Joseph Smith, the founding prophet of the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often referred to as the Mormon Church, established the pattern for regular, general conferences of the whole church. The idea was not his, but it was a commandment from God. The revelation, in part, reads:

“The several elders composing this church of Christ are to meet in conference once in three months, or from time to time as said conferences shall direct or appoint; And said conferences are to do whatever church business is necessary to be done at the time.” (D&C 20:61-62)

That is an open-ended mandate, which is good. It allows for adaptability in transacting church business, and for meeting the needs of the varied membership. Mormonism shares some of the strengths of the US Constitution. They both provide a framework that is solid enough to endure through the ages, yet flexible enough to meet different circumstances in different times and places. After all, the needs of the church in the 1830s differ from the needs of the church in the 2000s. But more on that later.

The first general conference was held in Fayette, New York on June 9, 1830. The official church history records:

"On the ninth day of June, 1830, we held our first conference as an organized Church. Our numbers were about thirty, besides whom believers or anxious to learn. Having opened by singing and prayer, we partook together of the emblems of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ."

"We then proceeded to confirm several who had lately been baptized, after which we called out and ordained several to the various offices of the Priesthood. Much exhortation and instruction was given, and the Holy Ghost was poured out upon us in a miraculous manner—many of our number prophesied, whilst others had the heavens opened to their view, and were so overcome that we had to lay them on beds or other convenient places; among the rest was Brother Newel Knight, who had to be placed on a bed, being unable to help himself."

"By his own account of the transaction, he could not understand why we should lay him on the bed, as he felt no sense of weakness. He felt his heart filled with love, with glory, and pleasure unspeakable, and could discern all that was going on in the room; when all of a sudden a vision of the future burst upon him. He saw there represented the great work which through my instrumentality was yet to be accomplished. He saw heaven opened, and beheld the Lord Jesus Christ, seated at the right hand of the majesty on high, and had it made plain to his understanding that the time would come when he would be admitted into His presence to enjoy His society for ever and ever."

"When their bodily strength was restored to these brethren, they shouted hosannas to God and the Lamb, and rehearsed the glorious things which they had seen and felt, whilst they were yet in the spirit.

"Such scenes as these were calculated to inspire our hearts with joy unspeakable, and fill us with awe and reverence for that Almighty Being, by whose grace we had been called to be instrumental in bringing about, for the children of men, the enjoyment of such glorious blessings as were now at this time poured out upon us."

"To find ourselves engaged in the very same order of things as observed by the holy Apostles of old; to realize the importance and solemnity of such proceedings; and to witness and feel with our own natural senses, the like glorious manifestations of the powers of the priesthood, the gifts and blessings of the Holy Ghost, and the goodness and condescension of a merciful God unto such as obey the everlasting Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, combined to create within us sensations of rapturous gratitude, and inspire us with fresh zeal and energy in the cause of truth." (History of the Church 1:85. Cf. “Chapter 11: The Organization and Destiny of the True and Living Church,” Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith, [2007], 135–47.)

These same conferences continue today, with some small shifts in practice. Now the conferences are semiannual, instead of quarterly. The location has changed—from Fayette to Salt Lake City. And the buildings have changed—from log cabins and open-air boweries to the famous Salt Lake Tabernacle and now to the current Conference Center. The membership has grown—from thirty in 1830 to thirteen million in 2008. And the number of languages has multiplied by the scores. But the spirit and the intent of these conferences has been the same. They are times of revival, celebration, communion, edification, and to transact necessary church business.

Of course, managing the explosive growth has been a challenge. In 1981, Gordon B. Hinckley, a leader in the Mormon Church, commented:

"With the growth of the Church, we likely could never build a hall large enough to accommodate all who would wish to assemble in one place. Nor would accelerating travel costs make possible their coming. The gifts of science have provided a more convenient way. We are confident that as the work of the Lord expands, he will inspire men to develop the means whereby the membership of the Church, wherever they may be, can be counseled in an intimate and personal way by his chosen prophet. Communication is the sinew that binds the Church as one great family. Between those facilities which are now available and those which are on the horizon, we shall be able to converse one with another according to the needs and circumstances of the time." (Gordon B. Hinckley, “Faith: The Essence of True Religion,” Ensign, Nov 1981, 5)

As a result of this cramping, the Mormon Church built a new Conference Center in 2000. It is a large facility, to say the least. It takes up a full city block, and a Boeing 747 Jumbo Jet could fit within the auditorium. The heart of the building, however, is the translation center. It has sixty booths to get the message out in people’s mother tongues. Not just the obvious tongues as Portuguese, Spanish, and German, but also obscure ones like Tagalog, Serbo-Croatian, and Icelandic.

Here are some of the building's statistics:

• Area covered by complex: 10 acres—one city block.

• Building size: 1.5 million sq. ft. (five times the area of the Salt Lake Temple and Tabernacle combined).

• Framing: reinforced concrete, steel roof frame (roof trusses weigh more than 1,170 tons).

• Concrete required: about 116,000 cubic yards.

• Electrical wiring: 50,000 miles, with 780 miles of conduit.

