How do you take the measure of a prophet? Is it by the prophecies he delivers? By his leadership in building the kingdom? The way he exemplifies Christ and treats those around him? Is such an exercise even appropriate, or does faith require us to assume that every prophet is a successful prophet?

Thomas S. Monson gave his life to church service and to the Lord in a way that very few have been asked to. In his public addresses, he was more a poet than a theologian, but I also think of him as the world’s foremost hometeacher—the funny old guy who can wiggle his ears, tell a good yarn, share a brief message that leaves the family feeling good, and help out during times of trouble. And he was more than that, of course—he could be audacious, organized, charismatic, private.

Above all, I think he’ll be remembered for caring about people, and he implemented that compassion and Christ-like charity as the fourth mission of the church: Care for the poor and needy.

[Read more…]

December is the time of year when those of us in the U.S. get to soul-search, really think about the difference between “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Holidays,” and listen to talking heads pontificate about America’s identity as “a Christian nation.”

Which, hey, look, I’m a Christian. I believe in Christ as my savior, and I have faith that the New Testament and the Book of Mormon reflect His teachings.  

But that’s why, constitutional issues aside, I find it weird that people and politicians can push to un-decouple religion and government and argue that America is a Christian nation, while at the same time strenuously resisting the kinds of policies that institutionalized Christianity would fundamentally, necessary embrace.

[Read more…]

About a year ago, I reviewed a book by Katarina Jambresic called A Global Testimony—a compilation of LDS conversion stories that she’s collected from 60+ countries around the world (available in Kindle/paperback here). The book has stuck with me, partly because the experiences in the book are so different from what I see among saints in the U.S., and partly because of the sheer scope of the project. Where’d she get all those great stories?

I recently asked her that question, and she offered to share the story of the book. So here you go, in her own words…

[Read more…]

TIME recently published a beautifully told story by Jessi Hempel, about the highs and lows of her brother’s successful pregnancy. It’s both moving and straightforward—a husband and wife want a child. The husband gets pregnant and a baby is born. The husband becomes a father, the wife a mother.

Give it a read, and then come back because I’d love to hear your thoughts.

A few from me to start the discussion:

[Read more…]

Did you know By Common Consent has a semi-regular newsletter? The Intelligencer includes the best of BCC and the bloggernacle, the latest Mormon news, and the occasional GIF, delivered straight to your inbox.

A fresh edition is coming out in a few hours. Subscribe now and we’ll send you one!

I’ve been thinking lately about the admonition to “stand in holy places,” partly because of Elder Rasband’s tweet a couple weeks ago:

We live in a difficult world. Standing in holy places—such as our homes, sacrament meetings, and temples—will strengthen us to endure.

— Ronald A. Rasband (@RonaldARasband) June 12, 2016

[Read more…]

As the Church Newsroom undergoes leadership changes, I have some completely unsolicited advice for the PR team:

Stop talking so much. Please. The kingdom of God on the Earth already has mouthpieces, called Prophets and Apostles. You are not the face or the voice of the Church, they are! Help them be effective in their role.

God wouldn’t have called them to be Prophets and Apostles if He didn’t trust them to speak in public. Set them up with the biggest possible platforms on which to speak for our Savior.

I would love to read their columns in newspapers. I’d love to see them on TV more. I’d love to follow an actual Twitter feed from an actual Apostle. Enough with the canned quotes. It doesn’t have to be that hard…

“I had a fresh insight during scripture study this morning…”

“The Wasatch Front looks beautiful in the Spring.”

“We sang ‘Abide with Me’ in Sacrament Meeting today—my mother loved this hymn.”

[Read more…]

There are so many threads to this complicated human being. The blend of committed spirituality and enthusiastic sexuality (which, tbh, Mormons have no right to be offended about). His intense introversion and control issues, paired with bright-as-the-sun charisma and onstage courage. The way he flouted social conventions about gender, race, even geography. (Can there any cool thing come out of Minnesota? Yup.)

He could have been any age. He could sing in every register. He could expertly play every instrument.

From what I can tell, Prince applied that creativity and flexibility to everything he did. Beyond being a musical genius, he was a business genius and a technological genius. He hacked and reimagined existing structures to fit his needs (he basically broke the radio promotion and metrics system). He incorporate new technologies into his work (he was always the first to incorporate new sounds, new instruments, and digital tools). And he completely rejected industry trends that he felt compromised his work.

