Last updated on September 8th, 2025 at 12:14 am
General Conference Applied
S5 E40 – Thursday, August 21, 2025 | “Participate to Prepare for Christ’s Return” by Elder Steven D. Shumway; April 2025 General Conference
Listen on Amazon Music | Listen on Apple Podcasts | Listen and/or Watch on Spotify | Watch on YouTube
Podcast Episode Social Media Posts
- Episode
- Facebook | Instagram | X
- Highlight
- Facebook | Instagram | X
Podcast Episode Outline
Introduction
As we begin this podcast episode, if you have not recently listened to or read Elder Shumway’s April 2025 General Conference address, please pause this podcast episode and go review his address.
Bio
- “Elder Steven D. Shumway was sustained as a General Authority Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the April 2024 general conference. At the time of his call, he had been serving as a member of the Eleventh Quorum of the Seventy in the North America Southwest Area.
“Elder Shumway has served in a number of Church callings, including full-time missionary in the Pennsylvania Philadelphia Mission, elders quorum president, Young Men president, bishop, stake president, and president of the Illinois Chicago Mission from 2019 to 2022.
“Elder Shumway received a bachelor of science degree in chemical engineering from Brigham Young University in 1996. He worked for Exxon Chemical Company in Houston Texas from 1996 to 1998. Since 1998 he has been president and CEO of Whiting Brothers Investment Companies.
“Steven Douglas Shumway was born in Springerville, Arizona, on June 30, 1970. He married Heidi Dawn O’Brien in 1994. They are the parents of four children.” - This was Elder Shumway’s first general conference address.
Invitations
- “There is a growing need for willing souls to engage in God’s work. Selflessly serving is the very essence of Christlike discipleship. But serving is rarely convenient. This is why I admire you covenant-keeping disciples, including our dear missionaries, who set aside your desires and challenges to serve God by serving His children. … [L]abor with God in whatever way He asks.”
- In our own words: Set aside our own desires and challenges to serve God’s children in whatever way He asks.
- Application Idea: The next time a member of the Bishopric extends a calling or an assignment to you, accept it.
- “God rejoices in our progress, and so should we, even when we still have work to do.”
- Application Idea: Study and journal about Elder Clark G. Gilbert’s October 2021 General Conference address, “Becoming More in Christ: The Parable of the Slope“: “[I]n this Church, we believe in the divine potential of all of God’s children and in our ability to become something more in Christ. In the Lord’s timing, it is not where we start but where we are headed that matters most.” Also consider reading “The Gap and the Gain: The High Achievers’ Guide to Happiness, Confidence, and Success” by Dan Sullivan and Dr. Benjamin Hardy.
- “[W]e can engage in the work and protect our testimonies through meaningful ways like prayer and scripture study.”
- In our own words: “Engage in the work and protect our testimonies through … prayer and scripture study.”
- Application Idea: Elder Shumway invited us to “protect our testimonies.” That is an interesting choice of words. No matter your current calling, if you are not currently praying and studying the scriptures each day, make a goal to plan out each day so that these important tasks start happening each day once again.
- “[S]erve because we love God and want to live our covenants.”
- Application Idea: Study and journal about the lyrics to hymn #1037 – “I’m Gonna Live So God Can Use Me“. “I’m gonna live [work, pray, and sing] so God can use me. Anytime and anywhere. I’m gonna live so God can use me. Anytime and anywhere.”
- Clay Application: Prayerfully seek to figure out how my service in the primary is connected to living my covenants. Ponder how magnifying my calling to help these kids grow in the gospel is a way to live my covenants.
- “Our preparation to meet Jesus Christ accelerates when we stop asking what God will permit and start asking what God would prefer.”
- In our own words: “Stop asking what God will permit and start asking what God would prefer.”
- Application Idea: Footnote 16 accompanied this invitation and it referenced an April 1977 Ensign article from President Henry B. Eyring (at the time, he was the President of Ricks College). Study and journal about this article: “Should a Latter-day Saint sell a product when its use violates the Word of Wisdom?“
- “[A]ct in faith to do something beyond our abilities.”
- Application Idea: Take action on this invitation from President Russell M. Nelson’s April 2021 General Conference address, “Christ Is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains“: “What would you do if you had more faith? Think about it. Write about it. Then receive more faith by doing something that requires more faith.”
- Mitch Application: I will take action on this invitation from President Russell M. Nelson’s April 2021 General Conference address, “Christ Is Risen; Faith in Him Will Move Mountains“: “What would you do if you had more faith? Think about it. Write about it. Then receive more faith by doing something that requires more faith.”
