Tanise Chung-Hoon was appointed last month as the new vice president of advancement for BYU–Pathway Worldwide, a higher education organization established by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Chung-Hoon takes her previous experiences serving as the managing director of Philanthropies for the Church into her role as she encourages the “One Work” and vision of the institution.
On this episode of the Church News podcast, Chung-Hoon joins Church News reporter Mary Richards to discuss the importance of self-reliance and the broader impact of Church education initiatives.
Listen to this episode of the Church News podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Spotify, bookshelf PLUS, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts.
Transcript:
Tanise Chung-Hoon: And BYU–Pathway Worldwide brings hope and also restores privilege, opportunity and ability for someone to have a self-reliant approach to the things that they’re doing. The welfare and self-reliance work and effort by the Church throughout the world, that’s part of it. So it’s one work. It’s all working towards preparing the children, the families, the people so that they can welcome the Savior. And that’s helping all of us draw closer to Him and closer to one another.
0:49
Mary Richards: This is Mary Richards, reporter at the Church News. Welcome to the Church News podcast. Today, we are taking you on a journey of connection as we discuss news and events of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In January 2026, Tanise Chung-Hoon was named as the new vice president of advancement for BYU–Pathway Worldwide, after having served as the managing director of Philanthropies for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since 2013. She joins me now on the Church News podcast to discuss this new role and what it will entail for BYU–Pathway’s quickly growing student body.
Welcome, Tanise, to the Church News podcast.
Tanise Chung-Hoon: Thank you, Mary. I’m really excited to be here with you.
1:35
Mary Richards: Tell me about your background. And I’d love to learn more about Philanthropies and how you got there and what you did there.
Tanise Chung-Hoon: Well, that’s really a wonderful question. Nobody tries to be in development or fundraising on purpose. Maybe they do. Maybe the new generation is going there. But when I was coming up, it wasn’t something that I was thinking, “Oh, I think that’s what I will do.” But my privilege has been to be able to be engaged in a space where I get to see people at their very best. The blessing of having someone who has felt and been inspired in their heart to want to share what the Lord has blessed them with. And the role of Philanthropies is to be able to help people do that in a simple, easy and joyful way. Our goal is to help them live into the two great commandments — love God and love their neighbor — and to have it be an inspired giving experience.
And so, we get to present First Presidency-approved priorities that they get to consider and think about. And then we invite them to counsel with the Lord to decide, “What is the best thing for you right now?” Really what I see as the constant is that it’s a measure of sacrifice, and when someone is ready to do that, their hearts are soft, they’re open, they just want to do good to bless other people. And I get to be a firsthand witness of that work. And so that’s what I’ve absolutely loved about what we do at Philanthropies.
3:00
Mary Richards: You talked about sacrifice. And immediately I think of our covenant, really, that we make with God to sacrifice our time, our talents, whatever means we have, really, to build the kingdom of God. And you see people doing that.
Tanise Chung-Hoon: I do. I do. And the work that we have at Philanthropies, the Department of Philanthropies, is aligned under the First Presidency through the Presiding Bishopric. And I love the mission and purpose of Philanthropies and the way that we have been organized. The First Presidency created the Department of Philanthropies to be a facilitator, a collaborator in the space where we can work with all of the First Presidency-approved priorities. And we answer as a department of the Church through the Presiding Bishopric, and we are able to represent the opportunity for people to invest in something that they feel inspired to do.
And we work with most remarkable people, and to be able to see both sides of the equation — someone who is preparing and thinking and feeling nudged to do something good, and the individuals who are the recipients or the approved initiatives and other things that might happen throughout the Church. And that’s just an amazing spot to be, to see someone who is living into their covenants and feeling like, “I want to be more my like my Heavenly Father, and I really want to be a better giver,” and how they feel when they see that their investment and their sacrifice has made all the difference.
4:40
Mary Richards: This makes me think of — you are seeing the giver and the receiver, and those must be beautiful stories that you are finding and learning and personally experiencing and witnessing.
