Around the world, young adults are finding community, discovering their divine identity and deepening their conversion to Jesus Christ by attending institute classes.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Institutes of Religion, an education program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Institute began in one building in 1926 near the University of Idaho and is now a worldwide program with more than 2,700 locations in more than 170 countries.
Brother Chad H Webb, administrator for Seminaries and Institutes of Religion and the first counselor in the Sunday School general presidency, said young adults can be “part of something historic” in this centennial year. He and Yaw Danso, an associate administrator for Seminaries and Institutes, join Church News reporter Mary Richards on this episode of the Church News podcast.
Listen to this episode of the Church News podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Spotify, bookshelf PLUS, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts.
Transcript:
Brother Chad H Webb: But it started 100 years ago, and to think that we could have a million students in the 100th anniversary is really exciting.
0:09
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.
This year marks the 100th anniversary of Institutes of Religion, an education program of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Brother Chad H Webb, administrator for Seminaries and Institutes of Religion and first counselor in the Sunday School general presidency, and Brother Yaw Danso, an associate administrator in Seminaries and Institutes, join this episode of the Church News podcast to talk about this centennial year.
Welcome, Brother Webb and Brother Danso.
Brother Chad H Webb: Thank you.
Brother Yaw Danso: Thank you.
1:02
Mary Richards: Thank you for joining the Church News podcast to talk about institute. It’s so exciting.
I was thinking, Brother Webb, that people who’ve listened to the Church News podcast, they know a little bit about you. You talked to us a few months ago about seminaries and enrollment growth there. And you’ve also been on talking about your role with the Sunday School general presidency. So, welcome back.
Brother Chad H Webb: Thank you.
1:24
Mary Richards: And welcome, Brother Danso. If you could help our listeners and viewers know a little bit about you and stepping into this new role that you have.
Brother Yaw Danso: Sure. So, my name is Yaw Danso, and I was born in Accra in Ghana, but I grew up in South Africa, in Cape Town. I went to school over there. I later moved back to Ghana as a young single adult and went on my mission from there and served in Nigeria. Following my mission and school, I married my sweetheart, Priscilla, and later on came to Seminaries and Institutes. And I started as a coordinator, and I’ve served in different positions in S&I. I’ve been a coordinator, was a region director in Ghana and later on was an area director in Africa West Area before I had this assignment.
2:17
Mary Richards: Moving to Utah now from Africa.
Brother Yaw Danso: Yes, that is the plan.
Mary Richards: A big change.
Brother Yaw Danso: Yeah, it is a big change, but it’s exciting at the same time, just being able to be involved in the growth that is happening and to be able to make a contribution to it.
2:34
Mary Richards: Let’s talk about that growth you mentioned. This is so exciting to think about that momentum that we had talked about with seminaries in our last podcast interview, but now with institute.
What are we looking at in terms of numbers of enrollment of young adults in Institute of Religion?
2:50
Brother Chad H Webb: So, I often think about them combined. We have over 922,000 students in seminary and institute combined. About half of those are in institute. We have grown. Last year alone, we grew by more than 108,000 students combined. And the majority of that was actually in institute. We’ve grown well over 100,000 students over the last two years just in institute. And we are on pace to pass 1 million students this year.
Mary Richards: One million in the centennial year. That’s pretty exciting.
Brother Chad H Webb: It is very exciting.
3:23
Mary Richards: You see that growth, too, from your perspective coming from Africa, but worldwide, too.
Brother Yaw Danso: Oh, absolutely. So as an area director, when I started, we had about 89,000 students at the beginning of the last school year. That was in 2024. And the next year, we saw an increase of about 40,000 students. And that’s just incredible. That just speaks to the hastening of the work that you see happening. Missionary work is going on. And in the Africa West Area, you see that out of all the people who are baptized, 60% of them are youth and young adults. And so they fall right into our catchment area. And we have wonderful people who are working to get them enrolled and help them feel the Spirit.
