Pathways Of Discipleship

Adam shares some thoughts on his mission experience, including the importance of getting your hands dirty in gospel service. He discusses how what is important to him in the gospel has changed over time – now it is more about the pragmatic benefits of the gospel, especially the peace that he feels in the midst of a busy life/career. He also shares his family's recent strategy to reduce noise inside their home to create more space for spiritual life.

An attorney discusses his strong home life growing up in the LDS Church and how that set the foundation for his spiritual development and perspectives. He then discusses his teenage years when he felt that clinging more strongly to the Church was a way to rebel against society. He also shares thoughts on the benefits of viewing Church leaders with a non-critical eye, and how the Church's message appeals so strongly to him because of its boldness.

Britta shares several miraculous and spiritual experiences from her mission to Ukraine. She later discusses a post-mission challenge of trying to reconcile her very positive mission experience with the negative mission experience of others. She concludes by sharing her thoughts on having struggles with God

A recently returned missionary discusses an early faith experience with the Book of Mormon and the transition of moving from California to Israel as a young woman. She shares the development of her testimony of the LDS Church during which she grappled with how God can still be merciful in light of all of the conflict around her in Israel. She also discusses her freshman year of college in which those concerns about God's mercy returned as she studied the Old Testament.

In this episode Charity discuses coping with feelings of depression immediately after her mission. She later shares how she has felt enriched by her questions about difficult issues in the church, such as women's roles or gay marriage, and the importance of discussing our doubts openly. She also discusses the challenge and benefit of negotiating differences in LDS philosophy with her fiancé as they prepare to get married. She concludes by discussing the origins of her strong belief in a Heavenly Mother.

A personalized learning manager discuses her constant connection with God from an early age, in part fostered by being raised in a faith filled home with regular family testimony meetings. We hear about an influential spiritual experience she had at a church youth camp, and how her testimony bolstered her faith when it was challenged at college. She also shares aspects of her extremely positive mission experience, including the difficulties of experiencing rejection while sharing the gospel.

Jacob talks about his relationship with the scriptures, and his focus on understanding the religious beliefs of others both inside and outside the LDS faith. He then discusses marrying someone who is not a member of the LDS church, while being actively LDS himself. He also shares his strongly held conviction that people are inherently good regardless of their religious affiliation.

A sociology graduate student talks about growing up in the LDS church, his brother coming out as gay, his own experiences resulting from that, and how it reshaped his views on religion. He then discusses his approach to practicing religion, which is more practically applied to the here and now rather than focusing on an afterlife.

In a bonus episode, Kim discusses her approach to studying scripture using 1 Nephi 1:1 as an example text and answers some of our questions about scriptures and scripture study.

Kim discusses her spiritual confirmation to marry her husband Mike, and her positive experience with the Temple endowment ceremony. She also shares her perspective on the conversation with her husband about whether or not he should leave the LDS church. She later discusses her understanding of the often overlooked importance of grace in Mormon theology.

An independent book of Mormon scholar shares with us her early love of scripture study as a young woman and her participation in an extremely influential scripture study group which started her trajectory toward scholarship in theology. She also discusses a pivotal spiritual moment in deciding between a serious college boyfriend who had left the LDS church and her hopes for a future Temple marriage.

Mike discusses the resurgence of his doubts about the LDS church that was brought on by a churchwide broadcast about missionary work, and the discussion with his wife about whether or not he should leave the LDS church. He also shares his thoughts about the promise in Moroni 10 as well as other aspects of Mormon theology.

A structural engineer begins by stating that although he does not feel a belief in God, he can still faithfully affirm that God exists. He also discusses the influence of a friend and former substitute seminary teacher who has helped him grapple with his doubts about the existence of God throughout his life.

A stay at home mother talks about dating long distance and the adjustment of moving to California after getting married. She discusses the difficulty of starting a family, her hopes for her two young boys, and how the temple has played a role in her spirituality.

A stay at home mother talks about growing up in a large family, and an experience with sunday school teachers that influenced her faith. She discusses her time at BYU and her later experiences of attending a family ward while still single. She also talks about her struggles to gain a testimony of the BoM, and the importance of expressing gratitude in response to answers to her prayers.

Lena discusses how she coped with two challenges to her faith during college—reading an article which claimed that the Book of Mormon is false, and having discussions with a friend on the LDS church’s stance on various social issues. She also backtracks to discuss how she gained a testimony of Joseph Smith while watching a Church video during seminary.

Lena shares the difficulties she had following two knee injuries during high school, and how she was able to learn from that experience by participating in a Native American vision quest with her mother. She later discusses the car accident which resulted in her mother's death and in her being paralyzed, and how she felt Christ’s love and support as she struggled to recover.

A recent college graduate and health policy researcher describes her early childhood when her parents were divorced and her father became inactive in the LDS church. She discusses an influential move to Boston with her mom, where she learned to better distinguish LDS church culture from doctrine. She also talks about an important seminary teacher who helped her develop a stronger testimony of Jesus Christ.

A real estate businessman shares how he developed a gradual testimony of the LDS church because of the influence of friends during college. He also shares how his military service in Athens, Georgia served as a type of mission experience for him. He later shares some experiences around his wife's passing, and then states that the importance of the church for him is principally due to the effect that it can have on its members rather than any specific doctrinal teaching.

A real estate businessman, born during the Great Depression, shares some of the life stories and spiritual history of his father, who was an apostle in the LDS church for almost 30 years.