Tanise Chung-Hoon: Oh, for sure. The inspiring part for me that I’ve had, as I’m reflecting on my time as managing director, that we’ve seen miracles; miracles in individual lives and miracles in the results as these investments. I tell our team regularly that, in reality, the Lord doesn’t need the money. He has — He owns the earth, and everything belongs to Him, and He has so generously given it to us to be able to enjoy and to have opportunities to learn, to grow, to be a steward. And as we do that, to become like Him, we want to be able to learn to give it away and to not have, I guess, that be our primary focus, but have it as a means.
And so, everybody has something, whether it’s time, talent, treasure or testimony, that they might sacrifice and give to lift someone else around them. The Lord has put us in these specific orbits that I believe are purposeful and specific. And so when we see the work of philanthropy roll forward, individual lives are transformed on both sides of that equation, for the giver and the receiver. The giver is learning to become more like the Lord as they sacrifice and give, and the receiver is receiving the blessing and using that gift to be able to become better, so that they can give and that they can bless. So it’s an amazing, virtuous cycle.
6:27
Mary Richards: Building self-reliance is one of those initiatives, or those priorities, education — those are all those kinds of priorities, as you said, set through the First Presidency and working with them?
Tanise Chung-Hoon: Primarily focusing on Church higher education and then the things that we might see on the tithing slip, which would be humanitarian aid, the missionary fund, as well as the Church general fund. And so if somebody is giving to one of those initiatives — so one of the Church institutions of higher education or to humanitarian aid, missionary fund or Church general fund — and has a desire to have a report that is a little bit more detailed or have more of a personal connection with some of the activities, that’s where Philanthropies can be in assistance.
7:12
Mary Richards: OK. So, tell me about, then, using all of this experience and your time and talent, really, in this role now, as you move to BYU–Pathway Worldwide.
All the work and things you’ve done at Philanthropies, how does that then transfer to BYU–Pathway Worldwide and your new role?
7:29
Tanise Chung-Hoon: I’ve been reflecting on that and thinking, “How has the Lord prepared me to continue to make a contribution?” And the example came to mind of President Henry B. Eyring teaching us one time in a campus gathering that the Lord invests individual experiences, talents, relationships, opportunities in us — he likened it to a bank account. And he said, “And we get to nurture and steward that bank account” and that at some point, or at many points throughout our lives, that the Lord will invite us to utilize those resources in a way that helps in building the kingdom.
And so, the investments that I’ve been privileged to be able to receive at Philanthropies, it feels like it’s just priceless, because it’s people, it’s relationships, it’s the opportunities to see, as I said, people living into their character and their covenants and knowing that they just want to do good and they want to help. The way that I see that opportunity continuing at BYU–Pathway Worldwide is having people understand that the relational storehouse that the Lord has created is an opportunity for us to raise our hand to say, “How can I help?” And not just financially — which, certainly, all of those things are very welcome — but to use their time and their talent and their influence to help spread the cause of the kingdom.
In our team, we call it “One Work.” One Work is something that we use as a definition to think about we’re all working towards helping the Lord as He prepares His children and the earth for the Second Coming. And that One Work can be manifest in any context, because anybody who believes in Him and wants to do better is part of One Work. And so I never get caught up in “Oh, my spot is small” or that “I don’t have a big contribution to make” or “I’m not that important.” Everyone’s important, and the Lord has put us in specific orbits to be able to reach out and touch.
I love how our Welfare and Self-Reliance Department has taught us to think globally but act locally. And the Lord expects that of us in terms of how we might minister to one another. And part of that ministering is sharing. And that’s sharing time, as we are today, having a great conversation. It’s sharing experience, it’s sharing resources, it’s sharing our network, it’s sharing our influence, to be able to further the work of the kingdom of God. And so that will feel pretty seamless when I move to the BYU–Pathway Worldwide assignment.
And I’m excited to be able to build upon the storehouse of relationships and how we can make that even more three dimensional in the way that people contribute, so that they don’t think, “Oh, I have nothing to give.” We all have something to give. And so how we can operationalize that and make it so it really is simple and easy and joyful.
