What if your child's youth nights became adventures modeled after Book of Mormon heroes?
On today’s episode of Latter-day Lights, we’re joined by Josh Chapman, a creative father of six from Ogden, Utah, who retired from his day job to create 'Nephi’s Apprentice'.
Nephi’s Apprentice is a gospel-centered program that takes life skills like compass work, tool-making, and conflict resolution, and ties them directly to the stories and examples of Nephi and other Book of Mormon heroes.
Designed to complement and work within the guidelines of the Church’s new youth programs, it’s a Scouting-style adventure reimagined to build both confidence and testimony for both young men and young women.
If you’re a parent or leader looking for ready-to-run activities that are fun, meaningful, and spiritually powerful, you won’t want to miss this conversation.
*** Please SHARE Josh's story and help us spread hope and light to others. ***
To WATCH this episode on YouTube, visit: https://youtu.be/iuk_U8--OYU
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To LEARN MORE about the Nephi's Apprentice program visit: https://youthforgedinfaith.com/
To READ Scott’s new book “Faith to Stay” for free, visit: https://www.faithtostay.com/
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Also, if you have a faith-promoting or inspiring story, or know someone who does, please let us know by going to https://www.latterdaylights.com and reaching out to us.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Scott Brandley (00:00):
Hey there as a Latter-day Lights listener, I
want to give you a very specialgift today my brand new book,
faith to Stay.
This book is filled withinspiring stories, powerful
discoveries and even freshinsights to help strengthen your
faith during the storms of life.
So if you're looking to beinspired, uplifted and
(00:21):
spiritually recharged, justvisit faithtostaycom.
Now let's get back to the show.
Hey everyone, I'm Scott Branley.
Alisha Coakley (00:32):
And I'm Alicia Copley.
Every member of the church hasa story to share, one that can
instill faith, invite growth andinspire others.
Scott Brandley (00:40):
On today's episode we're going to hear how
one creative father is helpingthe youth to understand that God
wants more than just their timehe wants their hearts.
Welcome to Latter-day Lights.
Hey, everyone, welcome back toanother episode of Latter-day
(01:04):
Lights.
We're so glad you're here withus today.
We're really excited tointroduce our special guest,
Josh Chapman, to the show.
Welcome, Josh.
Josh Chapman (01:12):
Thank you, I'm glad to be here.
This is exciting.
Alisha Coakley (01:16):
Well, thanks so much for reaching out to us.
We're definitely excited aboutjust what you've created, what
you're going to talk about today.
I think there's a need for it,for sure, but before we get into
any of that, we want to hearjust a little bit more about who
you are.
So why don't you tell us, josh,who are you?
Where'd you come from?
All right, what do you gotgoing on?
Josh Chapman (01:37):
Okay, I'm Josh Chapman, I live in Ogden, utah,
and I recently retired from myday job so I could pursue more
interests that are morecompelling to myself and my
family, things that I feel morestrongly about, and so I'm
excited to be doing my ownthings now and trying to raise
(02:01):
six kids.
I have three adult children andthree young children still, and
my wife and we're happy to justbe part of the church, and I'm
trying to figure out how to getall my kids to have strong
testimonies and a desire toserve Christ and be in part of
(02:23):
God's kingdom.
Scott Brandley (02:25):
That's awesome.
That's a righteous desire, man,and it's a challenge in the
world today.
So I think I think your yourstory is going to help a lot of
people to get some differentideas about that and how they
can help their kids to get astronger testimony.
So super excited.
Alisha Coakley (02:43):
Yeah, absolutely , and I it.
It's funny, we sent six kids.
It reminds me of, uh, thispastor that I had heard um a
long time ago and he, him andhis wife, they had something
like nine kids or whatever.
And he says it's so funny.
He's like so many people comeup to me they're like man, nine
kids, you must really love kids.
And he's's like nope, I justreally love my wife.
That's how, that's how the kidscame along, and so when people
(03:06):
have over three, I'm like theymust really love each other.
Josh Chapman (03:15):
Oh yeah.
Scott Brandley (03:17):
Or hate money.
One of the two.
Alisha Coakley (03:22):
They hate money, they hate a clean house.
No, I don't know what a cleanhouse looks like I'll tell you
that they hate being able tohave food but still in the
fridge like oh my gosh, oh geezpretty much teenagers.
My daughter's 12, but she actslike she's 16.
I bought me some double stuffedoreo cookies the other day and
(03:45):
I meant to bring them here to myvenue so that I could like have
something to munch on.
You know, I get home and twoand a half of the three sleeves
are eaten.
Josh Chapman (03:53):
I don't know Did you guys eat lunch.
That sounds like it.
Alisha Coakley (04:10):
Enough about those guys, josh.
Why don't we go ahead and turnthe time over to you?
Tell us where.
Where does your whole storybegin?
Josh Chapman (04:18):
all right.
Um, well, I I grew up in saltlake city, um, in Sugar House,
and back then, as far as I knew,we were kind of, you know, a
little bit out on the edges ofsociety, but honestly, we were
right in the middle of the city.
I just always felt a little bitremoved, but it was a good life
(04:40):
.
But my parents bought afixer-upper home before I was
born and so for 20 years thehouse was under construction.
Uh, there was nine kidseventually, uh, and the house
was.
The house was finished aboutthe time the last kid was born,
(05:00):
so, so eight, um, in a housewith one bathroom, uh, and no
doors, no, uh, no walls.
Most of the time, uh, when I'msaying construction, it was like
hardcore, legit construction,torn down walls, torn all kinds
(05:21):
of stuff.
So I actually never had abedroom until I was 13 years old
and I, I learned how to build.
I helped build the house.
I ran wire and and insulatingand my brothers helped with the
plumbing.
I didn't help with the plumbingthat much as I was younger but
(05:41):
and dad built foundations andall kinds of framing.
You know he had a lot of helpfrom people in the ward back
then.
There was.
We lived on 900 East and SaltLake city.
If you ever drive by 14th South, you'll see this big white
house with a funky design.
That's the design that thehouse that my dad designed and
(06:03):
it was quite an ambitiousproject.
It started out as like a littletiny one or two bedroom house
with barely a kitchen and aliving room and ended up with
five bedrooms and extra space,two or three living rooms and
kitchen, nice kitchen andeverything.
But it took a long, long, longtime.
So there were people in the wardthat just were the most amazing
(06:27):
men.
A lot of them were my scoutleaders over the years that I
was there and I just have somuch love and respect for those
men because I didn't know then.
What I know now is that my daddidn't really know what he was
doing to build that house.
But some of those men did, andmy dad was was working a lot,
(06:51):
you know kind of strugglingalong through it and getting
there.
It was working.
But but I don't know if itwould have worked out if it
hadn't been for some of thosepeople that lived just down the
up and down the street from me,that lived just up and down the
street from me.
So I'm really grateful for that.
And my father passed away alittle over a year, maybe a year
and a half ago or so, and thatwas really sad and hard time for
(07:18):
my family.
But the and a lot of people, ifthey even knew what kind of
circumstances we were living in,I mean, you'd get DCFS called
on you today.
It just you couldn't do thatanymore.
But back then it was adifferent.
You know, it was the 80s.
Nobody cared.
And so we, you know we gotthrough it, though.
(07:40):
We learned to work.
We worked really hard.
We built things, we bottledpeaches.
You know we had a it though we,we, we learned to work.
We worked really hard.
We, we built things, we bottledpeaches.
You know we bought, we had agarden forever and and bottled
all kinds of things from thegarden.
It was just we worked andworked and worked and I think
that that in in some ways iskind of a.
Most of our kids just don't see, have that kind of experience
(08:04):
anymore.
Most of our kids just don'thave that kind of experience
anymore, all the work out ofnecessity that we did.
When I was growing up, there wasa time when my dad was the
(08:26):
branch president for a nursinghome that was in our ward, and
so he had keys to the church andhe had an office at the ward
building and that old buildinghad a bathroom with the shower.
The men's bathroom had a showerin it and there was a time when
we had no shower.
So we would go to the churchlate at night after dark and
sneak in and I'll take showers,kind of hang out in the office
(08:48):
while we're taking care of that,because that was the only
option we really had, and it wasshowers at the church for a
good while when we had no showerat home.
It was kind of an interestingevent.
And then, on top of all that,we were also homeschooled.
I went to second and thirdgrade at public school and then
(09:12):
after that we were homeschooled,and so I pretty much had to
learn how to learn on my own.
I'm not an academic person, I'mmuch more of a creative person,
um, so I have siblings who areacademic and they they've done
some really amazing things intheir lives.
Um, I'm just not academic likethat.
(09:33):
So if I know how to do any math, it was it.
It took me a minute to learnhow to do it.
Scott Brandley (09:39):
Right.
Josh Chapman (09:40):
And uh, um.
So but bless my mom, she workedreally hard and taught us what
she could and she had a deeplove for learning and study, and
she really one of the mainthings that she wanted us to
learn was about the Constitutionof the United States and have a
(10:02):
deep respect and understandingof the founding fathers and the
making of America.
And that was something we wentthrough a lot and I'm really
glad about that because I thinkit's highly important for the
more people that understandwhere we came from, the less
(10:24):
likely we are of digressing andgetting ourselves back into some
of the problems that thefounding fathers made true that
we were not in anymore.
And then you know, I lovedchurch.
I participated in church allthe time.
(10:44):
I loved church.
I participated in church allthe time.
In fact, I went on a mission toBrazil in 1999.
And in the MTC the missionarieswere like well, how do you know
you have a testimony, when didyou get your testimony?
And some of them had theirvarious know.
Something happened that wasreally meaningful to them.
(11:06):
And I thought, well, I havealways gone to church and I've
always believed in Christ andthat's it.
And they're like, huh, I don'tunderstand that they couldn't
comprehend that I didn't havesome sort of lightning bolt
moment where I gained atestimony.
It's just no.
(11:26):
It's line upon line, preceptupon precept.
And here I am.
So I never had a rebelliousstreak when I quit going to
church.
I never had some point when Ijust didn't know if I had a
testimony or anything.
I just always did, and so thatwas an interesting experience
for associating with people thatdidn't really understand.
(11:49):
It was foreign to them tocomprehend that kind of
experience.
So I came home from my missionand I wanted to get to work.
I wanted to try to build a life.
(12:11):
Right when I got home, mysister got married while I was
gone and my other two oldersiblings, my two brothers, got
married right after I got homefrom my mission.
So I kind of felt some pressureto get married.
I didn't want to be the onethat was at home, adult kid,
without any future going for me.
(12:34):
So I tried really hard to finda wife and I did.
In less than a year I met mywife on an early lds dating
website.
So it's like way before tinderand and what are the e-harmony
and whatever those are nowadays.
This was a really old one and wemet on there and hit it off
(12:57):
really quickly.
Um, or it's a fun story, I shelived in Layton and I lived in
Salt Lake City, and so we wenton a date and I came up to see
her in Layton and we just kindof hung out at kind of a park
there and I never, ever, kisseda girl on our first date ever.
(13:25):
But I did on that one.
I was like whoa, what happenedthere?
That was weird.
And then we both had dates thenext day with some other people.
So we both went on our dates.
We broke it off for the day,went on our other dates, and
then the next day was sunday, wegot back together and, uh,
(13:48):
picked a date and a week afterour first date I had a ring and
I and I had written a song, Iplayed on the guitar and asked
her to marry me and she said yes, yeah yeah, and we got.
We got married two and a halfmonths later.
So it was I was, I was, I was.
(14:10):
I told you I felt the pressure,I was trying to get it done, I
had to get it done.
So that was it.
That was kind of an excitingmoment there obviously worked
out.
You got six kids yeah so far, sogood yeah, she's a good person
(14:31):
and I love her a lot yeah andand you know, and marriage is
hard and and there there'scertainly been many times over.
