by paulah | Apr 16, 2013 | About Mormons
Brigham Young University’s Men’s Chorus, which is considered the largest collegiate men’s choir in the U.S., is accustomed to recording and performing. In fact, they were part of the BYU Men’s Choir that provided the music for the Saturday afternoon session of the April 2013 General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (often mistakenly called the Mormon Church).
The Men’s Chorus also “create music videos” and “perform acts of service” and perform throughout the U.S. Now they have created an album as a “gift to all who share in the love of missionary work.” Over 60 percent of the 180 singers have served full-time missions for the Church of Jesus Christ and a large number of the other 40 percent are currently waiting to receive their mission assignments.
“‘If any group in the whole world should make a missionary CD, it’s the BYU Men’s Chorus,’” said Rosalind Hall, who has been the director of the chorus for twelve years. “‘You feel that tremendous power coming from them when they sing and the enormous collective goodness that they emanate. There’s nothing in the world that could be a stronger power for good than that.’”
The album, which is a collection of beloved missionary hymns such as “Called to Serve,” “Onward Christian Soldiers,” and “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing,” was created for current and prospective missionaries, but those behind the album hope that the collection will be enjoyed by anyone who would like to download the music. It is available at setapartalbum.com. (more…)
by Terrie Lynn Bittner | Mar 26, 2013 | About Mormons
The media is often fascinated by young Mormon athletes. Not only are many of them recognized for living healthier lifestyles and engaging in fewer risky behaviors, but many also leave their college teams for two years to serve as volunteer missionaries for their church.
Two such Mormon athletes were recently written about in the media. Tyler Haws was recently featured on ESPN.com. Although his accomplishments had been overshadowed by teammate Jimmer Fredette at BYU, he was racking up remarkable stats for a freshman. A shooting guard, he started in 33 of 35 games and he made 91.7 percent of his free throws. Despite his success, he applied for an unpaid missionary service opportunity and was sent to the Philippines. Missionaries agree to go anywhere they are sent. To his surprise, he learned that people there love basketball. Nearly every day, someone would ask to him to shoot a basket for them. Of course, he wasn’t there to play basketball, so other than these random shots, he played only casual pick-up games on his one day off each week.
Many people feel serving a mission will harm an athlete’s future in sports. Haws demonstrated there is no truth to this. He returned home and again began to play for Brigham Young University, the Mormon-owned university in Provo, Utah. He demonstrated his break hadn’t hurt a thing—he scored more than twenty points in six consecutive games. He is BYU’s second sophomore to ever break 1000 career points and is on track to break the school’s record for most points ever by graduation. (more…)
by byustudent | Mar 25, 2013 | About Mormons
BYU (Brigham Young University) is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often mistakenly called the “Mormon Church.” BYU students take nearly a semester of spiritually uplifting, stimulating religion classes.
In this series (see below), students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the Book of Mormon in the form of letters to someone they know. We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures.
In publishing these, we fulfill their desire to speak to all of us of the relevance, power and beauty of the Book of Mormon, a second witness of Jesus Christ and complement to the Bible. The Book of Mormon includes the religious history of a group of Israelites who settled in ancient America. (The names they use are those of prophets who taught the Book of Mormon peoples to look forward to the coming of Christ—Nephi, Lehi, Alma, Helaman, and other unfamiliar names. We hope those names will become more familiar to you as you read their inspiring words and feel the relevance and divinity of their messages through these letters.) (more…)
by byustudent | Feb 13, 2013 | About Mormons
BYU (Brigham Young University) is operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often mistakenly called the “Mormon Church.” BYU students take nearly a semester of spiritually uplifting, stimulating religion classes.
In this series (see below), students enrolled in scripture study classes have shared their thoughts, insights, and reflections on the Book of Mormon in the form of letters to someone they know. We invite you to take a look at their epiphanies and discoveries as they delve into the scriptures.
In publishing these, we fulfill their desire to speak to all of us of the relevance, power and beauty of the Book of Mormon, a second witness of Jesus Christ and complement to the Bible. The Book of Mormon includes the religious history of a group of Israelites who settled in ancient America. (The names they use are those of prophets who taught the Book of Mormon peoples to look forward to the coming of Christ—Nephi, Lehi, Alma, Helaman, and other unfamiliar names. We hope those names will become more familiar to you as you read their inspiring words and feel the relevance and divinity of their messages through these letters.) (more…)
by Lisa M. | Jan 11, 2013 | About Mormons
Young men and women of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are still responding in unprecedented numbers to the call to serve missions after the Church’s October 6, 2012, announcement lowering the age of eligibility to 18 for men and 19 for women — and bringing the number of Sister missionary applications since October to equal that of the Elders, according to an LDS Newsroom article.
“I’ve never seen anything affect a generation of young people like what President Monson announced the Saturday morning of General Conference,” says Elder David F. Evans, executive director of the Church’s Missionary Department and member of the Seventy. “What we’re seeing is just an absolute overwhelming response from this generation to the invitation of the Lord and His Prophet to rise up and go and serve your fellow man and preach the gospel.”
Following the announcement there was a surge in the number of missionary applications from 700 per week to 4,000, according to the article. More than half of these applicants were women, whereas before the announcement only 15% of Mormon missionaries were women. The number of applicants is still double what it was before the announcement, and the total number of men and women who have applied for missionary service since October is now equal, according to the article. (more…)
