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Sahr Doe found the Church when he was eight years old but could not be baptized until he was 13. His mission was delayed due to the Sierra Leone civil war, and at age 21 he was called into his Young Men presidency. He was then among the first missionaries to attend the Accra Ghana Missionary Training Center, and served in the Nigeria Lagos/Ibadan mission where he was an assistant to the mission president for 12 months. Two weeks after his mission he returned to the Ghana MTC as a tutor and driver for 18 months.



Sahr served as district high counselor in the Freetown Sierra Leone district before being called as counselor in the district presidency. He then served as administrative assistant to the mission president of the Ghana Accra mission, Sierra Leone zone, while working as physical facilities manager for Sierra Leone. On his release from the district presidency, Sahr was called as the elders quorum president in his branch, then as branch president. He left to attend Brigham Young University-Hawaii for one semester, without his wife and son, but had an accident while working at the Polynesian Cultural Center and returned to Sierra Leone. He then started a construction company and was called as the secretary to the mission presidency, then as counselor to the mission president.



When the 2014 Ebola virus outbreak sent the mission president, senior couples, and missionaries to Ghana, Sahr stayed as acting assistant to the president. He later assisted with orienting new mission leaders to the country and was called again as counselor to the president. In 2016 he was involved in a serious accident that left him partially paralyzed, and in in 2017 was released from the mission presidency and called as secretary to the Area Seventy. He currently serves on the Kossoh Town stake high council.





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The Leading Saints Podcast is one of the top independent Latter-day Saints podcasts 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 for free at LeadingSaints.org.

Past guests include Emily Belle Freeman, David Butler, Hank Smith, John Bytheway, Reyna and Elena Aburto, Liz Wiseman, Stephen M. R. Covey, Julie Beck, Brad Wilcox, Jody Moore,

Dr. Nate Sharp is a scholar and academic leader who currently serves as Dean of the Mays Business School at Texas A&M University. He was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, served in the Korea Seoul West Mission, then taught Korean at the Missionary Training Center in Provo, Utah, while attending Brigham Young University.



Nate graduated from BYU’s Marriott School of Business with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in accounting and later completed a PhD at the University of Texas at Austin. During his time at Texas A&M, Nate has served in multiple leadership positions, received multiple awards recognizing excellence in research and teaching, and been widely published in top peer-reviewed scholarly journals..



Nate married Holly Carroll, they are the parents of five children, and their oldest daughter is currently serving in the Peru Lima Central Mission. Nate has previously served as an elders quorum president, ward Young Men president, ward executive secretary, bishopric counselor, high councilor, and bishop. He currently serves as stake president in the College Station Texas Stake, a calling he has held since 2016.





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Linking Every Sacrament Meeting to Christ | An Interview with Thomas Griffith

Thomas Griffith's BYU Speech: The Very Root of Christian Doctrine

Why Every Ward Needs Digital Ward Missionaries

There is already a discussion started about this podcast. Share your thoughts here.

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Scriptures referenced in this podcast: Doctrine & Covenants 45:3-5, John 5:38-40

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Highlights

2:30 In a previous episode, Nate talked about having digital missionaries for the ward and the blog they created and the impact it made.



4:30 Getting called as stake president



8:40 Their stake has a large number of single adults. The recent changes to put singles and students in leadership has created lots of positive change in the singles ward.



10:45 Nate currently works for Texas A&M and is the dean of the Mays Business School.



12:30 The role of being a dean is about building relationships, selfless service, and elevating the school. The values they have on campus have created an environment similar to BYU.



19:30 Stimulating a positive culture as a stake president. They set a vision of creating a culture and doctrine of belonging. Including more students in leadership opportunities even if they won’t be there very long.



22:50 Approach to mentoring bishops and helping them establish culture in their wards



25:30 The bishop has the opportunity to demonstrate to the youth hopeful repentance.



28:15 How can bishops apply this idea of hopeful repentance? Let the youth know you are proud of them for coming forward with their sins. Share hope filled conference talks about repentance.

Hailing from the heart of Utah, Joe Speredon's diverse background and experience led him into leadership within men's work. Having embarked on his own path of crisis and self-discovery, Joe discovered the healing nature of brotherhood and masculine support. From that place he founded the Utah Men's Circle and later the Algiz Guard. Working with Sacred Sons and many other influential leaders and groups, Joe has had the opportunity to travel all over the world, meet men from diverse backgrounds, and guide them through their own healing and evolution as a coach, leader and inspirational speaker. Joe currently serves in the Church as a Sunday School teacher and as a stake emergency preparedness specialist.





