Attention youth leaders. If you have recently been called to lead the rising generation, I have a next step for you. Listen to an awesome presentation by Yvonne Hubert and Peter Vidmar, who are both respective members of the Young Women and Young Men general advisory council for the church. Their presentation really helps clarify ways on how to effectively lead the youth using the children and youth program.
They also cover topics like youth led groups, how to lead through personal ministry, how to meet youth where they are, identifying the youth strengths and capacities. This presentation is part of the Young Saints virtual library, and you can access it at no cost by going to leadingsaints.org/fourteen. Again, simply click the link in the show notes or go to leadingsaints.org/1four.
So my name is Kurt Frankem and I am the founder and executive director of Leading Saints and, obviously, the host of the Leading Saints podcast. Now I started Leading Saints back in 02/2010. It was just a hobby blog, and it grew from there. By the time 02/2014 came around, we started the podcast, and that's really when it got some, traction and took off, 02/2016. We became a five zero one c three nonprofit organization, and we've been growing ever since.
And now I get the opportunity of interviewing and talking with remarkable people all over the world. Now this is a segment we do on the Leading Saints podcast called How I Lead, and we reach out to everyday leaders. They're not experts, gurus, authors, PhDs. They're just everyday leaders who've been asked to serve in a specific leadership calling, and we simply ask them, how is it that
you lead? And they go through some remarkable principles that should be in a book, that should be behind a PhD. They're usually that good, and, we just talk about, sharing what the other guy is doing. And I remember being a leader just simply wanting to know, okay. I know what I'm trying to do, but what's the other guy doing? What's working for him? And so that's why every Wednesday or so, we publish these how I lead segments to share.
It's a how I lead episode where we reach out to everyday leaders across the world and ask them one question. How is it that you lead? Okay. We ask several questions, but that's the general idea of what we're going for here. And today, we're going to Arizona to talk with Tanner Persley, who's been a bishop for one week, and he already has it figured out. No. I kid. I kid.
We talked about his time just working with youth in the bishop, but prior to his call as bishop, and he created, with the help of many others, I'm sure, a I can do hard things challenge. And I'm really impressed by this. I mean, this is one of those things that I think the nuances of the scouting program that we that we miss where we have formal
merit badges and advancements and ranking rankings. And I remember my time in scouting, you know, it got me to the the city council meeting or I had to go talk with that engineer in the ward and learn about this or that for this merit badge or I planted a garden with my scouting troop and learned about gardening. Right? And a lot of that is missed, because you don't have a formal program like
that, but we have the quadrant. Right? And Tanner talks about how he uses the child and youth program with the quadrants, with all the things, and sort of made his own approach or challenge as a youth leader, and he calls it I can do hard things Challenge. And it has had such a dramatic effect on the youth in his Arizona award and, and really cool the stories he tells and and and we got give all the details and the printouts and his program in the
show notes so you can go there. But make make it your own, you know, and this could be something that you can do not only for youth, but for the primary, for adults or whatever you want to do. But some of these things sometimes captivate, a word in a special way. And, and there's really a bonding experience at the end of this when we've gone out and done these hard things and we now come together and share and reflect. And so a
really good idea. This is one of the many that you can, share to youth leaders. If you know a youth leader, please put this link in an, in a text, an email and send it on to them and, and help to get some ideas out there. So here's my interview with Tanner Persley. Alright, Tanner. You just mentioned to me that you've been Bishop for, I guess, it's been, like, twenty four hours, or has it been a week? It it has been a week. Well, I I've been
bishop for one week. Nice. So yeah. You're already ready for a how I lead episode being bishop now. I've got it all figured out now. No. No. I do not. People keep asking, you know, what what how do you feel when it's, like, super overwhelmed, like Yeah. All the time. I bet. Sure. And and where is your ward located? So, we're in Southeastern Arizona, a little town called, Morenci. The the word is Clifton, and we are in the Dunkin' Stake out
here. So Nice. It's I my cell we live in Arizona, but my cell phone picks up, like, New Mexico signal, so it thinks I'm in New Mexico. It's how close we are to the border there. Wow. Okay. Cool. And are you born and raised in Arizona? Born and raised, nearby a little town called Thatcher. Oh, yeah. Sure. So, yeah, that's where Spencer w Kimball's from. So That's right. That's our claim to fame with the church. Did they have any, like, marker or, like,