I think we've been married 24years Actually.
I think this, whatever it is,yeah, but there's certainly been
many times when when we're like, oh my gosh, did I do the right
(14:53):
thing?
And uh, you know, it's, that'spart of life.
And and especially, you know,early on in our marriage, um, I
just was like, man, I barelyknow this woman.
I, just I, I, we got married sofast, we didn't have time to
date or anything, um, but uh, itworked out and there was a time
(15:18):
when I said, you know, probablylike three or four years into
the marriage I'd be like, yeah,we've been married for two short
years and three long ones,something like that.
But yeah, we had our first kidwithin just a little less than a
year after we got married.
(15:40):
So it was for a long time there.
I have known you pregnantlonger than I've known you not
pregnant.
Scott Brandley (15:47):
Wow, yeah, you're really jumping in quick.
Josh Chapman (15:52):
Yeah, it was.
Yeah, just for the record.
I don't recommend that as adating approach.
I'm not telling people theyshould do that, but in our case
it did work out.
Um, yeah.
And then you know, after we, we,uh, we pretty soon we bought a
(16:19):
house and right away I gotcalled as a scout master and I
loved that.
I was super excited about thatGrowing up.
I had done all the scouting, Igot my Eagle Scout and I got
lots of merit badges, only to beoutdone by my brother but he's
an overachiever, so it's okay.
But I really enjoyed scoutinggrowing up and it was really
(16:44):
important to me.
And then, as a young marriedman single or young married
father wasn't a father yet and Ibecame the scout master.
Maybe I was a father by then, Idon't know, but I was a scout
master and I just really enjoyedthat and it was, it was
fulfilling for me.
(17:04):
And I I you know took the kidson their scout camps and, uh, we
, we had a lot of really goodactivities.
And then, just out of the blue,uh, the someone from the
bishopric came over and he'slike uh, we're gonna release you
.
I'm like what, what, why?
And it hadn't been that longand he's like, well, there's
just some personality thing andand we just we're just going to
(17:28):
release you and he's.
And he told me he didn't feelright about it, but he did it
anyway and I just felt so tornup and broken down from that.
I'm like what, what did I do?
I was doing a good job and Ifelt bad and in fact I think
that was a lot of the reason whyI moved from that war.
(17:49):
We moved pretty soon after thatand soon as we moved I got
called right back into scoutsand I'm like, see, god did want
me to be in scouts, and so umhad another great group of boys
and I think I was.
We were there for probablyabout two and a half years and
(18:10):
and man, those boys are justamazing and you know, they're
all grown up now and and I thinkmost of them have just done
really well with their lives andso I'm really proud of them.
But so time came that we, it wastime to move again and we moved
again, and then it was likecrickets, nothing.
(18:31):
I think we worked a little bitin the primary and did a little
bit of um.
We, I, for a little bit, I, Iwas like a 11 year old scout
leader for like maybe a year andthen a few years later I was
(18:52):
like the Weeblos scout leaderfor a little short time, but it
was just like nothing and andand I guess for me I thought
that I had a calling to be ayoung men's leader or scout
leader or something like that,and it just apparently not,
because for 20 years I haven'thad any, hardly any interaction
(19:17):
with the youth and I mostly feltreally bad about that.
And so there was kind of this,this sadness and and uh, um,
kind of like like did I dosomething wrong or did what did
where?
Did I miss the boat?
Like what, what, what wentwrong?
And I just felt really weirdabout that forever and ever and
(19:38):
ever.
So that was kind of kind ofdevastating in a lot of ways.
Well, let me kind of back up alittle bit here as we started to
have kids.
So I was homeschooled growingup and I told my wife when we
(20:09):
were dating for those whole twomonths or whatever, like I think
we should probably homeschoolour kids, and she's like, yeah,
not happening, no way.
And uh, and that, and I youknow I was fine with that I'm
like, okay, well, you know it'sif I wasn't gonna like fight it,
um, and then she worked in anelementary school for a little
while and as she saw some of thethings that happened in the
(20:32):
school and I don't knowspecifically what those were but
she came around pretty soon andsaid, yeah, I think we should
probably homeschool, probablyhomeschool.
And so we have homeschooled ourkids.
Uh, except for a couple of themdid do a little bit of time in
school, like I did, but most ofour big kids have, um, uh, or
(20:54):
most of our kids have beenalmost completely homeschooled.
And and that's a a challenge orthat's not for everybody and
there's different ways of doingthat.
But it's another part of lifewhere it feels like people that
(21:14):
don't understand it, can'tunderstand it and they don't
know what to make of it.
And I feel a lot of times likepeople just don't know what to
do with it when they hear thatand they're like, why do you do
that?
And most of the time they aresaying things like well, what
(21:38):
about their social lives?
And we always laugh about that,because our kids actually are
capable and competent in socialsituations.
I have a 16-year-old daughterthat often will go to church
dances wherever she can findthem, by herself and just show
up and dance, and she doesn'tneed a crowd of people to keep
(22:00):
her company necessarily, andshe's just brave and not worried
about it.
And my kids can talk to adultsand they can talk to kids that
are older than them and kidsthat are younger than them, and
they are really comfortable andconfident in in social
situations.
So I think it's it's ironicthat people worry about that Um
(22:25):
lot of times their peers, I'mnot sure if they know how to
talk to people that aren't theirfriends.
Alisha Coakley (22:35):
Yeah.
Josh Chapman (22:38):
But I've felt a lot of times like I'm kind of
invisible and and almostsometimes like does god even
need me for anything?
And I thought about the song.
You know, you know it may notbe at a mountain high or over a
stormy sea that the lord willhave need of me.
(22:59):
And I'm like well certainly noton a mountain high, certainly
not on a stormy sea.
But I'm not sure where he needsme right now because I'm not
very needed for anything.
So I don't know.
(23:20):
Maybe my calling now has beento be a father, to be a husband
and to take care of these sixamazing kids, and hopefully I've
done a decent enough job ofthat.
And you know, time will tell.
I suppose We'll see.
Scott Brandley (23:49):
As I think Elder Gong says, we'll see.
As I think elder gong says,we'll see.
Well, we, we were talking alittle bit before the show and,
um, you know, sometimes we dohave to take things into our own
hands and you, be proactive anddo what we can, what we feel
that we can and what we feelpersonally inspired to do.
That's why this podcast exists,right.
Josh Chapman (24:09):
Yeah.
Alisha Coakley (24:09):
Yeah, yeah, that's true.
Josh Chapman (24:11):
Yeah, and that's and that's kind of the direction
I started to go because, like I, I've lived here for a long
time now and I it's it's been alot like like there's great
people around me and we havereally good relationships with a
(24:33):
lot of people and at the sametime, there's not very many
people that come and knock on mydoor and walk in my house and
visit or there's not very manypeople that I can go and do
something with on a regularbasis.
And I think maybe you're right,I'll tend to think that God's
(25:01):
got this whole plan of somethingfor me to do and maybe he's
waiting for me to do my ownthing.
Maybe he's waiting for me todecide what's, what do I need to
do and start doing it.
Um, and so maybe that's that's,I think, what finally brought
me to this, uh, this youthprogram that I've created, youth
(25:33):
program that I've created.
So I made a lot of my money overthe years as a real estate
investor and by doing that I wasable to retire from my job
almost a year ago.
But it was definitely a hardroad and I bought my first
duplex when I was 22 years oldand back then if you could fog a
(25:54):
mirror, the bank would give youa loan, and that's pretty much
what I did and over a few years,I actually ended up with a
fairly significant real estateportfolio, up with a fairly
significant real estateportfolio.
But then the 2008 crash camealong and wiped me out pretty
(26:15):
bad, but I did keep that duplexI lost several homes in
foreclosure at that point andbankruptcy and a business deal a
real estate deal I'd done withsome other people, in which one
guy ran off with some money andI was blamed for it and I had to
pay back the money the otherguy ran off with and it was
(26:38):
humiliating and it was, it waspainful and it was.
I mean it.
It beat me down really, reallybad, and I pretty much hit the
bottom Like there's nothing leftto do.
Here I am and I came to thedetermination that if I was
(27:00):
going to lose everything anyway,I might as well be doing
something I enjoy doing.
Doing something I enjoy doingbecause real estate is good for
making money, but notparticularly fun or enjoyable
for fun or interest.
So, and I, I come from buildingand you know, remodeling the
house and, uh, when I was 17 or16, 17, I built a uh, a metal
(27:24):
lathe, which is a machine formachinists, and it's a pretty
involved machine and I justbuilt it out of aluminum
castings that I made at home andjust very hands-on and
construction-oriented.
It is pretty amazing for a16-year-old to do that for sure.
Scott Brandley (27:47):
I think I made like a dust pan.
You know, like you're making ametal lathe.
I'm making a metal lathe.
Josh Chapman (27:57):
Yeah, it was a, it was quite a project and even
even at the time I'm like man,this is an ambitious project and
and you know I'm I, it issomething I'm proud of, but but
I I loved to make stuff out ofmetal and wood and, and you know
I'm I, it is something I'mproud of, but but I I loved to
make stuff out of metal and woodand and stuff.
So I, when I, when I hit rockbottom with my investment
(28:19):
portfolio, I went back to schooland got my machining
certificate, so I became alegitimate machinist and it was
something I could do, that Icared about, that was
interesting to me, and prettysoon I got a job in a company
that manufactures rock climbinggear and I worked there for
(28:44):
about a year and then in aboutthat time is when I pretty much
became the lead engineer on siteand started doing most of the
programming, the production,programming and product
development and everything inassociation with the owner of
(29:05):
the company and it kind ofworked side by side with him and
we, we built, I think weproduced.
Over about five years I Iproduced about 30 new products
and yeah, it was, it was quite afew and pretty quick.
Yeah, one of those products solda million dollars in like a
(29:27):
year, so it was exciting.
And then I found another job inengineering doing an aircraft
work and did some work for themand then I went back to the rock
climbing company.
So I spent about 15 years as acareer um, engineer, machinist,
(29:52):
et cetera, and uh, um, I feltpretty good about that and I I
think I did a lot of good thingsin the time that I was doing
that.
But, um, I, you know, the timecame.
I built, I rebuilt my realestate portfolio and got to a
(30:12):
point where I could decide thatI didn't need the day job
anymore and there's moreimportant things for me to do.
So I left the job market againlast year and have been trying
to figure out the best way forme to apply my talents in the in
the real world, and I'm hopingthat I'm getting there.
(30:36):
So, um, and I think that's kindof the life sketch, like maybe
that's more than you asked for,but I think that brings us to
building stuff for a company andthey pay me by the hour and
(30:58):
it's fine, but it's notparticularly meaningful.
Um, and I, I have these teenageboys that are growing up and
I'm.
I'm looking at their lives andfeeling like they're missing out
on a lot of the lessons that Ilearned growing up.
They're not.
They're not actively buildingtheir house all the time they.
(31:20):
They have helped me in realestate.
I've done a lot of remodelingand things and they've helped
with some of that, but not tothe level that I grew up doing
it and I'm just trying to figureout what is it that matters to
me and what matters to God?
Where do I fit in spirituallyand what's the reason for all of
(31:40):
this?
And so a few years ago Istarted.
I was a primary activitiesleader.
This is, I think, still when itwas called Activity Days, maybe
.
I don't remember it's been a fewyears.
No, probably not.
It was actually probably justafter the church left the Boy
(32:03):
Scouts and actually I like theway, I think, elder Ballard put
it.
He said the Boy Scouts left thechurch, which I think is a
fitting way to say that, and soit was probably around then and
I was a leader with the primaryboys and we went to a Boy Scout
(32:25):
camp day camp for the littlekids and we were going around
the camp and they have theselittle stations where you do,
you know, archery or riding aBMX bike or making your crafts
and you know, going on a littlenature walk, and we were going
through this camp throughout theday and I just thought, why
(32:47):
isn't this, why doesn't thislook like anything at all
related to church?
