Sculpture of David with his slingshot by Gustave Piguet, 1952. Wikimedia Commons.

ABSTRACT: David set aside Saul’s unwieldy armor and instead selected five smooth stones to successfully slay the giant. Likewise, today’s youth must take the initiative in preparing for life’s battles, guided by teachers who help them assume responsibility for their own learning. Gospel teachers are most effective when they foster a student-centered environment, anchor learning in the word of God, encourage personal application, engage with students’ questions, teach skills for evaluating history, and model the wise use of technology. In this way, teachers equip youth to meet future challenges—no matter how big—with faith and confidence.

KEYWORDS: teaching the gospel, conversion, doctrine

Have you ever felt like you just could not prepare someone for an experience? That’s because sometimes you can’t. There our family was in line for a rollercoaster, and I was frantically trying to explain to my four-year-old twin boys what they were about to experience. Fun? Yes. Scary? Yes. Any attempt to explain the emotions they were going to feel fell flat. Ultimately, those brave boys got on and, as a pretty iconic picture shows, they were completely unprepared. Teaching our students does not have to be like this, but sometimes we unwittingly do this anyway.

Consider a moment in the Old Testament story of David and Goliath. King Saul is desperately trying to prepare David for the monumental task that lies ahead—slaying a giant—and David boldly declares, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him; thy servant will go and fight with this Philistine” (1 Samuel 17:32). David’s courage is met with dismissal: “Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him,” Saul declares, “for thou art but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth” (v. 33). Relying on previous spiritual experiences, David relays to Saul where his courage comes from: “The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine” (v. 37). Clearly, David is no ordinary youth but perhaps has “come to the kingdom for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14). Saul realizes that since David is willing and confident, he must go. However, wanting to give David a fighting chance, Saul gives what he feels is the best gift to offer: his armor, a king’s armor, tried and true. But there is a problem. After getting dressed, David tries to set off but is unaccustomed to the heavy armor. His statement to Saul teaches an important lesson: “I cannot go with these; for I have not proved them” (1 Samuel 17:39).

This lesson provides a caution for us as religious educators. Are we at times like Saul? Do we unintentionally send students out of our classrooms with our armor, our testimonies, our teachings, our revelations—which ultimately won’t fit them? David could not wear Saul’s unproven armor to fight Goliath; our students cannot use our testimonies or experiences to sufficiently arm themselves against Goliath-sized challenges that may await them in their life. Therefore, we must use methodology that will allow them to have their own learning experiences. Recently President D. Todd Christofferson, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, taught, “It is essential that we teach in a way that invites students to exercise their agency in the learning process. We want to help them become active participants in the process and take responsibility for their own learning. Activating students’ agency to take personal ownership in learning has implications for the development of lasting belief, lasting testimony. It is in so doing that they can become active and lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ.”[1] This kind of learning is called diligent learning.

Unable to fight with armor that is not his own, David grabs his staff and goes where he knows he can get what he needs. He “chose him five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in a shepherd’s bag . . . ; and his sling was in his hand” (1 Samuel 17:40). In the April 2024 general conference, Sister Andrea Muñoz Spannaus, Second Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, gave an impactful address. Using David’s five stones as an analogy, she named five truths that youth can use to defeat Goliaths in their lives.[2] This paper will similarly use the stones as a metaphor, with different ideas attached to them for a more teacher-facing audience. Teachers who use these stones can help students acquire the skills they need for lifelong discipleship and future victory through diligent learning.

