Sis. Bonnie H. Cordon (Oct. 18): "Becoming a Shepherd"

What an inspiring talk.  I know I say that a lot, but it is because this is true.  This talk is such a good one for all members.  I know that it is sometimes easy to think that some families don't need as much ministering as others, but don't let that fool you.  I know that when I was serving as Elders Quorum president a number of years ago, I found that we were not being home taught because the brethren assigned to us figured that since I was the Elders Quorum president, I didn't need anyone.  They could not have been more wrong.  We had just had our second child in 15 months; I was working full-time as a new teacher and a coach, while trying to get some more schooling because my pay was not enough to live on; my wife was suffering from post-partum depression and stuck in our house because I had our one and only car.  Any outside visits would have made a world of difference.  Yes, we survived and we did stay active, but our lives were markedly more difficult during that time because some people decided that we didn't need any help because of a calling.  Everyone needs help and everyone needs a minister like the one Sister Cordon describes.

The Activity:

1. Make sure everyone has access to the talk.
2. Divide the class into three groups and assign each group one section of the talk -- Known & Numbered, Watched Over, and Gathered into the Fold of God.
3. Ask each class member to review their assigned section individually and identify one sentence they feel is most impactful to them.
4. Have them take a moment to ponder what is so powerful and important about their chosen sentence.  Ask them to consider how applying that could change them and those they minister to.
5. Have the class members stand and find someone not near them to talk with.
6. In these partnerships, they should share their sentences, look for connections with their partner's sentence, and discuss how those ideas could be applied and why they are meaningful.
7. After a moment of talking, the partners switch sentences and then split up and find someone new to talk to.  
8. This process repeats a few times.
9. After a few minutes, call the class back together and discuss what was learned.

Using the Activity:

Some of you may recognize this activity as a tea party or cocktail party (am I allowed to use that term in an LDS blog?!?) activity that is well-known in educational circles.  What makes this activity so powerful is the extended participation by ALL of the class members.  First, to simply identify the most important sentence from a section of a talk is itself a significant activity because it requires class members to consider all of the section and the ideas there.  Then, there is a time to ponder the meaning.  Pondering is directly linked in the scriptures to receiving revelation.  Then, the class members get up and share their thoughts and ideas with others while continuing to connect new ideas with their own.  Finally, by asking the class members how these ideas might be applied and what the results of those applications would be, class members are asked to envision ways they would be able to liken this talk unto themselves.  All of these are activities that are based in what we are to do with the gospel.  

Of course, this is an activity that is best done with larger groups.  If the group is small, you could ask members to choose two sentences (each from a different section of the talk).  That would allow them to have more material to share and discuss.  This way they could revisit their ideas with the same person more than once with less chance of duplicating a conversation (although that would not necessarily be bad either).  

I hope that this activity is helpful.  If you have any feedback, I would love to hear it.  Thank you for visiting my blog and God bless you in your calling.