Combined Sunday School To Announce “Media Campaign”

[BlueDreams]

My mission was one of the first to test pilot the I'm a mormon campaign. Here's three anectdotal stories:

- once while we were tracting we got in a discussion with a man who wasn't interested but highly commended our ad campaign. He was into advertisement/webdesign himself and said it was very well formatted and good in general.

- In one of our areas a woman came to our church almost entirely due to Mormon.org and technology entirely. She'd grown dissillusioned with catholicism and remembered the various brief encounters of mormons throughout her life, began to wonder if maybe God was trying to tell her something, and decided to investigate on her own. She went online and looked through all the profiles on, plus the beliefs. She then downloaded the BOM on her kindle and looked up where the nearest church and began taking lessons with a missionary on facebook. By the time the living breathing missionaries came around, she already had a firm grasp on the plan of salvation and the restoration of the church.

-another man also came, curious by what he'd found online about the faith and wanted to know more seeking for a church.

In general from what I personally saw Mormon.org worked best in affluent areas where everybody had quick internet access and was especially cool to teens and young adults. It was not as useful in inner city type environments. Everybody seemed to like the pass-along cards we'd have for them. (colorful portraits of random faces)

Personally, I'm a big fan of it and other online initiatives (like facebooking missionaries). I think it has a great space for changing proselyting and sharing the Gospel. Plus Mor.org is fun to look through.

With luv,

BD

Edited September 26, 2011 by BlueDreams

[Anijen]

Just as long as they get to see the change in a person's life and the role they help play.

But Papa they are not called to see a change in a persons life nor see the role they play in any conversion. The full time missionary is called to proclaim the gospel, it is nice if they see the fruits of their labors but it might be seed planting only to be harvested by another missionary down the road. With the frequency of transfers the church like nackhadlow has said is for the members to be the source of the investigator pool.

[Calm]

I find it interesting that Sunday School time was dedicated to a PR Blitz

I was informed by someone I trust that when this program was first implemented that they did not do this which caused the local members some frustration as they were caught off guard by their friends asking them about it. It makes sense to me to use SS time to help members prepare and thus become better teachers. We used to have a course specifically set up to do that. Don't they have missionary prep courses in SS when the need is there? Church meetings, even SS, are not just for personal growth, but are intended to help us serve others better....and what better service is there then bringing the gospel into someone's life, even if it's done through a PR blitz?

[Ahab]

The “I am a Mormon Campaign is coming to the South and other places. We had a combined Sunday School class for everyone 14 and older to explain the “Campaign”. It will interesting to see how this goes over in the Bible belt.

Do you think such campaigns peek interest or anti-Mormon activity?

How has it been received in area’s where you live…I have only seen it on the internet, but the Church is going to put them on TV in this area. Did anyone else attend a joint Sunday School meeting?

http://www.fox13now....0,2963153.story

Comments or opinions?

I wonder how many people will equate what they see in that campaign to what they'll have seen in the Book of Mormon, the musical play on Broadway. I saw a segment on that on 60 minutes and they said something about irreverence and reverence for the things of God both being shown during that play, as if South Park is both good and bad. How funny is that?

Edited September 26, 2011 by Ahab

[Scott Lloyd]

I guess so. I have never been able to figure out why the truth requires such a carefully cultured public image.

I don't view it that way.

I see it as a benign endeavor to counter and assuage pervasive lies, distortion and bigotry regarding the Latter-day Saints.

As for the use of Sunday School time, I approve. As a gospel doctrine teacher currently engaged in teaching the New Testament epistles, I view this as a laboratory experience in applying 1 Peter 3:15.

[Mortal Man]

The plan is to eventually (very soon, actually) end door-to-door tracting.

How do you know this?

[Stargazer]

The plan is to eventually (very soon, actually) end door-to-door tracting.

You know this for a fact, or are you repeating a speculation? We've been tracting for about 150 years now, ya know.

