August 6, 2025 • 35 mins
Allison Schreiber is entering her seventh year as an early morning seminary teacher in New Braunfels, Texas—an experience she describes as one of the most joyful and spiritually-rich callings of her life. Fluent in German and Russian, Allison served in the Russia Moscow Mission before earning a bachelor of Fine Arts in Interior Design from Brigham Young University, along with certification in International Color Consulting. Her dedication to sacred spaces led her to intern with the Temple Construction department, contributing to the designing of temples in Houston, Boston, and Nauvoo.
A born leader and meticulous planner, Allison has worn many hats across decades of youth and community service, serving extensively in the Young Women organization. She’s chaired committees, organized record-breaking Boy Scouts of America district events, and served on BSA Woodbadge staff for three consecutive years after completing the prestigious leadership training herself. Whether designing a youth conference or directing a camporee, Allison brings creativity, discipline, and a touch of grace to every detail.
In her seminary classroom, Allison blends her vast experience with a personal mission: to make early morning Seminary not just bearable but transformational. Through intentional leadership moments and peer-supported learning, she cultivates a classroom culture where students feel empowered to plan, lead, and strengthen one another in faith.
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Highlights
Allison shares effective teaching strategies and principles that can enhance youth engagement in a seminary setting. She shares proven methods to encourage participation and create a lively learning environment. The conversation highlights the importance of making gospel connections and how thoughtful planning can help youth see the relevance of gospel teachings in their everyday lives.
Allison shares her approach to teaching, emphasizing the need to mix up learning methods to keep students engaged. She discusses the use of games, interactive activities, and creative resources, such as movie clips, to make lessons more relatable and exciting. She also touches on the significance of recognizing each student's voice and ensuring that everyone feels valued and included in the class.
Allison introduces the "EDGE" method—Explain, Demonstrate, Guide, and Enable—as a framework for teaching leadership skills to youth. She explains how this method empowers students to take charge of their learning and prepares them for future leadership roles. Allison shares practical examples of how she sets her students up for success, including organizing activities that foster teamwork and collaboration. She emphasizes the importance of loving and supporting youth, encouraging leaders to create an environment where students feel safe and motivated to participate.
03:15 - Allison's Background and Experience
04:29 - Seminary Class Structure and Student Engagement
05:20 - Testing Different Teaching Methods
06:45 - Balancing Fun and Gospel Learning
07:06 - Creating Meaningful Connections in Lessons
08:15 - Using Treats and Activities Purposefully
09:27 - Engaging All Students in Class
11:03 - Recognizing Individual Contributions
12:16 - Encouraging Participation from Reluctant Students
13:28 - Preparing for Youth Events like Trek
14:50 - Coordinating with Stake Leaders
16:05 - Advice for Future Leaders
18:12 - Making Gospel Connections in Daily Life
19:14 - Youth Epiphanies and Insights
20:21 - Mixing Up Learning Approaches
22:19 - Using Creative Resources for Lessons
25:07 - Incorporating Movie Clips for Engagement
26:43 - Setting Youth Up for Success
27:23 - Leadership Skills Development
29:29 - Model Ward Council Activity
31:40 - Final Thoughts on Youth Leadership
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:05):
How's your teaching calling going? Have you ever
asked a question during the second hour and
suddenly everyone is looking at the carpet in
silence?
There are proven methods to stimulate class discussion
that work like a charm.
David Farnsworth does a masterful job presenting on
this very subject in the Teaching Saints virtual
library.
What questions get people talking? How can you
(00:26):
effectively listen to the answer they're saying without
being distracted of where you wanna take the
class next?
These are crucial principles to consider, especially in
this time of come follow me Sunday school.
You can watch David Farnsworth's presentation by visiting
leadingsaints.org/fourteen.
There, you can gain free access for fourteen
days to the Teaching Saints virtual library where
(00:49):
you'll find hours and hours of content to
help you be a better prepared Sunday teacher.
So my name is Kurt Frankem, and I
am the founder and executive director of Leading
Saints and, obviously, the host of the Leading
Saints podcast. Now I started Leading Saints back
in 02/2010. It was just a hobby blog,
(01:11):
and it grew from there. By the time,
2014
came around, we started the podcast, and that's
really when it got some
traction and took off. 02/2016,
we became a five zero one c three
nonprofit organization, and we've been growing ever since.
And now I get the opportunity of interviewing
and talking with remarkable people all over the
world. Now this is a segment we do
(01:33):
on the Leading Saints podcast called How I
Lead, and we reach out to everyday leaders.
They're not experts, gurus, authors,
PhDs. They're just everyday leaders who've been asked
to serve in a specific leadership calling, and
we simply ask them, how is it that
you lead? And they go through some remarkable
principles that should be in a book, that
should be behind a PhD. They're usually that
(01:54):
good, and, we just talk about, sharing what
the other guy is doing. And I remember
being a leader just simply wanting to know,
okay. I know what I'm trying to do,
but what's the other guy doing? What's working
for him? And so that's why every Wednesday
or so, we publish these how I lead
segments
to share.
(02:16):
Hey. It's another How I LEAD episode. This
time, we talk with Allison Schreiber just outside
of San Antonio, Texas.
And I love talking to people like Allison
because she's had so many years, extensive
experience
with working with youth from, you know, formal,
church callings with with the youth, and and
now she's serving as a seminary teacher, for
(02:38):
six years now, going on her seventh year
teaching seminary, early morning seminary.
And, her engagement with the youth, the way
she teaches them,
keeps them engaged and invites all to participate.
There's a lot to learn here. She even
talks about the edge method, which is definitely
worth sticking around for. So you're gonna love
this and be inspired by Allison's experience. So
here's my interview with Alison Schreiber.
(03:07):
All right. I'm here with Alison Schreiber.
Alison,
tell me a little bit just some of
the various youth callings that you've had.
Let's see. I
young women's president,
stake young women's,
insta in young women's presidencies, and then I've
been in seminary. I've been teaching for about
about six years. Oh, that's awesome. And I've
(03:28):
planned youth conferences and treks and all sorts
of things. So
Awesome. Very cool.
And what
you're in Texas. What part of Texas? I'm
in New Braunfels, Texas. It's a little town
just North of San Antonio and just South
of Boston.
Awesome. Very cool. And so you're just one
of those people, personalities that's always been drawn
(03:49):
to the youth and you've always been called
to serve with the youth.
That's what it feels like. Yeah. Yeah. It's
been great. You don't mind?
No. I don't I don't mind.
That's cool. And so your current calling now
is is the seminary teacher. Yes. Yep. That's
my current calling right now. Awesome. So you're
on summer break then, and maybe in a
few weeks, we'll start up again? Yeah. We'll
(04:10):
start up again. And, yeah, it's about four
weeks,
so we're enjoying summer. I'm just sleeping in
a little bit.
Very cool. And,
maybe just tell us what's the general, like,
makeup of your seminary,
the times you start, how many
students show up, and how does that work?
It varies. Our stake is set it up
(04:32):
where
we have two words at our building and
a branch, but then we have, just just
south of us, another building. So we have
a bunch of high schools pretty nearby. And
so the kids can choose,
do they wanna do early morning at our
building or at stake center, or there's a
couple of night classes
that they could pick.
And and so we have ranging
(04:54):
last year, I'm trying to think if we
had over 30 kids, maybe almost 40,
but they were split up into two classes.
So we have freshman, sophomore, and then junior,
senior. And I've been teaching freshman, sophomore about
the whole time.
Awesome. Very cool. And so,
do you feel like you figured some things
out just from teaching youth? Has it become
(05:15):
a natural has it just come natural for
you, or are you always, like, testing different
things to to connect with you?
Testing different things because you just never know.
Like, how are boys learning compared to girls?
And
and also, I think I kind of gauge
what I like to do too, and I'm
like, well, I hope they like this too.
I like a lot of games. I like
(05:35):
a lot of interactive.
But,
when I was growing up, I always worried
about being bored. That was my I'm like,
oh, this is boring. Oh, this is boring.
And so when I think about something, I'm
like, well, how can I make this
relatable? How can I make this a little
bit more
more fun, exciting, especially at six in the
morning?
Yeah. And you're doing this I mean, it's
(05:57):
it's five days a week. Right? We do
four, which is really nice. So Oh, cool.
Yeah. It used to be five, and then
it changed to four. And we're all like,
oh my goodness.
