received a Ph.D. from Texas A&M University and an M.S. from Brigham Young University. His experience design research focuses on memorable, meaningful, and transformative experiences. Mat is an Associate Professor of Experience Design and Management and Alumni Research Fellow in BYU's Marriott School of Business, and also teaches an honors program course, The Art of Transformative Storytelling. He works with organizations across a variety of sectors to provide training and consulting around experience design, and is also the co-author of the book Designing Experiences. Mat currently serves on his stake high council and in the stake Young Men presidency. Previous callings include bishopric counselor, Young Men president, elders quorum president, and executive secretary. He and his wife Chenae have four children and their favorite experiences occur outdoors on bikes, rafts, and skis. Highlights 01:45 Introduction to Mat Duerdon. He explains experience design. 11:15 How can leaders create an experien

This is a rebroadcast. The episode originally ran in May 2020. Dan Duckworth is a disciple, family man, and changemaker. As a teacher and coach, he guides elite leaders to the top of their game. He’s the author of Stop Asking Why: Your Purpose is Self-Evident, and president of the Leading Saints Board of Directors. Highlights 05:39: Dan discusses the life cycle of a crisis and creating a “new normal” for Home Church 11:51: Statistics of geographic areas and types of leaders that responded to survey 15:20: Bishops in a transactional mindset 18:13: All about hypothetical worries 21:14: Feeling like you need to be doing something 23:32: The Youth Program and God’s plans for 2020 27:33: Taking a break from worrying to ponder 30:40: Comparing yourself and your ward to others’ 35:18: D&C 1, Hyrum Smith, and disciplined reflection 42:28: Creating connections in ministering and knowing what God wants us to do as leaders 51:02: Knowing the why behind actions you take and transactional mindset vs transformation mindse

Joseph M. Spencer is a philosopher and an assistant professor of ancient scripture at Brigham Young University. He has a BA in philosophy from BYU, an MLIS in library science from San Jose State University, and an MA and PhD in philosophy from the University of New Mexico. Joseph is the author of six books, including the recently-published Book of Mormon Studies: An Introduction and Guide. He serves as the editor of the Journal of Book of Mormon Studies, as the associate director of the Latter-day Saint Theology Seminar, and a vice president of the Book of Mormon Studies Association. In the church, Joseph has served as an early morning seminary teacher, Gospel Doctrine teacher, a counselor in a variety of presidencies, and currently serves as a bishop. He and his wife Karen have been married 20 years and have five kids. Highlights 01:00 Introduction to Joseph Spencer 03:40 Advice Joseph would give to his younger self about teaching. 04:30 How Joseph got into philosophy and how he ended up at BYU teaching reli

This episode is a conversation from the One Heart One Light podcast with Matt Allred, where Kurt talks about the power of story and how we can connect and find healing through our stories. Highlights 03:25 Introduction to Kurt Francom 04:40 Kurt talks about his path to starting Leading Saints. 10:30 The most important thing that Kurt has learned as a leader 14:20 Master the skill of connecting. Connecting person to person. 15:00 How do you get people to open up and connect with you? 18:00 Most people want to share more but they don’t feel safe. As a leader you can help create a safe space for people to share and open up. 23:45 Worried about oversharing? Share the past transgression because that also shares the past redemption. 24:50 After Christ’s resurrection He shared his scars. Just as it was important for Christ to share His scars, it’s important for us to share our own scars. 30:45 What does it mean to bear each other’s burdens? 32:30 Kurt shares his own personal experience of reaching out to a friend go

Crystal Hurd is an educator, poet, and researcher from Virginia. She holds a master of arts in Literature from East Tennessee State University, a master of fine arts in Creative Writing from the University of Texas at El Paso, and a doctorate in Educational Leadership and Policy Analysis from East Tennessee State University. Her doctoral research focused on C. S. Lewis as a Transformational Leader. Crystal currently serves as reviews editor for Sehnsucht: The C.S. Lewis Journal. Her articles have appeared in SEVEN, Christian History Magazine, Inklings Forever, Perichoresis, and The Faithful Imagination. She serves as a visiting professor for Northwind Seminary’s Doctorate in Theology and Ministry for Inkling Studies and Romantic Theology as well as the Master's in Spirituality, Creativity, and Writing. Crystal has been happily married for over twenty years to a technology director. They have two boisterous rescue dogs. Highlights 3:30 Introduction to Kurt’s Cohost, Tyler Snow 4:40 Crystal talks about why she