his childhood home or anything like that? Oh, yeah. It's all there in front of his childhood home, and and locals will will go and tour that, and it's cool. So, yeah, he's we we really we're we're big Spencer w Kimball fans around here. I bet well. Aren't we all? Aren't we all? So Yeah. Now you reached out to me a a bit ago and talked about sort of a I don't know how you frame a program, an initiative. How did you how how do you frame it? So it's a yeah. It's a program
slash initiative. It's so here's what I'll tell you the story, and then we can kinda Yeah. Let's do the let's do the story. Go from there. So I was before I was bishop, I was the the first counselor, and I came into the the working with the youth, and I just felt like we were struggling with
direction, with what to do. And I I was sitting in a state conference for the leaders, the, you know, the Saturday session, and they were talking about building a youth program and doing stuff with the youth and getting out with them. And I was, like, program and doing stuff with your thing, getting out with them. And I was like, I just I need a target. You know? We we talk about being youth driven,
and and what does that look like? And I think when I when I talk to other youth leaders, what they tell me is we're just we're trying to let the youth drive, and we don't know where we're driving to. Yeah. And so I started just brainstorming what are things that I would like my youth to do, and and and how do I get them there? And I, you know, and so I started with my my dad's lifelong youth leader. And so he just was like, well, here's the last six years of stuff that we've used. You
ought to steal from us. And I was like, okay. Well, that's that's better than nothing. And I I started just stealing from scouting, from duty to God, from what dad did, and and we just put this we we compiled a a pamphlet, and and I've I've emailed that to you. But it's it we call it the I can do hard things challenge. We divided it into the four different areas that the youth programs by the church are are asked to do, so spiritual, social, intellectual, and physical.
And they have between ten and twelve things that we would like our youth to do. With that, we don't require them to do it. We don't make them do this by any means, but it gives them a target. And what we're finding is that the the parents in our wards are the the ones that are really wanting to do stuff are really into this. And and so last year, we had four kids do it. This year right now, I've got three more that are, like we are and just to be clear, we're in a small ward, but, like,
we're not huge. So when I say four kids, like, that was, like, a large percentage of our kids that are doing this. Okay. So how how would you describe your ward or and the amount of youth and things? Let's see here. We have, about 20 active youth. Okay. So So a good good handful of youth that are coming
and participating? Yes. Yes. And so with that, we're trying to change the culture in our ward, and we haven't had missionaries leaving from our ward, and that's been something that both our ward like, the ward leadership wants that, but we're we tend to be fighting parent buy in, and and this was one of those things that parents can buy into. And and so, you know, since I've been called into a bishop break, we we've had no missionaries that have left from our ward in
the last five years. And right now, I have two on date that are preparing to go on a mission. That's encouraging. Yeah. We're like, oh, we're seeing changes. Yeah. And and we think that a big part of it is the I can do hard things challenge and and just going out and do. And and about how long have you been doing this, this program, this challenge? This is our we this is our second full year of doing that. Okay. Good. So you've got some some
good, good track record to see. I'm sure you learned a lot along on the long way along the way. Now this is, you know, love or hate the scouting program. This is something it was good at as far as giving structure and, like, targets, right, different advancements, you know, and and, sure, there's maybe some things that could be adjusted there. But, nonetheless, at least you knew the program and what was expected and what the next thing was, and, you know, I gotta get this
many merit badges or whatever it is. And so not that this is a copy of the scouting program, but it's kinda the same principles. Hey. Hey. A lot of things we took from scouting. Absolutely. But the the big difference was the you you know, scouting doesn't really have a spiritual aspect to
it. A lot of it is the the physical side and a little bit of the intellectual and social, but really not and and so, you know, we've asked our kids to do a lot of the spiritual side, and that's really our probably our most effective part. You know? We we ask our kids to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover, to speak in church twice a year, to teach a lesson in the in the quorum twice a year. And and and so those are some of the things that we've done, and Cool. There's a
lot of them. So maybe just let's break it down just the nuts and bolts of that as far as how the program works and what it is and how you how you do it all. Right. Let me let me pull up some of the because I I think a big part of it that really, kinda sells it is what the because we've got a title page to it.