I’ve seen firsthand the way that individuals have chosen to mentor with students. I’ve seen firsthand how students have benefited from a financial investment to receive a scholarship. I personally had a scholarship when I was in my undergraduate experience, and it made all the difference to me and to my family. And I know that we see that to scale for students worldwide.
So that’s something that I think that at BYU–Pathway, that we will be able to invite people to engage as missionaries, to engage as mentors, to engage as contributors financially, to engage as an employer, someone who has need to be able to utilize talents from different parts of the world, that they can help us know what that need is so that we can make those connections. And that’s what we’ve done in philanthropy. So, connecting the dots so that everybody thrives and that all boats rise.
12:00
Mary Richards: “All boats rise.” I love that. And I think, too, it sounds like you’re looking forward in this new role, really, to also meeting the people, like you talked about in Philanthropies, meeting and hearing those stories from the givers, from the receivers, those beautiful and faith-promoting stories too.
Tanise Chung-Hoon: It’s something that you can’t forget, because it puts a face on the philanthropy and a face on the contribution. In our role at Philanthropies, we have so many opportunities to be a witness, that we get to be in the room when something historic, amazing and miraculous happens. Multiple times, we travel to the different campuses, and we’re there for different activities.
I’m just thinking of my friend — her name is Enkhmaa Gemmell — and she is a student at Brigham Young University–Hawaii. And she is from Mongolia. She goes by Emma. And we connected because she had been a basketball player, and that’s something in my life, in my past, that I enjoyed too. But she was telling me how her family had not been a member of the Church and that she had been exposed as a teenager and learned about the gospel and joined the Church. And then she was recruited to play basketball in Japan.
And she went to Japan, and she had the moment where she was having to decide what her next step was and felt prompted that she needed to serve a mission. So she was called to serve a mission in Japan. She served in the Tokyo mission. And following her mission, she wanted to improve her English language. And so she took EnglishConnect, which is the English-language portion of the BYU–Pathway Worldwide curriculum. And she improved her English, and she felt strongly that she needed to go on for further education.
And she had the opportunity to attend Brigham Young University–Hawaii. And she had other other chances too, because she’s well spoken, very well educated in her global experience. But she decided that she was going to BYU–Hawaii. And while she was there, she met her husband. She served at the Polynesian Cultural Center. And she was recently married, and they’re preparing to go on to graduate work in New Zealand, because that’s where her husband is from.
But seeing an individual, lives that — while we talk about the 89,000 students in 180 countries and the amazing reach of BYU–Pathway Worldwide, it’s always about the one. And that’s the thing that I love in the work that we’ve had at Philanthropies and the work that I’ve seen happen at BYU–Pathway, where the Lord cares so much about each of His children that He wants to give every one of them every opportunity.
Mary Richards: I love that, thinking about the one. Thank you.
14:59
Tanise Chung-Hoon: Well, one of the things that I’ve been reflecting on, you’d asked me about the transition, I’ve worked with Philanthropies prior to being a managing director, and the witness of prophecy coming to pass. I remember when Elder David A. Bednar was called to serve in the Quorum of the Twelve, and President Kim B. Clark was called from Harvard Business School as the dean to be the president at BYU–Idaho in Rexburg, Idaho.
And we were all agog. We thought he was amazing and it was miraculous that somebody of such amazing talent would come; and it was Harvard, for goodness sake, that it’s one of the top tier, even in philanthropy. They do amazing things throughout the world. And so we were excited to learn from him.
And one of the first initiatives that he felt was — he called it the Global Education Initiative, and he was feeling strong impressions related to how they were going to take the experience at BYU–Idaho to a broader audience, global. And he shared a quote, and I’d like to read it, because it was so inspiring to me. And this is in 2005, when he arrived, and pre really big internet global things, but he was prophetic in many, many ways, and the Lord had prepared him specifically for this.
And he said this quote. He said, “I see little girls and boys sitting in Primary classes in this country and, indeed, all over the world.” He said: “These children will make and keep sacred covenants with the Lord, and I believe the Lord desires to bless them and, like the army of Helaman, raise them up as a righteous generation of disciple-leaders all across the earth. Most of these young people will never come to BYU–Idaho, but they will be blessed by what we learn here about learning by faith and delivering a high-quality education at a relatively low cost.”
