Elder Dale G. Renlund and Elder Clark G. Gilbert at the Church Educational System Religious Educators Conference, June 18, 2024. Courtesy of BYU Photo.

Abstract: This panel focuses on Church Educational System efforts to follow Elder Clark G. Gilbert’s counsel to amplify prophetic messages. An amplifier takes an input source such as a microphone and increases its amplitude or size and sends it through an output source such as a speaker. Instructors can help students reduce background noise, or contradictory information from sources other than the Savior or prophets.

Keywords: prophets, apostles, teaching the gospel

Scott C. Esplin. Thank you to all who have presented earlier, and welcome to Brigham Young University. My name is Scott Esplin. I am the dean of Religious Education at BYU and am grateful to have all of you here on campus today. I am especially grateful to be with some dear friends on this panel. As was mentioned earlier, we are working to become a system, and I am grateful to work with these good men and all of you in this system. When the Religious Educators Committee met nearly two years ago for the first time, President Jeffrey R. Holland walked into the room, and if I remember right, said, “We’ve called ourselves a system for a long time. It’s time we start acting like one.” I am grateful for this conference that signals an important step in that direction.

By way of introduction, I am joined by Rory Bigelow, the associate administrator of Seminaries and Institutes as well as David Peck, dean of the College of Education and Human Development at BYU–Idaho. Religious Education is a department within that college, and David is one of its faculty members. Aaron Shumway joins us from Lāʻie, where he is the director of Religious Education at BYU–Hawaii. Finally, I am also pleased to introduce and welcome Brad Streeter. Brad is the director of audiovisual services within the Office of Information Technology here at Brigham Young University. He has been audio engineer and AV designer for seventeen years and will be helping us with our presentation.

At the 2023 annual Church Educational System broadcast, Elder Clark G. Gilbert discussed prophetic emphases and encouraged us to find ways to incorporate them into our classrooms. Earlier this year, in January 2024, he added, “I’m grateful for so many of you who accepted those invitations and sought ways to amplify the words of our prophets and apostles to the young adults of the Church. At a baseline, religion and institute faculty have been asked to update the syllabi of their Teachings of the Living Prophets course to include recent prophetic emphases to our young adults. But so many of you have also recognized how the words of living prophets can strengthen and amplify other scripture-based courses.” As a panel, we have been asked to discuss ways that we, as departments and individuals, have been incorporating prophetic emphases in our classrooms, in our courses, and in our lives. Elder Gilbert continued: “We have a responsibility to know and amplify those messages. Brothers and sisters, our young adults live in perilous times, but the Lord has prepared prophets who have the calling and the capacity to say, ‘Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.’”[1]

We want to focus today on Elder Gilbert’s choice of the word amplify in emphasizing prophetic messages. Elder Gilbert uses the word amplify eight times in his talk. We have invited Brad Streeter to talk with us about what it means to amplify something, what an amplifier is, and the attributes of an amplifier. In doing so, I will acknowledge that as I thought about our panel this morning, I remembered a line from a Sesame Street song “One of These Things Is Not like the Other.” But I will not finish the second half of that line, because Brad definitely belongs on this panel. He is the only one of us who actually knows how an amplifier works. So, Brad, do you want to talk to us about an amplifier and some of its attributes?

Brad Streeter. Sure. An amplifier is in most of our electronic devices that we have today. It’s just an electronic circuit that takes an input signal and increases it by means of an external power source. In an ideal situation, an amplifier’s input signal is identical to its output signal. In audiovisual, we actually use an amplifier to take an input source, like a microphone, increase its amplitude, or its size, and be able to send it through an output source, like a speaker. There are a number of attributes or qualities of an amplifier that can be measured, and manufacturers will actually specify or publish those in an electrical specification. And that’s what we use when we’re actually selecting an amplifier. Four of those are of particular interest to us. They include gain, efficiency, linearity, and noise.

Esplin. Thank you, Brad. We are going to apply these principles of an amplifier to our settings in Religious Education. In what ways does gain impact our ability to amplify the prophetic messages? In what ways does efficiency impact our ability to amplify prophetic messages? In what ways can we impact or improve our linearity? Finally, how does noise affect our ability to amplify prophetic messages? Brad, do you want to give us an example of gain and what that might mean for an amplifier?

