Listen, Learn & Love Hosted by Richard Ostler

Podcast describing my LGBTQ viewpoint from the perspective of a faithful and believing Mormon. Based on this Facebook Post: https://www.facebook.com/richard.ostler.5/posts/10214519759580891

My good friend Jaxon Washburn, age 19 helps us understand our younger members. Jaxon is currently at Arizona State University working on a degree in Religious Studies and is preparing to serve a mission. He is deeply connected to many religions and shares his testimony and belief in our Restored Church. Jaxon talks about our younger members and addresses common traits, relevant data, difficult issues, how church leaders can better reach this group, and his experience. I believe people like Jaxon represents the future of our Church and I have great faith in and hope for the future as I listen to and learn from our younger members.

Cynthia Winward helps us better understand woman’s voices in the church so we can do a better job of hearing this voices, seeing things from other perspectives, so our Restored Church can work for more of our members. Thank you, Cynthia. You are strong, capable and a great example for me and so many.

Cruz Soto shares his journey from the streets of California into the Mormon Church. I was honored to be Cruz’s YSA Bishop and see this journey first-hand. Listening to Cruz’s story will help us better minister to all our members. Cruz is joined by his dear wife Kelsi Soto. Podcast based on this Facebook post: https://www.facebook.com/richard.ostler.5/posts/10209368305477758

Richard Ostler Presentation at Utah State University on Tuesday, April 25th on how to show kindness, love, compassion and respect to God’s LGBTQ Children. Church owned LDS Living wrote the following article based on this presentation. http://www.ldsliving.com/-You-Can-Be-an-LGBT-Ally-and-a-Faithful-Member-of-the-Church-Says-Former-YSA-Bishop/s/88315

Ellis Ivory (former Mission President) and Brent Brown (former Missionary) tell the story of holding an all-mission conference in 1979 in this historic 12th Century Church. Brent Brown and his wife Mona return in 2016 and learned of a fundraiser to ‘save the bell tower’. Brent talks about ‘returning the favor’ of 37 years ago and organized a fundraiser among these missionaries. In 2017, President and Sister Ulrich went to Hawkshead to present a check for $20,000 and share all the door-opening experiences that followed.

David Ostler (my good brother) as his dear wife Rachelle are active members of the church living in Virginia. Dave has served as a Mission President, Stake President and currently as Service Missionaries. As part of that assignment, they reached out to members who no longer attend to better understand the ‘why’ behind why they left. On this podcast, Dave will discuss how we can better minister to those who are struggling or who have stepped away and a new web site called stakeandwardresources.com he designed to help local leaders better address this topic.

Don and Debra, active members of the church, share their family journey to love and accept their gay son Lincoln and his husband Robert. The Coes give helpful advice for parents, local leaders and LGBTQ people. The Coes talk about how most of their local Mormon community supported/attended the wedding reception for this same-sex couple ... in the same way ‘we’d support a straight couple.’ The Coes also share a tender reconciliation between their son Marshall and Lincoln/Robert on Mother’s day a week before Marshall suddenly passed away and their work to prevent LGBTQ suicides.

Join us as my good friend Chris Gallagher shares his life journey growing up in the Bay Area, serving a mission to Uruguay, BYU, leadership role at USGA at BYU, transferring to the University of Utah and starting to date men. Hearing Chris’s story ... even if some of it is outside of the doctrine of our Church ... helps us to better understand our LGBTQ brothers and sisters. Thank you Chris for bravely sharing your story.

I'd like to share some my thoughts on this question from the perspective of a deeply believing and committed member. These are my thoughts only. I do not speak for the Church. Perhaps my thoughts will be helpful to both our members and those doing Temple recommend interviews.

Thoughts on this topic from the perspective of a former YSA Bishop. Based on this Facebook Post https://www.facebook.com/richard.ostler.5/posts/10213596025968128

If we look closer, these are two very different roads. This podcast addresses these differences so we can all better minister to our LGBTQ members. The podcast is based on this Facebook post from June 2017 https://www.facebook.com/richard.ostler.5/posts/10211776675765510

Podcast on finding your companion based on my our experience to find my wife and from working with many during my YSA assignment. Based on this Facebook post https://www.facebook.com/richard.ostler.5/posts/10211905609468772

Ben currently attends BYU where he is getting his Master's in Social Work and teaches Spanish. Ben shares his journey coming to terms with his sexual orientation, coming out to his friends at BYU, staying active in the Church and broadly sharing his life story as a Gay Mormon.

This podcast discusses cultural judging in our Mormon culture and how we can do better to help everyone feel like they belong. It is based on a Facebook post from May 2017 that went viral with over 10,000 shares. See www.facebook.com/richard.ostler.5/posts/10211600652005026