I learned in church today

[BlueK]

And another aspect that our Stake President mentioned was that talks shouldn't just be someone doing a book report on or reading a GC talk.

Stakes in my area for a few years have actually been assigning GC talks to members as their topic. This has been going on for several years in more than one stake around here. Then the members to some degree or another quote from or even go so far as present the talk almost verbatim. I have never liked that much. So if it's true the 12 are discouraging this, I think it's good news.

[Jeff Lebowski]

Stakes in my area for a few years have actually been assigning GC talks to members as their topic. This has been going on for several years in more than one stake around here. Then the members to some degree or another quote from or even go so far as present the talk almost verbatim. I have never liked that much. So if it's true the 12 are discouraging this, I think it's good news.

Agree. Never liked those talks.

[Pelado]

Stakes in my area for a few years have actually been assigning GC talks to members as their topic. This has been going on for several years in more than one stake around here. Then the members to some degree or another quote from or even go so far as present the talk almost verbatim. I have never liked that much. So if it's true the 12 are discouraging this, I think it's good news.

Agree. Never liked those talks.

Same here. My wife got a similar speaking assignment and requested my help in preparing her talk. She was somehow under the impression that she was supposed to cover everything in the GC talk during her talk.

[HuskyFreeNorthwest]

ldc was asked to speak on Mother's Day, the counselor that asked her said he'd get her the topic but then texted me because he didn't have her number. I told her the topic was respecting the priesthood. She said that was a weird MD talk but whatever. Sunday she asked the 2C about the topic and he ratted me out that it wasn't the correct topic.

[falafel]

ldc was asked to speak on Mother's Day, the counselor that asked her said he'd get her the topic but then texted me because he didn't have her number. I told her the topic was respecting the priesthood. She said that was a weird MD talk but whatever. Sunday she asked the 2C about the topic and he ratted me out that it wasn't the correct topic.

Bwhahahaha

[mtnbiker]

Stakes in my area for a few years have actually been assigning GC talks to members as their topic. This has been going on for several years in more than one stake around here. Then the members to some degree or another quote from or even go so far as present the talk almost verbatim. I have never liked that much. So if it's true the 12 are discouraging this, I think it's good news.

Oh, man, we visited a ward in Mesa a couple of years ago, and a lady did that. She'd stop and make some comment, then continue with "and then he goes on to say". It seemed like she did that about a dozen times.

I was assigned a conference talk a couple of years ago and never mentioned the talk; I just used the main topic, 'standing in holy places', and came up with all new material. Then the 1st counselor got up and summarized all the talks, but instead of summarizing mine, started quoting out of the conference talk. So when we got a new bishop a year or so ago, I took the opportunity in tithing settlement to register my displeasure with them summarizing the talks. He was of the same opinion, but was glad to have some validation. The summaries stopped from then on.

[Eddie]

...I was assigned a conference talk a couple of years ago and never mentioned the talk; I just used the main topic, 'standing in holy places', and came up with all new material...

We've used conference talks as reference material for our sacrament meeting talks for the past 3-4 years.

Whenever I've had to ask someone to talk, I've always said that the conference talk is a starting place to give a sense of what the topic is - but that the speaker should then follow the spirit to determine what the message is that they are meant to share, and how they are to share it. For the most part they end up doing what you describe doing - with only some speakers referencing a quote from the conference talk from time to time.

With some folks here, I could see that being kind of risky. So far it's worked out OK in our ward!

[BlueK]

We've used conference talks as reference material for our sacrament meeting talks for the past 3-4 years.

Whenever I've had to ask someone to talk, I've always said that the conference talk is a starting place to give a sense of what the topic is - but that the speaker should then follow the spirit to determine what the message is that they are meant to share, and how they are to share it. For the most part they end up doing what you describe doing - with only some speakers referencing a quote from the conference talk from time to time.

With some folks here, I could see that being kind of risky. So far it's worked out OK in our ward!

I'm just curious about where this idea came from. It seems to have become pretty widespread. Did it just spring up somewhere locally and spread to other places, or was it at some point a suggestion from higher levels of leadership?

[edward777]

Just a note:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_2624080.html

Not sure that would be a reason to not watch Disney productions. I can think of a lot of better reasons.

[chrisrenrut]

I'm just curious about where this idea came from. It seems to have become pretty widespread. Did it just spring up somewhere locally and spread to other places, or was it at some point a suggestion from higher levels of leadership?

Our stake and ward assigns the Teaching for our Times Priesthood and RS lessons from conference talks.

For sacrament meeting talk topics, we ask our ward council to suggest topics at the beginning of the year. This year, we asked them to base their suggestions on scriptures from the New Testament, since we are studying it in Sunday School this year. It has produced some good results, and allows flexibility for special meetings such as Easter, Mothers Day, Christmas.

[Uncle Ted]

Just a note:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...n_2624080.html

Not sure that would be a reason to not watch Disney productions. I can think of a lot of better reasons.

Maybe this will help with the crowds at Disney World.

[Moliere]

I'm just curious about where this idea came from. It seems to have become pretty widespread. Did it just spring up somewhere locally and spread to other places, or was it at some point a suggestion from higher levels of leadership?

I think it stems from the desire to have themes centered around topics that church leadership thinks are important, so the most recent GC talks are used. That actually not a bad idea, but what happens is bishoprics and members get lazy and people just end up rehashing the talks instead of personalizing a gospel theme.

[Paperback Writer]

I think it stems from the desire to have themes centered around topics that church leadership thinks are important, so the most recent GC talks are used. That actually not a bad idea, but what happens is bishoprics and members get lazy and people just end up rehashing the talks instead of personalizing a gospel theme.

Then Bishoprics should simply suggest a gospel theme for the talk instead of specifying a GC talk given by a specific speaker. The last time I spoke, I specifically asked if I had to use the material from the GC talk I was assigned and was told" "the Bishop would like you to". I decided to ignore that. It makes for a poor sacrament meeting experience when every speaker is quoting the same scriptures and covering the exact same material as a GC talk that I've already heard. I don't think sacrament meeting speakers are being lazy - they are trying to fulfill an assignment. It's the instructions of the assignment that need to change.

[BlueK]

Then Bishoprics should simply suggest a gospel theme for the talk instead of specifying a GC talk given by a specific speaker. The last time I spoke, I specifically asked if I had to use the material from the GC talk I was assigned and was told" "the Bishop would like you to". I decided to ignore that. It makes for a poor sacrament meeting experience when every speaker is quoting the same scriptures and covering the exact same material as a GC talk that I've already heard. I don't think sacrament meeting speakers are being lazy - they are trying to fulfill an assignment. It's the instructions of the assignment that need to change.

My best guess is that this isn't some kind of mandate from above. My wife recently spoke and was not referred to or assigned a GC talk. Bishoprics clearly have a lot o their plate, and whenever they feel the need to assign a topic I think it's become popular practice to pick a GC talk as the topic. If anything, I think in general that's where the "laziness" is happening, but it can easily feed the laziness of the members. Or maybe they think it's a way to help lessen the fear some members may have about speaking in church if they're handed a crutch.

[edward777]

Didn't Joseph Smith say that talks in Church should not be written down or rehearsed and that the Spirit of God should move on people and that was supposed to govern the content of talks?