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UtahMensCircle.com Instagram: @utahmenscircle Facebook: Utah Men's Circle AlgizGuard.com Instagram: @thealgizguard Facebook: The Algiz Guard The Intentional Father: A Practical Guide to Raise Sons of Courage and Character There is already a discussion started about this podcast. Share your thoughts here.



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Highlights

1:40 Introduction to Joe Speredon and his background 4:20 Joe shares why mens work is so important to him and how he got started in it. 6:00 Too many men are suffering in silence. However, when men open up they will find that they are suffering with the same things. 8:00 We have the engine (elders quorum) but we don’t know how to turn it on. We need men to be courageous enough to open up during elders quorum. 10:00 What is brotherhood? We’ve had a cultural shift that the cool thing is to be a lone wolf. Men think they have to do it all and do it alone. 14:30 The war that we fight is mostly against ourselves. The idea of brotherhood is it's me against myself and having brothers to help us be the best version of ourselves. 15:30 How can an elders quorum president stimulate brotherhood in Sunday meetings?



* Take off your own mask as the leader. Be open with your struggles.

* Be the first to be vulnerable and authentic and others will follow.



17:30 Joe created the Utah Men's Circle, a gathering twice a month for a couple hours, a time to check in and talk about how you are really feeling. 21:40 Have less formal gatherings and activities to connect and have conversations. 23:00 Doing men's work outside of elders quorum. We need to create a place for active and inactive members to connect without preaching. 26:00 The vilification of men and toxic masculinity 30:30 Due to wounding and conditioning and because they are mortal, men can turn into:



* The sadist, meaning I’m going to hurt you before you hurt me

* The masochist, meaning I’m going to hurt me before you can hurt me

This is a rebroadcast. The episode originally ran in April 2020. John Hilton III was born in San Francisco and grew up in Seattle. He served a mission in Denver and earned a bachelor’s degree from Brigham Young University, where he met his wife, Lani. They have lived in Boise, Boston, Miami, Mexico, Jerusalem, and China. Currently they live in Utah, and have six children. John has a master's degree from Harvard and a PhD from Brigham Young University, both in Education. John is a professor of Religious Education at BYU. John has published several books with Deseret Book, including Considering the Cross and his latest book, Voices in the Book of Mormon. He is also the author of the podcast and video series, “The Book of Mormon: A Master Class.” John loves being with his family, doing humanitarian work, learning Chinese, and performing magic.



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Links

The Founder of Our Peace: Christ-Centered Patterns for Easing Worry, Stress, and Fear John's article discussing this topic: A Fence Around the Law – Safety Net or Beam in Our Eye John Hilton III books John's education research There is already a discussion started about this podcast. Share your thoughts here.



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Highlights

7:04 John quotes President Uchtdorf addressing the many “shoulds” and “should nots” that become a challenge in our lives. We can lose peace in our lives when we focus on admittedly good ideas, but aren’t grounded in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 8:50 What are “Fence Laws”? Imagine an unfillable hole in your backyard, which poses a threat to children who may fall in. You therefore put a fence around this hole, which represents sin. The fence represents the protective effort against anybody falling into the sin. 9:45 We are already protected from sins by commandments, which John refers to as “core laws”. Yet some still feel the need to add additional “fence laws”. E.g.:



* Core Law: The law of chastity, i.e., no sexual relations outside of marriage

* Fence Law: No kissing until the fourth date, and kiss will last no longer than five seconds

* Fence Law: No going into the bedroom of a member of the opposite sex



10:47 Some fence laws have prophetic sources, like those found in the For the Strength of Youth, etc. There is a goodness to fence laws as guided by the Spirit or other divine sources, like prophets. 13:57 Examples of positive fence laws 15:22 Dangers of focusing on the fence laws while forgetting the commandments: “I didn’t go into the bedroom of a member of the opposite sex, but I still broke the law of chastity.” Children need fences, but the choices should shift away from extrinsic fences to self-imposed fences. 16:50 Too many good fences can become a burden. 22:58 “Take my yoke upon you” meaning 25:49 Ward traditions that become fences 28:56 Allowing the Spirit to fill in the details around prophetic direction 30:14 Anecdotes where a personal fence laws caused harm: