In his inaugural message of 2026 to Ensign College students, the school’s president, President Bruce C. Kusch, testified of the need to follow the counsel of living prophets.
“I cannot with more emphasis bear my testimony of the importance of trusting and following living prophets,” the college president said during a devotional held in the Conference Center Theater on Tuesday, Jan. 6. “I pray that in our hearts, our minds, our souls, with everything we have, that we will be committed to following prophetic guidance. It is vital for our safety, it is vital for our security, it is vital for our families, and it is vital for our eternal lives.”
During the devotional, President Kusch, joined by his wife, Sister Alynda Kusch, focused on the topic emphasized by President Dallin H. Oaks in his most recent conference address — the teachings found within “The Family: A Proclamation to the World” — and President Oaks’ counsel to young adults in a Worldwide Devotional in 2023 regarding dating.
"The Family Proclamation" clearly states the doctrine of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints regarding marriage and family, President Kusch said.
“It is unequivocal, it is prophetic, it is profound, it is inspired, and it is what the Lord intends for us to understand about the family and about relationships in mortality and throughout all of the eternities,” President Kusch declared.
To help with the discussion, President and Sister Kusch invited Dan Prestwich, an institute teacher at Ensign College; Matt Driggs, Ensign College associate registrar who is serving as a bishop; and Emma and Jackson Holmes, a newly married couple, to participate. Jackson Holmes is a recent Ensign College alumnus and Emma Holmes is an employee in Ensign College’s international student office.
Dating in 2026
In his 2023 address, President Oaks noted that leaders of the Church are concerned about recent changes in the nature and extent of marriage in the United States. In Tuesday’s devotional, President Kusch shared the same charts shown by President Oaks: one showing the reduction in the percentage of adults in the United States who marry and the other showing the increase in the average age of Church members who marry.
While there are probably a lot of societal reasons young people are postponing marriage today, one reason could be fear, noted President Kusch.
Jackson Holmes shared how his wife’s cousin, a fellow student at the time, tried to set the two up on a blind date. However, just prior to their first date, Emma cancelled.
But, for some reason, Jackson Holmes said, he decided to reach out again and the rest, as they say, is history.
Prestwich said he hopes that Ensign College students would feel confident that if they come to know the Savior, they will be willing to take the kind of risks that Jackson Holmes took when he followed up with Emma.
Those who know and rely on the Savior are much more resilient, he said. “That’s just true in life, and especially in dating.”
President Kusch added, “Don’t fear, and don’t think you have to have everything figured out when you start, because that’s part of the adventure.”
Blessings found in the proclamation
Sister Kusch recalled hearing President Gordon B. Hinckley share “The Family Proclamation” for the first time in 1995. Her reaction, she said, was “of course that’s what we believe.”
Ten, 20 and 30 years later, however, she can see the decline in belief in what the proclamation teaches. “Prophets saw things and taught us principles that would help us, even though at the time, we had no idea that we would need them,” she said of the proclamation.
As a ward bishop, Driggs said, he will sometimes have Church members who express a problem or concern with a point of doctrine in the proclamation. His response often centers around Alma 32, where the Prophet Alma invites the people to “exercise a particle of faith” and to “experiment upon my words” (verse 27).
In his institute classes, Prestwich said, he will often tell his students that marriage and parenthood will be their greatest ministry. “I think one of the tests of this life goes back to this idea, of ‘Will I use my time to minister to my fellow men and to my spouse or to my date? Will I see this date as something that I get, or is it something that I will give? Will I go on this date to try and help this person feel seen and heard and recognized? In my marriage, am I here to lift? Am I here to minister?’”