Streeter. Sure. Gain refers to how much a signal is able to be amplified. So that could be as little as a pair of headphones, or it could be millions of times larger in order to be able to get sound out to something like a large stadium. Not only does that allow us to get above the noise of the stadium but also allows us to get the distance going from one end of the stadium all the way to the other.

Esplin. Thank you. As we discussed this in advance of our meeting, we discussed the phrase, “Garbage in, garbage out.” You only get an effective output when you have an effective input. Comparing this to religious educators, I am grateful for my colleagues, those who have demonstrated the ability to increase gain in amplifying prophetic messages. In Religious Education at BYU, we are blessed by a number of colleagues who have found ways to incorporate prophetic messages in their classes, in their syllabi, in their assignments, and as President Shane Reese mentioned earlier today, in their personal lives. I have witnessed among my faculty a desire to increase the gain, the input of prophetic messages that they are bringing in so that they can amplify the output that they are able to demonstrate to the students. Rory, I think you had some thoughts on this as well.

Rory Bigelow. I’ve been thinking about what I can do personally to increase the gain, or the input signal, from prophets, seers, and revelators? And the first thought that came to mind was Alma 17:2–3. We learn from the sons of Mosiah that they had, and I’ll quote here, “They had searched the scriptures diligently, that they might know the word of God. But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy.” And I think about that: in order for me to increase the volume of the output, I need to increase the input level in my personal life. And there are certain things I can do to increase the input or attune my ear to better hear prophetic messages and to study them.

I remember sitting in a meeting with religious educators, where we were talking about addresses that we had been asked to study. It quickly became very, very clear that the members of that group had studied, read, reread and restudied, the talk. What they shared and learned just naturally came as a by-product of having first soaked in it. So, I think the sons of Mosiah are a perfect example for us. In order to increase the gain, we have to first be intentional about our efforts to obtain the word.

Esplin. As we talked with Brad, in an amplifier setting, it is not the quality alone, necessarily, of the input, that affects gain—it is also the amplifier itself, its technical abilities that impacts amplification. As gospel teachers, our message—the Lord’s message is perfect through his prophets, seers, and revelators. But I, as an amplifier, need to be able to be prepared to effect positive gain. Aaron, you were going to share something else as well on gain.

Aaron Shumway. Well, I’m thinking—and Brad, you’ll have to correct me if I’m wrong—but to amplify a whisper to a stadium is going to be harder than amplifying a much larger signal. Is that so? So the size of the input, no matter how much the gain—your amplifier could be the biggest gain of any amplifier, but if the signal coming in is small, the signal coming out will not be as powerful—and so it makes sense, from a religious educator’s standpoint, when the Lord told Hyrum Smith, “Seek not to declare my word, but first seek to obtain my word.”[2] I mean, if I’m just reading these talks once, and I think I got it, I’m at the whisper level. And even if I do a lot in my classrooms, I just don’t have a lot to work with. And so that message to Hyrum resonates with me. First, seek to obtain. We need to be immersed, as Rory said, in this so that the gain that we do have produces an even more powerful output.

Streeter. And, frankly, the amplifier has to do less work if you give it more on the input.

Esplin. Thank you, Brad. We’re going to turn our attention now for just a few minutes to efficiency. Brad, can you talk to us about efficiency and what it means for an amplifier?

Streeter. Sure. Amplifiers basically have to use an electrical signal to get signal out of it. Some amplifiers do this better than others. And, frankly, if it’s not doing it well, it typically just releases heat—and sometimes a lot of heat. But it’s really how well the amplifier uses the power that’s applied to it.

Esplin. Thank you. Aaron, what thoughts do you have about how efficiency might relate to us as religious educators?

Shumway. Thanks. I take that one personally. And I remember a quote from Elder Neal A. Maxwell saying, “You teach what you are.”[3] And when I think of efficiency, if I’m an amplifier, I don’t want to do anything that turns this wonderful signal into heat. That’s not helpful in the output. And there are principles of preserving that power. I’m thinking specifically of Doctrine and Covenants 121. If I’m letting my bowels be full of charity, if I’m letting virtue garnish my thoughts unceasingly, if I’m letting the doctrine of the priesthood or the doctrine of the gospel just kind of settle upon my soul, if I strive to have the Holy Ghost as my constant companion, I’m a power preserver and not a depleter. And, very interestingly, that same section gives me some ideas about power depletion. And I’m going to change the wording and you’ll all recognize it. But in the context of Religious Education, as a warning to myself, it warns me that if I seek to cover my lack of preparation or to gratify my ability to keep students captivated or to exercise any kind of control in the classroom unrighteously and in my classroom management style, I’m depleting power. My efficiency as an amplifier goes way down.