Why is there no talk of God?
There's no connection totestimony building or anything.
And I started thinking aboutwhat we're doing compared to
what Nephi did in the first bookof Nephi and I thought, oh well
(33:09):
, nephi had to do some, shootsome arrows.
He had to make a bow and arrowsto go feed his family.
Nephi had to go on a naturewalk that took forever and he
went through this, you know, thewilderness and he had to
navigate, and I mean he had theliahona, of course, but but, um,
he had all the theseexperiences.
(33:30):
He made tools.
I mean how, how cool is that?
Here I am growing up making ametal lathe, and here's nephi
blacksmithing his own tools tobuild a ship, and I just I'm
really connecting with him likethat.
And uh, and I just thought,wouldn't it be cool if this was
like camp Nephi and we were herelearning things under the under
(33:57):
the uh premise of of you know,here's Nephi and he did this.
He learned how to shoot anarrow.
So let's go over here and let'sshoot some arrows.
And and then Nephi had to dothis walk.
He had to follow the lean atLeah Hona.
Let's go over here and learnhow to follow a compass.
And and we could tie all ofthese physical and worldly
(34:21):
experiences and skills rightinto the book of Mormon, right
into what we already believe.
And I, and I thought about that.
I'm like that is a cool idea.
I like that idea, but I didn'tknow what to do with it at first
and I kind of sat on it for awhile and it kind of evolved.
My wife and I ended up, a fewyears ago, becoming church camp
(34:46):
missionaries.
So for the last five yearswe've spent a few weeks a year
as camp missionaries and seensome of the the camps, the girl
camps and things like that, andsome of what they do and some
and some of where they are,their weaknesses and their
strengths, and so as I've kindof become more and more exposed
(35:06):
to that, I started thinking,okay, I've got to do something
with this Nephites thing, whatam I going to do with it?
And so after I retired lastyear, I really started working
hard on it and I started writing.
I do some writing and so Istarted writing and coming up
(35:30):
with what I thought I could dowith it and this is where
Nephi's Apprentice is born andchildren and youth activity
structure.
So the church, when scoutingleft the church, the church had
(35:54):
to come up with something forthe youth, and what they came up
with is called the, it's calledchildren and youth activities,
and then for the strength ofyouth is somehow is also there,
and I don't know if I don'tremember, if they're like the
same.
I think it seems like they'retwo different things.
(36:17):
Um, and so they, uh, but butthe, the goal, and I sat in the
original meeting with elder Gong, I think uh, the not with him,
but the broadcast of that andlistened to him describe it, and
it was basically you're goingto, the kids need to create
(36:39):
goals and start working towardsthose goals, and that is what
you're going to do for youryouth program nights, and that's
great, except that some of usaren't creative like me.
Some people don't have the timeand a lot of like, if you're a
bishop or a bishop's counselorand you have a day job still and
(37:04):
you're trying to, tuesday nightcomes along and how many people
are going?
Oh man, what am I going to dotonight?
I don't even know.
And then you're like it's thekid's job, they're supposed to
do it.
I'm not supposed to.
I'm the adult leader.
The kids are supposed to figurethis out, but the kids aren't
doing it either.
Correct me if I'm wrong, buthow many of the kids really and
(37:27):
truly get it?
Now, if they do, excellent,great, let them do it, let them
roll, let them run.
But if they don't, what are yousupposed to do?
Right, create a Nephi's programbased on Nephi, that gives the
(37:48):
kids some guidelines to followthat they can use to.
They can have these activities.
They don't have to work reallyhard at figuring out what the
activity is.
They just follow the list, dothe activity.
They might have to do some workto figure out how to do it,
(38:09):
cause I didn't include that inthe world of information.
I thought it's really easy forthem to get a YouTube video on
how to use a compass or whateverit might be.
I don't think I need to fillthat in, at least not now.
I mean, I have to startsomewhere.
So I I have created a list ofuh of 20 activities that they
can do, and when they completethat list of 20 activities that
they can do, and when theycomplete that list of 20
(38:32):
activities, they become Nephi'sapprentice and we've created a
lapel pin that they can use orthey can earn, and we'll sell
those on our website and theycan have that, wear it on their
suit or something like that.
And this program is designed soit's not specific to the boys.
(38:52):
The girls can do it too,although, to be honest, I think
the girls usually have itfigured out pretty well.
I feel like it's usually theboys that struggle the most.
But girls, you're welcome tocome along too.
You can be Nephi's apprenticealso.
So we're not trying tosegregate them at all, but part
of this idea is to have that.
(39:15):
Not only are we doing aninteresting activity, it's also
educational.
It's teaching them something, askill of some kind of value,
and there's scriptures involvedwith it where they can dive into
scriptures and find out whatGod has to say about this stuff.
And then there's some thingslike one of the activity is
(39:37):
conflict resolution.
This is not something mostpeople talk about, but it's
important that we learn how toresolve conflicts and I thought
that is something that wouldreally be valuable to dive into
so that kids can have a bettergrasp on where to go to handle
(39:57):
their conflict.
A lot of life skills, thingslike using a compass or hiking
or building a shelter.
And I definitely had Boy Scoutsin mind as I worked on this,
and I wanted to create somethingthat would kind of replace what
Boy Scouts used to be, but doit in a gospel-centered and
(40:21):
Christ-centered way so thatthose who use it can really
build and gain their testimony.
So the main points that Iwanted to hit while I built the
Nephites Apprentice Program wasI wanted to teach kids and youth
(40:41):
the different skills, becausethere are certain things that
some people will never learn ifthey, if they don't have to, and
these are, a lot of times,things that they really don't
cover in school.
This is my homeschoolbackground coming out, where I I
have to find these educationalopportunities in life, cause
that's how homeschool works mostof the time.
(41:03):
And so I, at least for us.
Um, so I I wanted to teach thethose those kind of boy Scouts
kind of skills sharpen a knifeand things like that.
So there's there's an activityin here where they can.
They can make a tool with woodor metal and you know they're
(41:23):
going to have to get somebodythey know to help them figure
out how to do that, and there'ssome simple ways of doing that
or it can get really complex,but it's left open for a youth
or their leaders to interprethow they want to do that.
But it does give kind of thisguidelines overview.
It gives some scriptures tofollow and some follow-up on
(41:49):
some activities.
There are some activities thatare meant to help you start new
habits, like scripture readingand praying, and there's
follow-ups for those, and all ofit is based on Christ, becoming
a follower of Christ andbecoming a better person.
(42:10):
And I think, alicia, as you saidin the beginning, that we're
trying to become more likeChrist and that's what Heavenly
Father really wants.
He's not as concerned with whatI do for a living or what I do
for fun he's not, as he's notreally hung up on on those kinds
(42:34):
of things, and but he isconcerned with what I become and
who I become, and that is, Ithink, the the most important
part of the the that's the wholereason of this life is to see
what we will become.
And in participating in churchand in trying to be Christ-like
(42:58):
and trying to learn how toforgive people and be kind and
compassionate and empathetic topeople, that's us learning how
to be more like God.
And the more that we become, orthe more we learn those things,
the closer we are to being likeGod, which is the whole goal in
the first place, and that wasthat's kind of my.
(43:20):
My goal here is to providesomething that people can use to
really launch themselves to becloser to God and more like God.
That was the whole goal and Ihope I've done it.
And I do have specifically inthe program.
I have an email address forpeople to give that kind of
(43:44):
feedback.
People to give that kind offeedback If there's something
that they want to see in thenext program or something that
they feel strongly about.
There's a feedback email forthat, so that we can kind of
hear from the community ofchurch members of what is it
that they need and what do theywant.
(44:05):
A lot of this is kind of basedon what I think they need, and I
may be wrong in certain areas,but we're trying to create
something that will benefitpeople in whatever small way we
can.
So right now, we have adownloadable PDF available.
(44:25):
I have some free versionsavailable on our website.
So, right now, we have adownloadable PDF available.
I have some free versionsavailable on our website, as
well as a paid version, andwe're really wanting to get the
homeschool community involved.
We want the not homeschoolcommunity involved.
(44:46):
Quorums and families Um, we I'dI'd love to have more bishops
and state presidents look at itand see if it's something that
would would work in their umjurisdictions.
Uh, I don't expect everybody touse it, but I think that those
who do use it will find, uh, uh,some value in it.
That, um, I hope to.
I hope the value will be farmore than what they pay for it.
(45:09):
I've priced it low, so it's notan expensive tool, but it's
something that I think canmatter and, honestly, the only
reason there's a price tag on itat all is is because I don't
want to spend my life doing itif it doesn't matter to people,
and I feel like that's one waythat I can test if people care
about it and if it does matterto people and I hope that people
(45:34):
will look at it and try it andsee how it can benefit them.
And if your ward doesn't want touse it, you can use it with
your kids at home.
It doesn't have to be forTuesday or Wednesday night
activities, it could be just foryour own family.
Maybe you could use it for yourfamily home evening type of
(45:55):
situation.
And then, yeah, the plan is tomake modules for different age
groups.
I started with Nephi'sApprentice, which I feel like is
pretty good for that 12 to 14year old range, um, but older
kids would still get a lot outof it.
But I want to make uh modulesfor the older kids that cover,
(46:18):
you know, like car repair orsomething like that for the when
they have a car.
Uh, yeah.
And then, and I want to makesome that are for the younger
kids, like the primary kids.
I'm a primary activity leaderright now because I have an
eight year old and so I get tobe his activity leader.
Sometimes I share that withsome other people and I think
(46:40):
we've done some really coolactivities, as I've been trying
to do activities in this style.
So a little while back we wentall full mad scientist.
I brought electronic stuff.
I brought a voltmeter and someLEDs and batteries and wires and
(47:01):
we started learning how tobuild circuits and how to
connect a battery and how to puta switch in the circuit so you
could turn it on and off, andhad a little motor we could
generate power with by handcranking it, and we talked about
power and all of this stuff.
And then we started talkingabout spiritual power, and you
(47:24):
know spiritual connection andhow your connection with God is.
You can't see electricity andyou can't see your connection
with God, but you can observe it, you can test it, and we went
into all that.
So not only were we teachingthe kids some real physical
(47:47):
lessons that are valuable, thatthey won't learn in school, we
were also teaching themspiritual lessons, and my little
boy keeps coming back fromthose kind of activities and he
remembers them and he doesn'tnecessarily talk about it a lot.
But another activity we didlike that he came back.
(48:09):
He mentioned it several timesover the next few weeks.
It stuck in his head because itwasn't just fun, it was also
meaningful, and to me it mattersto be meaningful.
When I was a kid I had threesisters and I would go to scout
camp in the summer and they'd goto girls camp and I'd come home
(48:33):
from camp and they'd come homefrom camp and they'd talk about
what they did and I'd comparethat to what we did and I
thought, man, I want to be goingto girls camp.
That sounds way better.
That sounds way better.
And it was because it wasspiritual, not just because it
was fun.
But they did so many coolthings and I always felt like
(48:55):
Scouts just didn't quite hit it,it didn't quite meet that.
I mean, we did some fun stuffbut mostly came home with
sunburns and mosquito bites andnot, not uh and and meaningful
understanding of the gospel.
So I feel like I feel like I'mI'm trying to offer something to
(49:19):
the the membership of thechurch that I hope will matter.
I hope it will, uh, create a, avision where people can see a
path to discipleship, and I hopethat having a little emblem
will be exciting and that the12-year-old kids will be like,
(49:42):
oh yeah, I want that emblem onmy suit lapel.
That'll be so cool.
And then they work for it andthey do it and they don't.
