Silicon Valley Education Conference 

April 17-19, 2015

Clayton Christensen - Building the Kingdom of God

1. Great books for all of the saints – missionaryleader.org and Tongan Saints by Eric Shumway
2. When it comes to the impact we have on others, we only see about six inches of what is in front of us.
3. Tell God what we need Him to do for us. Similar to the Brother of Jared when he asked for the stones to be able to provide light. Then, we tell God what we will do when we receive the answer.
4. Clayton Christensen will be baptizing U.S. Senator, Larry Pressler, tomorrow morning in D.C. Clayton Christensen had an instrumental role with the Senator’s conversion. Read the story here.
5. A ward has geographic boundaries where every person who lives within these boundaries is a member of the ward. Clayton Christensen learned this from a Bishop who had a dream of the Savior telling him to recognize that ward members consisted of everyone in his area.
6. How do people become members?  Mark 8:35 – By feeling needed. It’s hard to teach people that they need the church, but best to help them see that the church needs them. Clayton Christensen’s book the Power of Everyday Missionaries talks about this throughout with the personal stories he shares.
7. Invite nonmembers to serve with us. This way they have the opportunity to feel the Holy Ghost.
8. Teach nonmembers to lose their life for the sake of the Savior.

Kendall Cooper – Power Play/Strategic Partnering

1. “Life is what happens when we are busy making other plans.”
2. Tender and inspiring story of Derek Redmond, Olympic sprinter, who tore his hamstring during a race, but kept on going to complete the race. Watch it here.
3. As we run into obstacles, we develop a much stronger skill set that will stretch our capacity.
4. 2 Kings 6:16 – Fear not, for they that be with us are more than they that be with them.

Richard Turley - Don’t build your testimony on a rocky foundation

1. There are certain stories that are confused in Church history.
2. Story of elevator shafts being added to the Salt Lake temple before elevators existed is inaccurate.
3. Elevators were starting to be seen in buildings during the time of the temple construction.
4. Story of Emma having a son was misread in the script it was written in. It really read, “Emma was sick and had a chill,” rather than Emma was sick and had a child.
5. The Lord expects us to be discerning and make our own decisions. Some people work on the intellectual, but forget spiritual knowledge.
6. To learn through the Holy Ghost, we must overcome the natural man and allow the Holy Ghost to be our constant companion. If we assume we don’t need God, he will leave us alone and we will fail.
7. We can start to feel spiritually rotten.
8. Scriptures are personal liahona and help to balance the heart and mind to receive revelation.
9. Prepare ourselves to be ready for blessings. D&C 11:13

Jennifer Finalyson-Fife – Maturing in Relationship to Self and Others

What is healthy self-esteem? The capacity to recognize inherent worth.

We can’t treat others unkindly when we have a genuine respect of our self. We are incapable of having a relationship when we have no self-esteem.

What are boundaries? Where you end and the world begins –psychologically speaking.

Protective Boundary – protect ourselves from the outside world. We’re respectful to ourselves.

Walled off – Invest little and receive little. This is dangerous to relationships. Must become more authentic and engage more in relationships.

Boundary-less – Needy, controlling, too vulnerable. Those who are boundary-less may have grown up with walled off parents. Boundary-less people must learn to self-regulate and see themselves as valuable.

Steve Young – Sense of Timing as LDS

We learn to have absolute confidence that we are where we need to be.

Steve Young has experienced social anxiety throughout his life. He almost turned down the opportunity to become a professional football player because of anxiety. He often questioned and wondered if he was doing the wrong thing.

During hard times with decisions, he would meet with church leaders and the best advice they would offer is, “good luck and we love you.” He always hoped the apostles would introduce him to his wife, simply say “here she is.”

This is a good example that we are working out our own salvation. Have you prayed your way to where you are today?

Steve Young learned that by being 38 years old when he finally married that it is all about God’s timing. We have much to learn and life events occur precept upon precept or step by step. Do we believe that God has our timing in mind?

If we want to be useful to the Lord, the time is now and we move forward in faith. All things work together for our good. Sanctify our timing today. God can’t change any part of our lives that we don’t allow.

D&C 50:40 – We cannot bear all things now. Line upon line.

We need and are blessed with many shepherds to make it through life.