What do Daily Mormon Emails, U2, and D&C 4 have in common? This episode of LDS MissionCast

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Shawn Rapier and Daren Smith

This weeks episode is a joint effort with our friend Shawn Rapier from the Latter-day Lives podcast. We both interview Daren Smith, a tv and film producer, a fellow sound guy (like me) and the creator of a unique way missionaries can approach their personal study of the Book Of Mormon (can you say Daily Mormon Email?). In our interview you will learn about Daren’s missionary service, as well as some of the spirit of missionary work that was part of his producing efforts on the BYUTv show – Relative Race. We also talk about his mission experiences in Washington DC, and so much more.

I want to also encourage you to go to Latterdaylives.com and listen to Shawn’s interview with Daren. Each and every Monday Shawn starts your week off with great uplifting life sketches of these wonderful people who do amazing things and who happen to be members of the church. It’s like Meet the Mormons in podcast form. Daren tells some different experiences from his life that can also help to serve and inspire you.

Click here to sign up for Daren Smith’s Daily Mormon email list.

In our Latter-day Lives segment this episode, Shawn Rapier talks with Q. Bryce Randle who is an editor and TV producer, who works with with Disney Animatioon, and worked on other shows like Yo Gabba Gabba, The Pirates of the Caribbean movies, and so much more. Bryce Randle’s full interview with the Latter Day Lives Podcast is also pretty amazing.

Shawn Rapier and Q. Bryce Randle

One of the overarching themes of this podcast, I hope, is that there are so many ways that we can do and support missionary work all around us, no matter where we are at. A few years back now, President Monson lowered the age that missionaries can go into the field, and I believe it was the following general conference, President Monson invited the members to donate to the missionary program of the church to support a huge surge in missionaries going out into the field. Like some of you, I felt the desire to heed the prophets call to action, but I am not a wealthy man. I am grateful to provide what I do for my family, but that leaves me with almost nothing left each month. So in order to do what I could to sustain the prophet I had the idea to write a book, and to get others to help write a book that we would sell and then use the proceeds to donate to the missionary program of the church. So we did. It took a couple years to come out, but it is out and I wanted to bring it to everyone’s attention as all the proceeds go to the missionary program of the church. The book is called D&C 4: A Lifetime of Study in Discipleship. This book features short essays from a number of scholars, historians, my bishop at the time even has an essay in there, as well as others who have some great insights into Section 4 of the D&C. While it is just 7 short verses, President Joseph Fielding Smith said that Section 4, “contains sufficient counsel and instruction for a lifetime of study…It is as broad, as high and as deep as eternity.” With that in mind each essay tackles a different approach to those 7 verses. D&C4 and the relief society, D&C 4 and the Family, there is even an essay on applying the lessons in D&C 4 to addiction recovery. There is over 200 pages on these 4 verses of scripture including the most in-depth history on the section ever written by Russell Stevenson, a previous guest on the podcast. For more information, or to buy a copy, visit 4behold.org. It makes for a great gift for a missionary preparing to serve, on a mission, or someone who has come home. There is so much more to this section that we may initially realize and I hope you decide to check it out and support the missionary program in the mean time.

Thank you to Shawn for his regular contributions to this podcast, and I do hope you go check out the interview he does with Daren as well as all his other wonderful interviews at LatterdayLives.com. Make sure to follow Latter-day Lives on Facebook and Instagram because Shawn is doing a giveaway of Daren’s book, the collection of all his Daily Book of Mormon emails in one volume. Its free, go like those pages. Links to those will be with the show notes for this episode. So, stay tuned, and thank you so much for listening to this episode of LDS MissionCast.

Links, Links, and more Links from this episode:

Daren Smith’s DailyMormon.email site (sign up, its free!)

Daren Smith’s interview on Latter-day Lives with Shawn Rapier

Q. Bryce Randle’s interview on Latter-day Lives with Shawn Rapier