Guessing the Next Apostle

Tweet

by John English:

There's some other sites who have been good at projecting who the next Apostles will be, but I'm going to try my own hand. First, let's look at the likely candidates. Things I will take into account:

A. The age of the Apostle. The youngest Apostle is David A. Bednar, who turns 63 in a couple weeks. Any Apostle they call that's younger than him, they're calling with the knowledge that the likelihood's increased that this man could be a future President of the Church. No man has been President of the Church who wasn't an Apostle by the age of 51. Monson was 36. I should mention the ages when called of Oaks (51), Holland (53), and Bednar (52).

B. The length and position of service. They'd want someone who's been a General Authority for a while, with a preference for those in the Presidency of the Seventy. Six of the last ten Apostles called had been in the Presidency of the Seventy.

C. Race. The Church just feels way overdue for a non-white Apostle. It's never had one. Other than Dieter F. Uchtdorf, there's hasn't been a non-American Apostle since the days of Pres. Heber J. Grant, when he called John A. Widtsoe (Norway) and Charles A. Callis (Ireland).

Mormon Doppelgängers 18: Young John Taylor & Jeff Daniels

Tweet

by Scott Heffernan:

Young John Taylor looks a lot like Jeff Daniels. They both sing. They’re both woodworkers. They were both Methodists at certain points in their lives. Jeff Daniels has three kids—named Ben, Lucas, and Nelly. John Taylor fathered 34 children—I’m just going to assume there was a Ben, Lucas, and Nelly in there somewhere.

Are Mormon Men Unintentionally Discriminating at Work

Tweet

by Alex Fuller:

I recently attended a seminar on gender discrimination in the workplace and was surprisingly conflicted afterwards. I had begun the seminar thinking, "Of course I treat men and women equally." After, however, I was left wondering if I regularly discriminate without realizing it.

This seminar happened the same week that I heard a comment that equally surprised me. The comment came from a LDS female coworker who observed that LDS men are often less inclusive and less open with women in the workplace. She was the only woman in a small minority of Mormons in the organization. Despite her shared beliefs, she often felt excluded by her male LDS coworkers. They were tackling similar projects, but she frequently had to find her own support group.

How could this happen?

Although I don't think most LDS men discriminate on purpose, I wonder how many times we shy away from women either unconsciously or deliberately.

Five Questions for William Morris about Dark Watch and Other Mormon-American Stories

Tweet

by Scott Hales:

William Morris is one of today’s great advocates for Mormon literature. Aside from founding and frequently contributing to the blog A Motley Vision, William is also a creative writer whose fiction addresses Mormon and non-Mormon subjects with depth, insight, and imagination. Recently, William published his first collection of Mormon stories, Dark Watch and Other Mormon-American Stories.

Here are William’s answers to five questions I had about the book…

Tell us about Dark Watch and Other Mormon-American Stories. What's the genesis of the project? How long have you been working on this collection?

A little over two years ago, I realized that I had enough stories that had been published in Mormon journals plus others that I had completed or would soon complete to make a collection of my Mormon-themed short fiction. At the time I had focused my writing more on (not-Mormon-themed) science fiction and fantasy, and this felt like a good project to serve as a coda to my work in the MoLit field. Wrap up in a neat package, put a bow on it and move on. I was interested enough in the idea to come up with a cover concept for it and then it sat for awhile until I finally convinced two family members who have professional-level editing experience to copyedit and from there it was simply a matter of creating the ebook files and setting up the accounts for Amazon, Nook, Kobo, etc.

And, as it turned out, in the process of putting the collection together, I found myself re-engaging with the issues and imagery and experiences that had caused me to write the stories in the first place, and so as much as I enjoy writing science fiction and fantasy aimed at the mainstream market and will continue to explore that part of my creative life, I'm actually not yet done with Mormon literature. I now look at it less as the end of my engagement with the field and more like the beginning of a new phase.

It's interesting that you call your stories "Mormon-American." What does that term—or label—mean to you and your fiction?

Building Better Youth Discussions, Mini-Classes, Workshops, Etc.

Tweet

by Shawn Tucker:

In my calling in the Stake Young Men program, it seems like we are constantly trying to come up with ideas for mini-classes or workshops. Youth conferences typically have some sort of instructional time, class, or workshop, and many other stake activities also have them. This is in addition to firesides and Bishop’s youth discussions. Below is a list of principles I’ve developed that seem to make these successful. These principles are followed by a list of possible class or workshops topics. If you have more, please add them in the comments.

Principles:

• Youth generally prefer workshops and engaging activities to lectures. Of course a talented presenter can be excellent, but, taking a page from TED talks, I believe that no presentation should last more than 18 minutes.


