Register HERE for the Recovering Saints Virtual Conference Kelly Thompson Clark is a recovering drug addict and alcoholic who spent three decades battling the disease of addiction. Plagued by the effects of mental illness and addiction, she eventually descended into homelessness and prostitution. In 2016, after finding faith in Jesus Christ and entering twelve-step recovery, Kelly’s life of tragedy and despair transformed into one that overflowed with purpose and hope. Kelly is a published autho...
Jan 21, 2023•1 hr 19 min
Pavel Mykhailovskii was born and raised in Ukraine, and served a mission in Dnipro, Ukraine. He was called as the second counselor in the mission presidency in Dnipro only eight months after serving his mission. He has also served as branch president and is currently serving as stake president. Highlights 02:35 Introduction to Pavel and his background 04:00 The current state of Ukraine due to the war. Pavel lives in one of the biggest cities in eastern Ukraine where, for the most part, life is n...
Jan 18, 2023•1 hr 6 min
Karla Fonseca was born and raised in San Pedro Sula, the industrial capital of Honduras, in Central America. She graduated as an environmental engineer before serving in the Guatemala City Central Mission. She later earned a master's degree in Environmental Science at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV), and is now a senior in Marriage and Family Studies in BYU-Idaho's online program. Karla has worked as an environmental coordinator and manager and is currently the project manager at her ...
Jan 11, 2023•38 min
Travis Richey is an entrepreneur and speaker. At the age of 25, Travis managed a hedge fund with millions of dollars under management. Due to a regulatory oversight in the State of Arizona, he was charged with transactions of an unregistered securities dealer and sentenced to 2 years in Arizona Department of Corrections. This 17,520 hours became the framework of Travis’ new mission in life; he founded AccomplishED Ventures to provide incarcerated and returned citizens the proper resources for a ...
Jan 07, 2023•1 hr 5 min
Jennifer Sumko grew up in Salt Lake City Utah and graduated from the University of Utah with a degree in Communications. She worked in various marketing and account management jobs prior to having children and staying at home as a full-time mother. She started a photography business while her husband was in residency and taught herself how to sew by watching YouTube videos while her babies were sleeping. It was during those years, living on the east coast, that she gained a deep love and appreci...
Jan 04, 2023•46 min
In this episode, Kurt Francom and Ross Richey (former member of the Leading Saints Board of Directors) talk about random topics distantly related to leadership. This is a fun end-of-year episode where there are no rules. :) Links We Are Not Saved podcast Leadership Systems | How I Lead: Ross Richey, High Priest Group Leader Read the TRANSCRIPT of this podcast The Leading Saints Podcast has ranked in the top 20 Christianity podcasts in iTunes, gets over 500,000 listens each month, and has over 10...
Dec 31, 2022•59 min
In this episode, Kurt Francom discusses the past, present, and future of Leading Saints. Links from Episode: Donate to Leading Saints Upcoming Retreats Read the TRANSCRIPT of this podcast The Leading Saints Podcast has ranked in the top 20 Christianity podcasts in iTunes, gets over 500,000 listens each month, and has over 10 million total downloads as part of nonprofit Leading Saints' mission to help latter-day saints be better prepared to lead. Learn more and listen to any of the past episodes ...
Dec 28, 2022•41 min
Ryan Gottfredson, Ph.D., is a cutting-edge leadership development author, researcher, and consultant. He helps organizations vertically develop their leaders primarily through a focus on mindsets. He is also an associate leadership professor at the College of Business and Economics at California State University-Fullerton. He holds a Ph.D. in Organizational Behavior and Human Resources from Indiana University, and a B.A. from Brigham Young University. As a consultant, he works with organizations...
Dec 17, 2022•1 hr 10 min
Justin Sorensen was recently released as bishop of his ward in Indiana and is now serving as stake Young Men camp director and youth Sunday School teacher. He has previously served as ward executive secretary, Young Men president, elders quorum president, and counselor in a bishopric. Justin grew up in Northern Indiana, served a mission in South Korea, and graduated from Purdue University with a bachelor of science in Industrial Engineering. He has been an insurance agency owner for the last 14...
Dec 15, 2022•55 min
Keith Erekson is an award-winning author, teacher, and public historian who has published on topics including politics, hoaxes, Abraham Lincoln, Elvis Presley, and Church history. Keith grew up in Baltimore, Maryland, served a mission in Brazil, and earned advanced degrees in history and business. For seven years he directed the Church History Library, overseeing expanded online research access and enriched public exhibits, and now works for the Church History Department in efforts to encourage ...