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

But Papa they are not called to see a change in a persons life nor see the role they play in any conversion. The full time missionary is called to proclaim the gospel, it is nice if they see the fruits of their labors but it might be seed planting only to be harvested by another missionary down the road. With the frequency of transfers the church like nackhadlow has said is for the members to be the source of the investigator pool.

Semantics...my daughter made life long friends. I still see the missionary who baptized me 32 years later. and his wife who also served as missionary in my home in Germany.

[David T]

That is what the reps from Salt Lake's Missionary Department said. He said there are also some additional new and major campaigns in the works to be rolled out over the next few years to help fascilitate it. It was clear he wanted to tell us more, but wasn't permitted to.

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

I wonder how many people will equate what they see in that campaign to what they'll have seen in the Book of Mormon, the musical play on Broadway. I saw a segment on that on 60 minutes and they said something about irreverence and reverence for the things of God both being shown during that play, as if South Park is both good and bad. How funny is that?

As I understand it New York is already a target market.

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

That is what the reps from Salt Lake's Missionary Department said. He said there are also some additional new and major campaigns in the works to be rolled out over the next few years to help fascilitate it. It was clear he wanted to tell us more, but wasn't permitted to.

Did he say that? Seems to me that members should be trusted, unless he was unsure of what was to be done.

[ERMD]

I was present for one of the regional training meetings where a Salt Lake representative from the Missionary Department as well as the area 70 presented this to Stake Presidents, Bishops, and Ward Mission Leaders, and the High Council Missionary Reps in the Northern Georgia area.

The purpose of the Combined Priesthood/Relief Society and/or SS meeting is to help members understand and be familiar with what many of their friends will be seeing on Television and on the Billboards, and to encourage members to prepare their own Mormon.org profiles. Also, letting them know the key purposes of the campaign, and make clear that it doesn't have anything to do with electing any currently running candidates

Stats have shown that those not exposed to Mormons still feel we are all cultish, 'weird', arrogant, and bigoted. (Not to mention Polygamists). While certainly there are sadly some who fit those categories, the campaign is designed to show very clearly that this is not the 'norm', and that most members are otherwise quite normal members of society who work, have families (only one spouse!) and have fun "just like you do", and also have strong conviction of love for Jesus Christ. some videos show individuals who are struggling with difficulties like cancer, infertility, prioritizing, etc, others show their passions in life (a scientist, a school teacher, an off-road enthusiast).

The age for online Mormon.org profiles was also just lowered to age 14 to allow youth to participate and share through Social Media - apparently stats show that 99% of LDS youth are asked by their friends about either the local campaigns and online I'm A Mormon videos.

A key reason for the training is because in earlier test markets, there was no preparation on the local level, and the local members had no idea what was going on, and were somewhat caught off guard by the questions, and wondered what their friends had seen, etc.

The principal of the campaign being, "Let our members speak for themselves". I think it's pretty cool, actually.

The plan is to eventually (very soon, actually) end door-to-door tracting.

This communicates the details of the presentation and its intent very well.

San Antonio and Austin are "one" market where the initiative will kick off next week. We had our training 3 weeks ago and I presented it in a combined RS/Priesthood meeting the next week, and to the combined YM/YW the following week. We had a Wednesday night activity where computer-savvy youth and adults were helping those member of the ward who either lacked computer skills or internet connections to register and set up their profiles.

The missionaries are being encouraged to become familiar with the members' individual profiles. When they contact an individual, and if they see some common interest between that individual and a member of the ward, they will give the person a mormon.org pass-along card with that member's profile url written on the back of the card. What a great way to get everyone involved in missionary work!

[cdowis]

I was informed by someone I trust that when this program was first implemented that they did not do this which caused the local members some frustration as they were caught off guard by their friends asking them about it.

We were quoted a statistic that 55 percent of the adults and 99 (wow) percent of the youth were approached by nonmembers with questions.