That was the first introduction to what we saw that the future would be BYU–Pathway Worldwide. He was still the president when they started to launch the initiative that became known as BYU–Pathway Worldwide. They started in three locations — in Manhattan, New York; in Mesa, Arizona; and in Nampa, Idaho, so three totally different parts of the United States — and it just started to grow from there.
And that’s what I’ve been reflecting on, is that I have seen prophecy fulfilled. I’m seeing prophecy fulfilled because it went from those small gatherings that they had at those three sites to a global landscape and something that has nearing 100,000 students. I feel like there are going to be hundreds of thousands of students, if not millions, in a short period of time, because in the 15 years that we’ve witnessed since Elder Clark was launching officially BYU–Pathway Worldwide with the team, which included now-Elder Clark G. Gilbert, who was the first official president of BYU–Pathway Worldwide, after being the president at BYU–Idaho and moving on to become the commissioner of Church education.
The way that all of those pieces are coming together, that is inspiring to me and astonishing, because it’s happened so quickly, and we’ve seen it, and we’ve been a part of it. And so, all of those ones that are being blessed throughout the world, and those little children that he saw in 2005 that he talked about, are now students in college, and they could be involved at BYU–Pathway Worldwide, but they could also be somewhere else in the Church Educational System, or just somewhere else in the world, gaining that education that he saw that the Lord wanted to bless them with.
18:56
Mary Richards: Yeah. That is beautiful. And I love you said the number, but we should say, as of this recording, right?
Tanise Chung-Hoon: Yes, because it could — we’re going to pass 100,000, I’m sure, probably in 2026.
Mary Richards: Yes, yes. And it’s in 180 countries right now, and that number may grow as well. I recently learned more about the United States and Canada, the students that are here as well.
Tanise Chung-Hoon: Here in North America, there are a little over 22,000 students. I know a lot of people think, when it’s BYU–Pathway Worldwide, that it’s just outside of North America. But we’ve joked that it’s on every continent but one; the penguins in Antarctica have not chosen to enroll in BYU–Pathway Worldwide. But we have students everywhere. And here in the United States, as well as in Canada, there are students who have a need.
One thing that I love — and I guess that was another surprising aspect — was that BYU–Pathway Worldwide was the first 90-credit degree. It’s a three-year degree in higher education in an accredited way. And that’s innovative. That’s exciting. So if you’re looking for something that is flexible, something that is economical, something that will fit your schedule, something that will give you an opportunity to be tailored to you, this is perfect.
And whether that’s someone who’s just graduating from high school, someone who is returning from missionary service, someone who is maybe starting over in a different vein in their career — we’re having to reinvent ourselves all the time with this wonderful and amazing technology — and coming back to that BYU–Pathway Worldwide is a great option to consider. And we serve students on every continent but Antarctica.
20:50
Mary Richards: We should mention, too, where people can find more information about Philanthropies and BYU–Pathway Worldwide.
Tanise Chung-Hoon: Yes, “philanthropies,” it’s a long word. You just have to do it once. But philanthropies.ChurchofJesusChrist.org, and you’d be able to see the approved priorities that are available and how you could make a contribution if you wanted to online. And you would access BYU–Pathway Worldwide at BYUpathway.edu.
And so anybody — whether you’re applying or you want to see what the process is, you want to see how you can volunteer, you want to learn more about “Pathway to Hope” — all of that is available on the website. And our communications team is remarkable, and they’ve done a really great job being able to show how you can get involved. And there’s also opportunities to ask questions. So we hope that we’ll hear from you.
21:39
Mary Richards: I wanted to read, too, a little bit more about BYU–Pathway Worldwide. But we’ve been talking about this from the website, that it was founded and is supported and guided by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I love this mission. Its mission is “to develop disciples of Jesus Christ who are leaders in their homes, the Church and their communities,” and “BYU–Pathway Worldwide provides access to spiritually based degrees completely online at a significantly reduced cost,” which you talked about.