4:10
Mary Richards: I thought about asking, “What do you attribute this growth to?” But I hear it in your answer: the Spirit, and the Lord is hastening His work.
He can do His work, but we work with Him, right?
4:21
Brother Chad H Webb: Yeah, I think our teachers around the world have really captured a vision of a gathering of this generation. They’re working really hard extending invitations and welcoming people. They’re trying hard to do more than just teach lessons, but to build relationships and answer questions and meet needs. They’re creating a sense of community, a sense of belonging in these institute buildings and classes. That’s going a long ways. They’re really striving to help institute become relevant in addressing the specific needs of the people that they’re teaching.
So I think there’s a lot of reasons. In fact, a number of years ago, we surveyed a lot of young single adults, thousands of young adults, and asked them what they thought institute should be and how it could best serve them. And they talked about wanting to feel Heavenly Father’s love and deepening their faith in the Savior. They talked about wanting a place where they had people who would help them with their goals in life and how to stay on the covenant path. They talked about relevance and finding answers to questions. And I think we’ve changed, to a degree, to help meet those needs better than we ever have before.
But for all that we’re doing, it still does come back to what you said. As hard as people are working and as much as we’ve tried to implement new ways of blessing the young adults, I’m still amazed at what’s happening. It’s counter to the narrative that’s happening among young adults in the world. But something remarkable is happening within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. And young adults want a relationship with Heavenly Father. They want to come together and unite in this common goal to learn the scriptures and to develop faith and testimony.
And so, again, as hard as I think people are working, it’s been amazing to watch the growth. And we’ve even been surprised by it and know that it’s the hand of the Lord in hastening the work among this generation right now.
6:21
Brother Yaw Danso: Yeah, just to add to what Brother Webb said, I think that we are being inspired by the Spirit to be able to innovate. We’re being inspired to be able to know what to do with the young single adults to invite them to come to these classes.
An example of that is what happened in Cape Coast. Cape Coast is in Ghana, and we have an institute over there. And we had an institute director who went out, met with students who were not coming to institute and just sat and listened and said, “What do you want? What do you need?” And as they listened, the students said, “Well, we want to know how to date, court and marry in the Lord’s way.” So our men and women went to work, and they put together a course, and that course basically taught them that. So they learned the principles of dating, courting, marriage.
But then the interesting thing about that was that every week they would have an assignment to practice the principle that was taught. And they would come back and report on what happened during the week. And we saw a 75% increase in our enrollment, which just speaks to the fact that as we listen to them, find out their needs and then respond with what they do need, with the content that they need, they’re coming back to institute.
7:41
Mary Richards: Yeah. Is this Innovative Institute? Was that what it was called?
Brother Chad H Webb: Yeah, that’s the name we gave the whole effort to listen to young adults and try to find ways to better meet their needs. And this is a great example of that.
7:53
Mary Richards: Yeah, meeting those needs. And that can be different for each area as you listen and see, “What is it that they need?” That’s really beautiful, too. Part of me, the matchmaking side of me, wants to know if we had some marriages that came out of this.
Brother Yaw Danso: Well, that did happen. That did happen.
8:09
Mary Richards: OK, this is good. Another benefit of institute is being around people your same age and circumstance of life and meeting friends, developing community, maybe even dating and marriage, too.
Brother Chad H Webb: Yeah, that’s an important part of it, for sure, those relationships that they build with each other, with teachers who love them. This is a generation who the research suggests is very lonely in a lot of ways. Some of them have a lot of social media friends but not a lot of meaningful relationships in their life. And so those who maybe feel lonely or looking for more purpose and meaning in their life, as they study the gospel, they also can develop relationships that really lift them and bless their lives in a lot of ways.
8:49
Mary Richards: Is this a good time, too, to bring up teachers? You talked about the teachers that are connecting with them. There are some fabulous institute teachers and classes. I looked through some course offerings just here in the Salt Lake Valley — at the Institute of Religion, the Salt Lake Institute, and Ensign — and I thought, “I want to go back to take some of these classes.”