Our training begins after General Conference. I'm still wondering how to respond to the "your own planet" question. I have a few answers but I don't think they would be church approved.

[KevinG]

I centianly hope the US never turns into Nazi Germany, not only will they have the churches rolls, they'll have a webpage with your mug on it.

You should read about "Goodwin's Law". Also who are you talking too? Did I miss something?

Its not the Nazis we have to worry about its the Commies...

Godwins Law

Edited September 27, 2011 by DaddyG

[Scott Lloyd]

We were quoted a statistic that 55 percent of the adults and 99 (wow) percent of the youth were approached by nonmembers with questions.

Our training begins after General Conference. I'm still wondering how to respond to the "your own planet" question. I have a few answers but I don't think they would be church approved.

I think Professor Richard Bushman has a good approach to this question in this Q&A on CNN.:

The following Q&A appeared on CNN’s website (27 Jun 2011):

Q: Professor (Richard) Bushman, the character of Elder Price, an American Mormon missionary in modern-day Uganda, questions his faith, but regains it while performing the song, “I Believe.” He sings, “I believe that God has a plan for all of us./I believe that plan involves me getting my own planet.” Is that lyric based in Mormon belief?

A. I have been living in California and Utah for the past year while the musical “The Book of Mormon” has been packing the house on Broadway. I have not seen the show, but I have read endless reviews, listened to parts of the score, and talked with Mormon friends who have seen it. Based on what I have heard, and the lyrics of Elder Price’s song, the musical gets a lot of laughs, but it is not meant to explain Mormon beliefs.

Mormons experience the show like looking at themselves in a fun-house mirror. The reflection is hilarious but not really you. The nose is yours but swollen out of proportion.

Take the issue of getting your own planet, for example. Elder Price talks about a planet for himself and one for Jesus. Those are not really core Mormon beliefs. Mormon scriptures and Church leaders don’t say anything about people getting their own planets. The idea is more like lore than doctrine.

Mormons do believe in the principle of theosis, the doctrine that God wants humans to become like himself—in effect gods. That belief leads Mormons to speculate about creation. Will beings with god-like qualities have the powers to form earths? Perhaps, who knows?

There is no fixed doctrine on the subject. Mormons themselves joke about the planet business. But they do take seriously that we may grow up to be like Our Father in Heaven.

It seems a reasonable response to me.

But if you have ideas that would not be "Church approved," they would better be left unsaid in communicating with non-members, don't you think?

Edited September 27, 2011 by Scott Lloyd

[Zakuska]

Its not the Nazis we have to worry about its the Commies...

<snip>

Those are tame compared to the real threat.

[rongo]

In my opinion, high-tech, media-savvy missionary approaches, while important as elements of missionary work, will and can never replace actual missionary work. David Stewart, in his book “The Law of the Harvest,” made a really profound point: the more new programs are announced and replaced with other programs, the more we can know that people really don’t know what to do about or with a certain challenge. And no other item in the Church has undergone more “new programs” or gimmicks (I use that in a neutral sense, not in a negative one. There can be good gimmicks, too) than missionary work. This is more so when one factors in the local “new programs” and gimmicks of one’s local areas along with Church-wide changes. The thing I think everyone agrees on is that the problem is really how to get more members to naturally, comfortably, sincerely, and instinctively share the gospel with others on a regular basis. I think this most recent “new program/gimmick” (the “I’m a Mormon” campaign with URL-specific pass-along cards) is in a long line of efforts to make missionary work easier for people, and I think the nature of missionary work is such that “easier” (more convenient, less “scary,” etc.) is not “better” or “more effective.” I wonder if the primary purpose is more to get the members to put the time and thought into making their profiles and less for these profiles to actually be used.