Dec 10, 2022•54 min
Kolette Hall is a Success and Self-Management Coach for Leaders. She teaches high-achieving leaders how to manage their thoughts and behavior so they can make aligned decisions in every area of their life—without having to micromanage their time. She is an educator, author, entrepreneur, mother, and widow. Her husband was a quadriplegic in a wheelchair and they were married for 27 years before he passed away suddenly. Kolette has served in a stake Primary presidency and ward Young Women program....
Dec 08, 2022•51 min
This is PART 2 of a 2-part podcast conversation. Listen to PART 1 Steven Croshaw is the co-founder and President of SA Lifeline Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to providing hope, education and resources related to sexual addiction and betrayal trauma recovery. He was instrumental in the production of Understanding Pornography and Sexual Addiction: A Resource for Families, Religious, and Community Leaders. Steven is a commercial real estate developer. He has been married to Rhyll An...
Dec 05, 2022•1 hr 5 min
Steven Croshaw is the co-founder and President of SA Lifeline Foundation, a non-profit foundation dedicated to providing hope, education and resources related to sexual addiction and betrayal trauma recovery. He was instrumental in the production of Understanding Pornography and Sexual Addiction: A Resource for Families, Religious, and Community Leaders. Steven is a commercial real estate developer. He has been married to Rhyll Anne Croshaw for 49 years and they are the parents of seven children...
Dec 05, 2022•36 min
This is a rebroadcast. The episode originally ran in September 2021. Listen to the follow-up conversation here: Part 2: The Research Behind Becoming Christlike. Ryan Gottfredson, Ph.D., is a cutting-edge leadership development author, researcher, and consultant. He helps organizations vertically develop their leaders primarily through a focus on mindsets. He is also an associate leadership professor at the College of Business and Economics at California State University-Fullerton. He holds a Ph....
Nov 30, 2022•1 hr 2 min
Dr. Tyler Johnson is is a medical oncologist, author, and a clinical assistant professor at the Stanford University School of Medicine. He also serves as a leader of the Stanford inpatient oncology services, including supervising the oncology housestaff service. Tyler has served as Bishop in the Stanford Ward and taught institute. He co-hosts The Doctor's Art podcast and writes on the intersection of medicine, ethics, and spirituality. Tyler's writings has been featured by Religion News Service,...
Nov 27, 2022•1 hr 22 min
Rick Bennett currently serves as family history leader in his ward and as a temple worker at the Mount Timpanogos Utah Temple for the past ten years. He has served previously as ward mission leader, elders quorum counselor, membership clerk, Gospel Doctrine teacher, Primary teacher, and missionary in South Carolina/Georgia. He has a masters degree in biostatistics from the University of Utah and teaches at Utah Valley University and Western Governors University. For the past seven years, Rick ha...
Nov 23, 2022•1 hr 9 min
Brooke Rasmussen is completing her masters in Marriage and Family Therapy at Whitworth University in Spokane, Washington and is an intern at Partners with Families and Children, a social safety net for families facing neglect and abuse. Brooke is passionate about helping clients find personal and relational growth in their marriages and teaches Gottman Institute Marriage Courses online with her husband, Scott. Her research at Whitworth focuses on pornography use and its connections to emotional ...
Nov 19, 2022•58 min
Joseph Dixon attended the University of Utah and has worked in the engineering field in management most of his career. Opportunities to travel throughout the world have allowed Joseph to meet many saints in many different countries. In the Church he has served in three bishoprics as counselor, as an elders quorum president, assistant high priest group leader, Young Men president and counselor, ward mission leader, family history leader and consultant, as a missionary in the Florida Ft Lauderdale...
Nov 16, 2022•41 min
Loren Spendlove served as a young missionary in Brazil, then found himself speaking Portuguese again as a missionary couple with his wife Tina—this time in Mozambique. They later returned to Mozambique as mission leaders. Loren and Tina served as missionaries again in Brazil and as Kennedy Center teachers in Guangzhou, China, and Loren served as a branch president in Bethlehem, Palestine. Loren has an MA in Jewish Studies from The Hebrew University of Jerusalem, a PhD in Education, an MBA, and i...
Nov 12, 2022•1 hr 19 min
Theron Andersen served in the Hong Kong mission and while he was out his family moved to Dixon, California and he came home to a new ward where he immediately began serving in the Young Men Presidency. He has served as Young Men secretary, assistant adviser, deacons quorum advisor, and president. He has also served as a Seminary teacher, scoutmaster, elders quorum counselor, and for the past five years as elders quorum president. He has worked for 25 years as a general building contractor, build...