There’s some really wonderful teachers, aren’t there?
9:10
Brother Yaw Danso: I think that just thinking about what you said, in London, we have wonderful men and women who work in Seminaries and Institutes. And you have an example of coordinators who are leaving their offices and literally going to homes and inviting young single adults to come to institute.
Now, the interesting thing is that they’re responding. They’re coming. And just like Brother Webb said, as they come, they feel a sense of belonging. They get to be in a community of people who love them, and you feel the Spirit. And so they’re no longer lonely. They start to understand who they are, how the Lord sees them. And these things are helping the young single adults be able to navigate the difficulties of today’s life.
9:57
Mary Richards: Yeah. And it made me think of your October 2025 general conference address, Brother Webb, about teaching by the Spirit and learning by the Spirit.
Brother Chad H Webb: Yeah, we’ve been really blessed to have teachers all over the world that are marvelous teachers. They do love these young people. They build these relationships. But they’re also exceptional students of scripture. They are not just technically sound teachers, but they love the gospel, and they’re excited to teach the principles that have been preserved in the scriptures.
And they’re fabulous, not only technically but in the content that they’ve been asked to teach. And they create experiences to help people really come to know the Savior, to see Him in the scriptures, to see the gospel that He taught and the example that He lived in ways that are meaningful and practically helpful and just enliven and enrich people’s experience to where they want to go out and love Heavenly Father by following His teachings, but also loving each other and lifting each other, which is what the gospel is all about.
11:06
Mary Richards: And after 100 years and all that you learned, are you changing the way you’re teaching?
Brother Chad H Webb: You know, that’s a really interesting question. There are some things that will never change. We’re always going to be focused on Jesus Christ and His gospel. We’ll always teach from the scriptures. Sometimes we do that sequentially, sometimes we do it topically, but it’s always rooted in the scriptures.
The things that maybe are changing is I think we’re doing better to not just cover material but to try to do better in meeting needs. We’ve received some training in the last couple of years from those who guide Seminaries and Institutes, suggesting that one of the areas that we could focus on is to invite diligent learning, which suggests that there are things that students can do before they come to class to prepare to learn and in their own study. That while they’re in class, it’s not just a teacher speaking at them, giving a lecture, but they’re engaged in learning. They’re exercising their own agency. They’re asking questions. They’re finding answers. And they’re sharing what they’re learning with each other.
And then, of course, we invite them to act in faith after class on the things that they’ve learned and to test the things that they’ve learned and see the promises that Heavenly Father makes being fulfilled in their lives. So, at the heart of it, it’s the same thing that we’ve been doing for 100 years, but I think we’re learning some things that are helping us to do it more effectively and certainly to engage students more effectively.
12:28
Mary Richards: This is a good pattern for us listening who are in Relief Society or elders quorum or Sunday School, the same pattern of learning.
Brother Chad H Webb: Yeah. It’s not something Seminaries and Institutes made up. These are principles the Lord’s revealed, and we’re learning how to incorporate them better than we ever have.
12:46
Mary Richards: Yeah. My time as a Relief Society teacher goes so much better if there are people who have read and we can discuss. And then my time sitting in that class goes so much better if I’ve read before and I come with some thoughts or questions or experiences.
Brother Yaw Danso: And I think it becomes infectious to the students as you see your friend engaging, reading, preparing. You see they have a good experience, and it’s almost like, “Well, let me do what they’re doing.” And so as our teachers invite them, they start to do that, and everyone has a great experience.
Brother Chad H Webb: Yeah, and they love listening to each other, hearing from each other. The teacher may teach a principle, but then to ask, “What does that look like in your life?” And young single adults know better than the teacher, usually, about what that looks like in a young single adult life. And so when a young person says, “Well, this is how I’ve applied that for me, this is how that’s blessed me,” you just see the energy lift in the classroom, and they start to learn from each other.