Esplin. Sometimes doing that increases the heat in our students’ personal lives too. They return that heat to us in a variety of ways.

Shumway. Yeah, well, nobody wants to hear a person just spouting a lot of hot air—exactly—if that’s heat.

Esplin. Thank you. Dave, what thoughts do you have on efficiency?

Peck. Well, just to add to what Aaron shared, I’m so inspired to rub shoulders with teachers that are quietly and humbly seeking to be that kind of a person they’re trying to encourage their students to be. They’re walking that path, and they’re leading their students by filling their lives with light and with joy. They’re studying, they’re immersing themselves in the gospel and in the prophet’s words. And I see that power increase in them. And I feel it. Their students feel it. And we’re all blessed by it.

Esplin. Thank you, Dave. Rory, you have some experiences, I think, in this area as it relates to communication and especially foreign language acquisition,

Bigelow. I think anyone who’s learned a foreign language will understand this, that the individual who’s learning a foreign language can either inhibit and reduce the effectiveness of the translation or they can improve it. I asked my son if I could have permission to share this, and he said yes. He served his mission in the Belgium/Netherlands Mission, Portuguese speaking. And one of the roles that he had was to translate from Dutch into Portuguese in a sacrament meeting. It was two or three months into the mission, and his level of understanding of the source language, Dutch, was much lower than the target language, Portuguese. And he said one time the brother got up to bear his testimony—it was a fast and testimony meeting—he was going so fast. He said, “I just couldn’t do it. I couldn’t keep up.” So he said—in the Portuguese translation, he said, “We will now hear from Elder Renlund,” and he just started reading a conference talk in Portuguese to this brother. And he didn’t know any different because he didn’t understand Dutch.

I like the way you talked about it, Aaron. There’s another element that leads to inefficiency, and that element is me, it is my lack of skill and ability. Like the example with my son, if I haven’t paid a price to understand both the source and target language, then my inability gets in the way of the message. If you’re speaking a language, if you’re teaching the gospel as a full-time missionary and you can’t “speak the language”, the Holy Ghost—we all know this—the Holy Ghost can make up all the difference.[4] My responsibility is to improve my ability so that my weakness doesn’t cloud the path to the Savior. I think another thing we should do is think in terms of how can I be a more efficient conduit? I need to pay a price, and I need to be better.

Esplin. And I’m grateful for so many of our colleagues who have paid that price as I’ve watched the last two years following Elder Gilbert’s invitation. Earlier, Brad mentioned linearity. How does it affect an amplifier?

Streeter. Linearity is really a representation of how well the output of the amplifier matches the input. As I mentioned before, an ideal amplifier, the output would be identical to the input but just at a larger scale. I’m sure many of you have heard poor audio. This is just a short clip of an audio clip that represents some of the things that can actually be introduced by an amplifier that distorts the quality of the audio coming on the output.

[audio clip is played]

Esplin. Thank you, Brad. Dave, talk to us about your thoughts on linearity as it relates to religious educators.

Peck. Thank you, Scott, and thank you, Brad, for that illustration. I’ve enjoyed diving into this topic of amplifying, and I’ve learned a lot from my colleagues as I’ve studied specifically linearity for this discussion today. I came across a statement that I thought was interesting and added some insight. And it reads like this: “Linearity is when the output signal changes proportionately to the input signal.” I’ll say that again: the output signal changes proportionally to the input signal. So, in other words, the output signal is true to the input. That really was profound to me as a religious educator. The question we could ask ourselves could be, Am I true to the prophetic signals that I’ve been receiving? Do I adjust when and how the prophet adjusts? Or, in other words, am I aligned? That, to me, was just a really profound concept, and maybe I could even borrow from Ammaron’s description of the young Mormon. Are we quick to observe? (Mormon 1:2) And when it comes to misaligning, drift can creep in so subtly, even if it’s almost imperceptible. And if I could share, it reminded me of an invitation that Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf extended to us a number of years ago that I think relates to this topic: “We should regularly recheck our position on that charted course and make sure that we are not slowly drifting off course. The more we treasure the scriptures and the words of the prophets and apply them, the better we will be able to recognize when we are drifting—even if by only a few degrees.”[5] And that stood out to me. A matter of a few degrees really does matter.