Student Voice in the Learning Process

While our armor, our testimony, and our experiences and teachings may seem the easiest to give students, we need to trust them enough to find armor for themselves. Recent prophetic counsel to religious educators has emphasized the importance of having students participate in and interact with our lessons differently. The manual Teaching in the Savior’s Way asks us to reflect on how we can “invite learners to take responsibility for their learning.”[3]

There are a few guiding principles that should help determine how a teacher decides to invite learners to take responsibility for their learning. Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles shared this thought, “Our intent ought not to be ‘What do I tell them?’ Instead, the questions to ask ourselves are ‘What can I invite them to do? What inspired questions can I ask that, if they are willing to respond, will begin to invite the Holy Ghost into their lives?’”[4]

Recently, Elder Alvin F. Meredith III, president of BYU–Idaho, taught religious educators, “How we serve the gospel can make the difference between pouring information into the minds of our students and inspiring them to be diligent learners who change their hearts, views, actions, and very natures to become lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ.”[5]

Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles reminded us to consider more attentively the needs of our students. He wanted us as religious educators to ensure that what we are giving to our students in class will strengthen them spiritually. He taught, “Those nourished with spiritual Twinkies are unlikely to become lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ.”[6]

One of the most powerful ways that we can invite students to take responsibility is by trusting them. In January 2025 Elder Clark G. Gilbert of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who at the time was serving as Commissioner of Church Education, instructed teachers, “Please trust your students. This is the only way they will become who the Lord needs them to become. We are not disseminating information, nor are we simply inspiring our students with dynamic personality and engaging lessons. We are preparing students to survive spiritually in an increasingly challenging season.”[7]

President Jeffrey R. Holland taught, “Remember that a student is not a container to be filled; a student is a fire to be ignited.”[8]

Our students must prove their armor and testimonies themselves if they are going to be successful and durable disciples. For diligent learning to begin, students must be provided with a student-centered learning experience where they have a voice, receive truth, are trusted, and feel inspired to continue learning.

Jesus Christ and diligent learning

During the Savior’s mortal ministry, he frequently gave his students space to learn for themselves. When Jesus meets with a Samaritan woman at the well, he begins by simply asking for water to drink and then instructs her about living water. Beginning at her beliefs, Christ allows her to ask questions and gradually leads the discussion until she discovers for herself that Jesus is the Messiah. Her reaction speaks volumes about her learning experience: “The woman then left her waterpot, and went her way into the city, and saith to the men, Come, see a man, which told me all things that ever I did: is not this the Christ?” (John 4:28–29).

In another instance, Christ and his apostles are tasked with feeding over five thousand people. Rather than immediately solving the problem with a miracle, the Savior turns to Philip and asks, “Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat?” (John 6:5). This is a hard question to ask suddenly of these Apostles. It was going to be difficult enough to find bread, let alone ensure that there was enough of it somewhere to feed the multitude. John, however, gives us an illuminating aside in this moment. Speaking of Jesus, John informs us as readers, “And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do” (John 6:6). Christ knew that a miracle would be needed, but he was giving his disciples a chance to use their agency and work things out among themselves. By allowing them to act in faith and produce an outcome, which he could then bless, the Apostles increased their testimonies of the Savior Jesus Christ and learned more deeply what he could offer in their lives.

The Lord consistently offered opportunities for diligent learning to his followers, and even to those who questioned him. Diligent learning engages students differently because it requires faith and action from them, which allows them to become something different, or at least empowers them to become something different by the end of the lesson. Diligent learning—the kind of learning the Savior wants us to offer to our students—is “not just listening or reading; it’s also changing, repenting, and progressing.”[9]

In the story of David and Goliath, David chose five stones to arm himself. What are some smooth stones that religious educators can direct their students toward so that they can strengthen their own discipleship?

The Stone of the Curriculum

The word of God, whether in ancient scriptures or modern general conference addresses, is an irreplaceable tool that can help students learn diligently. Church curriculum for religious education classrooms is scripture-based and seeks to help teachers amplify prophetic voices.

The Lord knew Lehi was a powerful teacher, powerful enough that when he spoke, “being filled with the Spirit,” the record says of his students—his sons—that “their frames did shake before him” (1 Nephi 2:14). Even though Lehi’s sons were instructed that powerfully, the Lord sent them back to Jerusalem for a curriculum to teach from: the brass plates. Lehi was an expert at using that curriculum to bless the lives of others. Revelation, determination, and hard work were all required to obtain that curriculum, and as soon as Lehi had it, it began to work wonders, improving the diligent learning of his sons. The same can be said about the process of writing Church curriculum to produce lesson outlines for instructors.