Tuesday night comes along andthey're like I don't really want
to go tonight because, you know, last time we just kind of
played dodgeball.
But you know, I I see that inmy own kids sometimes and I I
(50:04):
don't want that to be theexperience of the church's youth
.
I want the church or the youthin the church to be so excited
that they would just do anythingto be there.
You know they'd quit soccer tobe to their youth activity
nights because it's so good.
So I don't know if we'll getthem to quit soccer, but you
(50:24):
know, maybe one kid will, we'llget him to quit soccer, but you
know, maybe one kid will.
Alisha Coakley (50:27):
We'll see well, maybe not even quit soccer, but
just, you know, make itimportant, right and and kids
know when it's important andwhen it's not.
Josh Chapman (50:39):
I mean, you can't pull a pull the wool over a
kid's eyes, he knows.
And if, if the activity waslast minute or if it was
underprepared, yeah, they cantell they know and uh, you know,
as, as, as adults, we've gotstuff we're doing, we know we're
(51:00):
busy, we've, we've got to makea living, we've got to mow the
lawn, we've got to, you know, doall the different things that
we do, and sometimes preparing ayouth lesson does not feel that
exciting for an adult um, yeahbut that's kind of what we're
called to do, and I feel like wehave, I don't know, like, like
(51:27):
our generation, right, you know,those of us who have been 20
twice now and up, uh, we, uh, Ifeel like we knew how to be
bored yeah
Alisha Coakley (51:38):
right like we.
We could handle.
You'd handle not beingentertained and just learning
something just for the sake oflearning and we, uh, things move
slower Right and we didn't have.
I feel like when I was ateenager, I didn't have as many
things calling my attention aswhat the teenagers.
Oh, not even close, right, noteven close and and I just think
(52:02):
it was, it was just a.
We were just a differentgeneration.
We had different, differentchallenges and whatever else.
And this generation, like youwere saying, they, they have all
new challenges that we neverdealt with before, and one of
those challenges is that theyare constantly being entertained
yeah.
Right, like, like it takesnothing for them to pick up
(52:26):
their cell phones and to haveentertainment, and they have so
much going on that we've beendoing everything faster.
Think about this you can watcha video or listen to an audible
or something like that, at 2xspeed.
Right, they can't even listento someone talk at a regular
speed anymore.
They're like no, come on, hurryup, just get the information.
You know you want to drivethrough and you want to get
(52:47):
everything instantly at thedrive-thru, right, like like you
want to go to dinner and youwant it to be done in two
minutes, and if you have to waitmore than two minutes to the
drive-thru, you're like beingdriven crazy, right?
So in all of that, we have somuch more competition for their
attention nowadays, and I lovethat.
What you're doing is you'relike you're still keeping it
(53:08):
spiritual, but you understand,too, that the kids need to be
entertained and the best waythat someone learns a lesson is
when they don't even realizethey're learning because they're
so engaged.
Yeah, right, to me, like that's.
That's like those moments whereit's like man, like I love how
you gave that example Thank youfor that, by the way of like the
(53:28):
electricity and conducting, andand you know, like, just like I
can see how the kids would belike, oh, this is so cool and
let me, oh, watch my light,light up.
And then all of a sudden, bam,you hit him with a little bit of
spiritual strength.
You know, and didn't mean youhad to have a whole long lesson
where you're reading threechapters and then you're like
discussing the chapters andyou've lost half of the group
(53:48):
and the other half of the groupis only, you know, half
contributing anyway.
And I like, I just I reallyreally like that a lot.
So I'm interested in seeingwhat else you have.
And of course, to the adultstoo, we adults have more, more
things distracting us.
These days.
We too are entertained veryeasily, which means we're, we
get bored easier than we used to.
And I think us adults, a lot ofus, have turned into worker
(54:12):
bees, right Like to contradictthe boredom in life.
We just work a whole lot.
We're not as yes, we do.
So it's nice when we can stillwork in our callings and we have
resources like this availableto sort of help us do our
callings doing well.
And you know what I think too?
(54:33):
I think that stuff like thisjust opens up your mind to being
creative and other elements ofyour life, like where else can
you marry two things togetherLike spirit and entertainment?
Scott Brandley (54:47):
right.
Alisha Coakley (54:47):
Like how else can I draw inspiration,
analogies, similes, off ofsomething that's happening in
the real world, you know?
And then I think it kind ofputs them in a state of
constantly thinking on aspiritual plane, right.
So I don't know, I think it'sgreat, I think, yeah, I.
Josh Chapman (55:06):
I, specifically, I have a suggested and year long
program.
Uh, there's about 20 activities.
There's 52 weeks in a year andso and I, and so I figured well,
you take 12 of those off, causethey're they always do a
combined activity once a monthusually, and then there's a few
days that they need to follow upon some of the stuff they did
(55:30):
in the past.
But also, like you just said, Ihope that the youth and the
leaders will start going.
You know what, you know what wecould do, this other activity
kind of on the same way, wherewe pull up this scripture and we
do this activity and we marryit together and it becomes a
(55:50):
meaningful thing and we'll start.
I think if people start topractice by using a program like
this, it creates a way to startdoing something.
Maybe that you haven't thoughtabout doing it that way before,
but then they'll start to comeup with their own ideas and
maybe they'll be able to startgoing.
You know what our kids reallyneed in this area.
(56:12):
Like if you're in Texas, maybethe kids have a.
It's a totally different thingthan if you're in, you know,
logan, utah, where the weather'sdifferent and the available,
the type of things that areavailable for you to do are
different.
So in each location people aregoing to have different needs
(56:35):
and I hope that they can startto recognize that those needs
are, that there are differentways that they can fill those
needs.
Scott Brandley (56:44):
One of the things I love about what you're
doing is you said you mentionedit earlier I think it comes down
to an 80-20 rule where you'vegot 20% of the wards that are
probably putting in a realeffort and doing something,
where it is creating a spiritualexperience on a regular basis
and the kids are activelyinvolved.
(57:06):
But I think 80 of the time theadults get busy.
They have good intentions butthey it just gets lost in the
shuffle and they miss theopportunities to really affect
the kids in a positive way andteach them an experience that
they're going to remember, thatcan help them in their life.
So the thing I love about whatyou're doing I love the story
(57:30):
behind it, how it brings the,brings the kids into an
adventure, into a familiar storythat they've been taught their
whole lives about nephhi and howthey can become like Nephi and
do things like Nephi's doing andhave it be productive, have
them learn new skills, have themhave a spiritual experience,
(57:52):
bring it all together.
I think not only that, but Ithink it can tie the group
together as a whole.
It can unify them behind acommon purpose and a common goal
where they have those thingsthat they do every time to to
reach and get the pin at the end.
I love it.
(58:12):
I do.
I think it's freaking awesome.
Josh Chapman (58:16):
Well, thank you, I appreciate that.
Yeah, I did want to say like Iwant to be really clear.
I do not believe that thechurch accidentally left
something out of the youth, thechildren and youth program.
Scott Brandley (58:28):
Right.
Josh Chapman (58:28):
The brethren are deliberate, they are inspired
and guided by God.
They did not make a mistake.
But this is where myhomeschooling background comes
in.
I see things a littledifferently and I was taught to
self-educate.
I was taught to build systemsand to recognize gaps and then
fill them.
I did that professionally andI'm still doing that.
(58:52):
And so as I studied this andprayed about it and tested it, I
think it's really important tounderstand that the Lord
intended for us to build.
He intended for us to ask whatlack I yet?
And then go and work andfulfill those things that are
missing in our own spheres.
And I have a scripture to share.
(59:13):
It's Doctrine and Covenants5827.
It says verily, I say menshould be anxiously engaged in a
good cause and do many thingsof their own free will and bring
to pass much righteousness.
And I've just kind of come tothe realization that I'm going
to have to go out and do somethings on my own without
(59:37):
bringing the whole church withme.
The church I'm not in charge.
I don't have any delusions thatI'm here to guide the church or
anything like that.
I'm just trying to createsomething that people in the
church can use to theiradvantage, left the space inside
(01:00:07):
of the youth program blank sothat you and me and Alicia and
everybody else can fill it withsomething that's meaningful for
them.
And if that's not working rightnow, I invite you to consider,
come over here and have a lookand see if this might work for
you, and if it doesn't, let meknow why it doesn't and I'll and
I'll come up with a solutionfor you, because I have time now
, I can do that, and I alsothink that um, president Nelson
(01:00:32):
said over and over to seekpersonal revelation, and that
includes how we raise ourfamilies and how we serve in the
church.
For me, nephi's apprentice wasborn out of that wrestle.
I didn't feel like I had aplace anymore in the youth
programs once.
I just haven't had that muchinvolvement.
But maybe I wasn't supposed towait for that calling, maybe I
(01:00:56):
was meant to create something.
So this is what I'm doing now.
It's not to replace the church'splan, and I believe that the
church has intentionally steppedback to trust the local leaders
to figure out what's best fortheir area, and that's what I'm
(01:01:16):
offering is a way to do thatthat, hopefully, is streamlined
and easier to use and implementand creates, you know, skill,
skilled learning, skill learning, testimony building um,
discipleship training, and howwe can all become a little bit
more like nephi later it'll behelaman, captain marone I have
(01:01:39):
so many broken mormon heroesthat I can model a module after,
and it's going to be.
It's going to be reallyfantastic.
I'm really excited to see howthe next module comes out.
I've got to start, I've got,I've got to see that people want
it and and then the next moduleis coming forth with.
So I hope people will come andview it and see what they think.
Alisha Coakley (01:02:03):
Yeah, yeah.
Scott Brandley (01:02:04):
Yeah, and I don't.
I don't think anybody watchingthis is thinking that you're
trying to take over the youthprogram.
It's just a tool to help peoplethat don't necessarily the time
or the the vision to puttogether something cohesive that
can help their youth.
So I really appreciate that.
How do they find it, Josh?
Where do they go so great?
It's a youth forged, so Ireally appreciate that.
How do they find it, Josh?
Josh Chapman (01:02:23):
Where do they go Great.
It's youthforgedinfaithcom.
Youthforgedinfaithcom.
Big red website.
You'll know it when you see itand you know, share it with your
bishops or your leaders, yourparents, and there's an email
list you can get on to hearabout the new, new things that
(01:02:45):
we're doing and and just help tosupport us and make it.
Make sure that if it matters toyou, it matters to me.
So and we'll.
We will do more and more of itand, as we start to see people
come in and and participate inthis, so I look forward to
seeing y'all there and and Ihope that it'll be a great
(01:03:06):
experience for everyone whoparticipates.
I'm glad that.
I'm glad that you guys invitedme to to share this with you
guys and and I.
This is a good thing thatyou're doing.
I appreciate that you'respending the time to put this
together every day, every week,and what a what a job that's.
It's pretty impressive.
So I appreciate that and thanksfor having me on it's.
(01:03:28):
It's really my pleasure.
Alisha Coakley (01:03:30):
Yeah Well, we definitely couldn't do it
without viewers like you, who,you know, take the initiative to
reach out and share stories andwho, like, have stories to
share, you know, like, whorecognize that they have
experience and they have valueand have, you know, a way that
they can get light out there tothe world.
So thank you for, you know,being brave, reaching out,
putting together this programand just having it be accessible
(01:03:54):
to other people.
Josh Chapman (01:03:55):
You're welcome.
Thank you, it's good to meetyou guys.
Scott Brandley (01:04:00):
Yeah, thanks for being on, josh.
Thanks everyone for tuning in.
If you have a story that youwould like to share, go to
latterdaylightscom or go toemail us at latterdaylights at
gmailcom, and do yourfive-second missionary work.
Go share Josh's story.
Let's get this out there sopeople can start using his
(01:04:22):
Nephi's Apprentice program andhelp the youth.