This brings to mind one more passage out of John chapter 7. And here we see what I think is a perfect example of what alignment looks like. And this comes from the Savior himself: “My doctrine is not mine, but his that sent me.”[6] There is never any question where he faced, and there is never any deviation. And I’m so grateful for that example. So, with that in mind, those are a few thoughts that have helped me — an example of perfect linearity. Thank you.

Bigelow. Yeah, when we talked about this before, I just couldn’t help but think in terms of what we’ve been taught so far, of what Elder Neil L. Andersen taught us last year in Seminaries and Institutes about the power of Jesus Christ and his pure doctrine. Elder Andersen said this: “A few question their faith when they find a statement made by a Church leader decades ago that seems incongruent with our doctrine. There is an important principle that governs the doctrine of the Church. The doctrine is taught by all 15 members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve. It is not hidden in an obscure paragraph of one talk. True principles are taught frequently and by many.” And then this statement: “Our doctrine is not difficult to find.”[7] And I think perfect linearity is linearity in the sense that we are aligned with doctrine taught by all fifteen members of the First Presidency and Quorum of Twelve Apostles.

Esplin. Their full message, their full context, what they are sharing. Thank you, Rory. Brad, do you want to talk to us about the fourth one? Talk to us about noise. And what does that mean for an amplifier?

Streeter. Sure. Noise is really just a measure of the unwanted signal that’s introduced by the amplifier into the output. Oftentimes, and particularly as we deal with it in audiovisual, is it tends to impact the way we hear and the way that we understand the audio signal.

Esplin. Thank you. Rory, I know you’ve given some thought to this. What does noise mean for a religious educator?

Bigelow. I think of all of them, noise is the one that can be almost imperceptible in our own personal lives. Noise can come internally, from the amplifier itself. It can also come externally from the conditions surrounding the amplifier. And I think in terms of the first scripture that came to mind was Matthew 14, the Savior’s walking on the water. You’re familiar with this. And he sees the Savior, and Jesus says, “Come.” You know, “Lord, if it be thou, bid me come unto thee on the water.” And the Savior says, “Come.” “And when Peter was come down out of the ship, he walked on the water, to go to Jesus.”[8] And I just think what kind of faith and focus and trust it must have taken for the Savior to see Peter and say, “Come.” And then for Peter to act and walk on the water, I thought it was remarkable. And then we read this, verse 30. “But when he saw the wind boisterous, he was afraid; and beginning to sink, he cried, saying, Lord, save me.”

Thinking in terms of our amplifier analogy, if I allow anything, to get in the way of what I should be focused on, it can piggyback and even override what matters most, it becomes a parasite of sorts. It attaches itself, and if I am not careful, I may allow external thoughts and influences to interfere with the message that we are teaching. If I’m not careful, I can find myself teaching something that is not core to the message and is not the intent of the author. If I am not careful, I then color the message by my own opinion or maybe what social media is telling me, all of that then becomes unwanted noise. It’s an unwanted signal that sometimes is delivered. I think we sometimes even do this tacitly. For example, when students make inaccurate comments that we just let slide, that we don’t acknowledge. Our silence on a subject may be interpreted as “Brother Bigelow just endorsed something that may not be core doctrine.” We have to be really, really careful of, that we don’t allow unwanted messages to creep in.

I’ll share this as well. This is, I think, a perfect example from President Nelson of noise that could creep in. In 2018, when he gave his talk “The Correct Name of the Church,” President Nelson said, “Brothers and sisters, there are many worldly arguments against restoring the correct name of the Church.” Think about the external noise that could have influenced the name change, the pivot back to the correction. Really, he called it a course correction in his talk. He said, “Critics say that a correction at this point is unwise. Others feel that because we are known so widely as ‘Mormons’ and as the ‘Mormon Church,’ we should make the best of it. If this were a discussion about branding a man-made organization, those arguments might prevail.” I think about things like that. How often do we allow the worldly perspective to, parasite-like, attach itself to a prophetic message? And then President Nelson said this: “But in this crucial matter, we look to Him whose Church this is and acknowledge that the Lord’s ways are not, and never will be, man’s ways.”[9] And so I think President Nelson is a perfect example of not allowing an unwanted noise to attach itself to a prophetic message.