We read that after Lehi read through the curriculum, the brass plates, “he was filled with the Spirit” (1 Nephi 5:17). He continued to search the plates and “found that they were desirable; yea, even of great worth” (v. 21). This great worth proves itself time and time again as it repeatedly sparks the desire in Nephi to increase his own learning. After the visions and teachings recorded in 1 Nephi 8 and 10, Nephi wrote that he “desired to know the thing that [his] father had seen” (1 Nephi 11:1). This led to Nephi using his agency to have remarkable learning experiences that deepened his conversion to Jesus Christ and allowed him to become a lifelong, devoted disciple.

The curriculum provides more than just pacing helps or talking points. While discussions about lesson themes might be nice, Brother Jason Willard, who recently trained religious educators about using the curriculum, stated, “We’ve got to be careful that we stay rooted in the word of God, that those bolded truths [in the lesson curriculum] aren’t just nice things written on a page, but they’re powerful truths from Heavenly Father found in His word, and that we’re aiming clearly at that target so that all that we do in that lesson comes back to that.”[10]

When deciding what to change or where to divert from curricula in our lesson preparation, it would be prudent to remember that certain aspects of the curriculum are designed for diligent learning. Recent curriculum training advises, “The lesson purpose, the context of a block, or the bolded truth may be less appropriate to adapt than how a lesson begins or what examples a teacher might share of a bolded truth.”[11]

Lehi’s teaching power increases after he uses the curriculum. Likewise, the curriculum for religious education, as well as other correlated material, establish conduits to Christ and his power for our classrooms. As we adopt the curriculum and adapt it to our classrooms, we ensure that our students are equipped with skills that will bless them. The smooth stones that the curriculum gives our students are vital to their victory out of our classes.

The Stone of Case Study Methodology

The scriptures are rife with eternal truths and examples of how to apply the gospel, but even so students can find them difficult to liken unto themselves in their modern circumstances. Think about how the Savior used ordinary situations to explain deep gospel principles. Jesus specifically said that he taught in parables “because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand” (Matthew 13:13), meaning that these teachings could only be understood by someone who was willing to think, ponder, pray, reflect, and seek to understand. These parables engaged learners differently than sermons may have done because they required a certain active participation on the part of the learner. What might have happened in Peter’s heart as he heard Christ teach the parable of the wicked servant in Matthew 18:21–33? What stirrings might the lawyer have felt when Jesus gave him the parable of the good Samaritan to consider in Luke 10:25–37? These are examples of case study methodology used by Christ to invite listeners to engage in diligent learning. Parables made his teachings relevant to listeners and allowed them to think and feel more deeply.

Brother Chad H Webb, First Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency, has taught that making the gospel relevant is more than just talking with students about current events: “Relevance that leads to conversion is established as the Holy Ghost helps students understand God’s plan, Jesus’s central role in that plan, and the significance of the gospel in our daily lives. Relevance that leads to conversion helps students see how the scriptures and teachings of modern prophets relate to their circumstances and needs. It helps them recognize how the gospel answers the questions of their souls. It happens when they feel inspired to act with faith in Jesus Christ and experience the fulfillment of Heavenly Father’s promised blessings. That is relevance that leads to conversion.”[12]

Carefully crafted case studies can do this in meaningful ways. Case study methodology started at Harvard in 1890 when Christopher Columbus Langdell, the dean of Harvard Law School, began to use cases to teach students skills that would help them in a courtroom. The methodology later evolved with Wallace Brett Donham in 1919 when he invited students to look to current situations in business to solve problems and practice relevant principles.[13] Since then, studies have shown that using case studies as a teaching method can make lessons more enjoyable for students, engage students in a deeper level of learning, and give them a sense of belonging in class.[14]

Case studies that are well written and planned in advance can also be a way for students to prepare for future lessons. Elder Clark G. Gilbert has admonished, “I can always tell when teachers have invited learners to prepare ahead of time, because those invitations are reciprocated by student effort; the discussion is deeper, more meaningful, and has a full measure of the Spirit. Please consider how you might invite learners to prepare to learn ahead of a discussion or classroom activity.”[15] Case studies encourage not only participation in our classrooms but belonging as well. Elder Gilbert went on to teach, “I have also found that asking students ahead of time what you might ask in class helps them prepare and can be particularly effective for students who are shy or feel their comments might not be valued.”[16] These case studies can come from us as teachers but might also come from students. Allowing students to write scenarios or to share moments in their lives when they needed help can increase the sense of belonging in the classroom and relevance to the activity.

