Welcome to General Conference Book Club!
The goal is to read one General Conference talk a week and discuss it together as an on-line “book club.”
(If you’re not familiar with General Conference or the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, go here and here and here for more information.)
A new talk will be posted each Sunday.
You don’t have to do anything to “join” the club– You can just visit the Sunday post at any time during the week and share thoughts, findings, favorite quotes, applications, even questions from the talk of the week. Personally, I think it would be a good idea to subscribe to comments from the post so that we can read each other’s insights and have a “real book club” conversation. (There are two ways to do this: 1. Below the actual talk post, click on Comments RSS below the “Actions” list to subscribe to an RSS feed for comments, or 2. click the little box under the “Submit Comment” button so that comments are emailed to you.) Or of course, you can just check back often to see what folks are saying.
My own plan is to let each talk guide my personal scripture study throughout the week. First I’ll read the talk all the way through, then look up and read all the scripture references he quoted, and then break the talk down into segments to study them carefully and try to find other related scriptures that help me understand it better. Feel free to share any ideas of how you plan to study or apply the talks we read. (You’re allowed to do this however you want. You can simply have a goal to read the talk before the week is over, and that’s good, too.)
Here’s a little button you can put on your own blog if you’d like to. Feel free to invite friends (the real kind and bloggy kind as well) to participate. The more the merrier. You can link it directly to this post since it has all the instructions for the Book Club challenge.
And try to comment when you’ve read each article, even something as simple as “I did it.” Then we have a certain motivation/accountability to each other to meet our goal of reading all the talks from the previous General Conference. The objective is to read the words of the living prophets and learn from them. Our book club community is for sharing and encouraging, but please don’t feel pressure that you have to come around and make profound insights or write eloquent summaries. Just show up and be counted!
Here are the links to the talks we’ve done so far, including the book club comments:
Week 2: “More Diligent and Concerned at Home” by Elder David A. Bednar
Week 3: “Moral Discipline” by Elder D. Todd Christofferson
Week 4: “O Brother, School Thy Feelings” by President Thomas S. Monson (Priesthood)
Week 5: “Repent . . . That I May Heal You” by Elder Neil L. Andersen
Week 6: “Teaching Helps Save Lives” by Brother Russell T. Osguthorpe
Week 7: “Attempting the Impossible” by Elder Jorge F. Zeballos
Week 8: “Blessings of the Gospel Available to All” by Elder Joseph W. Sitati
Week 9: “Our Perfect Example” by President Henry B. Eyring
Week 10: “Helping Others Recognize the Whisperings of the Spirit” by Sister Vicki F. Matsumori
Week 11: “An Easiness and Willingness to Believe” by Elder Michael T. Ringwood
Week 13: “Stewardship– a Sacred Trust” by Elder Quentin L. Cook
Week 14: “Safety for the Soul” by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
Week 15: “Hold On” by Sister Ann M. Dibb
Week 16: “Ask, Seek, Knock” by Elder Russell M. Nelson
Week 17: “The Love of God” by President Dieter F. Uctdorf
Week 18: “The Past Way of Facing the Future” by Elder L. Tom Perry
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Click here to read discussions from our study of talks from the April 2009 General Conference.
April 13, 2009 at 1:49 pm |
I came over from Mina’s blog. I’m so excited about this! Thanks!
May 9, 2009 at 6:33 pm |
I sang in with the Tab Choir for 10 years. I love this site.
April 14, 2009 at 8:54 am |
I’m also excited. This is already a part of my daily scripture study routine but I am very excited to hear from others. Printing my week one article immediately after this post!!
April 14, 2009 at 4:40 pm |
What a wonderful idea!!! i’d love to join in!! thank you for putting this together. I love week 1 already…i think i’ve replayed his talk about 10 times on my TV. I just can’t get enough of it….every time i learn something new. ♥
April 14, 2009 at 10:15 pm |
This is a great great great idea! I’m in!
April 15, 2009 at 8:20 am |
Oh I forgot to update my Google Reader (despite your reminders!) and am just catching up here. I am so excited about this idea. You amaze me!
April 15, 2009 at 9:30 pm |
I followed your link from Mormon Mommy Blogs. This is a great way to get reading those talks. I also love the idea of sharing thoughts on their words. I will defiantly be participating.
April 17, 2009 at 9:56 am |
I was in need of this talk. I was feeling a little alone in the world at the moment and this gave me some things to think about and to look deeper into my life to see what I can do to change some things.
April 17, 2009 at 6:34 pm |
This is a brilliant idea! I can’t wait to participate. I think I followed a link, from a friend, from a friend, from a friend. But no matter how I got here, I’m sharing this idea with my friends, hope they can stop by!
Thank you!
Kristin
April 19, 2009 at 2:05 pm |
“None Were with Him” Every quote, every paragraph seemed to have significance to me but one thought that I needed to hear and consider in my life was: when Peter denied Christ ‘thrice’ Elder Holland made a point to acknowledge that, “we don’t know all that was going on here, nor do we know of protective counsel which the Savior may have given to His Apostles privately…”, this spoke loud and clear to the commandment of not judging. We really DON”T know until we have walked in anothers shoes. How grateful I am that I will be judged perfectly by a loving Heavenly Father and that Jesus Christ will stand with me as my mediator.
April 24, 2009 at 7:47 pm |
This seems like a great idea, my husband is the dreaded word “inactive”, so I sometimes feel a little vacant when it comes to finding people to engage in this kind of conversation. My life has not been easy and I have a lot of questions about the church and how it works for me. Am I still invited to be part of the group?
April 24, 2009 at 8:06 pm |
Absolutely. Glad to have you! Just hop over to the Sunday posts to see any of the articles and read the comments. (We’ve only done one so far, and are still working on week 2.)
May 21, 2009 at 10:45 am |
This is a great idea.
September 30, 2009 at 10:30 am |
Will you continue this after this when November’s Ensign comes out?
September 30, 2009 at 10:39 am |
Yes! Join in. It’s fun stuff.
September 30, 2009 at 5:06 pm |
I am so looking forward to conference, and then keeping on track each week with the book club. I like to jot down in a notebook what impresses me during conference from each speaker. Then when I read the talk later I find there new inspirations. Always learning
October 11, 2009 at 10:03 pm |
I actually missed Saturday Conference and have been meaning to read through all the talks that I missed.. This seems like the perfect place to do that; sharing insights and keeping myself on top of that goal. Win win!
December 28, 2009 at 2:11 pm |
What a perfect idea! Thanks for sharing it. I’m going to grab the button & get started reading with this week!
December 31, 2009 at 3:54 pm |
i LOVE this idea! it made me happy when i read about it. and i can’t wait to join in. i will participate fully next week….like comment and everything. but for this week (since it’s already thursday) i will just read the talk for this week. i was thinking my goals (hate the word resolution it makes me fell like i have failed before i even start) for next year and i think this will help me in accomplishing some of them. YAY! thanks so much!! and now i will most likely be a stalker of your blog as well.
happy new year!
January 11, 2010 at 7:25 pm |
I love this idea. I was trying to figure out a system that I could stick with and I found your link on another website and she is right, you are wonderful. Now I will have some accountability too.