• Air-conditioning: 1,035,000 cubic feet of air moved through more than 14 miles of ducts every minute; 2,966 tons of air-conditioning equipment.

• Level-to-level transport: 11 passenger elevators, 3 service and stage elevators, 12 escalators, in addition to numerous stairways.

• Exterior covering: granite panels on south and west faces, Ashlar stone (random-length granite laid in brick pattern) on north and east faces. Granite for the building came from the same area where stone for the Salt Lake Temple was quarried.

• Landscaping: four acres on roof, with complete irrigation; trees and plants on terraced north and east sides of the building; additional planters in plaza areas.

• Water features: two fountains on the roof, one cascading down the front into pools below; 5,930 gallons of water per minute pumped through fountains and water courses; waters of City Creek flowing through rocky channel on southern edge of the block. (Don L. Searle, “The Conference Center: ‘This New and Wonderful Hall’,” Ensign, Oct 2000, 32.)

Additionally, the Mormon Church uses radio, television, satellite, and the Internet to broadcast sessions of general conference. This makes sense: the world-wide web is the best way to reach a world-wide audience. Joseph Smith would be impressed.

Next month, April 2008, in this large Conference Center, the successor to Joseph Smith will be presented to the church body for a sustaining vote. This is some of the "necessary church business" that needs to be handled. I look forward to seeing Thomas S. Monson sustained as the sixteenth president of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and am eager to see what direction he will take the church. I'm glad that this pattern of general, worldwide conferences continues. I feel renewed and edified at these conferences. It is comforting to know that a prophet is out there to guide us.

I thought this story was interesting, and it's worth sharing. In Murietta, California, members of the United Church of the Valley were preparing to serve their first mission, and they turned to an unusual source for help: the Mormons, or members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Asking missionaries of another faith for help in preparing to teach may seem odd, but when you think about it, it really does make sense. After all, Mormons have a very active and successful worldwide missionary program. So whether or not you agree with the specific religious beliefs, you've got to admit that the LDS Church probably does have some good insights into missionary work and sharing the gospel of Christ with others.

According to the North County Times, the Reverend Randy Leisey, pastor of United Church of the Valley, had become interested in the Mormon approach when he heard President Gordon B. Hinckley, then the prophet and president of the LDS Church, speaking in a local conference.

"He said 'You 77 million baby boomers, don't get a motor home. Go on mission,'" Leisey said to the North County Times. "I thought, 'Wow, wouldn't that change the world?'"

Leisey had been more interested in the LDS Church's humanitarian efforts, since members of his congregation would be serving humanitarian missions themselves, helping to build houses in an impoverished country. But Larry Slusser, second counselor to the Temecula Stake (group of local congregations) president of the LDS Church, gave them a challenge in their meeting: "Is there any plan to teach them about Jesus Christ?"

Members of the United Church of the Valley were not completely comfortable with this idea, as they were afraid of appearing pushy and self-righteous. However, President Slusser gave them some ideas for sharing the message of Jesus Christ that would not be overbearing, such as bringing them videos to watch, holding devotionals before work, and staying in contact with the people after the projects were completed.

The important things, as LDS Church leaders will tell you, is to truly become their friends and to not be afraid to share your knowledge of Jesus Christ and the gospel when appropriate.

"The house is going to care for ... one or two generations," Slusser explained. "The faith affects many future generations. . . (Christianity) is life-changing, to give them peace of mind, direction ... ."

"The task of missionary work used to be to make them like you," Leisey commented. "But if you get intellectual about it, you realize how egocentric that is. Our denomination and many denominations started rethinking what mission is all about -- building relationships."

Elder M. Russell Ballard, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has said: "Our opportunity and responsibility are to care, to share, to testify, to invite, and then to allow individuals to decide for themselves. . . At the very least, we have a rewarding relationship with someone from another faith, and we can continue to enjoy their friendship." (M. Russell Ballard, "Creating a Gospel-Sharing Home," Ensign, May 2006, 84-87)

And, in the meantime, we will have given someone we care about the opportunity to hear the gospel of Jesus Christ and how it can change their lives. Having received the gift ourselves, we naturally want to share it with those we love.

Usually when we think of missionary work we think of sharing the gospel with non-members, but reminding less active members of important covenants and blessings is also a part of missionary work. Great sensitivity and care should be taken, all in the spirit of Christ-like love and without judgment. Elder M. Russell Ballard encouraged "You and I must do everything we can to see that every member of the Church is completely fellowshipped and enjoying all the blessings the gospel has to offer." (Ensign, Sept. 2008, pg.8)

I was talking with some friends online recently about King Saul, Soloman, and David from the Old Testament. Isn't it great to be able to talk about gospel topics with friends all over the globe?!) One of the people in the group shared a personal experience she had and compared it to how some of those Old Testament kings fell from their righteous stature.