So it reads, while meeting with the Duncan Stake presidency, the bishopric realized that we needed a program that would help push our youth to be better prepared for the life that is coming for them as they get older. We often see in this day and age of full of video games and cell phones that we can fall short of many activities that can lead to other opportunities outside of our home and screens.
While, of course, these things are fun and fine to do, we are hoping that this program will help push our youth to try new things while they are young and become exposed to different opportunities that can open doors and allow them to see the world through a better light. The thirteenth article of faith counsels us to believe all things, hope all things, endure many things, and hope to be able to endure all things.
If there's anything virtuous, lovely, or of good report or praiseworthy, we seek after these things. And as such, we hope to seek after many praiseworthy things that will help us to endure and better appreciate the world around us. And so we've we've we as a bishopric have raised the challenge and extend to it in this fashion.
Any youth that can complete all of these tasks by the end of the year and show proof of the accomplishments qualifies them for a special recognition award, including a steak dinner cooked by the bishopric, a special custom made plaque, and award recognition that will last for the eternities. On a side note, we recognize that this challenge is hard, and it was intended to be hard, but achievable with dedication and focus.
There can be a total of two challenges not finished that will still count as a goal achieved. Nice. And that's why you call it I can do hard things challenge. Right? You gotta live up to the name. We gotta live up to the name, and are we need kids just out doing things. You know, I I I I have sent several of your episodes to my my new called Bishop Rick, and one of them is the the Kirby haybourne one Yeah. Talking about, the dudes. And I think that every ward needs some
of the dudes. I just I love that concept of calling brethren that'll do cool things. So let's talk about the the different, focuses within there. Yeah. So you got these broken up, like you said, in the four, quadrants, and, each has its own list. And and, of course, those listening, you know, they can we'll we're gonna attach this to the the show notes and everything if you wanna pull this up. And and, really, I
mean, these are just your suggestions. I'm sure people could tweak these or depending on where they live, maybe there's other type of activities that are that are closer or yeah. I I think that what we did was very like like, anyone could do this with with your own word and things that you
wanna do. Right? Yeah. And I I was talking with some friends of mine, and they were like, you know, this is really how every word should be doing their youth programs is you you should be developing something that gives your kids a target to go to because we want the youth to do the do things, but they don't know what it is to do. So this is, like, kind of the menu. Yeah. So maybe let's just start with physical. Maybe just read read your list and
let's read it. And just so, you know, I'm I'm not gonna read because each one of these kinda has, like, bullet points and things that they have to sign off. We're not gonna read all of those bullet points because they they would this lesson would go this interview would go for, like, a while. But, so for physical, the the 10 things that I have written down are we have them do four ten mile hikes, which is a lot. The a lot of our kids say that that one's one of the hardest ones.
Feedback I've gotten from parents and what I recommend for parents is go and and do a hike that's hard for your kids. So if that's two miles, five miles, whatever it is, find something that's hard for your your child. But we do we ask them to do four of them, and same with complete one twenty mile hike or bike 50 miles or swim one mile and participate in a triathlon. Most of our kids did a one mile swim because we've got a bunch of swimmers
in our ward. Nice. Do 30 push ups every day for one month straight, tread water without a break for five minutes, learn how to either rock climb, snorkel, snowboard snow snow ski or snowboard, or play tennis or golf. I've got a bunch of different games there that they can learn.
Learn five useful knots, start a fire and completely put it out, participate in two overnight campouts, build a shelter and sleep in it without a sleeping bag, and properly set up your tote your pole and fishing line, and take a basic first aid principal's class. Since then, this is actually an older copy that I'm reading. I've sent you a new one that includes take a firearm safety course as well.