So, when BYU–Pathway President Brian K. Ashton announced your new position and that you were coming over, he said — and I should read this, too, because I’m doing all this reading right now; let’s get it all out of the way — President Ashton said, “Her vision and experience will help establish and manage a global storehouse — connecting individuals who are ready to consecrate their time and talents to bless learners, leaders and communities around the world.” And we talked about that concept of the storehouse.
I love also in that press release, if you will, the announcement of your new position, you talked about this “season of acceleration,” and you have seen that since 2005.
What are you now thinking about — we’ve talked about the growth that will continue, but — the season of acceleration and what is coming in the future?
22:54
Tanise Chung-Hoon: Well, I need to start back in 1975. It may be ancient history for many, because I was pretty young, but the first Prophet that I remember is Spencer W. Kimball, and he was the one that gave seminal addresses at Brigham Young University talking about what the future would hold, and truly speaking as a prophet and seeing that unfold. All the pieces from the Church Educational System are coming together. And this second-century address, as well as “Education for Eternity,” he talked about these things.
And it’s another prophetic thing that I’d love to read, if you’re fine with that. President Spencer W. Kimball shares in the second-century address — this was from the 10th of October in 1975 — he says, “My task is to talk about BYU’s second century.” He said, “Though my comments will focus on Brigham Young University, it is obvious to all of us here that the university is, in many ways, the center of the Church Educational System.” He goes on to say: “The centrality of this university to the entire system is a very real fact of life. What I say to you, therefore, must take note of things beyond the borders of this campus but not beyond its influence.”
I think we’re just discovering what the Lord has in mind for what BYU means, what Church education means. And we’re seeing it, we’re living it, and we’re feeling it. So, talking about the growth in the future, the Lord always has much bigger ideas than we do, and we come to comprehend and learn about that as time goes on. And I think that’s what gives me the excitement about coming to this space right now and thinking about that season of acceleration, because we have been living it and knowing that it’s getting faster and faster.
I remember President Russell M. Nelson’s quote about the things that we haven’t seen yet, that the Lord has more in mind. “Fasten your seat belts, take your vitamin pills,” that all of those amazing things are things that we get to participate in, and it’s not restricted to our little part of the world. When I was reflecting on some of the questions that you’d shared, one of the ideas that came to my mind was the sense that the Lord loves us so much that He prepares us in His own unique ways.
And I know that the COVID experience was really challenging for so many of us throughout the world. But the outcome that I’ve seen since that time in 2020 to 2022, we learned how to be part of a global family. We learned how to utilize technology in a more organic — everyone, those who were very mature to those who were very young, that each one of us realized that, “I am a brother or sister, I’m as close to someone as my internet, my network connection, my phone,” and that almost instantaneously that we can be talking and that, “I feel much more comfortable and confident in that platform and environment.”
I don’t think that there is any coincidence that that’s when BYU–Pathway Worldwide started to really take off in a global way, because we learned how to utilize the technology. We started paying attention that not everybody had the same access and not everybody had the same opportunity.
So that acceleration, the talent and opportunity are coming together, the light and truth that is being showered across the earth, the global brand that Brigham Young University is and the blessing that BYU–Pathway Worldwide gives the access to those students to be able to connect with the blessing that the Lord wants to share with all of His children. We’re witnessing that unfold right before our eyes, and I would say we haven’t seen anything yet.
27:17
Mary Richards: And I was just thinking to add, too, that BYU–Pathway Worldwide students are, like we said, in 180 countries, but it’s for anyone. Anyone can use and learn from these classes, in the end. It’s not just members of the Church. The Lord wants to bless all of His children.
Tanise Chung-Hoon: He does. He does. And there’s no restriction for someone who is not a member of our faith to participate in these activities. Anybody who’s involved in it will learn what a BYU–Pathway Worldwide education includes, which includes learning by study and by faith and having the opportunity to be in an institute course so that they can understand why we feel it’s so important that everybody learn and grow, because we believe that we take all that we understand and learn in this life with us as we move forward, and so we want to learn as much as we can. I think that President Nelson was the one who said that “education is a religious responsibility,” and that’s really true. And so, finding opportunities to share that.