Esplin. I am going to come back to see if anyone else on our panel has additional thoughts on noise, but it reminded me of something President Meredith mentioned earlier when he quoted from section 52: “declaring none other [thing]” (verse 36; see also verse 9). There are times that we introduce messages other than what prophets and apostles teach, and that introduces noise into our classroom. Does anyone else have any other thoughts on noise? Dave, would you share with us?

Peck. It can be difficult to cut noise out of our world. There’s just so much of it. An idea from Preach My Gospel in chapter 8 actually comes to my mind. In this section, I feel they’re giving us a really powerful noise-reducing filter. It’s a simple question, and it’s directed at missionaries, but I think it can be easily adapted to our setting. And you’ll recognize this. Here’s how it reads. “If you cannot see how your efforts might help a person progress in a way that is reflected in your key indicators, evaluate whether the activity is a good use of your time.”[10] Such a simple concept. Now, we could rephrase this for our work. If you cannot see how your efforts in the classroom develop disciples of Jesus Christ who are leaders in their homes, the Church, or their communities, evaluate whether the activity is a good use of your time. Such a simple question. We just can’t do everything. I think this question really helps us to find ways to reduce, to simplify and to focus on those things that matter the very most.

Esplin. Thank you. Since we were assigned this topic and settled on the discussion of an amplifier, I have been thinking a lot about ways that I could be better. I need to be better. I need to eliminate noise in my life. I want to make sure my message is perfectly aligned, that I have good linearity. I can increase in the gain through ways that I’m taking up more of the prophetic messages and then ways that I can be more efficient in the delivery of that. As was mentioned earlier, we see this in our prophets, seers, and revelators, that they amplify President Nelson’s voice. I’m grateful for Aaron and his team at BYU–Hawaii. pPSeveral of his students assembled a montage that we want to share with you of the prophets, seers, and revelators amplifying President Nelson’s messages.

[video begins]

President Dallin H. Oaks. “We have been reminded by many speakers at this conference that President Russell M. Nelson often refers to the plan of salvation as the ‘covenant path.’”[11]

President Henry B. Eyring. “In recent conference addresses, President Russell M. Nelson taught: ‘The safest place to be spiritually is living inside your temple covenants!’”[12]

President Jeffrey R. Holland. “In spite of frightful prophecies and unsettling scriptures declaring that peace would be taken from the earth generally, the prophets, including our own beloved Russell M. Nelson, have taught that it does not have to be taken from us individually!”[13]

Elder Ronald A. Rasband. “President Nelson has a way with words. He has said, ‘Keep on the covenant path,’ ‘Gather Israel,’ ‘Let God prevail.’”[14]

Elder Dale G. Renlund. “Spiritual momentum is created ‘over a lifetime as we repeatedly embrace the doctrine of Christ.’ Doing so, President Russell M. Nelson taught, produces a ‘powerful, virtuous cycle.’”[15]

Elder Ulisses Soares. “Our dear prophet, President Russell M. Nelson, reminds us about this vital principle by saying: ‘The temple lies at the center of strengthening our faith and its spiritual fortitude because the Savior and His doctrine are the very heart of the temple.’”[16]

Elder Gerrit W. Gong. “As President Russell M. Nelson teaches, ‘Everything we believe and every promise God has made to His covenant people come together in the temple.’”[17]

Elder Patrick Kearon. “You will remember when President Russell M. Nelson issued the following invitation in general conference. He said: ‘As you study your scriptures . . . , I encourage you to make a list of all the Lord has promised He will do for covenant Israel. I think you will be astounded!’”[18]

Elder Gary E. Stevenson. “How important is this gift? President Russell M. Nelson answered this question categorically when he stated that ‘in coming days, it will not be possible to survive spiritually without the guiding, directing, comforting, and constant influence of the Holy Ghost.’”[19]

Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf. “President Nelson taught: ‘When your greatest desire is to let God prevail [in your life], . . . many decisions become easier. . . . Many issues become nonissues!’”[20]

Elder Quentin L. Cook. “We follow the counsel of our beloved prophet, President Nelson: we choose the role of ‘a peacemaker, now and always.’”[21]

Elder D. Todd Christofferson. “President Russell M. Nelson has urged us to ‘think celestial,’ making the celestial kingdom our eternal goal.”[22]

