Weeks ago we were informed that there will be a special stake conference coming up. There's been a lot of speculation since then about the special stake conference, and today we got some more information. Specifically, we learned that Holland is coming specifically for this special stake conference. When this was announced in church, the gasps of surprised excitement were so loud that they woke me up from my slumber.

Has anyone heard of a special stake conference lately or know what the purpose would be? This is in addition to our regular stake conference which will be held just two weeks after the special conference. At any rate, I won't be able to sleep this week as I eagerly await an inspired message next Sunday from such a loving and caring man (just in case it didn't come through, that last bit was sarcasm).

Shoot - I messed up on the title, and since I'm anonymous for this one, I can't edit it. The title should state 'special stake conference' not 'special fireside'.

That's quite all right. This is a very interesting post. More interesting, in fact, than the special stake conference will be.

maybe location & date would b helpful!
(why not, if it was announced as you indicate?)

The big event is next Sunday and involves several stakes in northwestern New Mexico

There was a special stake conference in our area in Colorado with Elder Oaks last week. Everyone was so excited, expecting something 'big' to be announced...and they ended up being very disappointed. Nothing new. No announcements. Nothing exciting happened. Weird.

That's probably what will happen here too. All we were told weeks ago was that there would be a special stake conference. In the absence of any more definite information, the speculation ran wild. Now there are huge expectations for the conference, and anything less than an announcement of the second coming will be disappointing. I don't understand why the church feels the need to be so secretive.

Can we all attend? Is it near us? Tell us where it is so some of us can come and make a fuss while he's speaking.

Missionary Work under the guise of "hastening the work".

Prediction: It won't be special.

absent anything 'special' (new)... wouldn't you think that the GAs would resent being Drawing Cards for ordinary meetings?

they could:


-show the Flaming Sword

-display the U&T

-carry the translation rock to conference

-disclose church finances

-talk about the importance of Christ-Like love, incl. Forgiveness; true Honesty, etc.


Nope, None of that.

All stake conferences are billed as "special" these days. That's the only way they can tray and draw people in. Attendance sucks and an increasing numbers of folks view stake conference as a holiday off from church. Praise Jesus.

Agreed. 3 years ago I made the decision to dodge a 'special SC' for the first time and instead took the family to France for a long weekend. About the time that the speakers would have been rabbiting on about Hastening the Work, I was lying in a swimming pool soaking up the sun.

As an experiment a few weeks thereafter I asked a TBM friend what conference was all about. He couldn't remember anything from it, whereas to this day my kids still talk about that impromptu fun weekend in northern France.

Nice!

I bet he is speaking about a long extinct specie of flightless bird. I hear he's an expert on that subject.

He was going to talk about church history, but then BK Packer said, "Jeff, why don't you talk about something you actually know about and can bear personal testimony and experience of for once"?

Jeff replied, "Great Idea Boyd, kind of like you do on masturbation".

another RfM Classic!

How about this. All the exmos in the area gather together, dress up in white shirts, suits, ties, dresses--typical TBM garb--show up early, and sit in the front few rows. 5 minutes into Holland's talk they get up and walk out.

No yelling anything, no dirty looks, just get up and walk out.

That would raise a lot of eyebrows, although I do think that one of the things about the LDS is thry recognize new faces and long gone faces.

Might notice something is up, don't know what they would do if it troubled them. It is private propery.

They're doing a big women's conference by satellite here in Europe. Main features are three guys (Ballard, Beatrice and some Area dude) who no doubt will be able to tell how great it is to be a woman.

If anything important was going to happen you can better bet they wouldn't mention it ahead of time. What they think makes it special is that one of these goons is going to be there. Like in all other cases, it will just be another Sunday. What is important is that people find a life and get it. If anyone does attend, I hope we will all learn just how not special it was.

The elite Q15 think that their mere presence "builds faith." They think they're so special. They know the sheeple have been brainwashed to believe they're so special. Ergo, any meeting from the stake center's revered Rameumpton with a Q15 must be sooooo special. And that's how it's sold in a ward announcement.

Would love to see the chapel full of Ex-mos holding signs on their chests for Holland to read: What about Tom Phillips?

FYI: http://www.mormonthink.com/files/phillips-holland.pdf

In actuality it is great news. The more they do it the more the membership will realise they are being dragged in to hear yet another pep talk mingled with some anecdotes but nothing of any substance.

Each time they do this members will slowly normalise it and realise that there isn't a lot of bang for the buck coming out of these things. The Apostles will lose that phoney je ne sais quoi, and become just more dull speakers.

I say hold one a week and throw.

As for a mass walk out, you'd be better popping into the chapel every week after a very large hot Mexican with extra peppers and helping them realise how much they hate those extra toilet cleaning duties.

I wonder if the focus and marketing consultants have advised these Apostle tour dates to be in TED or powerpoint formats.

Wouldn't it be great to hack into these guys slideshows and put in some more appropriate pics, like Colbert does with his "Word" segment?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/01/2014 02:00PM by deco.

If it was special, non members would be invited- and interested in attending; the world would be in awe; it would be announced in advanced what might be preached; the spirit would be there.

my parent's stake had L Tom Perry come this year. they had a q12 member come just cause it'd been years since they graced them this was 2 weeks after the normal sc.

...the no. of people leaving the Morg. At least, that would be my wager.

If it's in NM, he's probably stocking up on chili.

If it's in NM, he's probably stocking up on chili.

It's just to get you to go, so they can ask you for more money.

I know, cynical, huh?

I found an old flyer from stake conference in 1964.

Guess what.

It was billed in capital letters as a SPECIAL CONFERENCE. There was a big box of asterisks carefully typed around it.

They've kind of worn that word out.

Another Charlie Brown moment. They call for a *Special Stake Conference* and the mo's all get their garmies in a bunch thinking something, anything, might happen and they'll be there to witness it!!!

That will be all they need to justify getting dressed up and hauling themselves off to yet another meeting.

And then SURPRISE! Nothing new. Nothing different. Pray pay and obey and get your friends to come to church.

They'll trudge home and feel a bit sorry for themselves, but hey! At least they got to see Gawds Own Rockstar from Planet SLC!

Maybe there's someone in the area the 15 need to excommunicate, but they don't want their involvement to be obvious. They call a special stake conference as an excuse for Holland to be in town, then he slips out the back to make a secret deal with the "local leaders" about whom they need to ex and why.

Last time we had a "special" stake conference, we lost a potential convert.

She was there, and was slated to get baptized the next day. We had a little "meet and greet" set up for her after the conference...but she slipped out without anybody noticing, never to be heard from again.

Can't say I blamed her.

TBMs are foolish to believe that there will be anything really special about it. Think logically for a moment - if there was any earth shattering revelation, do they honestly think one stake will be told rather than the general membership at GC?

Heck, there's never really anything 'special' mentioned at GC so why they should expect a conference with just 700 or 800 members in attendance to be told anything noteworthy.....