• Youth generally appreciate genuinely open-ended workshops and discussion. Presenters or workshop directors with knowledge, skill, and confidence sufficient to make a workshop genuinely open-ended and truly engaging are often the most successful. Presentations which only have the appearance of being open-ended but which have leading, “fishing,” or manipulative questions should be avoided.


• Youth generally listen to other youth much more attentively than to adults. Panels that feature other youth or younger people, like recently returned missionaries or young single adults, can be very effective. Youth also seem to appreciate a variety of speakers.

Giveaway: Enslaved to Saved eBooks

Tweet

Long-time MMM contributor Reid just finished writing a reaaaally long blog post. His new book, Enslaved to Saved: The Metaphor of Christ As Our Master, examines the cultural and political background of slavery during the time of Christ and what it means for our modern-day commitment to the Lord. More on the book below, but first ... Reid and publisher Cedar Fort are offering two readers free eBook copies of Enslaved to Saved. Giveaway details below.

Giveaway Guidelines:
• Leave a comment on this post.
• Seven days to enter (closes Tuesday, May 19th at midnight).
• Winners announced Wednesday, May 20th.
• Winners must provide their email addresses in order to receive the eBook.

Enslaved to Saved: The Metaphor of Christ As Our Master

Members of the LDS Church are people that identify strongly with the idea of being servants of the Lord. Yet, where the King James Version of the Bible reads ‘servant of Jesus Christ’ the original Greek in which the New Testament was written invariably reads ‘slave of Jesus Christ’. Although latter-day saints believe the Bible as far as it is translated correctly, most fail to understand the servant/slave translational nuance. This may limit understanding of the original message of these important passages. The saints in the first-century Mediterranean world truly considered themselves slaves of Christ. We as latter-day saints have much to learn from this perspective.

This book reviews the New Testament message that men are transformed from being slaves of sin, to slaves of Christ as they are redeemed by His atonement. It illustrates how frequently the New Testament equates conversion to the gospel to becoming a slave of Christ. It chronicles the many instances in which the early apostles and gospel narrators referred to themselves in this way. It also reviews the extensive Hebraic tradition, which held that man was the slave of God, and numerous instances where theme of slavery is found in the teachings of Jesus Christ.

Anciently slavery was a condition that was worse than death, and associated with utter hopelessness and loss of control. Yet enslavement to Christ was paradoxically esteemed to be an essential element of conversion that brought joy, freedom and eternal life. By illustrating this metaphor from the context in which the New Testament was originally written, my book helps the reader gain a new perspective about Jesus Christ. This perspective strives to improve the reader’s relationship with their Redeemer, and inspire them to more completely surrender their will to His.

Enslaved to Saved can be found at LDS bookstores and the usual online booksellers.

Romney Vs Holyfield Charity Fight

Tweet

As you may have already heard, former Massachusetts governor and 2012 presidential candidate Mitt Romney is set to take on five-time heavy weight boxing champ Evander Holyfield in the ring on May 15th. Event proceeds will benefit Charity Vision, a non-profit with the goal of eliminating curable blindness by providing treatment to those who would otherwise be unable to access care.

While Paige Lavender first covered the news in her Huff Post article breaking news of the main event, what you may not already know is that this fight comes complete with an official weigh-in featuring the contenders. The official weigh-in will be held at XCEL Fitness in Holladay, UT on May 14, the night before the main event. As with the main event, proceeds from tickets purchased for the weigh-in will benefit Charity Vision and its efforts to eliminate curable blindness around the world.

The weigh-in event will feature all Fight Night fighters as they complete their physical exams and weigh-in for the big fight the following evening. The Weigh-in roster includes Evander Holyfield and Mitt Romney, as well as fighters Wes Capper, Steve Rolls, Leon Spinks III, and Jose Haro. Evander Holyfield is also scheduled to take the mic to share stories from his career as well as his views regarding the importance of maintaining physical fitness and giving back to the community.

If you’ll be in the SLC area that week, you can purchase tickets online for the weigh-in event. Each $25 General Admission ticket gives the gift of sight to someone with curable blindness. The weigh-in event will take place from 6:00PM to 8:00PM at the local training facility.

The main Fight Night event will be held at the Rail Events Center in Downtown Salt Lake City the following night, May 15, at 6:30PM, and Weigh-in attendees will have the chance to win a pair of tickets to attend the sold-out black-tie gala featuring the headliners as well as preliminary fights between Freddy Spielberg and Gary Cobia, Jordan Smith and Christian Nava, Wesley Capper and Kent On Sippio-Cook, and Leon Spinks III and Rashad Ganaway.

Following the MayPac madness, join in the fun to be at one of the most buzzed about fights this year while helping an amazing cause!