So That's great. So those are all, like, cool physical things that kids should be kind of interested in doing, but they're gonna push them all. Yeah. So that's that's our physical. I love I'd and I love just the the echoes of of scouting a little bit just from my time in scouting of I remember going to the the high school pool and then doing a lot of similar activities that were like, I don't know if I can do this, but it really pushed me and I grew from it. You know? So this is great. Oh, yeah.
Definitely very scouting influenced. And so, yeah, there's definitely an aspect to that. Not everything's bad with scouting. It's, you know, there's a lot of good in scouting. Yeah. There was. Sometimes I miss it. I don't miss everything with it. Yeah. But I I do miss the the structure a little bit. Awesome. Should we go to social now? Let let's go to social.
We've got prepare three different meals, set and follow through with a six month goal, two or four locations of employment, host a bonfire, complete an art project, participate in four different service projects, learn and write a 250 word report on an ancestor, cook something over an open flame, prepare a seventy two hour emergency preparedness kit, learn a musical instrument, which that probably fits more in education. But Yeah. We made it. We can move wherever we want. That's right.
Give a five minute talk or speech on something not spiritual and not at school. Invite someone not of our faith to a youth activity and be part of a performance. Love it. So, yeah, all all kind of social things, and a lot of those fit really well with, with with, the scouting stuff as well. Mhmm. And then so, I mean, the expectation is they need to do all of these things? Or Yes. Yes. We work in a twelve month period? Or Here's what I would recommend.
When you originally sell this, sell it as twelve months, and kids will feel the pressure and parents will feel the pressure. But then after they if they've done it in twelve months because it's doable in twelve months, sweet. But for your kids that haven't that are still into it, what I tell them is keep working on it. And the stuff that you do, you know, don't don't let that go away. The only one that kids I I ask them to redo is our spiritual one, which let let's look at that one. Okay.
So the spiritual one, the is we ask them to read the Book of Mormon cover to cover, give two talks and teach two lessons in church, go and work with the full time missionaries, bear testimony in church four times, participate in an FSY and AP camp. Now, let's say you're working with a 12 year old kid. Anything that doesn't apply to them, we just don't count against them. So, you know, for for our deacons, they don't get to go to FSY. So it doesn't count against you. If you wanna get it done,
cool. Go to an AP camp. Go to a Aaronic Priesthood camp or a young women's camp. We've actually had a lot of young women that are working on this, so we would count that as a a a young woman camp. Attend the temple, prepare five names and bring them to the temple, invite someone not of our faith to church, memorize the sacrament prayers, memorize all 13 articles of faith, and memorize the proclamations to the family. Mhmm.
So those are our our spiritual ones that that and and that's kinda where it splits for a lot from scouting is we're able to do the the spiritual aspect a lot more. Absolutely. Alright. Now, maybe buzz through the intellectual just to to finish it off here. Just real quick, and and these are for kids. I I work in a public school setting, and a lot of our kids are in public schools. So that's a this is how this would apply for us, but you can definitely approach it differently.
Receive no grade lower than a c in any class. Receive no more than three tardies in the school year. Participate in one club at school or in the community.
Participate in one sports team at school or in the community, identify four constellations with no technological help, write a personal biography that must be 500 words long, create a website, family photo album, or cookbook, read three books from three different genres and write a report on them, and it needs to be 500 words long, and keep a journal for thirty consecutive days and accomplish 10
personal goals. Love it. On top of that so so if you've done all of those, we do have one more thing, and this is the hardest thing for the youth is we do want a a capstone service project similar to a an Eagle Scout project, but not it doesn't need to be that big. But we want them to plan a service project and and do it. So Oh, that's awesome. And I love just in these different, these different ideas. Like, you've weaved it into things that, generally, they kind of already doing
at the same time. You're just sort of setting the standard higher. Like, obviously, they're going to school. Right? So Yeah. There's there's indicators there at school, expectations there as far as the timeliness and what grades you get, and you're just working that in there. So, hopefully, it engages them on on those in those things that they're already doing, but just sort of raises the
standard. Right? And and, again, not every kid's gonna fit this mold for this, and not every kid can physically do this. The big thing that we want that we're trying to do is enable parents to to push their kids to to do more than just play at home and and and hang out and play video games all day because Right. We see that so much with our kids, and and they're and and it doesn't need to be that way. But a lot of people a a lot of parents and a lot of youth leaders don't know where to go.