This is really nice. So you take Friday
off? Or Yes. Take Friday off. Yeah. Gotcha.
And, I mean, doing that day to day,
that can be overwhelming. Right? To because sometimes
when you're thinking games, I'm sure there's
(06:18):
there's props that go along or handouts or,
you know, you can they kinda all pile
up.
They they really do. And then you don't
wanna have it be, like, game heavy. And
then Yeah. You know, how do you fit
the gospel
in every you can't have a
a big game every day. But, you know,
a little something and kind of a grabber,
you know, a hook or, you know, something.
A hook that doesn't sound great, but
(06:39):
something to get them excited or inter interested,
at least interested.
So Yeah. And this is tricky because I
I imagine a lot of youth leaders, they,
you know, they they don't want it to
be boring. Right? Especially early morning, some of
the students may be falling asleep. And so
sometimes they overcorrect and, you know, bring bring
treats and play games. And then it's more
(07:01):
of like, what are we doing here? Are
we even learning the gospel? Right? So how
do you strike that balance?
I try the first year I taught, I
was really
not a little bit overwhelmed, but it's like
when you don't have that experience, it's like,
am I teaching Sunday school five days a
week? I mean, because that's what it kind
of feels like. But it really isn't meant
to be like that exactly. So I try
(07:23):
and I try to, like, all right. Oh,
I could bring treats in. Oh, I could
do this. Oh, I could do a game.
But now that I, after six years of
it,
I really try to focus on, does this
treat have a reason for bringing it?
You know, so I try to fit it
in where like, does this work?
Recently we had a lesson on
the law of chastity.
(07:44):
And so I thought, well, what's a real
comfort thing? And we tried to talk about,
you know, like there's the meat of the
gospel and the milk of the gospel, and
it went along with the lesson. And so
I brought in milk and cookies and I'm
like, milk and cookies, kind of bring it
in, like, what's a tough conversation?
Let's do milk and cookies. And so we
brought in milk and, you know, chocolate milk.
And then I had all these different Oreos
so they could try it where it's like,
(08:05):
this is gonna, could be a tough conversation,
but this is an important
conversation. And so that's I kind of hear
it where
treats match what's going on in the lesson.
Yeah. Do you do you always aim with
each class to have some type of
item to engage whether those are treats or
an activity or I mean, are do you
feel like that's absolutely crucial, or do you
(08:27):
find yourself sometimes we're just taking terms, you
know, reading a a verse in this block
of scriptures? Or
Yeah. Yes. And I
because, yeah, again, like, you can't have a
game every single day. And I always like
to keep them guessing where it's not like,
oh, we're gonna play, you know, this every
day. And I only let things last so
long. I like to do, my version of
(08:47):
Dungeons and Dragons,
in every, like,
book of scripture kind of thing. So like
Old Testament, I have a couple that I
do. And Book of Mormon, I have a
couple, and Doctrine and Covenants and New Testament.
But they can only last so long because
you can't do I mean, we could do
that for a month, but we're not going
to. It's like we're gonna take two days,
and then we'll and we'll do this. Or,
(09:09):
what did we do? We did secret Sanhedrin,
like secret Hitler,
and you can only do that so long
too. You know? It's fun. And it's
it's fun, get them excited, but it can't
I mean, we do it for that every
day. But
it doesn't you know, we wanna can make
those possible connections as well.
Yeah. Yeah.
And I wanna you know, you sent me
(09:30):
some some principles here that is that kinda
keep you focused on on how to engage
and teach and Yes. Interact with youth. And
the first one is making gospel connections. And,
anything else you haven't already said that helps
you, you know, make those gospel connections as
you're teaching or interacting with youth?
I think a lot of planning. I mean,
I I feel like I have seminary and
(09:52):
my class on my mind all the time,
and I'm thankful that my kids are in
that class. So I've taught all four of
my kids. And
I
they're all just sitting in my head and
as I go through my day or as
I go through my personal study, as well
as studying the lesson that's going to be
coming up. Where I think about them individually,
there's a lot of planning that goes in,
(10:14):
as you prepare for the youth. I feel
like because you wanna be deliberate with the
gospel. I mean, you want them to see
those gospel connections. Like, why are we doing
this? We're you know, I guess we get
Sunday, but like, how do we make this
go through the whole week? And so a
lot of thought and a lot of planning,
and sometimes it's the last time to scramble
because I've thought and plan too long in
(10:34):
my head where I, like, have to sit
down and,
okay, how do I make this work? And
a lot of prayers, a lot of thought
and a lot of prayer.
Yeah. The planning is my is key. Yeah.
Awesome.
And you gave me sort of a laundry
list of, maybe examples or context in which
you you try to do this, everything from,
you know, patriarchal blessings to trek to seminary
(10:56):
graduation. I don't know if you wanna pick
one. I'm curious if there's a a certain
story or a narrative, but how does this
look like in real life?
In real life,
I
love making sure all of them
are recognized. Like, every one of them has
meaning,
not just in the grand scheme of their
life,
(11:16):
a but in in our class in seminary.
And so then they can see, like, where
do they fit in in church? How do
I get them to make those connections?
And so I try to recognize them
and I try to like,
not single out isn't the right word, but
like, but get every single one of them
feeling important and needed
(11:38):
and that their voice is part of our
class. Because, you know, you always have the
ones, like, the few that are like, oh,
they have the answers and it's so great
and I love that. I love them. I
need them. But then you wanna get everyone
engaged. Like how do you get the ones
who have their head down and have their
Buc ee's hoodie over there? You know, their
head and their not pretty scared. How can
(11:58):
I get them to be part of it?
And
helping them see how the gospel can be
such a strength
in their life.
And are you sort of just sort of,
you know, monitoring that as you go? You've
we haven't really heard from these two, and
are you calling on them? Are you how
are you engaging those that are have sort
of stepped back?
Well, I'm always watching, and I never like
(12:19):
to push, you know? I will always I
will invite and tell, you know, whatever. But
I've never had anyone say no yet. I
say that, and I'm like, I hope no
one one hope no one ever does. But
I try to get them to feel comfortable
and part of it. And we do a
little present like, we have a president and
then a system president and a secretary
(12:40):
and a chorister. And I'm like, even if
you've never done anything like this, even if
you've never led music, I can teach you
how to lead music. Like that's not hard.
Do your name in cursive and no one
knows what you're doing. Like just stand up
and try.
And so I've gotten a lot of those
that are in the back to move forward,
switching them around, putting them in pairs,
(13:01):
getting them and a lot of them, so
they're very reluctant. You know? Oh, no. I'm
not sitting by my people or whatever. And
I'm like, no. We are all
the people. Like, everywhere, all best friends. And
that's my announcement every first day. We are
now all best friends.
Yeah. These are your people.
Love it. Awesome. Any other examples that that
(13:21):
come to mind?
I'm curious. Maybe, like, you put with Trek,
get them excited before events. What is what
do you mean by that? So we just
did a trek, and while I'm not in
the steak or,
like a mom or anything, just getting the
kids that were are in my,
my area, my ward, a bunch of the
moms, we all got together, and we planned,
(13:43):
how how do we get them excited? Our
state really didn't plan anything.
So we're like, all right, how do we
get they're supposed to walk for a person.
All right. Well, let's figure out who they
can walk to walk for. And we had
a bunch of books out and, like, who
could we walk for? And let's look at
some of these, you know, pioneers and saints
that we could walk for and learning more
about them and watching a few of the
movies to get them excited. And we went
(14:04):
to Goodwill
and bought clothes and everybody kind of figured
out what clothes they could wear and hats
and things. And and it just getting
them excited. I feel like that's a big
thing for youth. It's like, how do we
get them excited and want to do this?
So with the the seminary so your seminary,
you cover
a handful of of stakes, or is it
(14:25):
one one stake? It's one one stake. Okay.
And so we have a handful of wards.