13:43
Mary Richards: Yes. Friendships are key. Talk about this invitation to invite a friend to institute and what you’ve seen from that.
Brother Yaw Danso: So, that’s so interesting to me. Last year sometime, Brother Webb sent out an invitation to all of us. And he said, “Let’s invite a friend to institute. Let’s invite a friend to seminary.” And as we asked our people to do that, invited the students to invite friends, it was so interesting to see that we had so many friends of the Church start coming to our classes.
In Brazzaville, in Congo, we have an institute building that has about 3,000 students that come there every week. So, more than half of them are friends of the Church, and they come to institute, they feel the Spirit, they learn about Jesus Christ, and they continue coming. So it’s just been an incredible thing to see peers inviting peers, and they come.
14:42
Brother Chad H Webb: And I love that Yaw has referred to Africa, and there’s remarkable things happening there, but it’s everywhere. We continue to grow in Latin America. The friends of other faiths who come and join us in classes all over the world. We had more than 72,000 friends of other faiths enroll in seminary and institute last year. And that’s not just coming once to a class with a friend or to an activity. They actually are enrolled in the class — 72,000 worldwide, and many of them do eventually become baptized members of the Church.
15:12
Mary Richards: Wow. This definitely combats, like you were talking about earlier, this narrative that’s out there that’s untrue. You’re seeing this in the numbers and in that one by one. Each one of those 72,000 is a “one.”
I thought we should also go back. I got so excited jumping in and talking to you about all that’s happening now. Let’s talk a little bit about the history. We’re in the 100th year.
And tell me about how Institutes of Religion began and why.
15:43
Brother Chad H Webb: So, there was a time when the Church ran dozens and dozens of academies. And there was a time when the Church made a conscious decision to close a large number of those academies to have members of the Church attend public schools or other schools that were available to them. And when they did that, they decided they also wanted to balance those academic pursuits with religious education.
So, seminaries began, and they were teaching seminary classes, as they do today, in release-time programs, sometimes before or after school. But to balance those academic pursuits with religious studies. And then the idea was, “Well, our young adults need a similar opportunity to study the gospel if they’re pursuing academics in whatever university, to have a chance to study the gospel at the same time.”
So it started in 1926 in Moscow, Idaho. Leaders of the Church asked a man named Wyley Sessions to move up to Moscow and start the first Institute of Religion. They built a building, and they started classes in that fall of 1926. Within a couple of years, there were institutes in Pocatello, Idaho, and Logan, Utah. They were so successful, people all over the western United States were asking for similar programs, and it spread quickly from there.
In the 1970s, we had an explosion of institutes as they agreed that they would put institutes — classes, if not buildings — often there at meetinghouses or even at homes where there’s smaller populations of members of the Church. But they started to go wherever the Church was organized. And so institute grew a lot in the 1970s.
And then just recently, for the reasons we maybe talked about, we’ve just seen this really exciting time when institute is really growing and blessing more and more young adults. But it started 100 years ago, and to think that we could have a million students in the 100th anniversary is really exciting.
17:37
Mary Richards: And what else is happening this centennial year to mark the 100th anniversary?
Brother Chad H Webb: Well, we just had a really exciting event on Feb. 1. Elder Patrick Kearon and his wife, Sister Jennifer Kearon, spoke at a devotional, a worldwide devotional for young adults. As part of that event, we had other activities on Temple Square and activities around the world as people gathered at their institute classes and buildings. And so that was a really wonderful event that not only was a devotional but a commemoration of 100 years of institute.
And then throughout the world, we’ve encouraged local institutes to have different activities where they can gather and commemorate this anniversary. There will be a devotional next fall in Moscow, Idaho, commemorating 100 years where it all began. And so there’s some things going throughout the year.
18:24
Mary Richards: People can gather and celebrate in their own way. When I say “gather,” I also think of gathering places, YSA gathering places around the world where there are buildings where institute classes are held, people can be together.