And Yeah. And so we yeah. That's that's why I'm sharing this with anyone and everyone that I can find. And I imagine this has a lot of influence on maybe what activities the youth are planning, in the in the future. Right? In the summertime, it's like well, I guess in Arizona, it's always summertime, but in the wintertime is when when you wanna do hiking. Right? But, you know, I guess your your folk it helps them stay engaged and focused on,
hey. Who needs to do what if for their, I can do hard things challenge, and then they can do activities around that. So yes and no. Right? So, like, I have like, my priest right now, some of them, they they get anxious about it because they're like, oh, I you know, this is really hard for me, and I'm not that motivated to do this. We don't have to do these things. That that's one it's youth driven. Right? Yeah. Yeah. If the youth don't wanna do it, that's okay, and not every youth
does wanna do this. But what it it does do is it it gives the kid your high achievers. It gives them a target. And what I'm finding because you're right. We do steal from this from for our youth program. And a lot of things that we're doing, I tell them, hey. This counts for you. You know, we went cave diving a a couple months ago, and I told them, count this as one of your 10 mile hikes. You know? This it's not a hike, but this is a hard thing that
Yeah. That is hard. Like like like, fit that in there. And so and then what happens is, like, the kids will start realizing, oh, I'm, like, halfway done with this thing that I've started. All I need to do is plan some service projects and and and get going. Yeah. I love it. That's when it starts happening, and kids really buy into it. You know? They they want to believe in themselves, and they they they need, they need something to to build that confidence.
Yeah. I I'm just thinking back, like, the times. I remember when boy scout camp, you know, just doing the rappelling wall, and I was so terrified, you know, leaning over that edge and and trusting my leaders and, you know, the person, at the bottom and all that. So and but, man, I'm so glad I did it. It really pushed me, and it I grew from that. You know? So these are these are great ideas. Great ideas. Well, that that's
one thing. I'm I'm a little bit of a cheat code because I I'm I'm a former climbing climbing guide. I used to do that for in the summer times. So Oh, that's cool. So I've got, like, a lot of gear to take kids climbing and set Oh, I love it. We do a lot of outdoors and and and, you know, you know. Dudes in your ward. I'm one of the I I yeah. But now they call me as the bishop, so I'm like, okay. I gotta find another dude to do this for me. Because I got I got a lot of focus
to to do. Yeah. And then in the rest of this document, it looks like this is more just like the the actual signing off and whether it's an adult that needs to verify that it happens, you know, for everything from cooking the meals to the memorization to the hikes and all that. Right? Kind of the merit badge card. Right? This is the accountability piece. Right? Yeah. And I you need that. Like, you can't just say, oh, yeah. I did it. Like, no.
You need to go. You need to actually plan this thing, have it signed off, and and do it for for it to count. So That's awesome. It's not just a a totally passive thing. We do a lot of follow-up follow-up with this. Like, probably once every three months, I'll meet with the youth and just say, okay. Where are we at with this? Are you working on this? If you're not working on this, that's okay. But, for those of you that are, let's let's go down and look into this. Yeah. So Yeah.
So does it become a regular topic, like, that you bring up in Sunday core meeting or that they're always talking about it? Or So I try really hard to not let it replace, like, the the church. Right? Like like, we're like, this isn't done by the church. Is it it's done this was like my brainchild. Right? Yeah. So I'll bring it up passively in church, but, really, oftentimes, we'll talk about it, like, when we're driving around places or at youth activities.