I mean they need help more thanever.
They need help, they needdirection.
If you're a busy leader and youneed some help and some
direction in your youth program,this is an awesome way to
really bring your youth togetherin a really cool way that's in
(01:04:44):
line with the church's directionand teaching.
So go do it, and thanks again,josh, for being on.
Thanks everyone for tuning inand we will see you next week
with another edition ofLatter-day Lights.
Take care.
Josh Chapman (01:04:56):
Thank you, have a good night, take care.
Bye-bye, bye-bye, thanks guys.
Hey there as a Latter-day Lights listener, I
want to give you a very specialgift today my brand new book,
faith to Stay.
This book is filled withinspiring stories, powerful
discoveries and even freshinsights to help strengthen your
faith during the storms of life.
So if you're looking to beinspired, uplifted and
(00:21):
spiritually recharged, justvisit faithtostaycom.
Now let's get back to the show.
Hey everyone, I'm Scott Branley.
Alisha Coakley (00:32):
And I'm Alicia Copley.
Every member of the church hasa story to share, one that can
instill faith, invite growth andinspire others.
Scott Brandley (00:40):
On today's episode we're going to hear how
one creative father is helpingthe youth to understand that God
wants more than just their timehe wants their hearts.
Welcome to Latter-day Lights.
Hey, everyone, welcome back toanother episode of Latter-day
(01:04):
Lights.
We're so glad you're here withus today.
We're really excited tointroduce our special guest,
Josh Chapman, to the show.
Welcome, Josh.
Josh Chapman (01:12):
Thank you, I'm glad to be here.
This is exciting.
Alisha Coakley (01:16):
Well, thanks so much for reaching out to us.
We're definitely excited aboutjust what you've created, what
you're going to talk about today.
I think there's a need for it,for sure, but before we get into
any of that, we want to hearjust a little bit more about who
you are.
So why don't you tell us, josh,who are you?
Where'd you come from?
All right, what do you gotgoing on?
Josh Chapman (01:37):
Okay, I'm Josh Chapman, I live in Ogden, utah,
and I recently retired from myday job so I could pursue more
interests that are morecompelling to myself and my
family, things that I feel morestrongly about, and so I'm
excited to be doing my ownthings now and trying to raise
(02:01):
six kids.
I have three adult children andthree young children still, and
my wife and we're happy to justbe part of the church, and I'm
trying to figure out how to getall my kids to have strong
testimonies and a desire toserve Christ and be in part of
(02:23):
God's kingdom.
Scott Brandley (02:25):
That's awesome.
That's a righteous desire, man,and it's a challenge in the
world today.
So I think I think your yourstory is going to help a lot of
people to get some differentideas about that and how they
can help their kids to get astronger testimony.
So super excited.
Alisha Coakley (02:43):
Yeah, absolutely , and I it.
It's funny, we sent six kids.
It reminds me of, uh, thispastor that I had heard um a
long time ago and he, him andhis wife, they had something
like nine kids or whatever.
And he says it's so funny.
He's like so many people comeup to me they're like man, nine
kids, you must really love kids.
And he's's like nope, I justreally love my wife.
That's how, that's how the kidscame along, and so when people
(03:06):
have over three, I'm like theymust really love each other.
Josh Chapman (03:15):
Oh yeah.
Scott Brandley (03:17):
Or hate money.
One of the two.
Alisha Coakley (03:22):
They hate money, they hate a clean house.
No, I don't know what a cleanhouse looks like I'll tell you
that they hate being able tohave food but still in the
fridge like oh my gosh, oh geezpretty much teenagers.
My daughter's 12, but she actslike she's 16.
I bought me some double stuffedoreo cookies the other day and
(03:45):
I meant to bring them here to myvenue so that I could like have
something to munch on.
You know, I get home and twoand a half of the three sleeves
are eaten.
Josh Chapman (03:53):
I don't know Did you guys eat lunch.
That sounds like it.
Alisha Coakley (04:10):
Enough about those guys, josh.
Why don't we go ahead and turnthe time over to you?
Tell us where.
Where does your whole storybegin?
Josh Chapman (04:18):
all right.
Um, well, I I grew up in saltlake city, um, in Sugar House,
and back then, as far as I knew,we were kind of, you know, a
little bit out on the edges ofsociety, but honestly, we were
right in the middle of the city.
I just always felt a little bitremoved, but it was a good life
(04:40):
.
But my parents bought afixer-upper home before I was
born and so for 20 years thehouse was under construction.
Uh, there was nine kidseventually, uh, and the house
was.
The house was finished aboutthe time the last kid was born,
(05:00):
so, so eight, um, in a housewith one bathroom, uh, and no
doors, no, uh, no walls.
Most of the time, uh, when I'msaying construction, it was like
hardcore, legit construction,torn down walls, torn all kinds
(05:21):
of stuff.
So I actually never had abedroom until I was 13 years old
and I, I learned how to build.
I helped build the house.
I ran wire and and insulatingand my brothers helped with the
plumbing.
I didn't help with the plumbingthat much as I was younger but
(05:41):
and dad built foundations andall kinds of framing.
You know he had a lot of helpfrom people in the ward back
then.
There was.
We lived on 900 East and SaltLake city.
If you ever drive by 14th South, you'll see this big white
house with a funky design.
That's the design that thehouse that my dad designed and
(06:03):
it was quite an ambitiousproject.
It started out as like a littletiny one or two bedroom house
with barely a kitchen and aliving room and ended up with
five bedrooms and extra space,two or three living rooms and
kitchen, nice kitchen andeverything.
But it took a long, long, longtime.
So there were people in the wardthat just were the most amazing
(06:27):
men.
A lot of them were my scoutleaders over the years that I
was there and I just have somuch love and respect for those
men because I didn't know then.
What I know now is that my daddidn't really know what he was
doing to build that house.
But some of those men did, andmy dad was was working a lot,
(06:51):
you know kind of strugglingalong through it and getting
there.
It was working.
But but I don't know if itwould have worked out if it
hadn't been for some of thosepeople that lived just down the
up and down the street from me,that lived just up and down the
street from me.
So I'm really grateful for that.
And my father passed away alittle over a year, maybe a year
and a half ago or so, and thatwas really sad and hard time for
(07:18):
my family.
But the and a lot of people, ifthey even knew what kind of
circumstances we were living in,I mean, you'd get DCFS called
on you today.
It just you couldn't do thatanymore.
But back then it was adifferent.
You know, it was the 80s.
Nobody cared.
And so we, you know we gotthrough it, though.
(07:40):
We learned to work.
We worked really hard.
We built things, we bottledpeaches.
You know we had a it though we,we, we learned to work.
We worked really hard.
We, we built things, we bottledpeaches.
You know we bought, we had agarden forever and and bottled
all kinds of things from thegarden.
It was just we worked andworked and worked and I think
that that in in some ways iskind of a.
Most of our kids just don't see, have that kind of experience
(08:04):
anymore.
Most of our kids just don'thave that kind of experience
anymore, all the work out ofnecessity that we did.
When I was growing up, there wasa time when my dad was the
(08:26):
branch president for a nursinghome that was in our ward, and
so he had keys to the church andhe had an office at the ward
building and that old buildinghad a bathroom with the shower.
The men's bathroom had a showerin it and there was a time when
we had no shower.
So we would go to the churchlate at night after dark and
sneak in and I'll take showers,kind of hang out in the office
(08:48):
while we're taking care of that,because that was the only
option we really had, and it wasshowers at the church for a
good while when we had no showerat home.
It was kind of an interestingevent.
And then, on top of all that,we were also homeschooled.
I went to second and thirdgrade at public school and then
(09:12):
after that we were homeschooled,and so I pretty much had to
learn how to learn on my own.
I'm not an academic person, I'mmuch more of a creative person,
um, so I have siblings who areacademic and they they've done
some really amazing things intheir lives.
Um, I'm just not academic likethat.
(09:33):
So if I know how to do any math, it was it.
It took me a minute to learnhow to do it.
Scott Brandley (09:39):
Right.
Josh Chapman (09:40):
And uh, um.
So but bless my mom, she workedreally hard and taught us what
she could and she had a deeplove for learning and study, and
she really one of the mainthings that she wanted us to
learn was about the Constitutionof the United States and have a
(10:02):
deep respect and understandingof the founding fathers and the
making of America.
And that was something we wentthrough a lot and I'm really
glad about that because I thinkit's highly important for the
more people that understandwhere we came from, the less
(10:24):
likely we are of digressing andgetting ourselves back into some
of the problems that thefounding fathers made true that
we were not in anymore.
And then you know, I lovedchurch.
I participated in church allthe time.
(10:44):
I loved church.
I participated in church allthe time.
In fact, I went on a mission toBrazil in 1999.
And in the MTC the missionarieswere like well, how do you know
you have a testimony, when didyou get your testimony?
And some of them had theirvarious know.
Something happened that wasreally meaningful to them.
(11:06):
And I thought, well, I havealways gone to church and I've
always believed in Christ andthat's it.
And they're like, huh, I don'tunderstand that they couldn't
comprehend that I didn't havesome sort of lightning bolt
moment where I gained atestimony.
It's just no.
(11:26):
It's line upon line, preceptupon precept.
And here I am.
So I never had a rebelliousstreak when I quit going to
church.
I never had some point when Ijust didn't know if I had a
testimony or anything.
I just always did, and so thatwas an interesting experience
for associating with people thatdidn't really understand.
(11:49):
It was foreign to them tocomprehend that kind of
experience.
So I came home from my missionand I wanted to get to work.
I wanted to try to build a life.
(12:11):
Right when I got home, mysister got married while I was
gone and my other two oldersiblings, my two brothers, got
married right after I got homefrom my mission.
So I kind of felt some pressureto get married.
I didn't want to be the onethat was at home, adult kid,
without any future going for me.
(12:34):
So I tried really hard to finda wife and I did.
In less than a year I met mywife on an early lds dating
website.
So it's like way before tinderand and what are the e-harmony
and whatever those are nowadays.
This was a really old one and wemet on there and hit it off
(12:57):
really quickly.
Um, or it's a fun story, I shelived in Layton and I lived in
Salt Lake City, and so we wenton a date and I came up to see
her in Layton and we just kindof hung out at kind of a park
there and I never, ever, kisseda girl on our first date ever.
(13:25):
But I did on that one.
I was like whoa, what happenedthere?
That was weird.
And then we both had dates thenext day with some other people.
So we both went on our dates.
We broke it off for the day,went on our other dates, and
then the next day was sunday, wegot back together and, uh,
(13:48):
picked a date and a week afterour first date I had a ring and
I and I had written a song, Iplayed on the guitar and asked
her to marry me and she said yes, yeah yeah, and we got.
We got married two and a halfmonths later.
So it was I was, I was, I was.
(14:10):
I told you I felt the pressure,I was trying to get it done, I
had to get it done.
So that was it.
That was kind of an excitingmoment there obviously worked
out.
You got six kids yeah so far, sogood yeah, she's a good person
(14:31):
and I love her a lot yeah andand you know, and marriage is
hard and and there there'scertainly been many times over.
I think we've been married 24years Actually.
I think this, whatever it is,yeah, but there's certainly been
many times when when we're like, oh my gosh, did I do the right
(14:53):
thing?
And uh, you know, it's, that'spart of life.
And and especially, you know,early on in our marriage, um, I
just was like, man, I barelyknow this woman.
I, just I, I, we got married sofast, we didn't have time to
date or anything, um, but uh, itworked out and there was a time
(15:18):
when I said, you know, probablylike three or four years into
the marriage I'd be like, yeah,we've been married for two short
years and three long ones,something like that.
But yeah, we had our first kidwithin just a little less than a
year after we got married.
(15:40):
So it was for a long time there.