- “I invite leaders and each of us to more intentionally seek those without callings. Encourage and help them engage in God’s work to help them prepare for Christ’s return. … Elder David A. Bednar teaches the importance of the scriptural mandate to ‘let every [woman and] man learn [their] duty, and to act.’ Do we do this? When leaders and parents let others learn and act for themselves, they blossom and flourish. While the easier path may be to give faithful members a second calling, the more excellent way is to invite the unlikely to serve and let them learn and grow.”
- In our own words: “More intentionally seek those without callings” and “help them engage in God’s work.” “Invite the unlikely to serve and let them learn and grow.”
- Application Idea: In his April 2025 General Conference address, “‘Return Unto Me … That I May Heal You’“, Elder S. Mark Palmer extended the following invitation: “Stay sensitive to the feelings and the witness of the Spirit. Learn from Amulek, who described his time as a less-active member by saying, ‘I was called many times and I would not hear.'” Study the Prophet Alma’s interaction with Amulek in the following chapters from the Book of Mormon: Alma 8 – Alma 16.
- “When we serve to magnify Christ and not ourselves, our service becomes joyful. When others leave our class, meeting, ministering visit, or activity remembering Christ more than they remember us, the work is energizing.”
- In our own words: “[S]erve to magnify Christ and not ourselves.
- Application Idea: Study and journal about Sister Susan H. Porter’s October 2021 General Conference address, “God’s Love: The Most Joyous to the Soul“: “Our son related: ‘When I was 11, my friends and I decided to hide from our teacher and skip the first half of our Primary class. When we finally arrived, to our surprise, the teacher greeted us warmly. He then offered a heartfelt prayer during which he expressed sincere gratitude to the Lord that we had decided to come to class that day of our own free will. I cannot remember what the lesson was about or even our teacher’s name, but now, some 30 years later, I am still touched by the pure love he showed me that day.'”
Discussion Questions
- What is the Lord, through Elder Shumway, inviting us to do? And how do we intend to take action?
- Ponder this compelling statement from Elder Shumway: “When we say yes to serving, we are saying yes to Jesus Christ. And when we say yes to Christ, we are saying yes to the most abundant life possible.” How have you personally experienced this in your life?
- Elder Shumway stated: “Ordinances don’t save us because they fulfill a heavenly checklist. Rather, when we live the covenants connected with these ordinances, we become the kind of person who wants to be in God’s presence. This understanding overcomes hesitations to serve or preferences not to serve.” How well do you know the covenants connected with the ordinances in which you participate?
- Elder Shumway invited “leaders and each of us to more intentionally seek those without callings. Encourage and help them engage in God’s work to help them prepare for Christ’s return.” Do you have any experiences inviting those without callings to serve that you would be willing to share?
- Do you know anyone who lives up to this standard from Elder Shumway: “When we serve to magnify Christ and not ourselves, our service becomes joyful. When others leave our class, meeting, ministering visit, or activity remembering Christ more than they remember us, the work is energizing.”?
External Resources Referenced In This Episode
- Church News bio Elder Shumway
- Elder Vargas address and GCA episode
- Elder Gilbert October 2021 address
- The Gap and the Gain
- Elder Uchtdorf April 2025 GCA episode
- Elder Holland “Be Ye Therefore Perfect Eventually”
- The Millionaire Next Door
- The Next Millionaire Next Door
- Elder Kearon June 2025 GC+
- Sister Wright GCA episode
- Hymn #1037
- For the Strength of Youth pamphlet
- October 2021 Elder Christofferson
- April 1977 Ensign article President Eyring
- President Nelson April 2021 general Conference address
- Elder Palmer April 2025 address
- Alma 8
- Sister Porter October 2021 address
- 21 Principles Richards G. Scott
- Elder Scott address
- Home Alone
- Elder Anthony D. Perkins BYU speech “Nevertheless I Went Forth”
- Neal A. Maxwell – God placing a Star to shine the night the Savior was born
What will you do?
How will you take action on the invitations extended in this General Conference address?
Conclusion
The focus of our next podcast episode will be the April 2025 General Conference Applications – Return and Report: Elder Palmer, Bishop Caussé, and President Lund.
As we conclude this episode, we would invite you to refer to the podcast episode details for this podcast episode where we have provided important information for connecting with us and further supporting the General Conference Applied Podcast. The best ways to help us are to like and subscribe to the podcast, to share the podcast with others, to like and share our content on social media, to share your own experiences with us on social media, and especially to contact us on our website.
Please remember that General Conference Applied is meant to be a supplement for your review of General Conference Addresses. We promise that you will get more out of each General Conference Applied episode when you study the General Conference address first.
Thank you for joining us in this effort to become doers of the word and to take action on general conference invitations.
Tags
Church Callings | Preparation | Second Coming | Service