One great example of a student connecting that small-world concept was Faith Kisakye from Kampala, Uganda, who was invited to give the opening prayer prior to a BYU football game in LaVell Edwards Stadium. Now, it was digital, because she lives in Uganda, but she was in real time giving the prayer, and it just showed how BYU and its global brand and BYU–Pathway Worldwide, feeling that connection, because they love all of their brothers who are representing in the blue and white as they go out and perform. And it was amazing to be able to see her share her testimony and to minister to nearly 70,000 people in LaVell Edwards Stadium.
And so, we were able to see that small-world, one-to-one concept that we’ve been talking about. And I think the one-to-one concept is truly the concept of Zion. I love that BYU–Pathway is Zion in action, that we’re taking the blessings and the opportunities to those who have the same capability but don’t have the same opportunity. And the Lord is finding a way to bridge that gap and to make it more accessible to more of His children. Because when we think about the Millennium and we think about Zion, we will have no poor among us — and that’s no poor in opportunity, no poor in spirit, no poor in education, no poor in growth. And BYU–Pathway Worldwide is a practical example of Zion in action.
30:11
Mary Richards: Yes. And I love that you brought up the opening prayer at LaVell Edwards Stadium. Those relationships that have been built between BYU–Pathway Worldwide students and the BYU football team have been a beautiful thing to see. There’s so much there that we can learn from in terms of connecting and building a Zion people.
I also think, too — now, I was going to use the word “challenges,” but I think maybe we could change that to “opportunities.” What kind of challenges or opportunities do you see in helping, in your work, in advancement, in connecting and finding donors and those kinds of things?
30:44
Tanise Chung-Hoon: Some of the challenges that — or opportunities, as we choose to see them — is the ability to identify individuals and what their unique gifts and talents are. Every one of us, in my perspective and experience, every one of us has something that we uniquely can contribute and that only we can do. And my personal mission in life is to help people fulfill that, to utilize those things in a way that they are there.
So, Mary, you have things that only you can do, and how can I help you accomplish that? So, having you share with me how you see yourself — or as we build a relationship, that I can learn those things — and having an understanding of what’s available in the “One Work” effort that we’re involved in, and saying: “Mary, I would love to have you help us in this specific opportunity. Would you consider that?” You would engage and, I think, would thrive. You’d have a joy in experience.
And it could be truly spending an hour having a conversation with someone in a different part of the world, maybe interviewing; maybe you speak another language, and because you speak that language, you can help them learn to navigate English a little bit more confidently. Perhaps you have an expertise. I met a friend from the central part of the state of Utah, here in the United States, and she is an expert in accounting. She does QuickBooks better than almost anyone. And she wanted to be able to utilize that talent, and she started mentoring with BYU–Pathway Worldwide students. And they gain confidence by asking her questions, and she gained confidence in being able to share her unique gift.
Another story I’ll share that’s kind of in that same vein: The Advancement Vice President Matt Eyring right now — who’s moving to a new vice president’s role as career development vice president — happened to live next to a former Brigham Young University professor in accounting. And they were good friends and neighbors, and his name is Norm Nemrow, who’s amazing. And Norm said to Matt, he said, “I’m just an accounting teacher. I don’t have anything special that I can do.” And he says, “I know there’s something the Lord has that only you can do, Norm.”
Well, one of the really amazing things is that in the BYU Marriott School, they had recorded many of Norm’s teaching sessions where he was teaching Introduction to Accounting. And Norm has a real gift for being able to share that capability and teach students. And the curriculum at BYU–Pathway Worldwide includes Introduction to Accounting courses. And so the ability to scale for Norm’s influence — which wasn’t just to maybe the 33,000 to 36,000 students that might be, if every student at BYU took that — but now access to the 89,000 students. And I dare say that it will grow to the hundreds of thousands into the millions.