Jason Noel currently serves on his stake high council with a stewardship over missionary work. He has served previously as a bishopric counselor, elders quorum president, and as a teacher in Primary, Sunday School, and Young Men. He is passionate about entrepreneurship and developing businesses that reflect and engage his interests. He owns a hot rod shop in Arizona called Fat Fender Garage, that specializes in building custom-classic-trucks and Broncos. They have recently been awarded “Builder of the Year” for the second year in a row in addition to features and awards from numerous shows and publications. Jason and his wife, Jen, share a combined family of eight children in Gilbert, Arizona. Highlights 01:15 Introduction to Jason Noel. His work and church callings. 05:00 Jason’s approach to love, share, and Invite. He explains what it is and how he uses it in ward counsel. Ward counsel is more focused on people rather than spiritual thoughts, training, or activities. 13:10 We do not decouple love, share

J.D. Griffith is the Vice President of Administration for BYU-Pathway Worldwide, an online higher education organization serving nearly 60,000 students from over 180 countries, and was its first employee in 2009 when he assisted with the creation of the original Pathway program. He previously worked at BYU-Idaho as a faculty member in the College of Business and as an administrator in the Division of Continuing Education. J.D. holds a bachelor’s degree in business management, and an MBA and a PhD in business administration. His previous church callings include bishop, counselor in the bishopric, high councilor, elders quorum president, Young Men president, ward clerk, Gospel Doctrine teacher, and missionary in the Ireland Dublin Mission. He currently serves as a primary activity leader. He and his wife Tasha have five children and one grandchild. Highlights 03:45 Introduction to J.D. Griffith and how Pathway began back in 2009. 05:50 How is BYU-Pathway Worldwide different from an online university? J.D. ex

Walter Franco most recently served as a bishop and has previously served as an elders quorum president, Young Men president, Sunday School teacher, ward mission leader, and as a missionary in Jacksonville, Florida. He is a principal for a boutique sports business consulting firm based out of Park City, serves on a few University of Utah boards and the KSL Community Board, and is president of a non-profit that raises college scholarship funds for DACA students in Utah. Walter and his wife have been married for 14 years, have three daughters, and currently live in Herriman, Utah. Highlights 02:30 Getting called as a Bishop in a Spanish-speaking ward and ward dynamics 10:00 There is actually a lot of diversity in a Spanish-speaking ward. They are united by language but there are a lot of different cultures. It can cause drama and cliques and Walter talks about how they created more unity. 12:40 Principle #1: See them as the Lord sees them. 16:00 Walter gives examples of how he goes about helping people in th

Clay Olsen serves as the CEO and Founder of Impact Suite, which owns and operates a suite of award-winning self-care apps that have helped hundreds of thousands of individuals find deeper healing and recovery in over 150 countries. Early in his career, he co-founded and lead the creation of Fight the New Drug—a youth movement dedicated to raising awareness on the harmful effects of pornography and other forms of sexual exploitation through science, facts, and personal accounts. He now sits on the board of directors and helps guide the larger vision. Highlights 01:15 Introduction to Clay Olsen. 05:00 What are bishops/leaders missing what it comes to pornography? Most are wildly naïve to the scope of pornography. Bishops focus on boosting their spirituality but don’t help the individual get professional help. Both are needed. 10:15 Therapy is just one way to get help with addiction but for some other methods might be more helpful. 13:00 Addiction can be a huge Mount Everest. Instead of focusing on the s