Okay. So it's like
And and so do you
I mean, obviously, you're aware of maybe a
a trek coming up or an activity, and
so you,
is that more intentional, like, you coordinate with
the stake leaders about what's going on and
what you can do, or do you just
naturally think, you know, they have trek coming
(14:46):
up. Let's get them in that gear so
that they're more and more excited. Yeah. I
think it's more like that. We just kinda
do it like, I'm alright. This is coming
up. I'm always, like, looking. Alright. Are there
stick activities? Is there, like, what what are
we doing as a work? Easter,
the church did a big push. And I'm
always looking like a church news. Like, what's
coming up? And, like, what are what are
some youth things going on? And get them
(15:08):
excited and prepared and see here. So I'm
like, okay,
Easter's coming up, how do we prepare for
that? And I,
my dad was a mission president when I
was 16, so I did my high school
in a different country. Oh, wow. So we
did a lot of their Easter. I bring
in their Easter traditions. I certify mission in
Moscow, Russia. I take in their Easter traditions
and
(15:28):
it's re it's really fun. So we make
everything kind of I like making things a
big deal. So
we really, like, one day we do, like,
before Ash Wednesday, you know, we lit everything
leading up. We're very close to New Orleans,
so it's like, let's talk, you know, let's
talk about
Mardi Gras and
carnival and things like that. Just like how
did we get to here and how does
(15:49):
that look like for Easter?
So those kinds of things. Yeah.
So I kinda have an off the wall
question. Maybe a left turn here, and we'll
come back. But I'm just thinking, like, I
love
I love your talents, your energy, your perspective.
And this is I mean, you are the
the epitome of why
I want it you know, why Leading Saints
(16:09):
exist to share these experiences and things.
What advice would you have for the person
who replaces you? Right? Because you're such a
dynamic personality. You have so many good ideas,
and so sort of like, I don't know
how to be like Allison. Right? And, obviously,
everybody should be everybody should be themselves. Right?
But I'm just thinking themselves. Yes. That that
person listening to this thinking, oh, like, I
(16:30):
don't know if I could do all that.
It sounds exhausting. Right? Like, doesn't what what
comes to mind?
Oh, man.
I would say
because
we have this like, there's a Facebook I
think there's a Facebook group for everything, and
there's many for seminary. And so I've I'm
on a couple of them and, like, reading
them, and and I love getting other people's
perspectives, but I feel like when you read
(16:52):
them, you're like, oh, I that's not my
personality, or that is my personality, or maybe
I could change it. And I feel like
that for the next person that comes in,
think about your perspective
of the gospel. How did you what is
your conversion?
And what are you bringing in? And what
are your experiences? I feel like everybody has
a very unique perspective, a very unique life.
(17:14):
Bring those things in and make it about
you sharing it with them.
Yeah.
Yeah. That's that's really good. And and I'm
just thinking, you know,
there's so many researchers out there, like, sort
of jump in and feel
what are you drawn to is what I'm
hearing you say. Like, what what do you
what do you pull towards and lean into
that and say, how can I make this
a little bit more of a dynamic experience
(17:36):
that's going to engage with the youth in
a different way? And but I'm gonna do
it in your you know, you just do
it in your own way. Right? Not trying
to do exactly what that other leader did
because they had success. Right? Right. And because
everybody brings so many different things and so
many different perspectives. And I feel like my
own conversion, my own, you know, is being
a missionary or
(17:56):
being a mom, being whatever. Like, I bring
a different
a different a different perspective. So, yeah, that
personal
perspective is so important.
Cool. Anything else about making gospel connections that
we need to mention before we move on?
I think helping the youth
see how the gospel fits into their everyday
(18:17):
life. I mean, president Nelson
emphasizes so much that daily repentance and was
like, why why does he do that?
And he set aside those doctrinal mastery, and
it's just
so many blocks of scripture that they read
now. It's not 7575%
of the whole book.
It's just these few scriptures now. And I'm
(18:38):
like,
why did he pick these
specifically for you right now? And so making
those gospel connections
for them to see, where does the gospel
fit in every day? How can I feel
the spirit
even at the hardest time or even during
football practice or even during a math test?
How can I do that? So that's that's
(18:58):
what I really
hope to help them understand and help them
see. Yeah. And do any of their responses
come to mind or examples of, like, how
how do you see these sort of having
those epiphanies of like, oh, you know, this
is something I could do.
I love what we do. This past year,
we took each scripture or block of scriptures
(19:19):
from doctoral mastery, and we've set them on
one piece of paper. I printed them up
on one piece of paper, and then it
had lines to the side, and we just
tore them apart.
And just seeing, like, it's line by line.
What is Jesus trying to tell us? What
is Jesus trying to tell you?
And what was you telling Joseph Smith or
Martin Harris or whoever's in here, Edward Parkridge,
(19:40):
but what is he trying to tell you
now in your life? And so I had
an itch go through, like, their own life,
and then what would that look like for
them? And a lot of them had just
had such great comments
that I think really helped them see, okay,
when things are really tough, you know, Martin
Harris said, Harris had to give up his
(20:00):
farm. What am I asked to give up?
How can I show the spirit? Or or
not even give up, but what am I
asked to do that might
be hard? Yeah. Yeah. For sure.
The next principle is mix up learning, and
we've sort of touched on this a little
bit with your games focus. Anything else about,
you know, keeping the learning fresh?
(20:21):
I love just looking through the calendar and
seeing what's coming next. And old testament might
be some of my favorite things to teach
just because it's very unusual and really exciting,
but it also has so many
awesome holidays. And so we celebrate a few
of those holiday. We'll bring things in for
if it's Yom Kippur and,
the different holidays for the atonement.
(20:42):
I had them all. I had a big
jar, and it had, I printed out the
picture of the goat, and we put it
on. And everybody wrote down
a sin or something that was really hard
for them to that we could give this
scapegoat
to get rid of. And it just trained
at me. You know, here are these holidays,
these old, ancient,
amazing holidays.
(21:03):
How do they translate to us now? How
do they help us? You know? Why are
we still focusing on these things? Sharing these
things. And Yeah. Really helping them see a
different perspective of the gospel and a different
thing.
Getting them excited about that. Holidays are a
big one.
I love making invitations.
I'm a very amateur little graphic designer, but
(21:25):
I make invitations for everything. Like, anything that's
coming up. So, like, the birthday,
of the church. I'm like, oh, the church's
birthday. It was, like, April 6. And did
a bigger turning a 195, you know, made
a cake and had them come in, and
we did a birthday party, you know, like
a pool party, and it was really fun.
I just try to get them
thinking more
(21:46):
beyond, you know,
this is his subscriptions. We're gonna read them.
You know? How do we make them come
alive, like, a little bit more? Yeah. So
holidays are a big one. Holidays are an
easy one.
Yeah. That's cool. So I'm just curious just
to rattle off some of these resources because
when you when you say you, like, make
invitations, I'm thinking, well, how does she do
(22:06):
that? Does she have that with some of
those, like, pattern scissors that she's doing and
she's looking in her kitchen, or is she
online on Canva?
And how do you what resources do you
use to to create what all these things
that you create? I love Photoshop.
And so I do everything in Photoshop. So
I did little tiny cards for them, the
little things. I did a whole lesson. It
(22:27):
was on preparing for permission. Like, how do
you prefer permission? And so and it's one
of the new life lessons for somebody.
And I
found this clip. I was looking for the
clip
of Indiana Jones when he was gonna cross,
and he had to take that leap of
faith. Oh, yeah. The whole thing is about
a leap of faith. I'm like, it is
a leap of faith. It's just like a
dream of sharing.
So I was trying to find that clip,
(22:48):
and next to it, I found the one
from Into the Spider Verse, and it was
I love that movie.
Yeah. That's awesome. Whoever has a scene, it's
it's a good site. It's beautiful too. The
the art is amazing. Yeah. I, I love
it. So I watched that clip first. I
love Indiana Jones. I'm like, I'm scared. But
that I thought that I felt strongly to
go to that one. So I went to
(23:10):
that one, and it was Miles asking,
how do I know
I'm Spider Man? And he's asking
the old overweight Spider Man that's, you know,
out of shape. And finally, he says, you
know, that goes through this whole montage of,
how do I know I'm Spider Man? And
he says,
it's the leap of faith. And I'm like,
there's my clip. There's my thing. That's my
(23:32):
whole thing. So when the so as I'm
studying the planning and everything, that
so I have led many times is it
the spirit? Yes. I think so.
To movie clips and things that are just
gonna grab them. And so I made my
whole thing about Miles getting ready to Spider
Man, and that was our lesson. And at
the end, I made little cards for them,
and it was him,
(23:53):
Miles in a suit with a missionary pack.
Bit. And it was That's cool.