And did Norm imagine when he was filming that class, or that teaching about debits and credits and how you do a balance sheet, that that would possibly bless someone who might live on the other side of the world? He didn’t. But that is being utilized now. So, in my new role, I will be seeking to build relationships, to gather individuals into this fold and storehouse of understanding so that they can raise their hand and say, “I would love to help. I don’t know what I have.” And we’ll say, “Let’s visit. Let’s talk about it. Let’s see how you can be involved.”
And that’s in building relationships and finding ways to document it. Of course, we’re going to have to use technology, because we’ll need to find ways, one, to gather the information; the next, to organize it; and then connect the dots on how we can put them in a professional way to help them to volunteer and use their time effectively in an inspired way. And so we’re still working on some of those processes. So those are some of the opportunities that I’d like us to uncover and to operationalize so that we’re able to do that in a bigger-scale way. Because, as we talked about Zion, the Lord is building those talents and those gifts, and we want to connect those.
If people want a practical way, Jane Clayson Johnson recently did “Pathway to Hope,” which was shared on BYU Broadcasting, BYUtv, and they can get that online if they’d like to see that. But talking about mentoring, hiring as well as giving. And the giving could be the time or the talent aspect. And so if somebody was watching that, there’s a QR code on that that they could scan. They can also go to the BYU–Pathway Worldwide website and look on the “Get Involved.”
And some of those are people who are mentoring, who are teaching, serving as missionaries and helping with the gatherings. There’s so many opportunities. So, almost anything that you could think of, everybody has a contribution to make, and we would love to help them make it.
36:10
Mary Richards: Yes. I think I have friends who have been missionaries, and what an incredible experience they had. And so I love that idea of people who are watching this or listening might think, “Oh, it’s only for this group of people” or “It’s only if you have that certain amount of whatever,” there’s a wide variety.
Tanise Chung-Hoon: I would say that we could probably find something that will work for almost everyone, and having that conversation, or the opportunity for them to reflect on it. I look forward to those conversations, because I think we can all help one another.
Mary, you’d mentioned that you’d had an engagement at some point in your life with the work of Philanthropies. Tell me more about that.
36:50
Mary Richards: Yeah, so I became really a success story that was featured on the website. Philanthropies reached out to me many years ago to tell my story. I come from a large family, and I really wanted to go to college, and we didn’t really have the funding or the money for that, but I earned scholarships at BYU. And I think back to that time, and I was just so grateful, but I don’t really think I thought, “There are people behind these scholarships and this funding.”
And because of that, I was able to get this beautiful education, work in a career I love in journalism, but also move to Utah to go to BYU and met my husband and have five beautiful children. And so sometimes, I just think back on that and really am grateful for all those donors because that opportunity it gave me that changed my life. So that’s my success story with Philanthropies.
37:41
Tanise Chung-Hoon: That’s amazing, and I love the fact that you are here doing your work, and you’re representing not only your parents and your husband and your children, but those folks who sacrificed to give you that needed help, probably not a lot, but enough that took you forward, and what you have continued to do as you’ve touched lives.
I was thinking about — we get our Church News in our newspaper, and I love the tagline where it says: “A living record of the Restoration.” And we are living witnesses of things being restored back to our Father in Heaven and that the work that you do and the team that is here as part of this effort, that you’re helping us see that through amazing eyes, and that we get to comprehend that. And that started because you wanted to get an education and because you had somebody who made a sacrifice that would bless your life.
And you and I are “ones” that represent that. But to scale, you think about, “OK, well, the 8-point-something billion,” that the Lord cares about each one of us in that way. And we’re privileged to be able to be put in a space where I’m within arm’s length that I can help someone. And we get to see that, and that’s awesome.
Mary Richards: All one work.
Tanise Chung-Hoon: Yes, it’s all one work.
39:13
Mary Richards: Has anything surprised you, or anything that you’re really looking forward to?
Tanise Chung-Hoon: I think that it’s not too surprising, because I’ve had some exposure in our work in Philanthropies, but the immediate willingness to consider how their network and their opportunities, even those who are friends, who aren’t necessarily members of our faith, they can see the opportunity.