This is not always a perfect activity. Students might struggle at first to find ways to interact with the case study or to create deep and relevant answers, but this is a wrestle worth working through. Sister Joy D. Jones, former General Primary President, once taught, “Long before they enter the battlefield of life, how can we more fully strive to teach, fortify, and prepare [our children]? How can we invite them to ‘get far enough in’? Wouldn’t we rather have them ‘sweat’ in [a] safe learning environment . . . than bleed on the battlefields of life?”[17] With practice, students will be able to respond better when circumstances similar to their case studies arrive, having already done much of the work beforehand.

When students are given a meaningful and relevant case study to work through, they can use the scriptures, words of the prophets, and the Holy Ghost to help them solve problems—skills that will bless them long after they leave the classroom. When they encounter a Goliath circumstance in front of them, they will be able to respond with durable discipleship because of the smooth stone of practice through case studies that was placed in their bag before that moment.

The Stone of Student Questions

Lessons can be enhanced by our students. President D. Todd Christofferson defined diligent learning in relation to helping students find answers to their questions when he said, “Ownership of learning needs to be supported in the ways we structure our instruction, so students have opportunities to engage with the depth and rigor required to develop true discipleship.”[18]

As we consider how we structure our instruction, we would do well to make space and time for students to ask their own questions, because this is an important way that youth learn. Teaching in the Savior’s Way informs us, “Youth have a growing desire to learn things by reasoning and experience rather than by simply being told things.”[19] In another part of the handbook, we learn that we can foster this desire by “invit[ing] them to ask their own questions, search for answers, ponder, and share or record their thoughts and feelings. As they do, they will strengthen their faith, discover truths in God’s word, and have their own experiences with these truths.”[20] Further, Elder David A. Bednar has taught, “One of the greatest sources of insight you will have are the questions your students will ask. . . . How do we know what to say or teach until we know where they are?”[21]

Knowing where our students are at mentally, emotionally, and spiritually through their questions is only part of the benefit. As we carefully listen, observe, and discern, we will be able to help them use their agency to have greater learning experiences. This may require us to adjust some of our teaching or lesson plans, but consider the account of the resurrected Lord’s ministry in 3 Nephi 17: The Savior put his cosmic timetable on hold after he discerned the needs of the people of the Americas. They looked on him with unexpressed longing. “And he said unto them: Behold, my bowels are filled with compassion towards you” (3 Nephi 17:6). Rather than departing as he had planned, the Savior adjusted and taught them according to their needs.

There is a caution, however, about interrupting a lesson to respond to individual needs. Elder Dale G. Renlund advised, “It may be unwise for a teacher to allow the entire class to be devoted to answering one person’s important question. Students’ questions should not divert planned curriculum that is designed to build faith. Always remember your objective is to build faith in the whole class, not to get distracted by a vocal few. Like all teaching, handling questions requires the guidance of the Spirit.”[22]

Perhaps religious educators can strike a balance by having flex days in their schedule dedicated to hearing questions from students, helping them learn how to ask questions and find their own answers. These skills are needed to help students navigate the battlefield of information that awaits them once they leave. The ability to ask questions and find answers through diligent learning is another important stone to have in their bag.