Elder Neil L. Andersen. “President Russell M. Nelson has declared: ‘Our Savior and Redeemer, Jesus Christ, will perform some of His mightiest works between now and when He comes again.’”[23]

Elder David A. Bednar. “Six months ago in general conference, President Nelson described his personal elation as he was led to a new insight about the meaning of the word Israel. He told us that his soul was stirred as he learned that ‘the very name of Israel refers to a person who is willing to let God prevail in his or her life.’”[24]

[video ends]

Esplin. Thank you, Aaron, for putting that together for us. We would like to conclude by modeling, emphasizing, and applying the invitation to amplify prophetic messages by sharing messages that have stood out to us over the last several years from President Nelson. Rory, would you start for us? Share a message that you’d like to amplify.

Bigelow. Happy to. I just want to make a comment before. And we’ve been speaking in terms of what we can do as amplifiers in our classroom settings and as we interact with others, but I think there’s value in also thinking about what do we do to help our students to be amplifiers? That it’s one thing that we ourselves need to do some work, but there’s something to be said for helping those whom we love and teach to also be amplifiers of prophetic messages. We don’t want to suffer from “center of the universe syndrome,” right? That we think that it’s all about us and it’s certainly not.

This is one that President Nelson made in his talk “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives.” And the reason why I selected it is because, for me, it aligns with this idea of amplification and reducing noise and greater linearity and greater efficiency and what I can do to increase the gain.

President Nelson said this:

Find a quiet place where you can regularly go. Humble yourself before God. Pour out your heart to your Heavenly Father. Turn to Him for answers and for comfort.

Pray in the name of Jesus Christ about your concerns, your fears, your weaknesses—yes, the very longings of your heart. And then listen! Write the thoughts that come to your mind. Record your feelings and follow through with actions that you are prompted to take. As you repeat this process day after day, month after month, year after year, you will “grow into the principle of revelation.”[25]

And for me this says—this is how I need to be a greater amplifier. It tells me what I need to do in my life.

Esplin. Thank you for that reminder about ways we can help our students do the same. Well done. Dave, what did you select?

Peck. Thank you. A message that came to my mind—as I’ve been thinking about alignment and amplifying—relates to covenants and the power and the ability covenants have to align us with God and to help us to connect with his power. This promise from President Nelson has really been resonating with me:

Once you and I have made a covenant with God, our relationship with Him becomes much closer than before our covenant. Now we are bound together. Because of our covenant with God, He will never tire in His efforts to help us, and we will never exhaust His merciful patience with us. Each of us has a special place in God’s heart.[26]

That’s a message I need to hear from time to time. I know my students do too. I see some heavy hands, some heavy eyes on my students’ faces and some heavy hearts. And they wonder, “Am I going it alone? Does anybody know me? Is anyone aware of me?” I love testifying to them, as President Nelson has, you are known of him, and you are beloved, and he hears and answers your prayers. And I know that he sent his Son to save us. His dear prophet is here to point us to the Savior and his redeeming power. And that’s blessed my life.

Esplin. Thank you, Dave. Aaron, what did you select?

Shumway. Well, I love observing our faculty. As you have all said, it’s such a wonderful privilege to rub shoulders with people who are trying to take these messages to heart, and I’ve learned a lot from them. And as I watch how each individual faculty member tries to internalize and use and amplify these prophetic messages, I imagine all the choices that are made in learning activities, in which talks, at which time, and for which students. And so I was drawn to “Think Celestial!” last October but in the context of us as religious educators: “When you make choices, I invite you to take the long view—an eternal view. Put Jesus Christ first because your eternal life is dependent upon your faith in Him and in His Atonement. It is also dependent upon your obedience to His laws.”[27]

When I make choices about what content to cover, which learning activities to use, which students I need to reach out to because I haven’t seen them two class periods in a row. All those to think celestial, think a long view. It’s not just about a grade or just about immediate kinds of things, but Jesus Christ is concerned about their eternal life. That’s why he came. And if I have those same concerns, I’m going to think differently in the choices I make in the classroom, outside of the classroom, as I work with these students. So this really resonated with me.

Esplin. Thank you all for being part of this panel. Thank you, Brad, for your expertise. I smiled because when you get the director of AV on the stage, all the AV cooperates. It just behaves, it knows. So, thank you, Brad. And thank you, brethren, for all that you do for our colleagues and students across the system. I’m grateful to work with each of you, for your kindness to me and for your examples and all that you teach me.