And I will say this: Poverty has been in our world forever, and we want to do everything that we can to help our brothers and sisters. And just throwing money at that has not worked to this point, because it needs a measure of self-reliance. People want to have dignity. They want to feel like they can take care of their needs and learn and progress and make a contribution, either as an employee or doing something that they can earn a wage that’s fair. That goes both directions.
And I think that’s the thing that both Matt Eyring and President Ashton and, before them, President Clark G. Gilbert, that they started looking at unlocking self-reliant opportunities for students to be able to have work, to have jobs. And they created this amazing system where they have gone throughout the world to find out, “What does it take for someone to have what we call a Church living wage?” And a Church living wage is the amount of money that it would need in any part of the world for someone to work full time, to care for their family and also to serve meaningfully in the Church.
So the BYU–Pathway mission and purpose, which is disciples in their homes, the Church and their community. So for someone to really do that, what would it take? And as they identified those, they also found employers in different parts of the world who are either doing work in their country or are able to have remote work, and connecting those two together so that a student who has the capability but needs the opportunity is able to connect, and it just makes everybody thrive. So they provide the resources and the work, so they get a global perspective, but they also have the ability to care for their family and be in their home country.
President Ashton talks regularly about the scriptures that say that the Lord will restore the “desolate heritages” (Isaiah 49:8). When you think about something desolate, Mary, what do you think about?
Mary Richards: It’s barren, there’s nothing there, it’s that sort of thing, or left or no hope, really, when you hear “desolate,” yeah.
42:10
Tanise Chung-Hoon: And BYU–Pathway Worldwide brings hope and also restores privilege, opportunity and ability for someone to have a self-reliant approach to the things that they’re doing. The welfare and self-reliance work and effort by the Church throughout the world, that’s part of it. So it’s one work. It’s all working towards preparing the children, the families, the people so that they can welcome the Savior. And that’s helping all of us draw closer to Him and closer to one another.
And I see this wonderful tool of BYU–Pathway Worldwide that’s been inspired. I think President Jeffrey R. Holland used — he said it’s the answer to a 50-year prayer. How do we make this more equitable? How do we have more people have opportunities? How do we have more access? And we’re seeing it in action, and I’m just thrilled that I get to be a part of it. So I guess that’s surprising to me, that I didn’t ever imagine that this is where I would be, and what a privilege it is.
43:20
Mary Richards: I love what you were just saying. It really does lead perfectly to our last question on the Church News podcast, which is always a way we give our guests the last word, and we always ask, “What do you know now?”
And so I’d love to know, Tanise: What do you know now about all of our work, each of us individually working in God’s kingdom?
43:43
Tanise Chung-Hoon: That’s a wonderful invitation, thank you. I think what I know now, even more than I have, the Lord loves His children. He loves each of us individually and specifically. We have a tailored curriculum that He has given us in our lives, and the invitation is a standing invitation to join Him in the work.
And what I know even more is that we are led by prophets, seers and revelators. We are directed, and the acceleration that we’re feeling and experiencing and participating in is exciting. And I want to be part of that because I know that our Savior, Jesus Christ, is preparing to return and that our privilege is to find a way that I can become more like Him. And that includes learning all that I can and sharing and sacrificing all that I can and being part of His “One Work” effort throughout the world.
And that doesn’t exclude anybody. And that’s the thing that I love about the work in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, that we get to be part, in a practical way, of blessing God’s children and inviting them to make a commitment and a covenant. And so I know now that I can be part of that, and that every one of His children can be part of that work, and that’s joyful to me.
And I can’t wait for Him to come, and I can’t wait to be able to see what the Lord has on the horizon for each one of us.
45:30
Mary Richards: Thank you for listening to the Church News podcast. I’m Church News reporter Mary Richards. I hope you learned something today about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had your faith in the Savior increase by looking through the Church News window as a living record of the Restoration. Please subscribe, rate and review this podcast so it can be accessible to more people. And if you enjoyed the messages we shared today, please share the podcast with others. Thanks to our guests; to my producer, KellieAnn Halvorsen; and to others who make this podcast possible. Join us every week for a new episode. Find us on your favorite podcasting channels or with other news and updates about the Church on TheChurchNews.com or on the Church News app.