The Stone of History Evaluation Skills

Another stone religious educators can use is that of proper history evaluation. Questions about Church history can be difficult to navigate and can range from simple and straightforward to complex and challenging. In his recent address to religious educators, Elder Renlund mentioned that a skill that all students need is the “ability to address questions and concerns they may have about the Church.”[23] Additionally, Keith A. Erekson, the current director of historical research and outreach for the Church, confirmed, “We are responsible to learn all that we can, quote responsibly, help others who struggle, and understand God’s dealings.”[24] As religious educators, we can be righteous examples in the lives of youth by familiarizing ourselves with these resources and by doing these things ourselves. Instead of responding to questions ourselves, if we are knowledgeable of these things, we can show our students how to use them for answers to their own present and future questions.

In the Topics and Questions section of the Gospel Library app, an article called “Work to Understand the Past” provides five skills that students can use when evaluating historical information that they may encounter. These skills can work in tandem with the existing doctrinal mastery skills to further empower students against the Goliath of Church history questions.

For example, if a youth finds that the mechanics of the Book of Mormon translation process seems strange to them, they can learn to “recognize the limits of our knowledge” and “place things in context.” Keith Erekson explains, “A good starting point for making sense of rumors, myths and history is to expect that everything in the past was different. We may find some similarities along the way, but attending to the differences is our first priority. Thinking about change, continuity, and distance helps us place people and events from the past into their proper contexts.”[25] These steps from Topics and Questions can help youth act in faith and understand that waiting for answers is a typical part of learning more about history.

Teachers should also instruct students on the importance not only of relying on divine sources such as scriptures, prophets, and correlated Church content but also of identifying inaccurate sources. The article “Work to Understand the Past” teaches the skill of “watch[ing] for suspect interpretations.” It states, “People make many claims about Church history, both favorable and antagonistic, that fail to meet standards for accuracy, reliability, and fairness.”[26] Another article in Topics and Questions, called “Consult Reliable Sources,” states, “Learning to assess the quality of our sources of information involves both spiritual and intellectual work.”[27] It goes on to present six skills that can help students learn more about historical sources: an ability to evaluate the reliability of sources, learn to recognize bias, corroborate what is learned, distinguish facts from interpretation, become familiar with Church resources, and seek guidance from the Holy Ghost. Keith Erekson connected these two sets of principles when he stated that “discernment is a gift of th[e] Spirit as well as a thinking skill that we can improve. Through practice and inspiration, we can develop a discerning eye, an analytical mind, and good judgment.”[28] Using these principles, students can learn the standards of accuracy and reliability and learn how to identify bias, which will better help them acquire spiritual knowledge skills.

Giving students skills to work on is a way of inviting our students to participate in diligent learning. Elder Clark G. Gilbert has taught, “When we teach our students to learn diligently by becoming active participants, we are also teaching them how to seek and receive direction from the Holy Ghost. It is this skill set that will bless them long after they have left our classrooms.”[29] Because of the connectivity of the intellect and the Spirit, religious education classrooms are an important place for students to practice and develop these skills. Such skills become stones that students can use when faced with Goliath-sized questions and concerns.

The Stone of Mobile Technology

One tool that teachers can use to empower their students is technology. There are many different opinions about the roles that mobile technology—including phones, iPads, and other devices—plays in both society at large and the classroom. Works like The Anxious Generation by social psychologist Jonathan Haidt point to the fact that cell phones can rewire a developing brain and provide constant stimulation, filling up much of a young person’s time and taking away certain aspects of their childhood.[30] YouTube, TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat are all apps that are used daily by many youth, and one third of teens use at least one of these apps almost constantly.[31] However, there is more to this narrative. Haidt recently shared on social media that there are good uses for screens that can help with moral training and moral formation.[32] In a study done about the role of technology in learning around the world, researchers at UNESCO found that when technology is used efficiently in a classroom setting, it improves the learning environment and boosts student engagement, learning experiences, creativity, and connectivity to community.[33]

In a recent Y Magazine article, “Mind the App,” some religious educators share their concerns and challenges with using technology to teach students. Richard Culatta, whose nonprofit organization oversees curriculum implementation and technology plans in schools, said, “Don’t ban a tool that kids have to have in order to be healthy members of the community in the future.”[34] Digital citizenship and familiarity with worthwhile educational and study apps, including the Gospel Library app, are all important aspects of learning for students and the future of their discipleship.