But then I also thought, though, I say YSA, young single adult, gathering places, but young adults, not just young single adults, can go to institute. This is for that whole population.
18:47
Brother Yaw Danso: Absolutely. We have seen that as we’ve invited young adults and single adults especially to come, there is such a need for that. So many of them have actually started coming to class. So we have different classes for them, but it’s just another opportunity for them to feel a sense of belonging, for them to mingle with people of the same faith and just to build up their faith together and just feel good about the fact that our Savior loves us, He wants us to succeed, and He has the power to help us to do all of those things.
19:22
Brother Chad H Webb: This is a really good example of something we said before about being practically helpful. Sometimes young married couples have different questions and different needs, and so classes that are focused on meeting those needs as compared to maybe younger young single adults. Or sometimes we have classes where working professionals who are still young single adults want to gather with people in like circumstances and would like to come together and talk about how the gospel applies to their circumstances.
19:53
Mary Richards: Yeah. And we should also mention for those listening, maybe if they weren’t able to go on Feb. 1 and hear that, it’s still available on ChurchofJesusChrist.org. Watch that. Listen to an Apostle, really, an Apostle of the Lord, speak about this wonderful time that we’re living in and the majesty of this moment, of this generation and all that they can do to be disciples.
Brother Chad H Webb: Yeah. It was translated into 41 languages, all of which are available now on the Church’s website. So it’s very accessible.
20:23
Mary Richards: You know, we talk about the growth and how exciting it is to have 100 years, but what is the impact of institute on our young adults, on this generation, Brother Danso?
Brother Yaw Danso: That’s a great question. We’ve done surveys all across institutes, and we’ve found that 98% of our students say that their faith in Jesus Christ is deepening as they’re attending our classes. And 95% of them say that their testimonies of our living prophets are becoming stronger.
20:52
Brother Chad H Webb: So, I think even if we weren’t growing, that’s really exciting. We’re really grateful for the growth. But I think just as big of a story is the impact that’s happening in individual lives. And not just while they’re with us, but as Brother Danso mentioned, it’s deepening faith and testimony that stays with them. The research suggests that it helps them stay active in the Church and connected to Heavenly Father throughout their lives. So it really is impactful and a significant thing.
Just by way of one example, I just very recently heard the story of a young woman who came to Utah State in Logan, Utah, And she had intended when she left home to get away from her family. And in her mind, she would stop going to church and kind of distance herself from Heavenly Father. And as she was on the campus one day at Utah State, she saw an advertisement that they needed some help with graphic design to do some advertising at the institute. And she loved graphic design. So even though she wasn’t interested in institute, she came to help out because she wanted to learn more about that and to participate in some way.
And so, she made some friends through doing the graphic design. They invited her to a class. She started taking a class. That class started to answer some of her questions. She built more friendships and a relationship with a teacher who really helped her. And to make a longer story short, she eventually was on the institute council, became the institute council president, was later married and sealed in the temple during her time at Utah State.
So, all the way from thinking, “I’m going to distance myself from Heavenly Father and the Church” to having a deep faith and testimony and commitment that we believe will last throughout her life because of her experience at institute. And that’s happening thousands of times over across the world.
22:41
Mary Richards: This is what every parent — I’m a parent of young adults — this is what everybody wants for their children, for themselves, that deepened conversion. What a beautiful example. It gives me so much hope, and I know how much God loves His children.
And I think, too, how it really does speak to the opposite of what maybe some headlines seem to tell us. They try to tell us that there’s this distancing that young adults might be having between themselves and religion, but I don’t think that’s what we’re seeing at all, is it, Brother Danso?
23:11
Brother Yaw Danso: I think what we’re seeing is the opposite of that. More and more we see that young single adults are looking for peace in their lives. They’re looking for meaning in their lives. They want to understand why they are here, what they’re supposed to do. And more and more as they search for those answers, they come to institute. They want to learn about Jesus Christ. They want to feel His love. They want to feel His power. And as they feel that, They walk on the covenant path.