And then I introduce it every year in January as any ward is doing. I would assume they have their annual planning meeting. I introduce it there at our annual planning meeting, and then anytime we get so also with our, like, our incoming deacons and their parents will meet with them, and I give it to the parents. And and this isn't gonna work unless parents buy in. Like, it's similar to to scouting or any program for your youth. You have to have parent buy in. Otherwise, it it doesn't matter.
And what does that look like? Has that been harder for some than others? I mean, is there a way you approach that formally to get their buy in? Or it varies parent to parent just like anything else. Some parents grab this and go, oh my gosh. I love this. I've been needing this,
and they're running with it. I and and their and for some of them, their kids finish the program real quick, and other ones are like, I really want my kid to do this, but my kid doesn't really wanna do this, so we're pulling teeth to make them do it. And then I have other parents that are like, yeah. We're we're we're not so sure. We we and what I'm finding is the kids, they if you want your kid to be high achieving, you gotta give them some targets. And Yeah. And so this is
a really good target for them. Yeah. Do you find because I think I mean, the the general idea with, like, the child and youth program is, like, that they they come up with their own goals and their own things like that. And so Yeah. I would imagine, like, if you have a really, you know, a a really excited youth, that is ready to go, they they and he comes to you and says, hey. Instead of doing, you know, four ten mile hikes, I wanna read a hundred books. Or or he may say,
I I wanna read two books. You're like, well, two books. You know? That's that's not really that hard. But then maybe you can negotiate. But if they're ambitious that way you know? I think that anything is negotiable in in these programs and and stuff that you're building. But I I truly believe it. It doesn't matter what you do as long as you're doing something
to push the kids. Right? And so this is just what we did, but I would I would challenge anyone to to put together a list of, you know, 40 things that you want your kids to do. And if your kids have some say in that of, hey. I'm interested in in reading a bunch of books, or I want to go and hike Mount Timpanogos. You know? Whatever it is, that's you know? Go and make that a goal and then do it. And then reward them for it. I you know?
A thing that's not you're not in my ward right now, but we've started anytime we go to activities, I've asked my leaders to take pictures, and we print off our pictures every six months and put them all over. We have billboards that we just our our youth billboards, and they're just pictures of all of our kids. And That's cool. Yeah. Because we got smartphones. They take pictures. We should be showing
them off. Yeah. So true. So true. And if you and I'll plug another episode about our award history, episode I did there. You know, the church has a unit history that you can actually put them online and and and put them, you know, literally in the archives of the church. Some of these activities happen, so it's very cool. I was gonna ask with, just like the so the end of, like, the reward dinner, what do you call that? So, yeah, we so we have an award ceremony.
With that, and, actually, I sent you, like, a booklet form of it that you fold in the middle. It opens in the middle, and you can see there's pictures of our award ceremony there. It'd be the last page on there if if you're seeing that one. So we we give them these plaques with their names on them, and we cook them a fancy dinner. And we talk to them about that program and and what they learned from it, how they grew, what, you know,
what was hard for them. Most of the girls said that the hikes were the hard part, and the boys didn't they just said they had a great time doing it. Yeah. That's awesome. And and, man, I'm just thinking, like, as reflecting on something that's hard, like, there's so many stories that probably come to the surface of, you know, the funny stories, the the stories with tears in it. Right? And to Oh,
yeah. To create a place where those stories can be reminisced and and talked about, that's that's probably a very bonding experience for that group. It's a bonding experience for that group, and it it does so the reward ceremony is huge because they, you know, they're like, oh, this is, like, for me. This is special. We keep the the kids can take the plaques home, but we tell them, if you'll let us hold on to them, we'll put them out on the wall in the church,
and that's all the kids have said. Oh, yeah. Keep the them there. I recognize those kids at our our calendaring meeting. The so the like, last year's kids, they got recognized at this year's planning meeting. Like, hey. Stand if you finish this, and they're all like, oh, this is me. I'm the one that did it. You know? Yes. Like the the the old eagle's nest, right, when you can say that I I'm part of that. Yeah. Yeah. That's cool. And and so that's you know, those are the things that we
miss from those programs, I think. And and so it's just we don't need to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Let's keep some of the good stuff that came from scouting and and the duty to God awards and all of these things. They we need them still. They our kids need them. We need to be that was another thing. I I remember walking around our my church building being like, we're not celebrating our kids. Like, it's it's all just like BYU posters of come and
sign up for pathways. Like, as much as that's great, I wanna be celebrating my kids and what they're doing here now. Mhmm. And and so we need to be giving them opportunities for us to celebrate them. Yeah. Yeah. That's awesome. Now and these these plaques that you got, I mean, just go to your local trophy shop type of thing and and made or Good old Amazon.com, man. They're, like, $10. Really? Kids love them. It's not expensive that that that either you can buy them. The
church can refund you for them. You know? That's Yeah. However you get personal. Right? I mean, it's got their name on there. I can't read the small print on there, but, yeah, that's great. That's great. What about Mato? Right? And it absolutely is, and they're proud of it. I have one of those young men is working on doing it the second time, and so what we've told him is we're gonna get him a special coin that he gets to keep in his pocket, k, for the the repeat.
