Why I Love the “I’m a Mormon” Media Initiative

The “I’m a Mormon” / Mormon.org media initiative that was launched last year is making its way to my neck of the woods (inland Northwest).  Starting the first week in October, there will be TV spots, radio ads, billboards and bus signs with cool, trendy people proudly proclaiming their Mormonness.  In preparation for the media blitz, our ward received in-depth training from Salt Lake this past Sunday, so that we can be ready for the increased questions and attention that will inevitably come our way.

I am completely enthusiastic about this initiative — have been from the start.   I’m not sure how well it’s working in terms of creating convert baptisms (that’s probably not trackable, since it’s a branding campaign as opposed to a response-driven campaign)…but that’s not what excites me most about it anyway.  While I certainly hope it improves our public image, what I really love about the “I’m a Mormon” initiative is the message it sends to Mormons about who gets to be “in!”

And We Wonder Why They're Scared of Us…

So…the following showed up on Utah State Representative Craig Frank’s blog regarding Utah Governor Huntsman’s appointment as US Ambassador to China (and was subsequently picked up by Politico):

This is a big deal for the Governor, Utah, the United States, and…the The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS).

Although the LDS church’s missionary program has an ecclesiastical presence throughout many parts of the world, the countries with the largest population bases (China and India) are not currently open to the church’s missionary efforts. Huntsman served his LDS mission as a 19 year old young man in the Taiwan Taipei Mission in the early 1980’s. He has since been back to the Far East on a number of occasions. Huntsman not only takes to China his political acumen but also a lifetime of membership in the LDS church. This should bode well for the LDS church’s mission to spread the gospel throughout the world, since all members of the LDS faith are under divine mandate to…”Go ye therefore, and teach all nations…” (Matt 28:19)

Huntsman’s ambassadorship not only puts him in an excellent position to address US-China relations, it puts him in an even better position to teach the gospel…in Mandarin.

Good grief.  Just because Utah’s political structure is as good as a theocracy does NOT mean people think mixing religion with politics is a great idea in the rest of the world.

No wonder people worry about a Mormon in the White House.

But don’t worry; in a subsequent post titled “I Guess I Was Wrong…Huntsman Won’t Help Spread the Gospel,” Representative Frank makes this ambiguous comment:

Unless, in fact, the Prophet of God has granted a special dispensation to Brother Jon M. Huntsman, Jr., he is under the same obligation as any member of the Church to share the gospel “throughout the world.”

Oh, well, in that case.  Glad we cleared that up.

My Life as a Folk Singer

I used to be kind of artistic.  Like , I studied acting in college.

Katie as the elderly spinster aunt in the weirdest production of Ah! Wilderness ever

For about two minutes, I was a singer-songwriter.

(Now I’m in marketing; still creative, not so artistic.   🙂 )

During my brief stint in songwriting, I never came up with much good–so I’ve gotta give a huge shout-out to my gramma and little sisters who would always listen to my songs and tell me they liked them, even though they were probably just being nice to me more than anything.  (What else are grammas and little sisters for?)  But there was one that wasn’t half-bad. And as I was going through some old files on my computer, I found it tonight–so I thought I’d share it here just for the helluvit.  I’m singing and playing the piano, with my brilliantly talented friend Kevin Allred on guitar.

Yeah, I know, it’s another media post that doesn’t really have much to do with the stated theme of this blog.  My mind’s been meandering elsewhere lately, so it might be about time to expand the scope of what I do here anyway.   Hopefully my 5 or 6 loyal readers won’t mind.  🙂  (If you do mind, I guess, let me know in the comments below!)

Why Can't Mormons Send Flowers?

A friend posted this on Facebook the other day and it made me laugh…

Doesn’t have much to do with grace, but it’s still funny.