Opening your portal is a little bit. Filling
out that paperwork is a little bit. All
of it's a little bit. Yeah. I love
that. First of all, this is a a
tactic I use a lot, not just with
youth, but anytime I'm teaching, whether it's a
fireside or,
(24:15):
in various
contexts. But using movie clips, like, especially some
of the classics like Indiana Jones or, you
know, like you said, you you found some
that
because naturally, I think, especially in seminary, we
go to a place of, like, okay. Is
there a seminary video out there? Right? Now
I have to be very delicate because
if if a Seminary Institute is listening right
now, you know, CMBS,
(24:36):
they're like, you know, they're like, don't show
clips from The Chosen, you know, let alone
Yeah. But okay. Just we're gonna rebel a
little bit here. But, really, there's something about,
like, okay. Now I'm gonna show you a
clip from Spider Man. Suddenly, the youth are
like, oh, wait a minute. Here we go.
You know? Like, what's this gonna be about?
It engages the mind on a really unique
way, and then you bring them back into
the context of the principle or the lesson
(24:57):
or the scripture.
And it really is this, you know, you
mix up with media.
It engages their mind in a way that
will, help them learn. So I love that
you mentioned that. That. So it's a powerful
tool. I agree. When we were talking about
the Sea Of Galilee, I have a boy
in my class. His name is Liam. Oh
my gosh. It's the truest thing in the
whole world. And I showed a clip from
the perfect storm. So I showed this clip.
(25:19):
I'm like, I just wanna show you the
Sea Of Galilee. This is what they're talking
about. It's like you're you know, don't criticize
Peter. Don't you know, just think about the
waves.
This is they're fishermen, and they're terrified. So
I showed this clip, and it's when their
boat is climbing and climbing, and they're fighting
this wave. Yeah.
And in the end, they all die. I
mean, it's the perfect storm. But,
(25:40):
Leah is he's holding he's holding on. He's
like, what's gonna happen? What's gonna happen? And
everyone's and he no one had really seen
the movie, and he was so worried. And
I turned it off before, you know, anything
happened. But, at the end, someone turned and
was like, oh, they all died.
What?
Like so now everyone's like, really into this
(26:00):
movie. I'm like, no. We need to get
him back to the Sea Of Galilee. But,
yeah, so sometimes it goes a little bit
too far. It's Nice.
Well, I feel the same way. Those movie
clips,
something that is, like, contemporary to them. I
mean, then they're like, this is really relatable.
Like, other bednar shared are real, and it
fits so perfect with my last it was
(26:20):
like, here's me as an apostle today. And
he just took video of him walking around.
You know, this is what I do all
day. And I'm like,
this is so great. I'm like, this is
we're gonna watch this reel and go to
Bednar, tell him what he does all day,
and I just I just
love love when you find someone.
Really good. Anything else about mix mixing up
the learning and engaging on that in in
(26:42):
a unique way? I feel like don't be
scared. If you get
an inspiration about it,
really think it through
and,
don't be afraid to try it. Don't be
afraid. And, like, I read it through my
poor family. They could hear my lessons. Like,
I'm alright. Come follow me tonight to me.
Go through my lesson to make sure that
all my clips work and,
(27:03):
and this this handout makes it look does
all this make sense? And they all sit
there and they're gonna listen to it. But
try it out. Like, try whatever comes in
your mind, try it out
because
you never know what's gonna hit someone just
the right way.
Love it. Alright. The last principle is set
youth up for success. Where do you wanna
start there?
Oh, I
(27:24):
have worked with many people who
and this is one of my biggest pet
peeves is, oh, just let them let them
do it, and if they fail,
so what? They'll never forget again.
Like, planning
Yeah.
Planning a camp out, and all the boys
forgot water. And then all the dads are
like, oh, they that's okay. They'll never forget
(27:44):
water again. I'm like, well, how about let's
don't let them not forget in the first
place and then
plan better? You know? But
that's
whatever. So I take that experience and I
put it into Saint Mary where I'm like,
I wanna set these kids up to just
learn it. Great.
And leadership is one of that. Leadership is
(28:05):
a is a big thing to me. I
feel like
they need to learn how to lead. It's
gonna be happening sooner than they realize anything.
And, like, most of you could go off
to college right now. When you're done,
be a real site president. You
could be you could go on a mission
to be in the bishop you could be
in the branch presidency. I mean,
where I served, many were in the branch
presidency. So it's like you
(28:27):
need to learn these skills and learn how
to lead at such an early age,
and it's so important.
So I try, you know, with my little
presidency
getting them, and I rotate it every month.
I make sure everybody gets a turn. And
they you know, Everyone needs to leave this
this meeting, and I have a little thing
for them to leave. They know exactly what
to do. I need it done. This is
exactly what you're going to do. I love
(28:50):
the edge method.
The explain, demonstrate, guide, and then we have,
and I love I love it. And I
live by that. Where I'm like, I'm gonna
show you exactly what to do. I'm gonna
stand up, show you how I got your
power bill here, then I'm gonna let you
do it. I'm gonna demonstrate, then I'm gonna
guide you through it. So by the end
of the year, everybody knows how to I
(29:11):
need you to send their class, which is
not a big deal. But
it gives them that chance to stand up
in front of everybody
and welcome them and get them excited and
ask somebody to pray, ask somebody to share
their devotional.
I feel like that is so powerful.
And so I try to try to really
focus on that. I like to show them
(29:33):
how to do it. I do a big
thing at the end of,
spring semester, I guess, I wanna call it
that, where I do a bottle ward council.
And
we take all of the doctoral mastery data
nerds and have a whole bunch of, like,
the little case studies or the little, things
that go with it. And I print off
from the handbook everybody's position from the whole
(29:53):
ward council.
And we handed out, everybody learns their role
and their responsibility.
And then I read it like model United
Nations, which is one of my favorite things.
So I sit and I have a timer,
and I'm like, okay. Crisis alert. War crisis
alert.
Here's the crisis. And I'll read it, and
I'm like, bishop, what do we do?
(30:14):
Let's read it. And I'm like, he's like,
oh, you know? And and always in the
beginning, they're literally they're like, I don't know.
I don't know what to do. I'm like,
you are the bishop, and everyone's looking to
you. What should we do?
And then if it's about, like, a youth
in it, I'm like, who would you involve
that would be helpful? I said, you're the
president of Yurana Cristo.
Who else could be helpful? He's like, oh,
(30:34):
Yuma Yuma was president. Alright. Yuma Yuma Yuma.
What would you do? You know? So getting
them to think,
this is our light. This is your light.
Now once you graduate,
this is your next your next day. Preparing
them for the next day. I'm like, missions.
Being in a ward council, I mean, that's
gonna happen sooner than later.
So we do a lot, and I'm like,
if you're in state, use council. If you're
(30:55):
in ward, use council or whatever. I don't
know what it's called, but you know what
I mean. Yeah. I'm getting that prepared for
those kinds of things. So I love doing
that. Modeling
ward council is one of my one of
my biggest. I love that. I love crisis
alert. There we go. And then everybody
I loved one time we did when it
was a crisis alert,
(31:15):
and
all of them were so
thoughtful and useful in going through. They're like,
oh, how would we get the primary involved?
How do we get the primary involved? How
do we get the primary involved in an
activity? How do we get that now? It
was really it's really fun to see them
start to put things together.
Yeah. I bet. So That's really cool. I
love it. That's really cool. Anything else about,
(31:36):
setting you up for success you wanna mention
before we wrap up? Well, I just I
love getting them
to to just take charge, take charge of
their own personal
spiritual journey, but then also taking charge of
being a good friend,
being a good leader in their own ward,
and then in a similar class.
(31:56):
And I was telling them, like, look around
the room. These are the people who should
demonstrate the people. They may outrun the same
circles as you, but these are the people.
Love it. Any other point, principle, concept,
story?
It's it's just so fun. It is such
a joy to just
morning person. I am a night owl. I
(32:17):
will stay up all night to watch a
movie or TV or play a game, and
this is my whole life.
I got a minute now. Yeah.
I bet. That's cool. Well,
if there was one more thing, like, if
you were in front of a room full
of youth leaders or seminary teachers,
what final advice would you give them?
(32:37):
I would definitely say
you need to love these youth like Jesus
would love.
Definitely.
Even if they don't
participate or they don't seem like they're participating,
love them the way Jesus would. He would
not give up on them.
(32:58):
He wouldn't want them there. And I tell
those I tell those Jews. We had one
girl who went out and she drove her
siblings to seminary
and then slept in her car. And we've
had this happen a number of times. And
I'm like, sleep I'd rather you were sleeping
in my class. I'd rather that that you
were here. And
so anything to get them to be there.