In a recent address to young single adults, Elder Bednar taught:

An important aspect of the fulness that is available to us today is a miraculous progression of innovations and inventions that have enabled and accelerated God’s work of salvation and exaltation: from trains to telegraphs to radios to automobiles to airplanes to telephones to transistors to televisions to computers to satellite transmissions to the internet to artificial intelligence—and to an almost endless list of technologies and tools that bless our lives. All of these advancements are part of the Lord hastening His work in the latter days. . . .

The promise for each of us is that we can learn to use this technology appropriately with the guidance, protection, and warnings that come by the power of the Holy Ghost.[35]

Teaching in the Savior’s Way also encourages a more balanced understanding of the role of technology in learning. This handbook states, “If the youth you teach have their own electronic devices, remember that these devices are tools to enhance learning. Teach them how to use their electronic scriptures and other resources found in the Gospel Library.”[36]

President Dallin H. Oaks counseled that the question of using cell phones in class “is not one of forbidding but one of balancing.”[37] One of the Savior’s parables is instructive when viewed through the lens of teaching with technology in the classroom. In Matthew 13 Christ teaches that “every scribe which is instructed unto the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which bringeth forth out of his treasure things new and old” (v. 52). The idea that there are treasures both “new and old” that we as religious educators can bring forth can help us invite our students to participate in diligent learning. It will require some new methodology, and some old, to help students become lifelong disciples of Jesus Christ.

A balanced approach to technology

How can religious educators then strike the balance that President Oaks suggested in his panel discussion? There are some existing resources available to help students learn to use technology in a way that encourages diligent learning. In the Youth section of the Gospel Library app, there is the Taking Charge of Technology resource, wherein there are videos, images, and even lesson curricula that a teacher could use to help youth learn best practices for using technology in class and elsewhere in their lives. Individual lessons about creating a personal technology plan, using technology for positive purposes, and knowing when to disconnect can all be created and subsequently taught to train youth and make them more diligent learners.

Elder Dale G. Renlund recently emphasized teaching youth how to navigate the Topics and Questions section in the Gospel Library app when he testified, “I am confident that you will find these sections and these topics . . . helpful. I pray that your use of these materials will help you and others deepen faith in the Savior.”[38] Activities such as having a Gospel Library app scavenger hunt to learn about the different ways to navigate the app’s content; linking scriptures to conference talks; creating “quotebooks” (notebooks on the app filled with topical quotes from Church leaders); learning more about the new hymns before singing one as part of a devotional; or simply sharing magazine articles, songs, or videos on the app with other students can all be done to invite youth to grow their testimonies and participate in diligent learning.

There is room for the “new and old” in our religious education classrooms. We must help arm youth to confront the digital Goliaths they might face by teaching them the proper use of mobile technology; it will then become a smooth stone that they can carry in their bags to battle.

Conclusion

As teachers find ways to use these stones in their lessons and, more importantly, help students to use these stones in class, students’ power to act and to learn is increased. As for David, the rest of the story after he carefully selects his smooth stones is history. David is able to defeat Goliath with one stone, and his prophecy comes true: “All this assembly shall know that the Lord saveth not with sword and spear: for the battle is the Lord’s” (1 Samuel 17:47).

Diligent learning is how students are allowed to discover truths, have experiences with the Holy Ghost, and deepen their conversion and discipleship to Jesus Christ so that they have their own stones that prepare them well for battle. Hearing their teachers’ testimonies and experiences might protect them from some things but ultimately will not fit them for their many battles ahead.

We can invite diligent learning as we follow the curriculum more completely, use case studies to provide engaging and relevant learning opportunities, allow students to ask their own questions, teach students to analyze historical questions more correctly, and effectively use technology in class.

Goliaths await our students. Our youth leave our buildings and go out on the battlefield daily. They cannot use our armor. We must give them experiences to help them arm themselves and go forth “in the name of the Lord of hosts” (1 Samuel 17:45) to succeed, no matter the size of their challenge.