I’m a bishop, and have had several members --- good, solid members who are good member missionaries --- express concerns with this big push. One, my former young women’s president, was pressured by the missionaries at a dinner appointment to complete her profile and hand out her URL cards. She responded very enthusiastically when I asked her (in conversation about this) if it wouldn’t be better to simply share the gospel and explain things ourselves in person rather than send people to mormon.org or our profile (“Yes! That was my thought!”). The approach seems to me to encourage members to disengage from a drawn-out or potentially dicey conversation and to send people to web sites or brief social networking items instead, things that are much less-satisfying and effective than sincere and (hopefully) competent explanations in person from friends or co-workers.

Several comments on this thread have hinted that door-to-door proselytizing will soon be discontinued by the Church in favor of more “effective” approaches like networking or relying on members. I think this harks back to unfounded and groundless speculation by Peggy Fletcher Stack in April 2011 in the Salt Lake Tribune, but if true, this would be tragic. I know how ineffective door-to-door tracting is from a pure statistical standpoint, but the problem is that missionaries in the United States don't do anything when they have no appointments or appointments fall out. Inefficient tracting is better than nothing at all, and even in "Mormon belt" areas, missionaries have a surprising amount of time with nothing at

all (and I don't lay this squarely at the feet of good-for-nothing members who don't keep their planners filled). I also realize that some mission presidents forbid their missionaries to tract (in an effort to force members to do "member missionary work"). I remember being home from my mission and working with the missionaries in the Chicago area, and their appointment and back-up appointment fell out. They had no idea what to do, and I suggested we knock on some doors. They were nervous and dubious, but on the third one, we were let in by a lady and I (they followed my lead in these uncharted waters) was able to explain and give her a copy of the Book of Mormon and get a return appointment (she only had ten minutes or so). They left there blown away, and with a really good story to share at their next district meeting.

My mission (northern Germany, mid 1990s) was a door-to-door/street contacting mission. I actually really enjoyed door-to-door, even though we sometimes did it as long as ten hours in a day. Interestingly and anecdotally, towards the end of my mission, I had to prepare a zone conference presentation on finding. In the month leading up to it, I polled all missionaries anonymously through the chain of command to see what I would find, and the results, while along the lines of what I expected, were still shocking to me. Door-to-door tracting was dead last in a list of favorite finding methods, while referrals (member and media) were at the top. However, door-to-door was squarely in the #1 spot in terms of finding method for both lessons taught and baptisms. Nothing else came even close. These results had a big effect on my mission president, because (unbeknownst to me), Elder Holland had just told him that his missionaries weren't doing enough door-to-door. My ward (and our stake overall) has had a lot of baptisms recently (we have another one on Saturday between sessions), and last week in talking with the elders, I asked them how the investigators had been found. None of them have been through members, but have been self-referrals or through the missionaries’ own efforts.

The problem with those who argue from an efficiency standpoint is that most of the really good experiences I had on my mission stemmed from door-to-door (including a visual vision, miraculous gift of tongues, and other things --- things I wouldn’t have experienced without door-to-door), and refusing to ever do it on principle would deprive missionaries and investigators of experiences with each other.

[Calm]

It seems to me the best approach is to be flexible, willing to use programs that the Church has provided mixed up with personal efforts depending on circumstances.

I would not be the least surprised if the I am a Mormon program is meant primarily to familiarize the greater community with the LDS one in order to counteract the misperceptions that result in LDS being one of the most disliked ethnic groups if a person does not personally known a LDS. More positive feelings will indirectly increase missionary success even if it doesn't directly increase conversions.

[rongo]

I'll be interested in seeing if or how well media saturation campaigns lead to drastic increases in positive perceptions of Mormons. I think being viewed negatively is just one of those things the Church, former-day and latter-day, has had to face, regardless of ad campaigns and charm offensives. I don't think any amount of PR can move the dial on it.

I also believe that uninformed, deep-seated negativity against the Church is actually a *good* thing (even thought it's not much fun for us) because it spurs interest in those who are searching and the honest in heart. Not that we need to court it or seek it, but it makes us an interesting and intriguing people, and thoughtful people really do "want to know more." They can see through the shallow, uninformed, simple-minded meanness of blatant negativity, and they wonder what "the rest of the story" is.

