“Speak, Lord; for Thy Servant Heareth”
S&I Annual Broadcast January 2024
Friday, January 26, 2024
I’m so grateful to be with you in this worldwide training broadcast. I’m excited by what Brother Webb shared with you regarding the coming updates to our seminary curriculum. This is a historic development that will elevate the life preparation of youth across the Church. Grounded in Jesus Christ and anchored in the scriptures, I see young men and young women better prepared for missions, striving for their temple covenants, more emotionally resilient, more self-reliant, and better prepared for college.
To our seminary teachers, you are part of the critical life preparation of our youth and what they will need to become disciples of Jesus Christ in this coming season of commotion. I hope you will see the inspiration behind these lessons and recognize the role you will play in preparing your youth for the future that is ahead of them. Pray for insight and inspiration to see their future path. Seek out the conviction to inspire them to prepare. What an amazing time to be teaching seminary, and what a marvelous responsibility we all share.
My remarks will now focus on our institute instructors, but the principles will have relevance to all of us who strive to listen to and amplify the words of our prophets. In the Old Testament, Eli counsels the future prophet Samuel to respond to heaven’s call by stating, “Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.”1 This pattern allowed Samuel to become the mouthpiece for the Lord in his day. Part of the miracle of a living prophet is that we have a leader whom the Lord can trust to hear Him and teach His words.
Last year, I shared five prophetic emphases that the prophet and the apostles have been emphasizing to our young adults:
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Know your divine identity.
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Draw on the power of Jesus Christ in your covenants.
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Let God prevail and follow His prophet.
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Teach truth with love.
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Take charge of your testimony.
Perhaps more important than the themes themselves are the specific messages that they draw from, messages that have been prophetically delivered to young adults in our day. For example, one of the anchor messages we have tried to emphasize comes from President Nelson’s worldwide devotional to young adults entitled “Choices for Eternity.” The themes “Know your divine identity” and “Take charge of your testimony” come directly from that message.2 We encouraged you to study each of these prophetic emphases. We asked you to know them, incorporate them in your teaching and your curriculum. More importantly, we invited you to integrate them into the way you respond to questions and the way you minister to the needs of your students.
I’m grateful for so many of you who accepted those invitations and sought ways to amplify the words of our prophets and apostles to the young adults of the Church. At a baseline, religion and institute faculty have been asked to update the syllabi of their Teachings of the Living Prophets course to include recent prophetic emphases to our young adults. But so many of you have also recognized how the words of living prophets can strengthen and amplify other scripture-based courses. For example, a BYU instructor found ways to connect the talk “Choices for Eternity” and other prophetic messages to her Religion 275 Teachings and Doctrine of the Book of Mormon course.3 She stated: “The teachings of the Book of Mormon are strengthened by these current prophetic emphases and vice versa. It really makes a difference in understanding gospel principles to put those two resources together.”
An institute coordinator in Atlanta shared how he was able to incorporate prophetic emphases into his Religion 250 Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel course. For example, in lesson two, “Strengthening Your Testimony of Jesus Christ,” he was able to incorporate the themes of divine identity and taking charge of your testimony from President Nelson’s “Choices for Eternity.” In lesson 10, “Following Jesus Christ’s Example of Submission,” he had the class focused on the talk “Let God Prevail.”4 And in lesson 18, “Receiving the Savior’s Divine Gift of Grace,” he focused on President Nelson’s talk “The Everlasting Covenant.”5
Others have described how having a deep familiarity with these prophetic emphases helps them organically address gospel questions. A university institute faculty shared how a discussion around temple attendance in a class discussion allowed him to turn to President Nelson’s talk “The Temple and Your Spiritual Foundation.”6 He shared, “By using the words of President Nelson, the message of ‘Keep going’ was clear to those who were struggling to find joy in their temple service.” An institute teacher in Panama shared how the teachings from President Nelson and Elder Neil L. Andersen helped them respond as peacemakers on an issue that had created great divisions locally. Another instructor shared how when he was asked why we can’t ignore God’s laws if people struggle, he was able to turn to Elder D. Todd Christofferson’s talk “The First Commandment First.”7
As we continue to emphasize the teachings of living prophets, we are seeing the fruits of our efforts show up in our students themselves as they draw on the prophetic emphases. In an “Answering My Gospel Questions” class, one institute instructor described a question around LGBTQ issues where students immediately referenced President Nelson’s message on knowing your divine identity in “Choices for Eternity.” Another described how students referenced President Dallin H. Oaks’s message to stand fast with love in proclaiming truth when they were facing difficult gospel questions in a discussion with their peers.
I have received my own personal impressions to amplify the prophetic emphases to young adults. Last winter, I team-taught a semester-long Teachings of the Living Prophets course at BYU with Dean Scott Esplin. In the course, we highlighted each of the five prophetic emphases. As we discussed these themes with our students, it was clear to me how powerful current prophetic counsel is for these young adults in this critical season of their lives.
The class helped me refine the way I taught these principles, and it helped me better understand what parts of these messages I should draw on when young adults have questions. Another impression I received was to participate in a series of institute workshops. As you are aware, part of our “Innovate Institute” initiative includes the creation of shorter-form workshops that help bring people to institute who might not already be coming.