And we're not making him do everything all over again. Just as we've done it every year, I've kind of updated it and been like, okay. We're gonna tweak this here. We're gonna tweak that there. And so he's doing all the tweaks that we've changed, and he's gonna get a special token for it. Yeah. Awesome. I love it. Yeah. Very cool. Well, what what else what else we gonna sing about this? The maybe I was gonna ask more about the
rewards dinner. Like, did you say, like, it's at a specific date that you're kind of all the rewards? So what we did, you know, I we introduced it in January. So we did it the following January from year one. This year, I have two young men that are really close. Whenever they finish it, we'll probably do it fairly soon afterwards Mhmm. Is is what I'm gonna guess we'll do. If not, we'll we kinda figure that as we go. We're
flying by the seat of our pants. And I appreciate you mentioning that that it's not you know, you don't need to be sticklers on these things, but you're sorta gauging, like, where the youth are at. It's like, how many of this this kid had another six weeks? I mean, he could probably do this. Right? Or I think in scouting, it was, like, the eighteenth birthday. It was, like, doomsday. Right? Like, I gotta get this project done before then. So kinda create some wiggle room,
right, and keep encouraging him. Right? Oh, absolutely. And and so the the big thing that I would say, if you're gonna do any program like this, I, again, I I can't stress it enough. You gotta have mom buy in. If if a parent is into this and and you'll know your parents that are like, no. I I want my kid to do this. And oftentimes, they're the parents that miss the scouting program, or our young women. For I I should mention that. So in my word, I I did that. I can do hard things. This inspired
the rest of the ward. So because I did I can do hard things, our our primary did a, oh, gosh. It was it it's it's not I can do hard things, but it's like the the covenant path or something like that. But it's it's eight things that primary kids can do for theirs. So kind of like an arrow of light program for after they turn eight to to do. And our young women made one that they call the five pillars.
And and so it it's had a bit of a domino effect in that all of our organizations in our ward have built their own little programs that they give to their kids to say, hey. Come and do this. Come come and and and let's go and prove to ourselves that we can do some things. Mhmm. Mhmm. Yeah. I I love that. I love that. And so is are there I would imagine there's some kids that are just you don't get a buy in from the parents. They don't give a person buy in, and, I mean, does that get awkward
or any any advice? Love them. We we just love them, and and I'm very quick to tell everyone. This is not required. You you do not need to do this. This is you don't need to do this to serve a mission. You don't need to do this to be a member of the church. Like, this is just something to help you as parents and as leaders. It gives you a, it gives you a target. But if you don't need the target, cool. That you know? That's that's totally fine. Yeah. But we just we just only want to
help with it. Yeah. So and I do have parents that say, this gives my kids anxiety. I don't want to do this, and that's okay. Yeah. And it's funny because the when I talk to those kids and we start going on it, they're like, oh, yeah. I did that. Oh, yeah. I did that. Oh, maybe it's not that hard. It's just like, I just have to do it. It's like, yeah. Yeah. You because hard things turns out the hardest part of doing hard things is just
going and doing them. Like, it's usually, they're not crazy hard. Like, walking 10 miles is just walking. Yep. For sure. Well, dinner, what what do we miss? Any point, principle, story? We give you a good summary here. I'm a firm believer of a and this is a shout out to John, by the way, of go and do, don't sit and stew. And that that's everything in the gospel, I feel like, is don't wait for the Lord to come and push you, but rather go out
and do something. And that would be my challenge to parents, to youth, to leaders, everyone. Just don't wait. Go and do it. The the lord will bless you, and and he'll direct you. He'll tell you when you're wrong. Yeah. For sure. For sure. I love it. I'm just thinking, you know, what would this look like? And I'm currently serving as an elders corps president. Like, what would this look like in elders corps? I mean, I'm sure there's some guys
that would would love it. I mean, a lot of them are, you know, aiming for, you know, personal best at at the gym or things like that, and let's formalize it and celebrate each other's successes. You know? Yeah. You know, I I we just called, you know, a whole new ward because, you know, new bishop. And and I have sent my elders quorum president to yours your podcast on several occasions.
