Category: Events

“Expanding Our Understanding of Prayer”

When: Date & Time: March 19, 2020, from 7–9pm Mountain Standard Time

Hosts: Dan Wotherspoon, Mark Crego, Susan Hinckley

Participants: YOU!

In last month’s Virtual Fireside we talked about how our understanding of God changes, matures, becomes more nuanced. We move from a kind of God who intervenes supernaturally in human affairs, to a God who weeps with us in our suffering, who comforts us.

How do we communicate with God? How do we develop a richer, more intimate relationship with the Spirit? Our prayer formulas of our childhood often fall short of a real relationship, and many of our listeners have communicated that prayer is difficult when the target of our prayers is different than we once understood.

This month’s Virtual Fireside will be an open, unrecorded private online video discussion of prayer: what are the challenges, what works and what doesn’t, and how we can develop a richer tradition of prayer and contemplation in our Journey of Latter-day Faith.

A Latter-day Faith Retreat

LED BY:
DAN WOTHERSPOON, Ph.D.
NATASHA HELFER PARKER, LCMFT, CST
JANA SPANGLER, IPC

March 27th – 29th, 2020
Salt Lake City, UT

Many of us find ourselves a bit outside the Mormon norm but still feel committed to continue our journeys as engaged members of the church, or we are committed to a spouse who chooses this. This retreat is focused on building community among and strengthening Mormons like us in the following ways:

• Navigating faith development in adulthood, including the integration of new and enriching perspectives within a less-traditional Mormon paradigm
• Creating and nurturing healthy relationships with family, friends, and loved ones, especially in light of faith and worldview differences
• Finding ways to full and healthy sexuality
• Raising children in ways that encourage them to have confidence and depth as they negotiate various Mormon terrains
• Finding friends/community who have similar outlooks and can offer support

Cost: $275 per person; $425 per couple (even two friends or family members deciding to register together). Click below to register:

SCHOLARSHIPS:

If you cannot afford to pay to attend, or can only swing some of the cost, please inquire abut partial or full scholarships and volunteering. We are working hard to encourage people to donate funds for others to attend, and we are happy to put you on a waiting list to see what might unfold.

If you would like to donate toward scholarships to those who cannot otherwise attend, please click below! Thank you!

SCHEDULE:

Friday (27th): 6 to 10 pm

Saturday (28th): 9 am to 9 pm or later
(includes lunch and dinner, and entertainment afterward—much of it starring you!)

Sunday (29th): 9 am to 5 pm (lunch included)

CONTACT AND FURTHER INFORMATION:

To learn more about retreat content, purposes, logistics of the venue/meals, etc., what to expect, or to inquire about possible scholarships that would allow you to attend:
Dan Wotherspoon: dan@latterdayfaith.org
Natasha Helfer Parker: nhelferparker@gmail.com

We look forward to seeing you at this event! We know it will be something everyone will really enjoy as well as receiving great perspectives, renewed energies, and making new friends!

“A New Paradigm for Latter-day Saints”

When: Thursday, February 20, 2020, from 7–9pm Mountain Standard Time

Hosts: Dan Wotherspoon, Mark Crego, Susan Hinckley

(THIS EVENT ALREADY HAPPENED! IT WAS WONDERFUL)

Last September, we presented an episode (#022) titled, “A Paradigm Shift in Today’s Mormonism,” in which LDF host Dan Wotherspoon asserted that over the past few decades, as current top-down leadership and an organization that fails to acknowledge and welcome those on the margins is showing its cracks, we are seeing among more and more Latter-day Saints the emergence of a spiritual confidence and excitement to share a much larger vision of life and energetic engagement with Mormon texts, themes, practices, approaches, and sensibilities. It is taking hold in such a way that we feel it has become time to better articulate this emerging paradigm so it and its spiritual and practical benefits might move more into the forefront.

In this virtual fireside, we will host a Zoom call (no cost) geared toward describing the new paradigm more clearly and brainstorming ways we all might be part of its establishment as a genuine way to fully participate in the church that will be not only acceptable, but also attractive and compelling to many others within the LDS community.