Leading Saints Podcast

Jeff Schooler is a Branch President of the Lake Region Branch in Devils Lake North Dakota. In this episode he tells about his conversion story and sheds some light on what it’s like to be the president of a small LDS branch with large geographic boundaries. Episode Highlights * Jeff tells his conversion/reactivation story 6:00 * Expanding on how easy it is to fall into inactivity 9:14 * Most famou...

Sara Walker currently lives in Amity, Oregon. She served in the Chicago Illinois North mission, met her husband at BYU-Idaho, and has a been striving to improve her marriage and help her husband overcome his addiction to pornography. Enter Sara… Dear Bishop, Thank you for your service as a bishop in the Church. I believe you were called of God to your calling for such a time as this. We need...

Paul Gustavson studied Organizational Behavior at Brigham Young University, where he was on Coach Lavell Edwards’ first football team at the school. Today he is president of the consulting firm Organization Planning and Design. He has authored two books about team building and leadership—including one with Coach Bronco Mendenhall: Running into the Wind: 5 Strategies for Building a Successful Team,...

GR Gordon-Ross served as bishop for 6 years in Lawrence, Kansas. He was raised in Kearney, Missouri and was converted to the Church in 1994 because of his influence from a childhood friend. He served a mission in Russia and later married his wife whom he met at LDS Institute. He is self-described as a non-orthodox bishop which he credits to much of his success. Leadership Principles * The Power of...

Mark Francis is the Director of LDS BSA Relationships, where he has worked for the past 5 years. He also serves on the High Council in his stake, where he is responsible for working with the Young Men and assists in all things Scouting. Mark was previously interviewed on LeadingLDS in January, 2015. Mark’s position with the Boy Scouts of America has its roots in President David O. McKay’s request...

W. Durrell Nielsen served as a mission president of the Oklahoma Tulsa mission from 2003-2006.  He was born and raised in Brigham City Utah and currently resides in Bountiful Utah. As a young man he served a mission in Scotland and attended the University of Arizona where he received a Law degree.  He practiced law for the United States Treasury Department, for his own private law practice and als...

Scott Koenig of Arlington, TX was recently released as bishop after serving for over five years. He has a love and a testimony of the addiction recovery program. Upon his release he asked his stake president what he could do to help spread its inspired and healing message. Listen in as Scott tells us about his experiences with the addiction recovery program as a bishop and now as the co-chair of t...

Toby Eborn was called as an Elder’s Quorum President in July 2016 in his Midvale, Utah-area ward. He was born and raised in Montpelier, Idaho, and was called to serve in the Minnesota Minneapolis Mission. Upon his return, he attended Utah State University for a time as well as culinary school before heading east and meeting his future-wife while living in Ohio. He has served as a primary and Sunda...

Duane Miller is an Anglican Christian and the author of Living Among the Breakage: Contextual Theology-Making and Ex-Muslim Christians, which covers a few reasons why Muslims are being converted to Christianity. He has a B.A. in Philosophy, an M.A. in Theology, a diploma in Arabic, and a Ph. D. in Divinity.  During the interview, Kurt talks to Duane about how, as Christians, we can reach out to Mu...

Jenn Mabie lives in Moseley, Virginia. She is a full time mom of four children, an aspiring photographer, and served in her ward as a Relief Society President. Jenn grew up in Virginia and later attended the LDS Business College. She met her husband at a singles ward in Virginia and they were sealed in the Washington, D.C. Temple. Episode Highlights: * Tools you use as a presidency (15:06) * Be mo...

Justin Hale is a Master Trainer at VitalSmarts, a corporate training company in Provo, Utah, that teaches leadership principles. Justin has had the opportunity to apply the principles he teaches in his church callings, previously as an Elder’s Quorum President and currently as a member of a Young Single Adult ward bishopric. Originally from Atlanta, Georgia, he served a mission in the Philippines...

You’ll probably recognize Kyle Morey from a How I Lead interview I did with him about his experience being the public affairs specialist in his stake. Kyle had some remarkable ideas about using technology to spread the gospel and mentioned an in depth article series he wrote that goes into detail about his strategies. I encourage you to spend some time reading the four part series (see links...