(33:21):
Do what you can.
Love them the way that Jesus will bless
you.
And that concludes this How I Lead interview.
I hope you enjoyed it. And, I would
(33:41):
ask you, could you take a minute and
drop this link in an email, on social
media, in a text, wherever it makes the
most sense, and share it with somebody who
could relate to this experience. And this is
how we develop as leaders, just hearing what
the other guy is doing, trying some things
out, testing, adjusting
for your area, and,
that's where great leadership's discovered. Right? So we
(34:01):
would love to have you, share this with,
somebody in this calling or a related calling,
and that would be great. And, also, if
you know somebody,
any type of leader who would be a
fantastic guest on the how I lead segment,
reach out to us. Go to leadingsaints.org/contact.
Maybe send this in individual an email letting
them know that you're going to be suggesting
(34:21):
their name for this interview. We'll reach out
to them and,
see if we can line them up. So,
again, go to leadingsaints.org/contact,
and there you can submit all the information
and let us know. And maybe they will
be on a future how I lead segment
on the Leading Saints podcast.
Remember, up your teaching game by listening to
the David Farnsworth presentation by visiting leadingsaints.org/fourteen.
(34:51):
It came as a result of the position
of leadership which was imposed upon us
by the God of heaven who brought forth
a restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And when the declaration
was made concerning the only and only true
and living Church upon the face of the
earth,
(35:12):
we were immediately put in a position of
loneliness,
the loneliness of leadership
from which we cannot shrink nor run away,
and to which we must face up with
boldness and courage
and ability.
How's your teaching calling going? Have you ever
asked a question during the second hour and
suddenly everyone is looking at the carpet in
silence?
There are proven methods to stimulate class discussion
that work like a charm.
David Farnsworth does a masterful job presenting on
this very subject in the Teaching Saints virtual
library.
What questions get people talking? How can you
(00:26):
effectively listen to the answer they're saying without
being distracted of where you wanna take the
class next?
These are crucial principles to consider, especially in
this time of come follow me Sunday school.
You can watch David Farnsworth's presentation by visiting
leadingsaints.org/fourteen.
There, you can gain free access for fourteen
days to the Teaching Saints virtual library where
(00:49):
you'll find hours and hours of content to
help you be a better prepared Sunday teacher.
So my name is Kurt Frankem, and I
am the founder and executive director of Leading
Saints and, obviously, the host of the Leading
Saints podcast. Now I started Leading Saints back
in 02/2010. It was just a hobby blog,
(01:11):
and it grew from there. By the time,
2014
came around, we started the podcast, and that's
really when it got some
traction and took off. 02/2016,
we became a five zero one c three
nonprofit organization, and we've been growing ever since.
And now I get the opportunity of interviewing
and talking with remarkable people all over the
world. Now this is a segment we do
(01:33):
on the Leading Saints podcast called How I
Lead, and we reach out to everyday leaders.
They're not experts, gurus, authors,
PhDs. They're just everyday leaders who've been asked
to serve in a specific leadership calling, and
we simply ask them, how is it that
you lead? And they go through some remarkable
principles that should be in a book, that
should be behind a PhD. They're usually that
(01:54):
good, and, we just talk about, sharing what
the other guy is doing. And I remember
being a leader just simply wanting to know,
okay. I know what I'm trying to do,
but what's the other guy doing? What's working
for him? And so that's why every Wednesday
or so, we publish these how I lead
segments
to share.
(02:16):
Hey. It's another How I LEAD episode. This
time, we talk with Allison Schreiber just outside
of San Antonio, Texas.
And I love talking to people like Allison
because she's had so many years, extensive
experience
with working with youth from, you know, formal,
church callings with with the youth, and and
now she's serving as a seminary teacher, for
(02:38):
six years now, going on her seventh year
teaching seminary, early morning seminary.
And, her engagement with the youth, the way
she teaches them,
keeps them engaged and invites all to participate.
There's a lot to learn here. She even
talks about the edge method, which is definitely
worth sticking around for. So you're gonna love
this and be inspired by Allison's experience. So
here's my interview with Alison Schreiber.
(03:07):
All right. I'm here with Alison Schreiber.
Alison,
tell me a little bit just some of
the various youth callings that you've had.
Let's see. I
young women's president,
stake young women's,
insta in young women's presidencies, and then I've
been in seminary. I've been teaching for about
about six years. Oh, that's awesome. And I've
(03:28):
planned youth conferences and treks and all sorts
of things. So
Awesome. Very cool.
And what
you're in Texas. What part of Texas? I'm
in New Braunfels, Texas. It's a little town
just North of San Antonio and just South
of Boston.
Awesome. Very cool. And so you're just one
of those people, personalities that's always been drawn
(03:49):
to the youth and you've always been called
to serve with the youth.
That's what it feels like. Yeah. Yeah. It's
been great. You don't mind?
No. I don't I don't mind.
That's cool. And so your current calling now
is is the seminary teacher. Yes. Yep. That's
my current calling right now. Awesome. So you're
on summer break then, and maybe in a
few weeks, we'll start up again? Yeah. We'll
(04:10):
start up again. And, yeah, it's about four
weeks,
so we're enjoying summer. I'm just sleeping in
a little bit.
Very cool. And,
maybe just tell us what's the general, like,
makeup of your seminary,
the times you start, how many
students show up, and how does that work?
It varies. Our stake is set it up
(04:32):
where
we have two words at our building and
a branch, but then we have, just just
south of us, another building. So we have
a bunch of high schools pretty nearby. And
so the kids can choose,
do they wanna do early morning at our
building or at stake center, or there's a
couple of night classes
that they could pick.
And and so we have ranging
(04:54):
last year, I'm trying to think if we
had over 30 kids, maybe almost 40,
but they were split up into two classes.
So we have freshman, sophomore, and then junior,
senior. And I've been teaching freshman, sophomore about
the whole time.
Awesome. Very cool. And so,
do you feel like you figured some things
out just from teaching youth? Has it become
(05:15):
a natural has it just come natural for
you, or are you always, like, testing different
things to to connect with you?
Testing different things because you just never know.
Like, how are boys learning compared to girls?
And
and also, I think I kind of gauge
what I like to do too, and I'm
like, well, I hope they like this too.
I like a lot of games. I like
(05:35):
a lot of interactive.
But,
when I was growing up, I always worried
about being bored. That was my I'm like,
oh, this is boring. Oh, this is boring.
And so when I think about something, I'm
like, well, how can I make this
relatable? How can I make this a little
bit more
more fun, exciting, especially at six in the
morning?
Yeah. And you're doing this I mean, it's
(05:57):
it's five days a week. Right? We do
four, which is really nice. So Oh, cool.
Yeah. It used to be five, and then
it changed to four. And we're all like,
oh my goodness.
This is really nice. So you take Friday
off? Or Yes. Take Friday off. Yeah. Gotcha.
And, I mean, doing that day to day,
that can be overwhelming. Right? To because sometimes
when you're thinking games, I'm sure there's
(06:18):
there's props that go along or handouts or,
you know, you can they kinda all pile
up.
They they really do. And then you don't
wanna have it be, like, game heavy. And
then Yeah. You know, how do you fit
the gospel
in every you can't have a
a big game every day. But, you know,
a little something and kind of a grabber,
you know, a hook or, you know, something.
A hook that doesn't sound great, but
(06:39):
something to get them excited or inter interested,
at least interested.
So Yeah. And this is tricky because I
I imagine a lot of youth leaders, they,
you know, they they don't want it to
be boring. Right? Especially early morning, some of
the students may be falling asleep. And so
sometimes they overcorrect and, you know, bring bring
treats and play games. And then it's more
(07:01):
of like, what are we doing here? Are
we even learning the gospel? Right? So how
do you strike that balance?
I try the first year I taught, I
was really
not a little bit overwhelmed, but it's like
when you don't have that experience, it's like,
am I teaching Sunday school five days a
week? I mean, because that's what it kind
of feels like. But it really isn't meant
to be like that exactly. So I try
(07:23):
and I try to, like, all right. Oh,
I could bring treats in. Oh, I could
do this. Oh, I could do a game.
But now that I, after six years of
it,
I really try to focus on, does this
treat have a reason for bringing it?
You know, so I try to fit it
in where like, does this work?
Recently we had a lesson on
the law of chastity.