Like you mentioned, Aaron, the quote I came up with was connected to a dear colleague of ours that I have watched quietly over the last couple of years. He has taken President Nelson’s invitation to make the temple the center of his life. I realize not everyone can do this, depending on life circumstance, but he goes to the temple weekly, and I have watched what it has done for that man and his family. And so I thought of this quote from President Nelson’s April 2024 general conference talk: “My dear brothers and sisters, here is my promise. Nothing will help you more to hold fast to the iron rod than worshipping in the temple as regularly as your circumstances permit. Nothing will protect you more as you encounter the world’s mists of darkness. Nothing will bolster your testimony of the Lord Jesus Christ and His Atonement or help you understand God’s magnificent plan more. Nothing will soothe your spirit more during times of pain. Nothing will open the heavens more. Nothing!”[28]

That is what I want for my students. That is what I want for my faculty. And that is what I want for my family. I want those blessings. I am grateful for good colleagues, a good wife, who helps me get to the temple more frequently than I had in the past. Because she wants those blessings for our family too. I am grateful to be with you. Thank you. As we look forward to amplifying prophetic messages, I testify of prophets, seers, and revelators and the divine beings whom they represent, our Heavenly Father and his Beloved Son, Jesus Christ. I am grateful for them and for our chance to serve as religious educators in God’s kingdom on earth. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

Notes

[1] Clark G. Gilbert, “Speak, Lord; for Thy Servant Heareth,” Seminaries and Institutes annual broadcast, January 26, 2024, https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/learn/mobile-applications/gospel-library.

[2] Doctrine and Covenants 11:21.

[3] Neal A. Maxwell, “You Teach What You Are,” address to Church Educational System religious educators, September 10, 1982, 2.

[4] Doctrine and Covenants 52:9, 36.

[5] Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “A Teacher of God’s Children,” address to Church Educational System religious educators, January 28, 2011.

[6] John 7:16.

[7] Neil L. Andersen, “Trial of Your Faith,” Liahona, November 2012, 41.

[8] Matthew 14:28–29.

[9] Russell M. Nelson, “The Correct Name of the Church,” Liahona, November 2018, 87–88.

[10] Preach My Gospel: A Guide to Sharing the Gospel of Jesus Christ (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, 2023), 149.

[11] Dallin H. Oaks, “Covenants and Responsibilities,” Liahona, May 2024, 95.

[12] Henry B. Eyring, “All Will Be Well Because of Temple Covenants,” Liahona, May 2025, 25.

[13] Jeffrey R. Holland, “Not as the World Giveth,” Liahona, May 2021, 35.

[14] Ronald A. Rasband, “Words Matter,” Liahona, May 2024, 75.

[15] Dale G. Renlund, “The Powerful, Virtuous Cycle of the Doctrine of Christ,” Liahona, May 2024, 81.

[16] Ulisses Soares, “Covenant Confidence through Jesus Christ,” Liahona, May 2024, 19.

[17] Gerrit W. Gong, “All Things for Our Good,” Liahona, May 2024, 44.

[18] Patrick Kearon, “He Is Risen with Healing in His Wings: We Can Be More Than Conquerors,” Liahona, May 2022, 37–38.

[19] Gary E. Stevenson, “Promptings of the Spirit,” Liahona, November 2023, 43.

[20] Dieter F. Uchtdorf, “Jesus Christ Is the Strength of Youth,” Liahona, November 2022, 11.

[21] Quentin L. Cook, “Be Peaceable Followers of Christ,” Liahona, November 2023, 83.

[22] D. Todd Christofferson, “The Testimony of Jesus,” Liahona, May 2024, 97.

[23] Neil L. Andersen, “Temples, Houses of the Lord Dotting the Earth,”

Liahona, May 2024, 113.

[24] David A. Bednar, “The Principles of My Gospel,” Liahona, May 2021, 125.

[25] Russell M. Nelson, “Revelation for the Church, Revelation for Our Lives,”

Liahona, May 2018, 95.

[26] Russell M. Nelson, “The Everlasting Covenant,” Liahona, October 2022, 6.

[27] Russell M. Nelson, “Think Celestial!,” Liahona, November 2023, 118.

[28] Russell M. Nelson, “Rejoice in the Gift of Priesthood Keys,” Liahona, May 2024, 122.