Tom Tolman teaches leadership to future military officers as the director of the Army ROTC program at James Madison University. He has served in two branch presidencies, as an elders quorum president and as a missionary in Japan. During his military career he has led and served in a variety of units including the 82nd Airborne Division, U.S. Special Operations Command, British Army Headquarters an...

Maria Eckersley lives now lives in Draper city, but was born in Illinois and raised in Blackfoot Idaho. She is the designer and creator of Meckmom.com.  The blog started out as a blog for mom tips, and has now transitioned it to a blog designed to make “Mom-life easier.”  The site has great ideas and principles for family home evenings and scripture study.  She also has a Youtube channel designed...

Eric Allen was raised in Bountiful, Utah and currently lives in Centerville, Utah, and has served as a scout master many times for many years. He served a full-time mission in Florida. He met his wife in an awkward fashion but it has turned out to be a wonderful marriage. Even thought Brother Allen didn’t earn his Eagle as a young man, he has benefited from his experience mentoring young men...

In this episode we speak with Matthew Grow, Director of Publications at the LDS Church History Library. Brother Grow graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in History before completing a Masters and Ph. D in American History at the University of Notre Dame. Currently serving as an elders quorum president in his Salt Lake City-area ward, Brother Grow’s responsibilities at the Church...

Marshall married his high school sweetheart, who happened to be a member of the church. While Marshall didn’t join right away he eventually joined the church at 38 years old, served in many different callings and has gained leadership experience. Marshall made a commitment to go to church after a diligent home teacher asked him, he started attending as he saw how his family loved him being there a...

Ben Bernards author of Faith and a Life Jacket: 7 Truths for your Eternal Mission. Ben also teaches at Especially For Youth conferences. Ben served his mission in the Fiji Islands mission, serving mainly in New Caledonia, the mission experience enriched his testimony in unique and challenging ways. He shares unique mission experiences that show tender mercies from Heavenly Father. Episode Highligh...

In this episode of the How I Lead segment we talk to Adam Ellsworth. Adam is currently serving as the president of his elders quorum in Maryland. Both Adam and his wife were raised in Southern California but did not meet until they attended the same student ward at Brigham Young University. After receiving his bachelors degree at BYU, Adam graduated law school from Pepperdine University after whic...

Beckie Hennessy is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who has years in counseling. In this episode we talk about how a clinical counselor organizes their counseling appointment in a way that helps their clients progress and benefit from the counseling provided. Bishop or Stake Presidents can learn from their systems and hopefully help individuals they are spiritually counseling feel more loved. Epi...

2016 has been the largest growth year for LeadingLDS yet! It’s exciting to see more leaders in the Church discover the content and gain from the knowledge of other leaders. We had close to 200,000 unique podcast downloads and almost 100,000 unique visits to the website. We are truly making a difference and I am excited to see the progress that is made in 2017. If you are new to LeadingLDS or...

Robert Gordon is from New Zealand and currently lives in Brisbane, Australia. He has served as bishop, stake president, and in several mission presidencies. He also served a mission in Brisbane, Australia as a young man. In this interview he shares of his experience in leading and has many great stories to go along with it. 5 Leadership Principles * Love the people (13:45) * Build unity, starting...

Dr. Gregory Prince was born and raised in Southern California. He served a mission in Brazil. After his mission he became a Dentist and later received a Ph. D in pathology. As a young elders quorum president in Washington DC he began researching and writing about the history of the priesthood in the LDS Church and produce a book called, Power from on High: The Development of Mormon Priesthood. He...

Amy Durham lives in Salt Lake City, Utah and is the Director of Production for Deseret Book. She was recently released as Relief Society president in her ward and has also had experience working in the Young Women program. In this episode we discuss how she led as Relief Society president, including what were the unique dynamics she faced as a single Relief Society president in a traditional famil...

Jon Ogden is the author of When Mormons Doubt: A Way to Save Relationships and Seek a Quality Life, as well as an Op-ed for the Salt Lake Tribune: “Belief in ‘Sad Heaven’ hurts relationships in era of Mormon doubt.” Interview Highlights * How our perspective of the afterlife can hurt our family relations with those who disagree with us. (3:38) * When relationships are defined by difference, it’s u...