In our media-filled society, what can we do to help the Lord hasten his work?
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Whether you’re a social media master or someone who hasn’t quite figured out what a tweet is, you can find help in Elder David A. Bednar’s 2014 Education Week address, “To Sweep the Earth as with a Flood.” Elder Bednar demonstrates how social media can enhance our efforts to spread the gospel.
Right time, right place
Elder Bednar emphasizes that our generation’s familiarity with technology connects us to all nations. In the words of President M. Russell Ballard, “The doors to the world are literally opened wide” (“When Shall These Things Be?”). But how do we begin stepping through these wide-open doors?
A plethora of paths
Church members have participated in a variety of gospel-focused media campaigns over the last few years. Such well-known initiatives include #lighttheworld, which highlights service ideas to complete each day in December up through Christmas Day, and Meet the Mormons, a movie portraying the everyday lives of six LDS families around the world. Additionally, LDS Living has an Instagram account called Book of Mormon 365, where individuals can participate in daily discussions about Book of Mormon verses.
What’s next
We have all these tools, but how do we use them to effectively share the gospel? According to Elder Bednar, another easy way is through using the #LDSconf hashtag. Thousands of members have taken advantage of this simple way to share their testimonies of latter-day revelation, share favorite quotes from general conference talks, and connect others with the Church.
Elder Bednar also suggests that we ensure our posts are authentic—avoiding the tendency to exaggerate or embellish—and that we seek to build others through the words and images we share. Many individuals have been blessed by social media outreach in recent years, and Elder Bednar invites us to extend ourselves further by using social media to flood the world with good.
For more ideas on how to hasten the Lord’s work, watch or read Elder David A. Bednar’s address: “To Sweep the Earth as with a Flood.”
Source: LDS.org
—Mariah Kerr, Mormon Insights contributor
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Find more insights
To learn what President Spencer W. Kimball says about the spread of the gospel in latter days, check out “When the World Will Be Converted.”
Watch or read Elder L. Tom Perry’s message “Missionary Work in the Digital Age” for additional ideas on how to share the gospel with others.
Read the blog post Elder Bednar mentions in his talk to see if your Pinterest page would pass the “Bonnie Oscarson test.”