In this podcast, Kurt sits down with four members of the Little Valley Stake in St. George, Utah, to talk about what happened when the stake president asked the youth (and their leaders) to plan stake conference. Guests include stake high councilor and Young Men leader Steve Chase, stake youth council member and high school sophomore Lucy Hansen, stake Young Women president Ashlie Bundy, and Brad Simister, second counselor in the stake presidency. Highlights 01:45 Introductions to the speakers. 03:20 Planning for stake conference. They felt that the stake youth committee should plan and prepare stake conference. 05:15 Lucy, from the youth council, describes how they went about planning everything. 05:45 Ashlie talks about the difficulties they encountered at first and her role as a leader to help the youth open up. 08:45 President Simister goes into how they structured the meetings. Overall, the stake president would just ask for updates but let everyone do their thing. 10:30 Lucy gives advice to other youth

Brian Klaas is an expert on democracy, authoritarianism, US Politics, Western foreign policy, political violence, and elections. He has advised governments, US political campaigns, international politicians, the European Union, NATO, and more. Brian holds a doctorate in politics from the University of Oxford and is an associate professor in Global Politics at University College London. He is a regular commentator and political consultant to an extensive lineup of international media outlets, a Washington Post columnist, and the author of several books, including Corruptible: Who Gets Power and How It Changes Us, a look at what power is, who gets it, and what happens when they do. Highlights 01:45 Brian tells about his background, work, and new book. 05:45 Corruption in power 10:15 A lot of the time the wrong people get into power because of their superficial charm. 12:45 The importance of having the right people in power and the consequential outcomes 14:25 Studies show that we choose leaders by how they loo

This is a rebroadcast. The episode originally ran in June 2019. We are instructed in the General Handbook (8.1.1) that “Members of the elders quorum work together to help accomplish the work of salvation and exaltation. They serve others, fulfill priesthood duties, build unity, and learn and live doctrine.” How effective is your quorum at succeeding in this purpose? Is there more that can be done to leverage the inspired quorum structure that has been restored in these latter days? The reality is, men live lives of quiet desperation even while attending elders quorum once a week. They attend elders quorum with the hope of brotherhood, unity, and a restoration of their heart. Every man is striving to answer one question, “Do I have what it takes?” They wonder if they have what it takes to support a family, keep their job, overcome addiction, maintain their worthiness. They know the restored gospel can help them answer that question but they don’t know where to find the answer. In this episode, Kurt Francom dis

Bonnie Lyman has a BA in Elementary Education, is the parent of five "grown up kids", and a certified life coach. She has served as a ward Relief Society, Primary, and Young Women president, as a stake Young Women president and Primary counselor, a youth Sunday School, Primary, and Relief Society teacher, and as a mission medical coordinator and a music coordinator. Bonnie and her husband served in the Kenya Nairobi Mission as service missionaries before she launched her coaching business in 2019, and she now works with women struggling in their relationships with their adult children. Highlights 02:15 Introduction to Bonnie and her mission with her husband. 04:30 Bonnie talks about what she does and navigating life with adult children. 08:15 Bonnie talks about the biggest concerns that parents have with adult children. Most parents are concerned about their children leaving the Church and how to deal with it. 11:45 As parents to adult children remember that your only job is to love them. 12:15 One of the bi

Gregory K. Stapley is the executive chairman and recently-retired chief executive officer of CareTrust REIT, a real estate investment trust investing in healthcare real estate. He received his J.D. from the University of Arizona and his B.A. in Humanities from Brigham Young University. He is a stake president and former high councilor, bishop, bishopric counselor, Gospel Doctrine teacher and missionary in the Spain Seville Mission. Deborah E. Stapley got her start in television in the late 80’s after winning a nationwide how-to video competition on ABC’s The Home Show. She spent the next 15 years appearing on The Home Show, Good Morning America, The Leeza Show, and The Better Homes and Gardens Network. She eventually hosted several craft shows on the DIY network and The Learning Channel and served as a spokesperson for Department 56 and Charles Craft. She is a Relief Society teacher and former stake Relief Society president, stake Relief Society presidency counselor, stake music chair, stake temple youth cele