I have known you pregnantlonger than I've known you not
pregnant.
Scott Brandley (15:47):
Wow, yeah, you're really jumping in quick.
Josh Chapman (15:52):
Yeah, it was.
Yeah, just for the record.
I don't recommend that as adating approach.
I'm not telling people theyshould do that, but in our case
it did work out.
Um, yeah.
And then you know, after we, we,uh, we pretty soon we bought a
(16:19):
house and right away I gotcalled as a scout master and I
loved that.
I was super excited about thatGrowing up.
I had done all the scouting, Igot my Eagle Scout and I got
lots of merit badges, only to beoutdone by my brother but he's
an overachiever, so it's okay.
But I really enjoyed scoutinggrowing up and it was really
(16:44):
important to me.
And then, as a young marriedman single or young married
father wasn't a father yet and Ibecame the scout master.
Maybe I was a father by then, Idon't know, but I was a scout
master and I just really enjoyedthat and it was, it was
fulfilling for me.
(17:04):
And I I you know took the kidson their scout camps and, uh, we
, we had a lot of really goodactivities.
And then, just out of the blue,uh, the someone from the
bishopric came over and he'slike uh, we're gonna release you
.
I'm like what, what, why?
And it hadn't been that longand he's like, well, there's
just some personality thing andand we just we're just going to
(17:28):
release you and he's.
And he told me he didn't feelright about it, but he did it
anyway and I just felt so tornup and broken down from that.
I'm like what, what did I do?
I was doing a good job and Ifelt bad and in fact I think
that was a lot of the reason whyI moved from that war.
(17:49):
We moved pretty soon after thatand soon as we moved I got
called right back into scoutsand I'm like, see, god did want
me to be in scouts, and so umhad another great group of boys
and I think I was.
We were there for probablyabout two and a half years and
(18:10):
and man, those boys are justamazing and you know, they're
all grown up now and and I thinkmost of them have just done
really well with their lives andso I'm really proud of them.
But so time came that we, it wastime to move again and we moved
again, and then it was likecrickets, nothing.
(18:31):
I think we worked a little bitin the primary and did a little
bit of um.
We, I, for a little bit, I, Iwas like a 11 year old scout
leader for like maybe a year andthen a few years later I was
(18:52):
like the Weeblos scout leaderfor a little short time, but it
was just like nothing and andand I guess for me I thought
that I had a calling to be ayoung men's leader or scout
leader or something like that,and it just apparently not,
because for 20 years I haven'thad any, hardly any interaction
(19:17):
with the youth and I mostly feltreally bad about that.
And so there was kind of this,this sadness and and uh, um,
kind of like like did I dosomething wrong or did what did
where?
Did I miss the boat?
Like what, what, what wentwrong?
And I just felt really weirdabout that forever and ever and
(19:38):
ever.
So that was kind of kind ofdevastating in a lot of ways.
Well, let me kind of back up alittle bit here as we started to
have kids.
So I was homeschooled growingup and I told my wife when we
(20:09):
were dating for those whole twomonths or whatever, like I think
we should probably homeschoolour kids, and she's like, yeah,
not happening, no way.
And uh, and that, and I youknow I was fine with that I'm
like, okay, well, you know it'sif I wasn't gonna like fight it,
um, and then she worked in anelementary school for a little
while and as she saw some of thethings that happened in the
(20:32):
school and I don't knowspecifically what those were but
she came around pretty soon andsaid, yeah, I think we should
probably homeschool, probablyhomeschool.
And so we have homeschooled ourkids.
Uh, except for a couple of themdid do a little bit of time in
school, like I did, but most ofour big kids have, um, uh, or
(20:54):
most of our kids have beenalmost completely homeschooled.
And and that's a a challenge orthat's not for everybody and
there's different ways of doingthat.
But it's another part of lifewhere it feels like people that
(21:14):
don't understand it, can'tunderstand it and they don't
know what to make of it.
And I feel a lot of times likepeople just don't know what to
do with it when they hear thatand they're like, why do you do
that?
And most of the time they aresaying things like well, what
(21:38):
about their social lives?
And we always laugh about that,because our kids actually are
capable and competent in socialsituations.
I have a 16-year-old daughterthat often will go to church
dances wherever she can findthem, by herself and just show
up and dance, and she doesn'tneed a crowd of people to keep
(22:00):
her company necessarily, andshe's just brave and not worried
about it.
And my kids can talk to adultsand they can talk to kids that
are older than them and kidsthat are younger than them, and
they are really comfortable andconfident in in social
situations.
So I think it's it's ironicthat people worry about that Um
(22:25):
lot of times their peers, I'mnot sure if they know how to
talk to people that aren't theirfriends.
Alisha Coakley (22:35):
Yeah.
Josh Chapman (22:38):
But I've felt a lot of times like I'm kind of
invisible and and almostsometimes like does god even
need me for anything?
And I thought about the song.
You know, you know it may notbe at a mountain high or over a
stormy sea that the lord willhave need of me.
(22:59):
And I'm like well certainly noton a mountain high, certainly
not on a stormy sea.
But I'm not sure where he needsme right now because I'm not
very needed for anything.
So I don't know.
(23:20):
Maybe my calling now has beento be a father, to be a husband
and to take care of these sixamazing kids, and hopefully I've
done a decent enough job ofthat.
And you know, time will tell.
I suppose We'll see.
Scott Brandley (23:49):
As I think Elder Gong says, we'll see.
As I think elder gong says,we'll see.
Well, we, we were talking alittle bit before the show and,
um, you know, sometimes we dohave to take things into our own
hands and you, be proactive anddo what we can, what we feel
that we can and what we feelpersonally inspired to do.
That's why this podcast exists,right.
Josh Chapman (24:09):
Yeah.
Alisha Coakley (24:09):
Yeah, yeah, that's true.
Josh Chapman (24:11):
Yeah, and that's and that's kind of the direction
I started to go because, like I, I've lived here for a long
time now and I it's it's been alot like like there's great
people around me and we havereally good relationships with a
(24:33):
lot of people and at the sametime, there's not very many
people that come and knock on mydoor and walk in my house and
visit or there's not very manypeople that I can go and do
something with on a regularbasis.
And I think maybe you're right,I'll tend to think that God's
(25:01):
got this whole plan of somethingfor me to do and maybe he's
waiting for me to do my ownthing.
Maybe he's waiting for me todecide what's, what do I need to
do and start doing it.
Um, and so maybe that's that's,I think, what finally brought
me to this, uh, this youthprogram that I've created, youth
(25:33):
program that I've created.
So I made a lot of my money overthe years as a real estate
investor and by doing that I wasable to retire from my job
almost a year ago.
But it was definitely a hardroad and I bought my first
duplex when I was 22 years oldand back then if you could fog a
(25:54):
mirror, the bank would give youa loan, and that's pretty much
what I did and over a few years,I actually ended up with a
fairly significant real estateportfolio, up with a fairly
significant real estateportfolio.
But then the 2008 crash camealong and wiped me out pretty
(26:15):
bad, but I did keep that duplexI lost several homes in
foreclosure at that point andbankruptcy and a business deal a
real estate deal I'd done withsome other people, in which one
guy ran off with some money andI was blamed for it and I had to
pay back the money the otherguy ran off with and it was
(26:38):
humiliating and it was, it waspainful and it was.
I mean it.
It beat me down really, reallybad, and I pretty much hit the
bottom Like there's nothing leftto do.
Here I am and I came to thedetermination that if I was
(27:00):
going to lose everything anyway,I might as well be doing
something I enjoy doing.
Doing something I enjoy doingbecause real estate is good for
making money, but notparticularly fun or enjoyable
for fun or interest.
So, and I, I come from buildingand you know, remodeling the
house and, uh, when I was 17 or16, 17, I built a uh, a metal
(27:24):
lathe, which is a machine formachinists, and it's a pretty
involved machine and I justbuilt it out of aluminum
castings that I made at home andjust very hands-on and
construction-oriented.
It is pretty amazing for a16-year-old to do that for sure.
Scott Brandley (27:47):
I think I made like a dust pan.
You know, like you're making ametal lathe.
I'm making a metal lathe.
Josh Chapman (27:57):
Yeah, it was a, it was quite a project and even
even at the time I'm like man,this is an ambitious project and
and you know I'm I, it issomething I'm proud of, but but
I I loved to make stuff out ofmetal and wood and, and you know
I'm I, it is something I'mproud of, but but I I loved to
make stuff out of metal and woodand and stuff.
So I, when I, when I hit rockbottom with my investment
(28:19):
portfolio, I went back to schooland got my machining
certificate, so I became alegitimate machinist and it was
something I could do, that Icared about, that was
interesting to me, and prettysoon I got a job in a company
that manufactures rock climbinggear and I worked there for
(28:44):
about a year and then in aboutthat time is when I pretty much
became the lead engineer on siteand started doing most of the
programming, the production,programming and product
development and everything inassociation with the owner of
(29:05):
the company and it kind ofworked side by side with him and
we, we built, I think weproduced.
Over about five years I Iproduced about 30 new products
and yeah, it was, it was quite afew and pretty quick.
Yeah, one of those products solda million dollars in like a
(29:27):
year, so it was exciting.
And then I found another job inengineering doing an aircraft
work and did some work for themand then I went back to the rock
climbing company.
So I spent about 15 years as acareer um, engineer, machinist,
(29:52):
et cetera, and uh, um, I feltpretty good about that and I I
think I did a lot of good thingsin the time that I was doing
that.
But, um, I, you know, the timecame.
I built, I rebuilt my realestate portfolio and got to a
(30:12):
point where I could decide thatI didn't need the day job
anymore and there's moreimportant things for me to do.
So I left the job market againlast year and have been trying
to figure out the best way forme to apply my talents in the in
the real world, and I'm hopingthat I'm getting there.
(30:36):
So, um, and I think that's kindof the life sketch, like maybe
that's more than you asked for,but I think that brings us to
building stuff for a company andthey pay me by the hour and
(30:58):
it's fine, but it's notparticularly meaningful.
Um, and I, I have these teenageboys that are growing up and
I'm.
I'm looking at their lives andfeeling like they're missing out
on a lot of the lessons that Ilearned growing up.
They're not.
They're not actively buildingtheir house all the time they.
(31:20):
They have helped me in realestate.
I've done a lot of remodelingand things and they've helped
with some of that, but not tothe level that I grew up doing
it and I'm just trying to figureout what is it that matters to
me and what matters to God?
Where do I fit in spirituallyand what's the reason for all of
(31:40):
this?
And so a few years ago Istarted.
I was a primary activitiesleader.
This is, I think, still when itwas called Activity Days, maybe
.
I don't remember it's been a fewyears.
No, probably not.
It was actually probably justafter the church left the Boy
(32:03):
Scouts and actually I like theway, I think, elder Ballard put
it.
He said the Boy Scouts left thechurch, which I think is a
fitting way to say that, and soit was probably around then and
I was a leader with the primaryboys and we went to a Boy Scout
(32:25):
camp day camp for the littlekids and we were going around
the camp and they have theselittle stations where you do,
you know, archery or riding aBMX bike or making your crafts
and you know, going on a littlenature walk, and we were going
through this camp throughout theday and I just thought, why
(32:47):
isn't this, why doesn't thislook like anything at all
related to church?
Why is there no talk of God?
There's no connection totestimony building or anything.
And I started thinking aboutwhat we're doing compared to
what Nephi did in the first bookof Nephi and I thought, oh well
(33:09):
, nephi had to do some, shootsome arrows.
He had to make a bow and arrowsto go feed his family.
Nephi had to go on a naturewalk that took forever and he
went through this, you know, thewilderness and he had to
navigate, and I mean he had theliahona, of course, but but, um,
he had all the theseexperiences.
(33:30):
He made tools.
