How can teachers transform their classrooms into collaborative learning spaces? In this episode professors Jan Martin and Jared Halverson discuss the power of guiding discussions with open-ended, scripture-anchored questions. Not only does this approach spark exploration, but it also invites students to become co-teachers and share the learning journey.  

Y Religion Presents: Gospel Teaching is a limited series podcast where, each week during summer 2025, expert teachers share insights that highlight key principles and practices of effective gospel teaching.

How can prophetic voices shape our teaching? In this episode Barbara Morgan Gardner and Matt Richardson explore how to teach with power by amplifying the words of prophets, seers, and revelators. They highlight how we can use the words of Church leaders to present key principles, explore prophetic invitations, and realize promised blessings. 

Y Religion Presents: Gospel Teaching is a limited series podcast where, each week during summer 2025, expert teachers share insights that highlight key principles and practices of effective gospel teaching.

The scriptures are our most powerful tools for teaching. President J. Reuben Clark Jr. explained that "[we] are to teach this Gospel using as [our] sources and authorities the Standard Works of the Church and the words of those whom God has called to lead His people in these last days." In this episode Professors Gaye Strathearn and Joe Spencer discuss the power of teaching with the scriptures. They highlight ways teachers can draw knowledge from and incorporate the scriptures into their teaching. 

How does the Holy Ghost assist in our preparation and delivery of lessons? In this episode professors Hank Smith and Ryan Sharp demystify what it means to teach by the Spirit. They discuss ways to invite the Spirit to guide both teachers and learners.   

Y Religion Presents: Gospel Teaching is a limited series podcast where, each week during summer 2025, expert teachers share insights that highlight key principles and practices of effective gospel teaching.

The Lord has invited, “Teach ye diligently and my grace shall attend you, that you may be instructed more perfectly in theory, in principle, in doctrine, in the law of the gospel, in all things that pertain unto the kingdom of God, that are expedient for you to understand” (Doctrine & Covenants 88:78, emphasis added). In this episode President Mark L. Pace and Professor Ken Alford discuss resources and methods for organizing ourselves and preparing to teach a lesson.  

Y Religion Presents: Gospel Teaching is a limited series podcast where, each week during summer 2025, expert teachers share insights that highlight key principles and practices of effective gospel teaching.

Resources

• Teaching in the Savior's Way
• Book of Mormon Art Catalog
• Gospel Art
• BYU Studies
• Religious Studies Center
• Neal A. Maxwell Institute for Religious Scholarship
• Scripture Citation Index
• The Joseph Smith Papers

How do you prepare and adjust a message to connect with those you are leading? What methods can teachers—from all backgrounds and experiences—use when preparing for different teaching moments? In this episode, sister Emily Belle Freeman and Professor Brad Wilcox discuss tips on knowing and connecting with your audience when preparing and leading lessons. 

Y Religion Presents: Gospel Teaching is a limited series podcast where, each week during summer 2025, expert teachers share insights that highlight key principles and practices of effective gospel teaching.

What makes powerful gospel teaching? What are the effective elements that any teachers— no matter their training, situation, or personality—can implement so that deepened faith and conversion can happen in the lives of learners? In this episode, brother Chad Webb and Elder Clark Gilbert highlight essential principles and practices that invite the influence of the Spirit of God to foster powerful gospel teaching.

Y Religion Presents: Gospel Teaching is a limited series podcast where, each week during summer 2025, expert teachers share insights that highlight key principles and practices of effective gospel teaching.

President Dallin H. Oaks has taught that “every member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is, or will be, a teacher. Each of us has a vital interest in the content and effectiveness of gospel teaching.” How might we prepare ourselves to teach with clarity and the inspiration of the Holy Ghost? In this episode professors John Hilton III and Casey Griffiths introduce “Y Religion Presents,” a special series of weekly episodes on a common theme. The 2025 motif focuses on gospel teaching. In the following eleven episodes, leading experts discuss a variety of approaches, skills, and techniques for teaching—at home or in church—in the Savior’s way. Each episode is intercut with perspectives from two presenters, providing diverse voices, multiple applications, and more holistic approaches to touch the hearts and enlighten the minds of students. Listeners preparing to teach in any capacity can take away new approaches and perspectives as they continue to hone their craft of teaching.

When some elders criticized the language of Joseph Smith’s revelations in 1831, the Lord provided powerful truths in Doctrine and Covenants 67 to strengthen their faith—truths that remain vital for us today. In this podcast, Professor Searle outlines five key principles from the section that can help us build greater trust in prophetic counsel: (1) act on the prophet’s invitations, (2) recognize righteousness within revelations, (3) sincerely seek Jesus Christ, (4) follow the guidance of the Spirit, and (5) move forward in faith. Trusting prophets is crucial for spiritual growth and navigating uncertainty, and learning from the challenges of past can give us greater power to follow the prophet in our day.

Publications:

• “Following Prophets When We Have Questions (Section 67)” in Doctrine and Covenants Insights (Religious Studies Center, 2025).

The John A. Widtsoe Foundation recently introduced the Understanding Our Neighbors series to “foster respect and interfaith dialogue.” In this episode Professor Shon Hopkin, Department Chair of BYU Ancient Scripture, discusses the second book in this series Understanding Our Jewish Neighbors co-written with Rabbi Mark S. Diamond. The book presents a comprehensive guide to understanding the similarities and differences between The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and leading Jewish traditions. Professor Hopkin explains how listeners can take away a succinct understanding, reverence, and appreciation for both faiths, their traditions, and their members.  

Publications:

• Understanding Our Jewish Neighbors by Rabbi Mark S. Diamond & Professor Shon D. Hopkin, Cedar Fort, 2024

• John A. Widtsoe Foundation website

• “Teaching That Leads to Enduring Conversion,” Religious Educator, 25.3, 2024

• “The Covenant among Covenants: The Abrahamic Covenant and Biblical Covenant Making,”Religious Educator, 23.2, 2022

• “Supersessionism and Latter-day Saint Thought: An Appraisal,” Jared W. Ludlow, Andrew C. Reed, and Shon D. Hopkin, in Understanding Covenants and Communities: Jews and Latter-day Saints in Dialogue, Mark S. Diamond and Andrew C. Reed, ed., Religious Studies Center, 2020

• Opening Isaiah: A Harmony, with Ann N. Madsen, Religious Studies Center, 2018

• Abinadi: He Came Among Them in Disguise, Religious Studies Center, 2018

Click here to learn more about Shon Hopkin