(07:44):
And so I thought, well, what's a real
comfort thing? And we tried to talk about,
you know, like there's the meat of the
gospel and the milk of the gospel, and
it went along with the lesson. And so
I brought in milk and cookies and I'm
like, milk and cookies, kind of bring it
in, like, what's a tough conversation?
Let's do milk and cookies. And so we
brought in milk and, you know, chocolate milk.
And then I had all these different Oreos
so they could try it where it's like,
(08:05):
this is gonna, could be a tough conversation,
but this is an important
conversation. And so that's I kind of hear
it where
treats match what's going on in the lesson.
Yeah. Do you do you always aim with
each class to have some type of
item to engage whether those are treats or
an activity or I mean, are do you
feel like that's absolutely crucial, or do you
(08:27):
find yourself sometimes we're just taking terms, you
know, reading a a verse in this block
of scriptures? Or
Yeah. Yes. And I
because, yeah, again, like, you can't have a
game every single day. And I always like
to keep them guessing where it's not like,
oh, we're gonna play, you know, this every
day. And I only let things last so
long. I like to do, my version of
(08:47):
Dungeons and Dragons,
in every, like,
book of scripture kind of thing. So like
Old Testament, I have a couple that I
do. And Book of Mormon, I have a
couple, and Doctrine and Covenants and New Testament.
But they can only last so long because
you can't do I mean, we could do
that for a month, but we're not going
to. It's like we're gonna take two days,
and then we'll and we'll do this. Or,
(09:09):
what did we do? We did secret Sanhedrin,
like secret Hitler,
and you can only do that so long
too. You know? It's fun. And it's
it's fun, get them excited, but it can't
I mean, we do it for that every
day. But
it doesn't you know, we wanna can make
those possible connections as well.
Yeah. Yeah.
And I wanna you know, you sent me
(09:30):
some some principles here that is that kinda
keep you focused on on how to engage
and teach and Yes. Interact with youth. And
the first one is making gospel connections. And,
anything else you haven't already said that helps
you, you know, make those gospel connections as
you're teaching or interacting with youth?
I think a lot of planning. I mean,
I I feel like I have seminary and
(09:52):
my class on my mind all the time,
and I'm thankful that my kids are in
that class. So I've taught all four of
my kids. And
I
they're all just sitting in my head and
as I go through my day or as
I go through my personal study, as well
as studying the lesson that's going to be
coming up. Where I think about them individually,
there's a lot of planning that goes in,
(10:14):
as you prepare for the youth. I feel
like because you wanna be deliberate with the
gospel. I mean, you want them to see
those gospel connections. Like, why are we doing
this? We're you know, I guess we get
Sunday, but like, how do we make this
go through the whole week? And so a
lot of thought and a lot of planning,
and sometimes it's the last time to scramble
because I've thought and plan too long in
(10:34):
my head where I, like, have to sit
down and,
okay, how do I make this work? And
a lot of prayers, a lot of thought
and a lot of prayer.
Yeah. The planning is my is key. Yeah.
Awesome.
And you gave me sort of a laundry
list of, maybe examples or context in which
you you try to do this, everything from,
you know, patriarchal blessings to trek to seminary
(10:56):
graduation. I don't know if you wanna pick
one. I'm curious if there's a a certain
story or a narrative, but how does this
look like in real life?
In real life,
I
love making sure all of them
are recognized. Like, every one of them has
meaning,
not just in the grand scheme of their
life,
(11:16):
a but in in our class in seminary.
And so then they can see, like, where
do they fit in in church? How do
I get them to make those connections?
And so I try to recognize them
and I try to like,
not single out isn't the right word, but
like, but get every single one of them
feeling important and needed
(11:38):
and that their voice is part of our
class. Because, you know, you always have the
ones, like, the few that are like, oh,
they have the answers and it's so great
and I love that. I love them. I
need them. But then you wanna get everyone
engaged. Like how do you get the ones
who have their head down and have their
Buc ee's hoodie over there? You know, their
head and their not pretty scared. How can
(11:58):
I get them to be part of it?
And
helping them see how the gospel can be
such a strength
in their life.
And are you sort of just sort of,
you know, monitoring that as you go? You've
we haven't really heard from these two, and
are you calling on them? Are you how
are you engaging those that are have sort
of stepped back?
Well, I'm always watching, and I never like
(12:19):
to push, you know? I will always I
will invite and tell, you know, whatever. But
I've never had anyone say no yet. I
say that, and I'm like, I hope no
one one hope no one ever does. But
I try to get them to feel comfortable
and part of it. And we do a
little present like, we have a president and
then a system president and a secretary
(12:40):
and a chorister. And I'm like, even if
you've never done anything like this, even if
you've never led music, I can teach you
how to lead music. Like that's not hard.
Do your name in cursive and no one
knows what you're doing. Like just stand up
and try.
And so I've gotten a lot of those
that are in the back to move forward,
switching them around, putting them in pairs,
(13:01):
getting them and a lot of them, so
they're very reluctant. You know? Oh, no. I'm
not sitting by my people or whatever. And
I'm like, no. We are all
the people. Like, everywhere, all best friends. And
that's my announcement every first day. We are
now all best friends.
Yeah. These are your people.
Love it. Awesome. Any other examples that that
(13:21):
come to mind?
I'm curious. Maybe, like, you put with Trek,
get them excited before events. What is what
do you mean by that? So we just
did a trek, and while I'm not in
the steak or,
like a mom or anything, just getting the
kids that were are in my,
my area, my ward, a bunch of the
moms, we all got together, and we planned,
(13:43):
how how do we get them excited? Our
state really didn't plan anything.
So we're like, all right, how do we
get they're supposed to walk for a person.
All right. Well, let's figure out who they
can walk to walk for. And we had
a bunch of books out and, like, who
could we walk for? And let's look at
some of these, you know, pioneers and saints
that we could walk for and learning more
about them and watching a few of the
movies to get them excited. And we went
(14:04):
to Goodwill
and bought clothes and everybody kind of figured
out what clothes they could wear and hats
and things. And and it just getting
them excited. I feel like that's a big
thing for youth. It's like, how do we
get them excited and want to do this?
So with the the seminary so your seminary,
you cover
a handful of of stakes, or is it
(14:25):
one one stake? It's one one stake. Okay.
And so we have a handful of wards.
Okay. So it's like
And and so do you
I mean, obviously, you're aware of maybe a
a trek coming up or an activity, and
so you,
is that more intentional, like, you coordinate with
the stake leaders about what's going on and
what you can do, or do you just
naturally think, you know, they have trek coming
(14:46):
up. Let's get them in that gear so
that they're more and more excited. Yeah. I
think it's more like that. We just kinda
do it like, I'm alright. This is coming
up. I'm always, like, looking. Alright. Are there
stick activities? Is there, like, what what are
we doing as a work? Easter,
the church did a big push. And I'm
always looking like a church news. Like, what's
coming up? And, like, what are what are
some youth things going on? And get them
(15:08):
excited and prepared and see here. So I'm
like, okay,
Easter's coming up, how do we prepare for
that? And I,
my dad was a mission president when I
was 16, so I did my high school
in a different country. Oh, wow. So we
did a lot of their Easter. I bring
in their Easter traditions. I certify mission in
Moscow, Russia. I take in their Easter traditions
and
(15:28):
it's re it's really fun. So we make
everything kind of I like making things a
big deal. So
we really, like, one day we do, like,
before Ash Wednesday, you know, we lit everything
leading up. We're very close to New Orleans,
so it's like, let's talk, you know, let's
talk about
Mardi Gras and
carnival and things like that. Just like how
did we get to here and how does
(15:49):
that look like for Easter?
So those kinds of things. Yeah.
So I kinda have an off the wall
question. Maybe a left turn here, and we'll
come back. But I'm just thinking, like, I
love
I love your talents, your energy, your perspective.
And this is I mean, you are the
the epitome of why
I want it you know, why Leading Saints
(16:09):
exist to share these experiences and things.
What advice would you have for the person
who replaces you? Right? Because you're such a
dynamic personality. You have so many good ideas,
and so sort of like, I don't know
how to be like Allison. Right? And, obviously,
everybody should be everybody should be themselves. Right?
But I'm just thinking themselves. Yes. That that
person listening to this thinking, oh, like, I
(16:30):
don't know if I could do all that.
It sounds exhausting. Right? Like, doesn't what what
comes to mind?
Oh, man.