[cdowis]

As I was told, the church conducted a survey and found that most people had a favorable impression of the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", but had a very low impression of "Mormon" . One goal of the campaign is to connect those two names in a favorable light.

[oats]

I agree with the sentiment you express rongo. People need the direct interaction you speak of, especially if they want a more full understanding of the gospel.

However technology has changed the way people interact and seek out interaction and information. It has changed the way people interact, or at least initiate interaction.

For example, when I travel I go with people who I've never met before but who I've familiarized myself with online. I'd use the same approach if I wanted to go to a church, club, school or event. Reading something online initially involves no commitment, so we take greater risks and read things we might not feel comfortable discussing with others before gaining some sense of trust or comfort. It also removes some of the fear factor that keep us from action. Online I meet people and develop friendships with people who, if I were to approach in a public setting, would never become friends.

This approach may seem to disengage individuals and lead them to the internet to read trivial factoids about the church. That could be true. I'm certain it leads to a lot individuals 'ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth'. It's certainly evident by many non-Mormons whose comments make it seem like they are knowledgeable about our religion.

We have entered a time of total change in human consciousness of how people look at the world.... now we are tempted to learn from fragments of facts... each fact can instantly be called up again on a computer. There is no context, no motive. Information is not knowledge. People are becoming researchers not readers, they float on the surface. This new thinking erases context. It disaggregates everything.

Experience, and intuition, tell me the internet idea will enable more meaningful person to person interaction than knocking doors does. Knocking doors, for the most part, is planting seeds, if not drowning the seeds by annoying a lot of people. I've known equal amounts of recent converts who've started their search through missionaries who approached them (on the street or at their door) or through online resources. However I'm nowhere near a market where the campaign has been enacted. No one has brought it up at church yet, though I see several from my singles branch have created a profile.

The I'm A Mormon profile things are great. I'm in the process of making one which I will link to on my facebook page. Perhaps you have no idea the time people waste looking at the information people post about themselves online? It's a wonderful way for my friends to read a little about what and why I believe without me trying to manufacture a conversation that leads to the topic of religion. But like everything else I post on facebook, I guarantee it will generate some discussion or questions that leads to personal interaction.

[Avatar4321]

It was fun though. Am I alone in liking it?

No, I liked it too.

[why me]

I guess so. I have never been able to figure out why the truth requires such a carefully cultured public image.

It is the media age in which we live. One must conform to the times. People are now very media centered through various mediums. I wouldn't say however that this campaign is a carefully cultured public image. But you must agree that people are rather misinformed about mormons. The Mitt example four years is a good example for being misinformed. I have seen the I am a Mormon campaign in New York City on Times Square. The billboard has various photos of mormons doing everyday life. It basically shows that mormons are human beings.

[why me]

As I was told, the church conducted a survey and found that most people had a favorable impression of the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints", but had a very low impression of "Mormon" . One goal of the campaign is to connect those two names in a favorable light.

This may be true. And it has been a problem for quite some time. One problem with the term Mormon is that it can give the impression that mormons worship the god 'Mormon'. It can lead to some confusion. Also, the missionaries are referred to as Mormon missionaries. Not LDS missionaries. I think that some of the bad connotation comes from the missionaries knocking on doors as mormon missionaries.

[why me]

It seems to me the best approach is to be flexible, willing to use programs that the Church has provided mixed up with personal efforts depending on circumstances.

I would not be the least surprised if the I am a Mormon program is meant primarily to familiarize the greater community with the LDS one in order to counteract the misperceptions that result in LDS being one of the most disliked ethnic groups if a person does not personally known a LDS. More positive feelings will indirectly increase missionary success even if it doesn't directly increase conversions.

I think that one must also look to the missionary program and what missionaries do to get investigators. At times they have had tactics that would even make me angry if I were approached. And these missionaries carry the term Mormon all over them since they are known as mormon missionaries.