On Sunday, May 15, 2022, President Russell M. Nelson stood at the black walnut pulpit of the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City to address young adults of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
President Nelson’s address was historic for several reasons. For one, it marked the first time the Conference Center was filled since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. For another, it was the first time the President of the Church has addressed all young adults in almost 22 years.
Sitting among the red upholstered seats in the Conference Center that night were the presidents and leaders of the institutions within the Church Educational System.
“It was an incredible experience,” recalled BYU–Hawaii President John S.K. Kauwe III in a subsequent devotional to BYU–Hawaii students. “There was a spiritual energy and excitement that united us all in anticipation of hearing President Nelson’s message for us — and we were not disappointed,” he said.
To the 20,000 young adults gathered in the Conference Center, the thousands more clustered in overflows throughout Temple Square and the hundreds of thousands more listening online, President Nelson delivered a powerful message about identity, discipleship and taking charge of one’s eternal destiny and testimony.
Since then, the Prophet’s teachings have continued to ripple and resonate through the messages of leaders in the Church Educational System.
In speaking to Church educators in January 2023, Elder Clark G. Gilbert, the commissioner of the Church Educational System and a General Authority Seventy, spoke of driving from Salt Lake City to Rexburg, Idaho, and listening again to President Nelson’s devotional.
As he crested the summit of the Malad Pass, Elder Gilbert pulled his car over to capture the impressions that would eventually lead to his remarks to seminary and institute instructors worldwide.
In his Jan. 27 remarks, Elder Gilbert highlighted five prophetic themes, which he encouraged educators to utilize in their curriculum and in the way they teach and minister to students.
“We live in perilous times,” Elder Gilbert told instructors. “But the Lord has prepared a ‘pattern in all things’ so that we need not be deceived. Part of that pattern is the presence of a ‘prophet in the land’ to teach us truth. Are we listening, and is it impacting how we teach and minister to our students?”
In addressing students at the beginning of a new academic year on Sept. 6, 2022, then-BYU President Kevin J Worthen called President Nelson’s message to young adults both “powerful and profound.”
As President Worthen contemplated what he wanted to share with students “at this key decision-making point” in their lives, his mind kept going back to President Nelson’s talk. Still, it wasn’t until after he had read and studied the talk several times that President Worthen noticed the title: “Choices for Eternity.”
“As I read those three words, the thought forcefully hit me that President Nelson had not only provided prophetic counsel on fundamental truths and inspired direction on individual topics of immediate relevance to young adults, he had also given an overarching sermon — some would call it a meta-narrative — on choices and decisions,” President Worthen said.
President Nelson taught that “we get to decide — we get to choose — the most important thing in our existence: our ultimate destiny,” President Worthen said.
The BYU president invited students to read or reread President Nelson’s devotional talk. “It is inspired revelation given by a Prophet for your benefit in your current situation. Consider how the counsel he gives can help you in making the many decisions you will face in the coming year.”
During his address, President Nelson taught young adults that they are first and foremost a child of God. Then, as a member of His Church, they are a child of the covenant. And third, they are a disciple of Jesus Christ. He then warned that no other label or identifier should replace, displace or take priority over those three paramount, unchanging identifiers.
In a commencement address in June 2022 and again in a devotional in January of this year, President Kauwe spoke of how President Nelson’s words caused him to reflect on how he labels himself and the priority he gives to each of those labels.
“I realized that my social media profile was a place where I, and perhaps many of you, have directly and indirectly specified and influenced those labels,” President Kauwe said.
After President Nelson’s devotional, President Kauwe updated his Instagram profile to say, “Child of God, member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, husband, father, president of BYU–Hawaii, scientist, kānaka maoli, waterman.”
President Kauwe then asked students: “If you have decided to use social media, what does it say to others about your identity? Could you revisit what it says? Could you revisit what you post to clearly and intentionally define who you are? As you do so, are your primary identities clear? Are the other identities you embrace being represented in ways that are appropriate? Think about those things and the influence they could have on your life, the way others view you and the way you view others.”
BYU–Pathway Worldwide President Brian K. Ashton and his wife, Sister Melinda Ashton, also based their remarks this past January on President Nelson’s teachings about divine identity.
“If understanding your true identity is so important, what can you do to come to believe that you are literally a child of God, and that being a child of the covenant and a disciple of Jesus Christ will lead to having God’s power in your life and to your obtaining eternal life?” President Ashton asked.
One answer, Sister Ashton said, is to accept the invitation of Sister Wendy W. Nelson, who also spoke at the May Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults. Sister Nelson, wife of President Nelson, encouraged young adults to ask themselves, “What would a holy young adult do [in this situation]?”
In accepting that invitation, Sister Ashton said, she found herself taking the time to listen to and be directed by the Holy Ghost. As a result, “I feel more peace and joy,” Sister Ashton said. “I also am more aware of my true identity. You can have these same blessings in your life,” she promised.
President Ashton said his testimony of his divine identity has been strengthened by studying his scriptures daily, praying each morning and night, attending church, attending the house of the Lord and keeping his covenants even during times of difficulty and trouble.
In conclusion, President and Sister Ashton shared a video of President Nelson from the May 2022 devotional.
“My dear young friends,” President Nelson said. “I love you. I thank you. I believe in you. As the Lord’s Prophet, I bless you to know the truth about who you are and to treasure the truth about what your glorious potential really is. I bless you to take charge of your own testimony. And I bless you to have the desire and strength to keep your covenants.
“As you do, I promise that you will experience spiritual growth, freedom from fear, and a confidence that you can scarcely imagine now. You will have the strength to have a positive influence far beyond your natural capacity. And I promise that your future will be more exhilarating than anything you can presently believe.”
In a devotional also at the onset of this year, Ensign College President Bruce C. Kusch showed students and faculty pictures of what he did over the Christmas break, such as being king for a day in a Latin American country and almost scoring a winning goal in the World Cup. Then he confessed that the pictures were fake and “every identity was a fabrication.”
The most accurate, important label, he said, is “our identity as children of God.”
During the devotional, President Kusch asked four volunteers to each answer a question about identity. Before each question, he quoted parts of the Prophet’s teachings from the Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults.
The questions he asked listeners were “How might we avoid adopting or accepting a label that could affect our eternal progression?” “How can each of us avoid being judgmental or displaying animosity toward another?” and “How can we keep the knowledge of our true identity as children of God first and foremost in our minds?”
President Kusch concluded his remarks by testifying that all are children of God and that President Nelson is God’s Prophet on the earth today. “He holds the keys and authority necessary making it possible for him to preside on the earth in the Savior’s Church. When he speaks, he speaks for the Savior, and we should listen and hearken to every word as if they have come from the Savior Himself.”