Notes

[1] D. Todd Christofferson, “Lifelong Disciples of Jesus Christ,” Religious Educators Conference devotional, June 12, 2025, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[2] Andrea Muñoz Spannaus, “Faithful to the End,” Liahona, May 2024, 59–61.

[3] Teaching in the Savior’s Way (2024), 25; PDF available at https://assets.churchofjesuschrist.org/c8/74/c8741a75dbdd11eca030eeeeac1e26a9b3a7c0c0/teaching_in_the_savior_s_way_print.pdf.

[4] David A. Bednar, “Highlights,” Evening with a General Authority, February 7, 2020, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[5] Alvin “Trip” F. Meredith III, “Lifelong Discipleship Is Our Goal,” Religious Educators Conference devotional, June 12, 2025, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[6] Dale G. Renlund, “Vital Gospel Nutrients,” Religious Educators Conference, June 18, 2024, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[7] Clark G. Gilbert, “The Power Is in Them,” S&I Annual Training Broadcast, January 23, 2025, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[8] Jeffrey R. Holland, “Angels and Astonishment,” S&I Annual Training Broadcast, June 12, 2019, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[9] Teaching in the Savior’s Way, 24.

[10] Jason Willard, “Preparing and Teaching Life Preparation Lessons: Discussion with Teachers,” S&I Annual Training Broadcast, January 23, 2025, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[11] “Adopting and Adapting Seminary Curriculum Training,” Seminary Curriculum Training, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[12] Chad H Webb, “Messengers of the Good News,” S&I Annual Broadcast, January 27, 2023, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[13] Gregg Mastoras, “Celebrating 100 Years of the HBS Case Method,” Executive Education (Harvard Business School blog), January 24, 2022, https://www.exed.hbs.edu/blog/celebrating-100-years-case-method-hbs.

[14] M. M. Pekary et al., “Examining the Impact of Case Studies on Student Learning, Interest, Motivation, and Belonging in Undergraduate Human Physiology,” HAPS Educator 25, no. 2 (August 2021): 30–43, https://doi.org/10.21692/haps.2021.023.

[15] Gilbert, “Power Is in Them.”

[16] Gilbert, “Power Is in Them.”

[17] Joy D. Jones, “Essential Conversations,” Liahona, May 2021, 14.

[18] Christofferson, “Lifelong Disciples of Jesus Christ.”

[19] Teaching in the Savior’s Way, 33.

[20] Teaching in the Savior’s Way, 25.

[21] Bednar, “Highlights.”

[22] Renlund, “Vital Gospel Nutrients.”

[23] Renlund, “Vital Gospel Nutrients.”

[24] Keith A. Erekson, Real vs. Rumor: How to Dispel Latter-day Myths (Deseret Book, 2021), 16.

[25] Erekson, Real vs. Rumor, 203.

[26] “Work to Understand the Past,” Topics and Questions, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[27] “Consult Reliable Sources,” Topics and Questions, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[28] Erekson, Real vs. Rumor, 264.

[29] Gilbert, “Power Is in Them.”

[30] Jonathan Haidt, The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness (Penguin Random House, 2024).

[31] Michelle Faverio, Monica Anderson, and Eugenie Park, “Teens, Social Media and Mental Health,” Pew Research Center, April 22, 2025, www.pewresearch.org.

[32] Jonathan Haidt (@jonathanhaidt), “In #TheAnxiousGeneration I focused on kids’ and teens mental health . . . ,” Instagram post, May 15, 2025.

[33] Technology in Education: A Tool on Whose Terms?, UNESCO Global Education Monitoring Report (2023), https://doi.org/10.54676/uzqv8501.

[34] Sara Smith Atwood, “Mind the App,” Y Magazine, Winter 2025.

[35] David A. Bednar, “Things as They Really Are 2.0,” worldwide devotional for young adults, November 3, 2024, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[36] Teaching in the Savior’s Way, 33.

[37] “Teaching Religion to Youth and Young Adults—Panel Discussion,” June 2021, www.churchofjesuschrist.org.

[38] Renlund, “Vital Gospel Nutrients.”