One of them, I can't remember who it was, but they recommended, like, quarterly doing a an elders corn barbecue with the men where they can just be men together. And I was like, brother, please do that. That's all I need. If if you start doing that, everything else is gonna fall into place, but make this a place for the brethren. But Yeah. That's so cool. We don't have an I can do hard things for adults other than the I can do hard things,
which you could do as an adult. There's somebody out there listening to our voices right now who's who's gonna put put ink to paper and and let us know when it's done. So Heck. Yeah. I love it. Cool. Well, Daniel, this is fantastic. I'm so glad you reached out. And, hopefully, this is an example for others who are doing some really unique, cool things. Not again, you're not claiming this is the the program that every word should do, but, hey, it's worked for you. And, you know,
that's great. It's worked for me. It's worked for a I've introduced it to about three stakes in about eight different awards now, and they've all said we are really excited about this thing, and and and they want it. So if you guys are interested, let me know. I'm happy to share it with people. Cool. Well, we'll definitely put what you have here in the, in the show notes so people can kind of get an idea, but again, they can come up their own or tweak it and, and just
roll run with it. So it'd be awesome. Perfect. Well, Tanner, I'll ask you. I mean, you're you're a week into this, this bishop ing thing, but, obviously, you've been a leader a a long time. And so as you reflect on your time as a leader, how has being a leader helped you become a better follower of Jesus Christ? This helped me to understand how the savior sees people. You know, I, I, I think that we don't see our potential in ourselves often, and we doubt
ourselves often. And as I've served in the church, I, I take people with imperfections all the time, and I'm like, I, you know, we just, we just need you and we love you where you're at, and all this does is help you grow. And then that's been my experience is I just keep growing. And that concludes this How I Lead
interview. I hope you enjoyed it. And, I would ask you, could you take a minute and drop this link in an email, on social media, in a text, wherever it makes the most sense, and share it with somebody who could relate to this experience. And this is how we develop as leaders, just hearing what the other guy is doing, trying some things out, testing, adjusting for your area. And,
that's where great leadership's discovered. Right? So we would love to have you, share this with, somebody in this calling or a related calling, and that would be great. And also if you know somebody, any type of leader who would be a fantastic guest on the, how I lead segment, reach out to us. Go to leadingsaints.org/contact. Maybe send this in individual an email letting them know that you're going to be suggesting their name for this interview. We'll reach out to them and,
see if we can line them up. So, again, go to leadingsaints.org/contact, and there you can submit all the information and let us know. And maybe they will be on a future how I lead segment on the Leading Saints podcast. Remember, check the show notes to listen to the powerful presentation by the general Young Men, Young Women advisory council members, or go to leadingsaints.org/fourteen.
It came as a result of the position of leadership which was imposed upon us by the God of heaven who brought forth a restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ. And when the declaration was made concerning the only and only true and living Church upon the face of the earth, We were immediately put in a position of loneliness, the loneliness of leadership from which we cannot shrink nor run away, and to which we must face up with boldness and courage and ability.