Working first with the Logan Institute at Utah State University, then the Salt Lake Institute at the University of Utah, and more recently in Africa at the Brazzaville Institute in the Republic of the Congo in coordination with the Kinshasa Institute in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, we developed a two-part workshop anchored on President Nelson’s talk “Choices for Eternity.” The first-week session focused on the prophetic emphasis to know your divine identity. The second-week session focused on the prophetic emphasis to take charge of your testimony. These are the first and last prophetic emphases we have asked you to amplify.
After the first session, I invited my students to bring a friend for the second session—bring a friend who might be struggling with faith questions around his or her testimony. In one workshop, the attendance nearly doubled. As we continue to use workshops to increase relevance and access to institute, I would extend an invitation to each of our institute faculty to find opportunities to develop targeted workshops focusing on the prophetic emphases we have outlined. I would encourage you to give special attention to the teachings of President Nelson, with an emphasis on his anchor message “Choices for Eternity.”
Since we shared our original counsel to amplify prophetic emphasis to young adults, we have received additional counsel from the Lord through His living servants in worldwide young adult devotionals and in general conference. In his fall 2023 worldwide message to young adults, Elder Quentin L. Cook reinforced President Nelson’s counsel to know your divine identity. He stated that part of the challenge in finding faith in God stems from anxiety around our true identity.
Elder Cook explained: “President Russell M. Nelson has addressed this in a powerful way. He has emphasized three enduring designations: ‘child of God,’ ‘child of the covenant,’ and ‘disciple of Jesus Christ.’” Earlier in his remarks, Elder Cook reinforced President Nelson’s theme to take charge of your testimony when he stated: “Every generation faces circumstances that can lead to a challenge of their faith. … Each generation needs to discover and obtain their own knowledge and testimony of God.”8
In his worldwide devotional to young adults in May 2023, President Dallin H. Oaks reminded us to stand for truth with love by emphasizing the two great commandments.9 He cited his own fellow Apostle Elder D. Todd Christofferson’s statement: “Putting the first commandment first does not diminish … our ability to keep the second commandment. To the contrary, it amplifies and strengthens it. … Our love of God elevates our ability to love others more fully and perfectly because … in essence [we] partner with God in the care of His children.”10
President Oaks then reminded us we can still love others and find common ground without compromising the truths we know. In his most recent general conference address, entitled “Think Celestial!,” President Nelson extended this same prophetic emphasis to stand for truth even when challenged, stating: “Public opinion is not the arbiter of truth. … When someone you love attacks truth, think celestial, and don’t question your testimony.”11
As part of this worldwide training, I am also reinforcing my previous invitation to study and apply the current prophetic emphases for young adults. As seminary and institute teachers, one of the ways we can say, “Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth,” is to listen to and carefully study the words of the Lord as revealed through His living prophets. We can become a prophetic echo of the instruction prophets are already sharing with our young adults.
As part of my calling as a General Authority, I am to be a witness of the Savior. Another responsibility the Seventy carry is to be a resource to the Twelve before any other. I’m here today on assignment with Elder D. Todd Christofferson, whom I support in my role as the commissioner of education and in his role as the chairman of the Executive Committee of the Church Board of Education. I try to be a resource to Elder Christofferson as part of that assignment. But even when I’m not assigned with Elder Christofferson, I work to amplify the counsel and teachings of each of the Apostles and especially the prophet of the Church.
When I am in an ecclesiastical setting at a stake conference or in a leadership meeting, most of my messages are simply an amplification of the words of the prophets and the apostles. Likewise, when I counsel and minister to others, I draw on the words of these brethren. In the case of religious education, the prophet and the apostles speak on behalf of the Lord to His young people. We have a responsibility to know and amplify those messages. Brothers and sisters, our young adults live in perilous times, but the Lord has prepared prophets who have the calling and the capacity to say, “Speak, Lord; for thy servant heareth.” May we too have the courage, the discipline, and the faith to hear their words and, in doing so, carry God’s message to His children across the earth. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
It is now my privilege and opportunity to introduce our keynote speaker. Elder D. Todd Christofferson was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 5, 2008. Elder Christofferson has had supervisory responsibilities for multiple areas of the Church, including his current assignments with the Utah and Africa West Areas. As previously mentioned, he is also currently assigned as the chairman of the Executive Committee of the Church Board of Education.
Beyond any specific assignment, all of the Twelve have a special calling to be a special witness of the name of the Savior. I observed this distinction observing Elder Christofferson when we were assigned together for an on-site visit to the BYU–Hawaii campus. Elder Holland was previously assigned to preside, but due to a last-minute conflict, that responsibility suddenly fell on Elder Christofferson.
He assumed the presiding role admirably, but in one of our meetings he said something that has always resonated with me. He said, “In the end, no matter our area or topical responsibility, our anchor assignment is to be a special witness of the name of Christ in all of the world.” As he spoke those words in Laie, Hawaii, the Spirit witnessed to me of the sacred nature of Elder Christofferson’s calling and how he honors that call with dignity and care. It will now be our privilege to hear from Elder Christofferson.
Elder Christofferson …