Nov 09, 2022•36 min
Richard “Rich” Watson served in the United States Air Force for 20 years and has an education in psychology, with additional degrees in education and social sciences. Since his retirement from the military in 2015, he has worked for a veteran service organization in their mental health department. He and his team provide resiliency-based retreats for individuals, couples, and families. Rich has served as a ward mission leader and elders quorum president (several times each), as a high priest gro...
Nov 05, 2022•1 hr 23 min
Ben Sabourin has over 25 years of experience managing people in various industries in the for-profit and nonprofit business worlds and was most recently employed by the second-largest health information management company in the U.S. as Director of Accounts Receivable. Currently, he is a Certified Life Coach, a Real Colors Certified Facilitator, and is back earning his bachelor's degree in Business Administration from BYU-Idaho through the Pathways Program. Ben has served as an assistant ward cl...
Nov 02, 2022•55 min
Bronco Mendenhall has coached football for the past 34 years. The former head coach of Brigham Young University's football team, he surprised the football world when he stepped down as head coach of the University of Virginia team last year. Recently he has started co-hosting a podcast, HeadCoachU. At BYU, Bronco led the Cougars to win 99 games in eleven years—the second-most wins in school history—along with eleven consecutive bowl invitations. He has served in the Church as a Primary and Sunda...
Oct 29, 2022•1 hr 12 min
This is a rebroadcast. The episode originally published in December 2019. Jason Hunt has a PhD in endocrine physiology and teaches pre-med classes at Brigham Young University-Idaho. He has served as a family ward bishop, a Young Single Adult ward bishop, and as counselor in a Stake Presidency, but his most difficult calling was as the primary pianist. Highlights 07:15 Culture and rules are not doctrinal 09:20 Keyholder applications are different from personal applications 11:00 Elder Bednar’s co...
Oct 26, 2022•1 hr 7 min
Jeff McCullough is on a quest to learn about all things Latter-day Saints. He's not looking for a debate. He's looking to explore and learn, and to fight criticism with curiosity. Jeff is a Protestant, Evangelical Pastor with the Christian and Missionary Alliance, and the creator of the HelloSaints YouTube channel. He completed his undergraduate in Digital Media from a Free-Methodist school, Greenville University, and received a Masters in Biblical Studies from Moody Theological Seminary. Jeff i...
Oct 22, 2022•1 hr 19 min
This is Part 3 of a 3-part conversation. Listen to Part 1 and Part 2. A few weeks ago, master coach/facilitator DeAnna Murphy presented at our Gathering Saints women’s retreat and an idea was hatched! You may know DeAnna from some of the remarkable interviews she has done on the podcast. She will be leading an online intensive experience for those interested in developing individually in order to be a more-prepared leader in life. In this 3-part conversation, DeAnna and Kurt talk about some of t...
Oct 21, 2022•20 min
This is Part 2 of a 3-part conversation. Listen to Part 1 here. A few weeks ago, master coach/facilitator DeAnna Murphy presented at our Gathering Saints women’s retreat and an idea was hatched! You may know DeAnna from some of the remarkable interviews she has done on the podcast. She will be leading an online intensive experience for those interested in developing individually in order to be a more-prepared leader in life. In this 3-part conversation, DeAnna and Kurt talk about some of the con...
Oct 20, 2022•20 min
A few weeks ago, master coach/facilitator DeAnna Murphy presented at our Gathering Saints women's retreat and an idea was hatched! You may know DeAnna from some of the remarkable interviews she has done on the podcast. She will be leading an online intensive experience for those interested in developing individually in order to be a more-prepared leader in life. In this 3-part conversation, DeAnna and Kurt talk about some of the concepts that will be covered in this upcoming online experience th...
Oct 19, 2022•23 min
Murray Meszaros is originally from Saskatchewan, Canada, and joined the Church at age 21 after years of searching for peace and answers. A year later he was serving a mission in Austria. Murray worked in education for 42 years, including in elementary schools, as director/CEO of a YM/YWCA, a college administrator, a consultant, and lastly with the Utah State Board of Education. He has served in the church in most Young Men advisor positions, as Sunday School president and instructor, early morni...
Oct 15, 2022•59 min
Ian Nishimoto’s mother and father were born and raised in Hawaii. His father served in the US Army for 30 years, giving Ian the opportunity to live in many areas and hence his place of birth is Staten Island, New York. Ian completed his master’s degree at the University of Wisconsin–Stout in Training and Development. He began his law enforcement career at the Outagamie County Sheriff’s Department as a deputy sheriff, then worked part-time for the U.S. Marshal Service and other municipalities as ...
Oct 12, 2022•56 min