I would say
because
we have this like, there's a Facebook I
think there's a Facebook group for everything, and
there's many for seminary. And so I've I'm
on a couple of them and, like, reading
them, and and I love getting other people's
perspectives, but I feel like when you read
(16:52):
them, you're like, oh, I that's not my
personality, or that is my personality, or maybe
I could change it. And I feel like
that for the next person that comes in,
think about your perspective
of the gospel. How did you what is
your conversion?
And what are you bringing in? And what
are your experiences? I feel like everybody has
a very unique perspective, a very unique life.
(17:14):
Bring those things in and make it about
you sharing it with them.
Yeah.
Yeah. That's that's really good. And and I'm
just thinking, you know,
there's so many researchers out there, like, sort
of jump in and feel
what are you drawn to is what I'm
hearing you say. Like, what what do you
what do you pull towards and lean into
that and say, how can I make this
a little bit more of a dynamic experience
(17:36):
that's going to engage with the youth in
a different way? And but I'm gonna do
it in your you know, you just do
it in your own way. Right? Not trying
to do exactly what that other leader did
because they had success. Right? Right. And because
everybody brings so many different things and so
many different perspectives. And I feel like my
own conversion, my own, you know, is being
a missionary or
(17:56):
being a mom, being whatever. Like, I bring
a different
a different a different perspective. So, yeah, that
personal
perspective is so important.
Cool. Anything else about making gospel connections that
we need to mention before we move on?
I think helping the youth
see how the gospel fits into their everyday
(18:17):
life. I mean, president Nelson
emphasizes so much that daily repentance and was
like, why why does he do that?
And he set aside those doctrinal mastery, and
it's just
so many blocks of scripture that they read
now. It's not 7575%
of the whole book.
It's just these few scriptures now. And I'm
(18:38):
like,
why did he pick these
specifically for you right now? And so making
those gospel connections
for them to see, where does the gospel
fit in every day? How can I feel
the spirit
even at the hardest time or even during
football practice or even during a math test?
How can I do that? So that's that's
(18:58):
what I really
hope to help them understand and help them
see. Yeah. And do any of their responses
come to mind or examples of, like, how
how do you see these sort of having
those epiphanies of like, oh, you know, this
is something I could do.
I love what we do. This past year,
we took each scripture or block of scriptures
(19:19):
from doctoral mastery, and we've set them on
one piece of paper. I printed them up
on one piece of paper, and then it
had lines to the side, and we just
tore them apart.
And just seeing, like, it's line by line.
What is Jesus trying to tell us? What
is Jesus trying to tell you?
And what was you telling Joseph Smith or
Martin Harris or whoever's in here, Edward Parkridge,
(19:40):
but what is he trying to tell you
now in your life? And so I had
an itch go through, like, their own life,
and then what would that look like for
them? And a lot of them had just
had such great comments
that I think really helped them see, okay,
when things are really tough, you know, Martin
Harris said, Harris had to give up his
(20:00):
farm. What am I asked to give up?
How can I show the spirit? Or or
not even give up, but what am I
asked to do that might
be hard? Yeah. Yeah. For sure.
The next principle is mix up learning, and
we've sort of touched on this a little
bit with your games focus. Anything else about,
you know, keeping the learning fresh?
(20:21):
I love just looking through the calendar and
seeing what's coming next. And old testament might
be some of my favorite things to teach
just because it's very unusual and really exciting,
but it also has so many
awesome holidays. And so we celebrate a few
of those holiday. We'll bring things in for
if it's Yom Kippur and,
the different holidays for the atonement.
(20:42):
I had them all. I had a big
jar, and it had, I printed out the
picture of the goat, and we put it
on. And everybody wrote down
a sin or something that was really hard
for them to that we could give this
scapegoat
to get rid of. And it just trained
at me. You know, here are these holidays,
these old, ancient,
amazing holidays.
(21:03):
How do they translate to us now? How
do they help us? You know? Why are
we still focusing on these things? Sharing these
things. And Yeah. Really helping them see a
different perspective of the gospel and a different
thing.
Getting them excited about that. Holidays are a
big one.
I love making invitations.
I'm a very amateur little graphic designer, but
(21:25):
I make invitations for everything. Like, anything that's
coming up. So, like, the birthday,
of the church. I'm like, oh, the church's
birthday. It was, like, April 6. And did
a bigger turning a 195, you know, made
a cake and had them come in, and
we did a birthday party, you know, like
a pool party, and it was really fun.
I just try to get them
thinking more
(21:46):
beyond, you know,
this is his subscriptions. We're gonna read them.
You know? How do we make them come
alive, like, a little bit more? Yeah. So
holidays are a big one. Holidays are an
easy one.
Yeah. That's cool. So I'm just curious just
to rattle off some of these resources because
when you when you say you, like, make
invitations, I'm thinking, well, how does she do
(22:06):
that? Does she have that with some of
those, like, pattern scissors that she's doing and
she's looking in her kitchen, or is she
online on Canva?
And how do you what resources do you
use to to create what all these things
that you create? I love Photoshop.
And so I do everything in Photoshop. So
I did little tiny cards for them, the
little things. I did a whole lesson. It
(22:27):
was on preparing for permission. Like, how do
you prefer permission? And so and it's one
of the new life lessons for somebody.
And I
found this clip. I was looking for the
clip
of Indiana Jones when he was gonna cross,
and he had to take that leap of
faith. Oh, yeah. The whole thing is about
a leap of faith. I'm like, it is
a leap of faith. It's just like a
dream of sharing.
So I was trying to find that clip,
(22:48):
and next to it, I found the one
from Into the Spider Verse, and it was
I love that movie.
Yeah. That's awesome. Whoever has a scene, it's
it's a good site. It's beautiful too. The
the art is amazing. Yeah. I, I love
it. So I watched that clip first. I
love Indiana Jones. I'm like, I'm scared. But
that I thought that I felt strongly to
go to that one. So I went to
(23:10):
that one, and it was Miles asking,
how do I know
I'm Spider Man? And he's asking
the old overweight Spider Man that's, you know,
out of shape. And finally, he says, you
know, that goes through this whole montage of,
how do I know I'm Spider Man? And
he says,
it's the leap of faith. And I'm like,
there's my clip. There's my thing. That's my
(23:32):
whole thing. So when the so as I'm
studying the planning and everything, that
so I have led many times is it
the spirit? Yes. I think so.
To movie clips and things that are just
gonna grab them. And so I made my
whole thing about Miles getting ready to Spider
Man, and that was our lesson. And at
the end, I made little cards for them,
and it was him,
(23:53):
Miles in a suit with a missionary pack.
Bit. And it was That's cool.
Opening your portal is a little bit. Filling
out that paperwork is a little bit. All
of it's a little bit. Yeah. I love
that. First of all, this is a a
tactic I use a lot, not just with
youth, but anytime I'm teaching, whether it's a
fireside or,
(24:15):
in various
contexts. But using movie clips, like, especially some
of the classics like Indiana Jones or, you
know, like you said, you you found some
that
because naturally, I think, especially in seminary, we
go to a place of, like, okay. Is
there a seminary video out there? Right? Now
I have to be very delicate because
if if a Seminary Institute is listening right
now, you know, CMBS,
(24:36):
they're like, you know, they're like, don't show
clips from The Chosen, you know, let alone
Yeah. But okay. Just we're gonna rebel a
little bit here. But, really, there's something about,
like, okay. Now I'm gonna show you a
clip from Spider Man. Suddenly, the youth are
like, oh, wait a minute. Here we go.
You know? Like, what's this gonna be about?
It engages the mind on a really unique
way, and then you bring them back into
the context of the principle or the lesson
(24:57):
or the scripture.
And it really is this, you know, you
mix up with media.
It engages their mind in a way that
will, help them learn. So I love that
you mentioned that. That. So it's a powerful
tool. I agree. When we were talking about
the Sea Of Galilee, I have a boy
in my class. His name is Liam. Oh
my gosh. It's the truest thing in the
whole world. And I showed a clip from
the perfect storm. So I showed this clip.
(25:19):
I'm like, I just wanna show you the
Sea Of Galilee. This is what they're talking
about. It's like you're you know, don't criticize
Peter. Don't you know, just think about the
waves.
This is they're fishermen, and they're terrified. So
I showed this clip, and it's when their
boat is climbing and climbing, and they're fighting
this wave. Yeah.