That combination of big abstract creativity + systems thinking is crazy to me.

[Read more…]

For all you Hamilton and/or Biggie fans, some #LDSConf hip-hop action… (and btw, that Biggie link is NOT safe for Mormons (sfm):

1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9…
It’s the 10 Conference Commandments

Number 1:
The challenge: Stay woke for two hours,
With nothing to look at but some podium flowers.

Number 2:
If you don’t, that’s alright, people doze,
Sometimes that’s the way the AM session goes.

This is commonplace, ‘specially on a soft couch,
So grab a place to sit where you won’t zone out.

Number 3:
Pick a snack, something easy to make,
Skip the first talk if there’s baked goods to be baked. [Read more…]

If you still aren’t subscribed to The Intelligencer, BCC’s weekly email newsletter, we can only assume you don’t like Mormon news, By Common Consent posts, funny GIFs, the scriptures, or chocolate Easter eggs. Either that or you’re holding out for the BCC Snapchat channel to launch.

That’s not going to happen. We’re all-in on this email thing. You might as well subscribe.

“…the family is central to the Creator’s plan for the eternal destiny of His children.”

-The Family: A Proclamation to the World, 1995

Given our history and evolution of doctrine around families and marriage, I think it’s fair to paraphrase a certain lawyer and ask: “And who is my family?”

Not sure if this is a firestorm question or too obvious to be interesting. By my understanding, it isn’t obvious at all.

That’s OK, just subscribe and then you will!

As part of By Common Consent’s plan for global domination, we’re invading inboxes around the world with The Intelligencer newsletter, a quickie recap of the week in Mormonism. If that sounds like the kind of thing you want in your life, subscribe right the heck now.

“I’m so glad to be reminded that the church is the same everywhere.”

My ward gets a lot of out-of-towners in sacrament meeting each week, so we hear this line quite often during fast-and-testimony meetings. I think they’d see some differences if they stuck around for the other meetings, in which our ward members are teaching lessons, asking questions, and sharing their stories. That’s where the differences between wards, geographies, and cultures become apparent.

Take Katarina Jambresic. Her own story is global and incredible (and hers to tell, I won’t recap it here), and as she bears her testimony in front of our ward, she reminds us that the gospel is working its way into corners of the world we don’t often think about, and it’s touching lives in wonderful ways.

We need reminders that the world is big, and that it is the Lord’s. The church is bigger than we think—it’s easy to forget that as an American Mormon. Joseph Smith wrote in my language. I have a fat hymnbook to sing from. I can watch BYU games on TV. That’s the church I know, but it’s far from the entire church.

[Read more…]

1. Kevin Costner, so in his prime he doesn’t even bother with a British accent!

2. Mystical Muslim Morgan Freeman! Delivering a breech baby!

3. A tree village! With running water!

4. Bryan Adams!

5. A soundtrack that’s still played on every other movie trailer! With tons of french horns!

[Read more…]

1. I’m a believer, I’m not going anywhere, and this isn’t intended to be a radical post.
2. I live in a big city, and work in the ad industry in close proximity to gay people. They’re my friends, neighbors, employees, coworkers, and ward members.
3. I was born the year after the priesthood ban was lifted. Mine is the first generation to have grown up in a Mormon church without false doctrinal cover for racism.

We’re doing this weekly newsletter thing called The Intelligencer—a mix of BCC posts, Mormon news, amazing tweets, Bieber mashup videos, spiritual insights, and everything else you could possibly want spammed to you weekly.

Subscribe here. See the archive (including this week’s edition) here. Say hi here.

J. Stapley this morning asked the BCC bloggers for our Top 10 Stake Dance Songs. There was enough overlap in our responses that we figured it’d be worth making a playlist, so we can all be nostalgic together.

So here you go, a sweet musical journey to the cultural halls of yesteryear.

[Read more…]

This is my third time working through the Old Testament as a teacher (Gospel Doctrine twice, seminary once, kinda), which means I’ve drawn a lot of pride cycles on chalk boards. There was no chalk this time though, so I just used my finger on the chalkboard to trace the familiar circle during class on Sunday, while we talked our way through first Joel and then Amos.

The faint circle was still on the board during Elder’s Quorum, as the class discussed how we can raise our kids to be faithful adults. The instructor asked what we’re most worried about as we think about our children’s futures.

[Read more…]