23:40
Brother Chad H Webb: Yeah, it’s just really exciting to see. And we’re not naive. There are people who are struggling with faith. There are people who have questions and challenges in their lives. We all love people who we hope will turn to the Lord and find answers to their questions. But the numbers bear out that members of the Church right now in increasing numbers are coming to faith.
And it’s not just institute. All of the Church universities are growing. In the last 25 years, they’ve doubled their enrollments across Church education. So it’s not just institute — it is the young single adults of the Church. And they are looking for and finding faith in the Savior.
24:25
Mary Richards: We talked about Elder Kearon, but I think about his general conference talk about how God is in relentless pursuit of us. There’s also some who are in pursuit of Him, and what a way to find Him, through institute, through these different ways.
And it also popped in my mind the podcast episode we had with Elder Clark G. Gilbert, who’s the commissioner of Church education. And he talked about that too.
Brother Chad H Webb: Yeah. In addition to Church education, it’s more missionaries, it’s more people going to the temple. There’s just a lot of good news right now.
24:59
Mary Richards: I was just reading in the Church News about your annual training broadcast for instructors.
How do we move from seminary into institute enrollment?
Brother Chad H Webb: Before we answer that question, that was such a wonderful broadcast. We had the chance to bring 10 people from all over the world to come share what they’re doing. And it’s been such a blessing to us to be able to learn from each other. In addition to Brother Danso, who serves as an associate administrator, we have another associate administrator from Argentina and another one from Australia. And they bring all of their experience and come with their insights, and we counsel together about how to bless these young people.
And so, when you mentioned that, I just thought it was such a great event, and we really had a chance to learn from each other. And one of the conversations was about what they’re doing around the world to help young people transition from seminary to institute. The reality is we want to focus on our retention, help them to go from one class into the next. And the biggest opportunity is to help our seminary students when they graduate to safely arrive into an institute class.
Many of them leave high school right into the mission field. Some of them come straight to college. Some of them start to work or military and different things. And so we want to know who’s there and how to invite them and make it accessible for them.
So, we’re doing a few things that are working. One is that we’re inviting seminary seniors in high school to start institute right as they’re finishing seminary. We’re having activities and workshops and even classes at the end of their senior year so they get a head start on institute. They go together with their friends so that they’re comfortable. They meet teachers. Sometimes they go to the building and become familiar.
Other times we’re teaching in the summertime, missionary preparation classes, temple preparation classes, which this age group is thinking about and preparing for. And so they’re excited for that. And then we try to welcome home the returned missionaries and reach out to them to invite them to come to institute as they’re transitioning home from the mission field. And so we’re doing the best we can to invite them and to include them.
Mary Richards: These moments of momentum, of transition.
27:04
Brother Yaw Danso: Yeah, and just to add to that, we have wonderful coordinators, we have wonderful stake-called teachers, and the stake-called teachers are, I mean, we have thousands of them, and they are the ones who are touching base with the students, giving those direct invitations and making the students feel comfortable and inviting them to come to institute as they leave seminary, and just grateful for all of them and their efforts.
27:29
Mary Richards: And what else did you like, Brother Danso, from that annual broadcast?
Brother Yaw Danso: So, one of the priorities that, one of the five that we are focusing on, is amplifying prophetic messages. I think it’s incredibly important that we remember that the Lord has called His servant who speaks on His behalf. And the things that they say, when we apply them to our lives, work.
And President Dallin H. Oaks recently has promised that if you consistently attend institute, these are the blessings that will come into your life. He says that you will learn to distinguish truth from error; you will build your relationship with Heavenly Father and His Son, Jesus Christ; you’ll find direction and discover answers to life’s questions; you’ll meet others to help you along the covenant path; you’ll meet people who you may choose to date and marry; and prepare to love and lead like the Savior.