With her permission, here are some of her reflections:

"I am sure they were pretty good men up until they started to commit a little sin. Guilt, even in slight degrees, alters a person’s personality. The guilt made them feel bad, but pride made them justify and desensitize themselves to those bad feelings as almost a form of self preservation. While they are desensitizing they are committing more sin, which catapults them into more guilt and the cycle spirals downward until the person at the bottom very little represents the person who once stood on top."

She continued,

"I had a little bit of a fall while in college. I went through a really ugly period of figuring myself out and I was mid spiral down when an old high school friend and I got together for lunch. As we were parting ways she frowned at me and said, 'Babe . . . you’ve lost your hi-pro glow.' I laughed at her and told her she was a nut-case, but she grabbed my arm and said, 'I mean it. You’re different. You’re a cold shadow of the person you used to be. Whatever’s going on in your life . . . you better put it to an end.' I laughed and pretended her words didn’t cut me to the core, but I bawled the whole way home and for hours into the night. She was right. I was different because I’d begun the spiral. It was like being in one of those water slide tubes where you almost have no way of stopping yourself. I put my hands out to stop the fall . . . and sometimes I still feel the burn marks on my hands."

As we talked about some of these Old Testament leaders who fell from grace my friend concluded

"I think these men had the same problem. They were in their own spirals, only they had a little more pride than a starving college student had to deal with. These men were kings. They were favored of God. Imagine the amount of pride they had. Imagine how far they would have to go to justify themselves in order to make themselves feel okay inside. Imagine the burn marks they’d get on their hands when they tried to stop their own fall. When I start on my spiral downward (since on a daily basis I am doing stupid stuff) I think of my friend grabbing my arm and telling me I’d lost my hi-pro glow. I’m quick to put my hands out so my falls don’t go down so far that I can’t stop. Those kings could have used a good friend to slap them upside the head."

Elder Merlin R. Lybbert of the Seventy gave an excellent talk in the May 1990 Ensign (page 81) where he shared the parable of the Good Samaritan and compared the passersby to members of the church and how we need to care for other members of the Church who may have been hurt on their journey. Said he,

"Most of us are acquainted with someone who is spiritually ill or wounded, lying on the roadside half dead, and who desperately needs the assistance of a good LDS brother or sister - that is, a Latter-day Samaritan. Our prophet has repeatedly reminded us that rescuing the less active is one of our greatest challenges of service."

To begin to understand the Atonement and Resurrection of Christ, we have to go back about 1200 years to when a certain occurrence first began. Anyone who has ever been a part of the Passover Feast, or read the Old Testament, knows when the first Passover Feast was instituted.

In the time of Moses the Israelites had been placed under the bondage of the Egyptians for a few hundred years. A way had been provided to free the Israelites in the form of a prophet, Moses.

Pharaoh, the leader of Egypt, had no intention of letting his slaves go. Even plagues of locusts, frogs, lice, hail, and other awful testaments of the Lord’s power could not soften Pharaoh’s heart enough to let the Israelites go.

This is when the Passover Feast first happened (Exodus 12). Moses and the Israelites were commanded to sacrifice a lamb or kid (sheep or goat) about a year old. The blood of the lamb was to be sprinkled along the sides and top of the doorframe.

“It washed away 430 years of Egypt’s contamination. The blood of the lamb protected them from the wrath of the Almighty. Its roasted flesh nourished their bodies with strength for the long, perilous journey ahead. They ate in haste, loins girded, staff in hand, shoes on their feet, prepared to leave at any moment at God’s command (Rosen, Ceil, and Moishe Rosen. Christ in the Passover: Why Is This Night Different? Chicago, Ill.: Moody Press, 1978, pp.23-24).

This was certainly not the one and only time for the feast. For thousands of years the Passover Feast has been celebrated since that day. For Christians who participate in this ritual feast it typically occurs at the same time we celebrate Easter. When it comes to how the Feast is celebrated in this day I am at a loss. As members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, nicknamed the Mormon Church, we do not celebrate the Passover Feast, though the true message of Easter is certainly held in reverence.

Three big changes happened in the Passover Feast almost immediately, as we can read in the Latter-day Saint edition of the King James Version of the Bible.

1. It lost its domestic character, and became a sanctuary feast.
2. A seven days’ feast of unleavened bread (hence its usual name), with special offerings was added (Exodus 12:15; Numbers 28:16-25). The first and seventh days were Sabbaths and days of holy convocation.
3. The feast was connected with the harvest.

These weren’t the only changes made. In later times several other ceremonies were added, and were practiced by Christ and His apostles in their lifetime. We can also read of these in the Bible Dictionary.

1. The history of the redemption of Egypt was related by the head of the household.
2. Four cups of wine mixed with water were drunk at different stages of the feast.
3. Psalms 113-118 (the Hallel) were sung.
4. The various materials of the feast were dipped in a sauce.
5. The feast was not eaten standing, but reclining.
6. The Levites (at least on some occasions) slew the sacrifices.
7. Voluntary peace offerings were offered.

There is so much more that goes into the spirit of the Passover Meal that I hope to share with you in my next post, in particular the symbolic nature of what the Lord taught in this Feast. It is also significant to note the two big changes the Lord creates in His last meal upon this earth.