And in the end, they all die. I
mean, it's the perfect storm. But,
(25:40):
Leah is he's holding he's holding on. He's
like, what's gonna happen? What's gonna happen? And
everyone's and he no one had really seen
the movie, and he was so worried. And
I turned it off before, you know, anything
happened. But, at the end, someone turned and
was like, oh, they all died.
What?
Like so now everyone's like, really into this
(26:00):
movie. I'm like, no. We need to get
him back to the Sea Of Galilee. But,
yeah, so sometimes it goes a little bit
too far. It's Nice.
Well, I feel the same way. Those movie
clips,
something that is, like, contemporary to them. I
mean, then they're like, this is really relatable.
Like, other bednar shared are real, and it
fits so perfect with my last it was
(26:20):
like, here's me as an apostle today. And
he just took video of him walking around.
You know, this is what I do all
day. And I'm like,
this is so great. I'm like, this is
we're gonna watch this reel and go to
Bednar, tell him what he does all day,
and I just I just
love love when you find someone.
Really good. Anything else about mix mixing up
the learning and engaging on that in in
(26:42):
a unique way? I feel like don't be
scared. If you get
an inspiration about it,
really think it through
and,
don't be afraid to try it. Don't be
afraid. And, like, I read it through my
poor family. They could hear my lessons. Like,
I'm alright. Come follow me tonight to me.
Go through my lesson to make sure that
all my clips work and,
(27:03):
and this this handout makes it look does
all this make sense? And they all sit
there and they're gonna listen to it. But
try it out. Like, try whatever comes in
your mind, try it out
because
you never know what's gonna hit someone just
the right way.
Love it. Alright. The last principle is set
youth up for success. Where do you wanna
start there?
Oh, I
(27:24):
have worked with many people who
and this is one of my biggest pet
peeves is, oh, just let them let them
do it, and if they fail,
so what? They'll never forget again.
Like, planning
Yeah.
Planning a camp out, and all the boys
forgot water. And then all the dads are
like, oh, they that's okay. They'll never forget
(27:44):
water again. I'm like, well, how about let's
don't let them not forget in the first
place and then
plan better? You know? But
that's
whatever. So I take that experience and I
put it into Saint Mary where I'm like,
I wanna set these kids up to just
learn it. Great.
And leadership is one of that. Leadership is
(28:05):
a is a big thing to me. I
feel like
they need to learn how to lead. It's
gonna be happening sooner than they realize anything.
And, like, most of you could go off
to college right now. When you're done,
be a real site president. You
could be you could go on a mission
to be in the bishop you could be
in the branch presidency. I mean,
where I served, many were in the branch
presidency. So it's like you
(28:27):
need to learn these skills and learn how
to lead at such an early age,
and it's so important.
So I try, you know, with my little
presidency
getting them, and I rotate it every month.
I make sure everybody gets a turn. And
they you know, Everyone needs to leave this
this meeting, and I have a little thing
for them to leave. They know exactly what
to do. I need it done. This is
exactly what you're going to do. I love
(28:50):
the edge method.
The explain, demonstrate, guide, and then we have,
and I love I love it. And I
live by that. Where I'm like, I'm gonna
show you exactly what to do. I'm gonna
stand up, show you how I got your
power bill here, then I'm gonna let you
do it. I'm gonna demonstrate, then I'm gonna
guide you through it. So by the end
of the year, everybody knows how to I
(29:11):
need you to send their class, which is
not a big deal. But
it gives them that chance to stand up
in front of everybody
and welcome them and get them excited and
ask somebody to pray, ask somebody to share
their devotional.
I feel like that is so powerful.
And so I try to try to really
focus on that. I like to show them
(29:33):
how to do it. I do a big
thing at the end of,
spring semester, I guess, I wanna call it
that, where I do a bottle ward council.
And
we take all of the doctoral mastery data
nerds and have a whole bunch of, like,
the little case studies or the little, things
that go with it. And I print off
from the handbook everybody's position from the whole
(29:53):
ward council.
And we handed out, everybody learns their role
and their responsibility.
And then I read it like model United
Nations, which is one of my favorite things.
So I sit and I have a timer,
and I'm like, okay. Crisis alert. War crisis
alert.
Here's the crisis. And I'll read it, and
I'm like, bishop, what do we do?
(30:14):
Let's read it. And I'm like, he's like,
oh, you know? And and always in the
beginning, they're literally they're like, I don't know.
I don't know what to do. I'm like,
you are the bishop, and everyone's looking to
you. What should we do?
And then if it's about, like, a youth
in it, I'm like, who would you involve
that would be helpful? I said, you're the
president of Yurana Cristo.
Who else could be helpful? He's like, oh,
(30:34):
Yuma Yuma was president. Alright. Yuma Yuma Yuma.
What would you do? You know? So getting
them to think,
this is our light. This is your light.
Now once you graduate,
this is your next your next day. Preparing
them for the next day. I'm like, missions.
Being in a ward council, I mean, that's
gonna happen sooner than later.
So we do a lot, and I'm like,
if you're in state, use council. If you're
(30:55):
in ward, use council or whatever. I don't
know what it's called, but you know what
I mean. Yeah. I'm getting that prepared for
those kinds of things. So I love doing
that. Modeling
ward council is one of my one of
my biggest. I love that. I love crisis
alert. There we go. And then everybody
I loved one time we did when it
was a crisis alert,
(31:15):
and
all of them were so
thoughtful and useful in going through. They're like,
oh, how would we get the primary involved?
How do we get the primary involved? How
do we get the primary involved in an
activity? How do we get that now? It
was really it's really fun to see them
start to put things together.
Yeah. I bet. So That's really cool. I
love it. That's really cool. Anything else about,
(31:36):
setting you up for success you wanna mention
before we wrap up? Well, I just I
love getting them
to to just take charge, take charge of
their own personal
spiritual journey, but then also taking charge of
being a good friend,
being a good leader in their own ward,
and then in a similar class.
(31:56):
And I was telling them, like, look around
the room. These are the people who should
demonstrate the people. They may outrun the same
circles as you, but these are the people.
Love it. Any other point, principle, concept,
story?
It's it's just so fun. It is such
a joy to just
morning person. I am a night owl. I
(32:17):
will stay up all night to watch a
movie or TV or play a game, and
this is my whole life.
I got a minute now. Yeah.
I bet. That's cool. Well,
if there was one more thing, like, if
you were in front of a room full
of youth leaders or seminary teachers,
what final advice would you give them?
(32:37):
I would definitely say
you need to love these youth like Jesus
would love.
Definitely.
Even if they don't
participate or they don't seem like they're participating,
love them the way Jesus would. He would
not give up on them.
(32:58):
He wouldn't want them there. And I tell
those I tell those Jews. We had one
girl who went out and she drove her
siblings to seminary
and then slept in her car. And we've
had this happen a number of times. And
I'm like, sleep I'd rather you were sleeping
in my class. I'd rather that that you
were here. And
so anything to get them to be there.
(33:21):
Do what you can.
Love them the way that Jesus will bless
you.
And that concludes this How I Lead interview.
I hope you enjoyed it. And, I would
(33:41):
ask you, could you take a minute and
drop this link in an email, on social
media, in a text, wherever it makes the
most sense, and share it with somebody who
could relate to this experience. And this is
how we develop as leaders, just hearing what
the other guy is doing, trying some things
out, testing, adjusting
for your area, and,
that's where great leadership's discovered. Right? So we
(34:01):
would love to have you, share this with,
somebody in this calling or a related calling,
and that would be great. And, also, if
you know somebody,
any type of leader who would be a
fantastic guest on the how I lead segment,
reach out to us. Go to leadingsaints.org/contact.
Maybe send this in individual an email letting
them know that you're going to be suggesting
(34:21):
their name for this interview. We'll reach out
to them and,
see if we can line them up. So,
again, go to leadingsaints.org/contact,
and there you can submit all the information
and let us know. And maybe they will
be on a future how I lead segment
on the Leading Saints podcast.
Remember, up your teaching game by listening to
the David Farnsworth presentation by visiting leadingsaints.org/fourteen.
(34:51):
It came as a result of the position
of leadership which was imposed upon us
by the God of heaven who brought forth
a restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ.
And when the declaration
was made concerning the only and only true
and living Church upon the face of the
earth,
(35:12):
we were immediately put in a position of
loneliness,
the loneliness of leadership
from which we cannot shrink nor run away,
and to which we must face up with
boldness and courage
and ability.
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