Just look at those blessings and think about the rising generation. If we would follow what the Prophet is saying, consistently attend institute, these are the things that are going to happen to you. I can bear you my testimony that I have seen that when I was attending institute, these things happened to me. And you get closer to the Savior, and you have His power in your life, and you’re able to make the right decisions, and things work out.
If you want to invite a friend to come to institute, this is what you would say to them. Invite them, and let them know that a Prophet of God has said that if you consistently come to institute, these six things will happen to you.
29:04
Brother Chad H Webb: I love those promises from President Oaks. I’m really grateful that he shared those with us. It’s a wonderful opportunity to think about how institute can bless us, or if we’re trying to invite a child or a friend, as Brother Danso said, it’s a great way to invite them by sharing those promises.
This year especially, maybe, it’s a special opportunity to invite people. We talked about the fact that we’re going to have a million students. We’ve been telling the young adults as we’ve met with them that you can literally be one in a million this year. Not just a nameless face but somebody who’s part of something historic, something sacred, that they can come and join and be a part of in this special centennial year. They can literally be one in a million, and what an opportunity they have before them.
Mary Richards: Wow, that’s so exciting. You make me want to go back to institute.
Brother Chad H Webb: Come. You’re welcome to come.
29:50
Mary Richards: Oh, it’s so exciting. What an incredible year. And these promised blessings are so beautiful.
This, I think, leads really perfectly to our last question on the Church News podcast. And we always have this tradition of giving our guests the last word. And so, I’ll begin with you, Brother Danso, and then go to Brother Webb.
And I would love to know what you know now about the power of institute in helping our young adults gather in community, discover their divine identity and deepen their conversion to Jesus Christ.
30:28
Brother Yaw Danso: That’s a great question. The first thing that comes to my mind is that the scriptures are the word of God. And daily immersion in the scriptures, coupled with sincere prayer, brings power into our lives. I think we live in a world where there are so many distractions, so many difficulties. People are struggling with very real things.
But it is comforting to know that as we study the scriptures, as we strive to keep the Lord’s commandments, that we are entitled to His power. As we do the right things, I know that Heavenly Father blesses His children. The love that He has for us is incomprehensible. And He is eager to bless us. He’s eager to succor us. He’s eager to heal us. And that is such a powerful thing to know that you have the Savior behind you, no matter what is going on. And I know that. I know that. I know He loves us.
I know we are led by prophets. President Dallin H. Oaks, interestingly enough, is the chairman of the Board of Education. So he leads institute. He leads seminary. And we are just privileged to be able to take direction from him. And as we align with Him, we’re entitled to the Savior’s power to be able to do this work. And that’s a wonderful privilege.
32:03
Brother Chad H Webb: Boy, I don’t know that I have a lot to add to that beautiful, beautiful expression. I was having similar thoughts.
I love that in your question, you asked about identity. And I do think that’s a significant thing for all of us to understand, that we are children of God, that we’re disciples of Jesus Christ, children of the covenant, that Heavenly Father does love all of His children and that He wants to bless us. I also know that Jesus Christ is the answer, no matter what the question is, whatever the challenge or struggle someone may face, that the answers are found in His life and teachings and in the promised blessings that He has waiting for us.
But it does require us to do some things. It requires us to exercise our agency and putting ourselves in a position where the Spirit can talk to us and teach us, where the word of God can help answer those questions and give us that light and direction that we need, is part of the responsibility that we have. And institute’s not the only way to do that, but it is a wonderful way to help young adults study the scriptures, to feel the Holy Ghost, to be with people that will support and encourage them. And it really makes a difference.
And all to the end of helping us to have more faith in Jesus Christ and to make and keep covenants with a loving Heavenly Father who wants to bless us. And I’m just grateful to be a part of that every day and to get to share my testimony of Jesus Christ and the blessings that come into my life because of Him and our loving Heavenly Father.
33:36
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.
