Exemplary Member Missionaries and a Missionary “Idea Fair” in Boston

by Richard K Miller (11/19/2009 11:57 am)

Three weeks ago, some 600 young single adults converged on Boston for the LDS Education Conference. Missionary work was the theme. The speakers were David Neeleman, founder of JetBlue Airways; Clayton Christensen, a professor at Harvard Business School; and Elder M. Russell Ballard.

Brother Neeleman spoke about sharing the Gospel on the Internet and the More Good Foundation. (Disclosure: I previously worked there.) Elder Christensen taught several great principles for sharing the Gospel in person. Elder Ballard called David and Clayton some of the best member missionaries in the Church.

The day included a “science fair” for missionary ideas. Each table of 10 people brainstormed ways to better share the Gospel and then created a presentation using large notepads and colored markers. During the “fair”, we circulated among the presentations, voting for our favorites with paper tickets.

Here were some of my favorites:

WhyIBelieve.org (hypothetical) — Give each Church member a page and unique address for posting a testimony and photo. Offer easy-to-use templates. (More Good Foundation operates a similar website at mormonsbelieve.org.)
AskaMormon.com (hypothetical) — Visitors pose questions to everyday members. (They can already pose questions to missionaries at Mormon.org.)
Custom pass-along cards — Members pick their own picture, message, language, and size (wallet size or larger). Available for physical printing, or as a blog widget. The card could link to a specific testimony page, e.g. www.mormon.org/john-doe instead of www.mormon.org.

Facebook app — Indicate that you’re a Mormon on your Facebook profile page. Post your testimony. Allow friends to ask questions anonymously and read your previous answers. (More Good has a similar Facebook app called The LDS App.)

iPhone app — Basic beliefs, “find a Mormon”, meetinghouse locations, events, and videos all on your iPhone.

Sacrament meeting agenda on LDS.org — Allow visitors to see upcoming sacrament meeting schedules in their area and bios of the speakers. For example: “Next Sunday, Sarah Smith, a sophomore at Palo Verde High school, will speak about faith in Jesus Christ. She’ll be followed by Tom Jones, an orthopedic surgeon in the area, who will speak about forgiveness. The meeting begins at 11:00 at 9011 Hillpointe Road.”

Ward blogger — Who will keep the sacrament meeting schedules on LDS.org up-to-date? The ward Media Missionary Correlator, of course. Each ward will call its own specialist to manage their portion of LDS.org and do online testimony drives.

Gospel sharing at work — How can you better share the Gospel at work? Post quotes on your cubicle or a picture of the Savior as your desktop wallpaper. If someone asks what you did over the weekend, don’t shy away from where you were on Sunday for 3 hours.

Mormon.org email addresses — Give each Church member his/her own mormon.org e-mail address (e.g. john_doe@mormon.org) to drive interest in Mormon.org. The footer of each transmitted email could optionally include quotes or scripture citations.

The Mormon Challenge — Challenge people to walk in a Mormon’s shoes for 14 or 30 days. (One group suggested 14 days, another suggested 30.) Try living the law of chastity and Word of Wisdom. Can you do it? (Reality TV show?)

Give away Mormon Tabernacle Choir music, and other beautiful music, for free. Invite the Spirit through music.

Several groups emphasized the need for training programs to teach members about social media.

Likely due to Elder Christensen’s comments on service, several groups suggested websites for coordinating community service projects with members of other faiths.