I mean how, how cool is that?
Here I am growing up making ametal lathe, and here's nephi
blacksmithing his own tools tobuild a ship, and I just I'm
really connecting with him likethat.
And uh, and I just thought,wouldn't it be cool if this was
like camp Nephi and we were herelearning things under the under
(33:57):
the uh premise of of you know,here's Nephi and he did this.
He learned how to shoot anarrow.
So let's go over here and let'sshoot some arrows.
And and then Nephi had to dothis walk.
He had to follow the lean atLeah Hona.
Let's go over here and learnhow to follow a compass.
And and we could tie all ofthese physical and worldly
(34:21):
experiences and skills rightinto the book of Mormon, right
into what we already believe.
And I, and I thought about that.
I'm like that is a cool idea.
I like that idea, but I didn'tknow what to do with it at first
and I kind of sat on it for awhile and it kind of evolved.
My wife and I ended up, a fewyears ago, becoming church camp
(34:46):
missionaries.
So for the last five yearswe've spent a few weeks a year
as camp missionaries and seensome of the the camps, the girl
camps and things like that, andsome of what they do and some
and some of where they are,their weaknesses and their
strengths, and so as I've kindof become more and more exposed
(35:06):
to that, I started thinking,okay, I've got to do something
with this Nephites thing, whatam I going to do with it?
And so after I retired lastyear, I really started working
hard on it and I started writing.
I do some writing and so Istarted writing and coming up
(35:30):
with what I thought I could dowith it and this is where
Nephi's Apprentice is born andchildren and youth activity
structure.
So the church, when scoutingleft the church, the church had
(35:54):
to come up with something forthe youth, and what they came up
with is called the, it's calledchildren and youth activities,
and then for the strength ofyouth is somehow is also there,
and I don't know if I don'tremember, if they're like the
same.
I think it seems like they'retwo different things.
(36:17):
Um, and so they, uh, but butthe, the goal, and I sat in the
original meeting with elder Gong, I think uh, the not with him,
but the broadcast of that andlistened to him describe it, and
it was basically you're goingto, the kids need to create
(36:39):
goals and start working towardsthose goals, and that is what
you're going to do for youryouth program nights, and that's
great, except that some of usaren't creative like me.
Some people don't have the timeand a lot of like, if you're a
bishop or a bishop's counselorand you have a day job still and
(37:04):
you're trying to, tuesday nightcomes along and how many people
are going?
Oh man, what am I going to dotonight?
I don't even know.
And then you're like it's thekid's job, they're supposed to
do it.
I'm not supposed to.
I'm the adult leader.
The kids are supposed to figurethis out, but the kids aren't
doing it either.
Correct me if I'm wrong, buthow many of the kids really and
(37:27):
truly get it?
Now, if they do, excellent,great, let them do it, let them
roll, let them run.
But if they don't, what are yousupposed to do?
Right, create a Nephi's programbased on Nephi, that gives the
(37:48):
kids some guidelines to followthat they can use to.
They can have these activities.
They don't have to work reallyhard at figuring out what the
activity is.
They just follow the list, dothe activity.
They might have to do some workto figure out how to do it,
(38:09):
cause I didn't include that inthe world of information.
I thought it's really easy forthem to get a YouTube video on
how to use a compass or whateverit might be.
I don't think I need to fillthat in, at least not now.
I mean, I have to startsomewhere.
So I I have created a list ofuh of 20 activities that they
can do, and when they completethat list of 20 activities that
they can do, and when theycomplete that list of 20
(38:32):
activities, they become Nephi'sapprentice and we've created a
lapel pin that they can use orthey can earn, and we'll sell
those on our website and theycan have that, wear it on their
suit or something like that.
And this program is designed soit's not specific to the boys.
(38:52):
The girls can do it too,although, to be honest, I think
the girls usually have itfigured out pretty well.
I feel like it's usually theboys that struggle the most.
But girls, you're welcome tocome along too.
You can be Nephi's apprenticealso.
So we're not trying tosegregate them at all, but part
of this idea is to have that.
(39:15):
Not only are we doing aninteresting activity, it's also
educational.
It's teaching them something, askill of some kind of value,
and there's scriptures involvedwith it where they can dive into
scriptures and find out whatGod has to say about this stuff.
And then there's some thingslike one of the activity is
(39:37):
conflict resolution.
This is not something mostpeople talk about, but it's
important that we learn how toresolve conflicts and I thought
that is something that wouldreally be valuable to dive into
so that kids can have a bettergrasp on where to go to handle
(39:57):
their conflict.
A lot of life skills, thingslike using a compass or hiking
or building a shelter.
And I definitely had Boy Scoutsin mind as I worked on this,
and I wanted to create somethingthat would kind of replace what
Boy Scouts used to be, but doit in a gospel-centered and
(40:21):
Christ-centered way so thatthose who use it can really
build and gain their testimony.
So the main points that Iwanted to hit while I built the
Nephites Apprentice Program wasI wanted to teach kids and youth
(40:41):
the different skills, becausethere are certain things that
some people will never learn ifthey, if they don't have to, and
these are, a lot of times,things that they really don't
cover in school.
This is my homeschoolbackground coming out, where I I
have to find these educationalopportunities in life, cause
that's how homeschool works mostof the time.
(41:03):
And so I, at least for us.
Um, so I I wanted to teach thethose those kind of boy Scouts
kind of skills sharpen a knifeand things like that.
So there's there's an activityin here where they can.
They can make a tool with woodor metal and you know they're
(41:23):
going to have to get somebodythey know to help them figure
out how to do that, and there'ssome simple ways of doing that
or it can get really complex,but it's left open for a youth
or their leaders to interprethow they want to do that.
But it does give kind of thisguidelines overview.
It gives some scriptures tofollow and some follow-up on
(41:49):
some activities.
There are some activities thatare meant to help you start new
habits, like scripture readingand praying, and there's
follow-ups for those, and all ofit is based on Christ, becoming
a follower of Christ andbecoming a better person.
(42:10):
And I think, alicia, as you saidin the beginning, that we're
trying to become more likeChrist and that's what Heavenly
Father really wants.
He's not as concerned with whatI do for a living or what I do
for fun he's not, as he's notreally hung up on on those kinds
(42:34):
of things, and but he isconcerned with what I become and
who I become, and that is, Ithink, the the most important
part of the the that's the wholereason of this life is to see
what we will become.
And in participating in churchand in trying to be Christ-like
(42:58):
and trying to learn how toforgive people and be kind and
compassionate and empathetic topeople, that's us learning how
to be more like God.
And the more that we become, orthe more we learn those things,
the closer we are to being likeGod, which is the whole goal in
the first place, and that wasthat's kind of my.
(43:20):
My goal here is to providesomething that people can use to
really launch themselves to becloser to God and more like God.
That was the whole goal and Ihope I've done it.
And I do have specifically inthe program.
I have an email address forpeople to give that kind of
(43:44):
feedback.
People to give that kind offeedback If there's something
that they want to see in thenext program or something that
they feel strongly about.
There's a feedback email forthat, so that we can kind of
hear from the community ofchurch members of what is it
that they need and what do theywant.
(44:05):
A lot of this is kind of basedon what I think they need, and I
may be wrong in certain areas,but we're trying to create
something that will benefitpeople in whatever small way we
can.
So right now, we have adownloadable PDF available.
(44:25):
I have some free versionsavailable on our website.
So, right now, we have adownloadable PDF available.
I have some free versionsavailable on our website, as
well as a paid version, andwe're really wanting to get the
homeschool community involved.
We want the not homeschoolcommunity involved.
(44:46):
Quorums and families Um, we I'dI'd love to have more bishops
and state presidents look at itand see if it's something that
would would work in their umjurisdictions.
Uh, I don't expect everybody touse it, but I think that those
who do use it will find, uh, uh,some value in it.
That, um, I hope to.
I hope the value will be farmore than what they pay for it.
(45:09):
I've priced it low, so it's notan expensive tool, but it's
something that I think canmatter and, honestly, the only
reason there's a price tag on itat all is is because I don't
want to spend my life doing itif it doesn't matter to people,
and I feel like that's one waythat I can test if people care
about it and if it does matterto people and I hope that people
(45:34):
will look at it and try it andsee how it can benefit them.
And if your ward doesn't want touse it, you can use it with
your kids at home.
It doesn't have to be forTuesday or Wednesday night
activities, it could be just foryour own family.
Maybe you could use it for yourfamily home evening type of
(45:55):
situation.
And then, yeah, the plan is tomake modules for different age
groups.
I started with Nephi'sApprentice, which I feel like is
pretty good for that 12 to 14year old range, um, but older
kids would still get a lot outof it.
But I want to make uh modulesfor the older kids that cover,
(46:18):
you know, like car repair orsomething like that for the when
they have a car.
Uh, yeah.
And then, and I want to makesome that are for the younger
kids, like the primary kids.
I'm a primary activity leaderright now because I have an
eight year old and so I get tobe his activity leader.
Sometimes I share that withsome other people and I think
(46:40):
we've done some really coolactivities, as I've been trying
to do activities in this style.
So a little while back we wentall full mad scientist.
I brought electronic stuff.
I brought a voltmeter and someLEDs and batteries and wires and
(47:01):
we started learning how tobuild circuits and how to
connect a battery and how to puta switch in the circuit so you
could turn it on and off, andhad a little motor we could
generate power with by handcranking it, and we talked about
power and all of this stuff.
And then we started talkingabout spiritual power, and you
(47:24):
know spiritual connection andhow your connection with God is.
You can't see electricity andyou can't see your connection
with God, but you can observe it, you can test it, and we went
into all that.
So not only were we teachingthe kids some real physical
(47:47):
lessons that are valuable, thatthey won't learn in school, we
were also teaching themspiritual lessons, and my little
boy keeps coming back fromthose kind of activities and he
remembers them and he doesn'tnecessarily talk about it a lot.
But another activity we didlike that he came back.
(48:09):
He mentioned it several timesover the next few weeks.
It stuck in his head because itwasn't just fun, it was also
meaningful, and to me it mattersto be meaningful.
When I was a kid I had threesisters and I would go to scout
camp in the summer and they'd goto girls camp and I'd come home
(48:33):
from camp and they'd come homefrom camp and they'd talk about
what they did and I'd comparethat to what we did and I
thought, man, I want to be goingto girls camp.
That sounds way better.
That sounds way better.
And it was because it wasspiritual, not just because it
was fun.
But they did so many coolthings and I always felt like
(48:55):
Scouts just didn't quite hit it,it didn't quite meet that.
I mean, we did some fun stuffbut mostly came home with
sunburns and mosquito bites andnot, not uh and and meaningful
understanding of the gospel.
So I feel like I feel like I'mI'm trying to offer something to
(49:19):
the the membership of thechurch that I hope will matter.
I hope it will, uh, create a, avision where people can see a
path to discipleship, and I hopethat having a little emblem
will be exciting and that the12-year-old kids will be like,
(49:42):
oh yeah, I want that emblem onmy suit lapel.
That'll be so cool.
And then they work for it andthey do it and they don't.
Tuesday night comes along andthey're like I don't really want
to go tonight because, you know, last time we just kind of
played dodgeball.
But you know, I I see that inmy own kids sometimes and I I
(50:04):
don't want that to be theexperience of the church's youth
.
I want the church or the youthin the church to be so excited
that they would just do anythingto be there.
You know they'd quit soccer tobe to their youth activity
nights because it's so good.
So I don't know if we'll getthem to quit soccer, but you
(50:24):
know, maybe one kid will, we'llget him to quit soccer, but you
know, maybe one kid will.
Alisha Coakley (50:27):
We'll see well, maybe not even quit soccer, but
just, you know, make itimportant, right and and kids
know when it's important andwhen it's not.
Josh Chapman (50:39):
I mean, you can't pull a pull the wool over a
kid's eyes, he knows.
And if, if the activity waslast minute or if it was
underprepared, yeah, they cantell they know and uh, you know,
as, as, as adults, we've gotstuff we're doing, we know we're
(51:00):
busy, we've, we've got to makea living, we've got to mow the
lawn, we've got to, you know, doall the different things that
we do, and sometimes preparing ayouth lesson does not feel that
exciting for an adult um, yeahbut that's kind of what we're
called to do, and I feel like wehave, I don't know, like, like
(51:27):
our generation, right, you know,those of us who have been 20
twice now and up, uh, we, uh, Ifeel like we knew how to be
bored yeah
Alisha Coakley (51:38):
right like we.
We could handle.
You'd handle not beingentertained and just learning
something just for the sake oflearning and we, uh, things move
slower Right and we didn't have.
I feel like when I was ateenager, I didn't have as many
things calling my attention aswhat the teenagers.
Oh, not even close, right, noteven close and and I just think
(52:02):
it was, it was just a.
We were just a differentgeneration.
We had different, differentchallenges and whatever else.
And this generation, like youwere saying, they, they have all
new challenges that we neverdealt with before, and one of
those challenges is that theyare constantly being entertained
yeah.
Right, like, like it takesnothing for them to pick up
(52:26):
their cell phones and to haveentertainment, and they have so
much going on that we've beendoing everything faster.
Think about this you can watcha video or listen to an audible
or something like that, at 2xspeed.
Right, they can't even listento someone talk at a regular
speed anymore.
They're like no, come on, hurryup, just get the information.
You know you want to drivethrough and you want to get
(52:47):
everything instantly at thedrive-thru, right, like like you
want to go to dinner and youwant it to be done in two
minutes, and if you have to waitmore than two minutes to the
drive-thru, you're like beingdriven crazy, right?
So in all of that, we have somuch more competition for their
attention nowadays, and I lovethat.
What you're doing is you'relike you're still keeping it
(53:08):
spiritual, but you understand,too, that the kids need to be
entertained and the best waythat someone learns a lesson is
when they don't even realizethey're learning because they're
so engaged.
Yeah, right, to me, like that's.
That's like those moments whereit's like man, like I love how
you gave that example Thank youfor that, by the way of like the
(53:28):
electricity and conducting, andand you know, like, just like I
can see how the kids would belike, oh, this is so cool and
let me, oh, watch my light,light up.
And then all of a sudden, bam,you hit him with a little bit of
spiritual strength.
You know, and didn't mean youhad to have a whole long lesson
where you're reading threechapters and then you're like
discussing the chapters andyou've lost half of the group
(53:48):
and the other half of the groupis only, you know, half
contributing anyway.
And I like, I just I reallyreally like that a lot.
So I'm interested in seeingwhat else you have.
And of course, to the adultstoo, we adults have more, more
things distracting us.
These days.
We too are entertained veryeasily, which means we're, we
get bored easier than we used to.
And I think us adults, a lot ofus, have turned into worker
(54:12):
bees, right Like to contradictthe boredom in life.
We just work a whole lot.
We're not as yes, we do.
So it's nice when we can stillwork in our callings and we have
resources like this availableto sort of help us do our
callings doing well.
And you know what I think too?
(54:33):
I think that stuff like thisjust opens up your mind to being
creative and other elements ofyour life, like where else can
you marry two things togetherLike spirit and entertainment?
Scott Brandley (54:47):
right.
Alisha Coakley (54:47):
Like how else can I draw inspiration,
analogies, similes, off ofsomething that's happening in
the real world, you know?
And then I think it kind ofputs them in a state of
constantly thinking on aspiritual plane, right.
So I don't know, I think it'sgreat, I think, yeah, I.
Josh Chapman (55:06):
I, specifically, I have a suggested and year long
program.
Uh, there's about 20 activities.
There's 52 weeks in a year andso and I, and so I figured well,
you take 12 of those off, causethey're they always do a
combined activity once a monthusually, and then there's a few
days that they need to follow upon some of the stuff they did
(55:30):
in the past.
But also, like you just said, Ihope that the youth and the
leaders will start going.
You know what, you know what wecould do, this other activity
kind of on the same way, wherewe pull up this scripture and we
do this activity and we marryit together and it becomes a
(55:50):
meaningful thing and we'll start.
I think if people start topractice by using a program like
this, it creates a way to startdoing something.
Maybe that you haven't thoughtabout doing it that way before,
but then they'll start to comeup with their own ideas and
maybe they'll be able to startgoing.
You know what our kids reallyneed in this area.
(56:12):
Like if you're in Texas, maybethe kids have a.
It's a totally different thingthan if you're in, you know,
logan, utah, where the weather'sdifferent and the available,
the type of things that areavailable for you to do are
different.
So in each location people aregoing to have different needs
(56:35):
and I hope that they can startto recognize that those needs
are, that there are differentways that they can fill those
needs.
Scott Brandley (56:44):
One of the things I love about what you're
doing is you said you mentionedit earlier I think it comes down
to an 80-20 rule where you'vegot 20% of the wards that are
probably putting in a realeffort and doing something,
where it is creating a spiritualexperience on a regular basis
and the kids are activelyinvolved.
(57:06):
But I think 80 of the time theadults get busy.
They have good intentions butthey it just gets lost in the
shuffle and they miss theopportunities to really affect
the kids in a positive way andteach them an experience that
they're going to remember, thatcan help them in their life.
So the thing I love about whatyou're doing I love the story
(57:30):
behind it, how it brings the,brings the kids into an
adventure, into a familiar storythat they've been taught their
whole lives about nephhi and howthey can become like Nephi and
do things like Nephi's doing andhave it be productive, have
them learn new skills, have themhave a spiritual experience,
(57:52):
bring it all together.
I think not only that, but Ithink it can tie the group
together as a whole.
It can unify them behind acommon purpose and a common goal
where they have those thingsthat they do every time to to
reach and get the pin at the end.
I love it.
(58:12):
I do.
I think it's freaking awesome.
Josh Chapman (58:16):
Well, thank you, I appreciate that.
Yeah, I did want to say like Iwant to be really clear.
I do not believe that thechurch accidentally left
something out of the youth, thechildren and youth program.
Scott Brandley (58:28):
Right.
Josh Chapman (58:28):
The brethren are deliberate, they are inspired
and guided by God.
They did not make a mistake.
But this is where myhomeschooling background comes
in.
I see things a littledifferently and I was taught to
self-educate.
I was taught to build systemsand to recognize gaps and then
fill them.
I did that professionally andI'm still doing that.
(58:52):
And so as I studied this andprayed about it and tested it, I
think it's really important tounderstand that the Lord
intended for us to build.
He intended for us to ask whatlack I yet?
And then go and work andfulfill those things that are
missing in our own spheres.
And I have a scripture to share.
(59:13):
It's Doctrine and Covenants5827.
It says verily, I say menshould be anxiously engaged in a
good cause and do many thingsof their own free will and bring
to pass much righteousness.
And I've just kind of come tothe realization that I'm going
to have to go out and do somethings on my own without
(59:37):
bringing the whole church withme.
The church I'm not in charge.
I don't have any delusions thatI'm here to guide the church or
anything like that.
I'm just trying to createsomething that people in the
church can use to theiradvantage, left the space inside
(01:00:07):
of the youth program blank sothat you and me and Alicia and
everybody else can fill it withsomething that's meaningful for
them.
And if that's not working rightnow, I invite you to consider,
come over here and have a lookand see if this might work for
you, and if it doesn't, let meknow why it doesn't and I'll and
I'll come up with a solutionfor you, because I have time now
, I can do that, and I alsothink that um, president Nelson
(01:00:32):
said over and over to seekpersonal revelation, and that
includes how we raise ourfamilies and how we serve in the
church.
For me, nephi's apprentice wasborn out of that wrestle.
I didn't feel like I had aplace anymore in the youth
programs once.
I just haven't had that muchinvolvement.
But maybe I wasn't supposed towait for that calling, maybe I
(01:00:56):
was meant to create something.
So this is what I'm doing now.
It's not to replace the church'splan, and I believe that the
church has intentionally steppedback to trust the local leaders
to figure out what's best fortheir area, and that's what I'm
(01:01:16):
offering is a way to do thatthat, hopefully, is streamlined
and easier to use and implementand creates, you know, skill,
skilled learning, skill learning, testimony building um,
discipleship training, and howwe can all become a little bit
more like nephi later it'll behelaman, captain marone I have
(01:01:39):
so many broken mormon heroesthat I can model a module after,
and it's going to be.
It's going to be reallyfantastic.
I'm really excited to see howthe next module comes out.
I've got to start, I've got,I've got to see that people want
it and and then the next moduleis coming forth with.
So I hope people will come andview it and see what they think.
Alisha Coakley (01:02:03):
Yeah, yeah.
Scott Brandley (01:02:04):
Yeah, and I don't.
I don't think anybody watchingthis is thinking that you're
trying to take over the youthprogram.
It's just a tool to help peoplethat don't necessarily the time
or the the vision to puttogether something cohesive that
can help their youth.
So I really appreciate that.
How do they find it, Josh?
Where do they go so great?
It's a youth forged, so Ireally appreciate that.
How do they find it, Josh?
Josh Chapman (01:02:23):
Where do they go Great.
It's youthforgedinfaithcom.
Youthforgedinfaithcom.
Big red website.
You'll know it when you see itand you know, share it with your
bishops or your leaders, yourparents, and there's an email
list you can get on to hearabout the new, new things that
(01:02:45):
we're doing and and just help tosupport us and make it.
Make sure that if it matters toyou, it matters to me.
So and we'll.
We will do more and more of itand, as we start to see people
come in and and participate inthis, so I look forward to
seeing y'all there and and Ihope that it'll be a great
(01:03:06):
experience for everyone whoparticipates.
I'm glad that.
I'm glad that you guys invitedme to to share this with you
guys and and I.
This is a good thing thatyou're doing.
I appreciate that you'respending the time to put this
together every day, every week,and what a what a job that's.
It's pretty impressive.
So I appreciate that and thanksfor having me on it's.
(01:03:28):
It's really my pleasure.
Alisha Coakley (01:03:30):
Yeah Well, we definitely couldn't do it
without viewers like you, who,you know, take the initiative to
reach out and share stories andwho, like, have stories to
share, you know, like, whorecognize that they have
experience and they have valueand have, you know, a way that
they can get light out there tothe world.
So thank you for, you know,being brave, reaching out,
putting together this programand just having it be accessible
(01:03:54):
to other people.
Josh Chapman (01:03:55):
You're welcome.
Thank you, it's good to meetyou guys.
Scott Brandley (01:04:00):
Yeah, thanks for being on, josh.
Thanks everyone for tuning in.
If you have a story that youwould like to share, go to
latterdaylightscom or go toemail us at latterdaylights at
gmailcom, and do yourfive-second missionary work.
Go share Josh's story.
Let's get this out there sopeople can start using his
(01:04:22):
Nephi's Apprentice program andhelp the youth.
I mean they need help more thanever.
They need help, they needdirection.
If you're a busy leader and youneed some help and some
direction in your youth program,this is an awesome way to
really bring your youth togetherin a really cool way that's in
(01:04:44):
line with the church's directionand teaching.
So go do it, and thanks again,josh, for being on.
Thanks everyone for tuning inand we will see you next week
with another edition ofLatter-day Lights.
Take care.
Josh Chapman (01:04:56):
Thank you, have a good night, take care.
Bye-bye, bye-bye, thanks guys.
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If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
The Breakfast Club
The World's Most Dangerous Morning Show, The Breakfast Club, With DJ Envy, Jess Hilarious, And Charlamagne Tha God!