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he's stuffed for.
Speaker 4: A little insider report.
Speaker 3: Uh, We're gonna discuss with a an insider for the
Church of Jews Christ Letter Saints, the impact that Elder
Clark Gilbert is gonna have in whose new calling there
for the Church of Jesus Christ Letter Saints as a
member of the Korm.
Speaker 4: Of the Twelve Apostles.
Speaker 3: And look, I'm gonna ask the question just because this
is a sports show, how this impacts, how it could
potentially impact BYU athletics. It's gonna be brought to you
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Odeon Men'swear, Odeon menswear dot com. All right, let's get
out to the hotline. Welcome in representing the Desert News.
We got Tad Walch on the line. Tad, how thatck
are you?
Speaker 5: I'm doing well? Ben Crittle, how are you?
Speaker 4: I'm doing fantastic, man.
Speaker 3: I appreciate you hopping on to discuss the latest calling
handed down from the Church of Jesus Christ. In latter sayings,
Elder Clark Gilbert, who has been overseeing the Church Educational
System over CS, has been called to the Korum of
the Twelve Apostles.
Speaker 4: So initial reaction to the news, Tad.
Speaker 5: Well, I was very surprised, just because he used to
be my boss. Uh, he used to be the president
and CEO at the Desert News and so I've sat
in leadership meetings with him weekly for a couple of years,
worked closely with him as an editor when I was
an editor at the paper, and and as a reporter.
And so it's it's someone who's I've known more than
any other possible before they were called. So that was
that really was striking.
Speaker 4: Yeah, so what.
Speaker 3: What what would you say? How would you describe Elder
Clark Gilbert. You've had many interactions with him over the year,
over the years, and uh, you know sometimes you know,
it's always intriguing, right, like the proximity that we have
to uh, these men that are called of God and
through divine authority. You know, there's a there's a human nature,
there's a spiritual nature to all of it.
Speaker 4: You have close proximity with it. Give me your reaction to.
Speaker 5: This, Oh, he is one of the most energetic people
you've ever met, one of the hardest working. He will
work from early in the morning throughout the day, and
then he takes time off to be with his family
in the evening, and then you'll start getting texts from
him between ten and midnight and he's back to work,
you know, just grinding. He's also just wildly smart. This
is someone who could you know, he's given up millions
and millions of dollars in his lifetime, left millions on
the table that he could have earned in the business world.
I think he did well in business when he was
also working as a Harvard business professor. But I've had
conversations with him where he's talked about money left on
the table when he left Harvard to go to Byu,
Idaho and then left money on the table to come
and be at the Desert News. And that's just been
who he is. He is incredibly faithful and willing to
bend his will to that of what he sees in
the Lord's wills.
Speaker 3: As he's overseen the church educational system. And from your purview,
from your perch, what have you seen that he's done.
I mean, he's been overseeing Brigham Young University and the
other institutions that fall under his jurisdiction under his calling. Essentially,
how would you describe his tenure as he is navigating
and administered over cees.
Speaker 5: That's a great question. I think, first of all, it
stands out for me as someone who has covered to
various universities to varying degrees in the Church educational system.
I'm struck by the equally energetic men that he has
been involved with who have been appointed to be presidents
of those schools. Shane Reese at b YU, Elder Alvin
Tripp Meredith at b YUI HO and Brian Ashtett at
b y Pathway Worldwide have all been named. While he
was the Church Commissioner of Education. There's been a lot
written and made of the uh the standards that he
has set for faculty and staff at b y U,
at the at the different institutions, about you know, adhering
to core principles of the Church and Church doctrine, requiring
temple recommends for those hired to be on the faculty,
and that has some people have expressed angst about that.
But I also get a ton of I got a
ton yesterday of responses from people at b y U
and elsewhere who said, this is my favorite guy. Uh,
this is this is wonderful. I like what he's doing,
and you know, I think his I also think it's
interesting to me to see some people saying who aren't
don't like those things putting it on him, and to me,
that's that's laughable. The reality is the Church Commissioner of
Education is not operating outside of, or apart from, or
separate from the Church Board of Education, which is led
by the profit and President of the Church and apostles
and other officers of the church. So those are things
that the church has felt, the church leadership in general
has felt are important and necessary. And there's also legal
reasons and other accreditation reasons why you do that If
if you drift from core principles, that can that that
can lead to a lot of change that that some
people will will question what is your mission as university,
both legally, UH accreditation wise, as well as just within
the church.
Speaker 4: Yeah, I mean I started to read up on a little.
Speaker 3: I wasn't aware that, you know, he had been somewhat
of a controversial figure for him him taking what would
seem as a hard line stance in a traditional sense,
aligning with what I would deem is the moral, ethical
principles and ordinances of the Gospel, and that you should
you should be bought into those, especially if you're teaching
at Brigham Young University. But apparently that's you know, you know,
it was controversial. I don't know if you can go
into it any further, but I didn't know that he
was two degree, and it sounds like he's got a
tremendous amount of support. I've always felt like he was
very supported, right, but it's to a degree there are
people that said, hey, we don't like that he takes
such a hard line stance on these on these issues.
Speaker 5: You know, then I look at this like I look
at let's say, the chancellor of the California System of
Higher Education, who's over twenty schools. Do you think you
could find some professors at some of those schools who
have a problem with the chancellor? Of course you do. Yes,
you're going to find that every where. I have the
same experience as you. I do not find people clamoring,
and you know, large groups of people. I think this
is controversial with a smaller group of people, and the
rest are uh, you know, understand that he's in alignment
with church leaderships, and this is what President Russell M.
Nelson wanted and what President Dalen H. Oakes wanted and
and he's been part of that that chain now same thing.
I mean, you can go back through church commissioners of
education too. I mean Elder President Jeffrey R. Holland when
he was Church Commissioner of Education had a few critics.
Elder Paul Johnson when he was Church Commissioner of Education
just before, just just recently, had some some critics. But
these were men who church leadership helped and high esteem.
Most of the church, as we know, especially with President Holland,
loved President Holland. And so I think this is I
don't know, I think to call it controversial is a
little blown out of proportion, no.
Speaker 4: Doubt about it.
Speaker 3: Tad waltch here on ESP and the Fan discussing Elder
Clark G.
Speaker 4: Gilbert being called to the corner of the twelve Apostles.
Speaker 3: You know, the question that because I'm a sports guy,
right and I do not worship sports, it is not
my idol. It's just something that I'm passionate about as
a side hustle Okay, So I got to clear that
up for all of the Kingdom builders out there that
like to poke fund at me. But look, I want
to know how this may impact Boa athletics stat in
your opinion, give me your thoughts on this.
Speaker 5: Oh, one hundred percent. If you're a BAU fan, you
should be doing triple backslits right now, you should be
joining the joining the dunk team. That let's go at halftime.
This guy, if you think you're a big BAU fan,
if you think you might be the biggest BOAU fan,
You're gonna have to go through Elder Clark Gilbert first.
Because this guy is dyed in the wool, Cosmo Blue
Cougar fan. He loves bou sports and he wants it
to succeed. He wants to succeed at the highest level.
He wants to do it while adhering to the again
the core principles of the church, and to have it
be as you and I have talked about in the past,
a welcoming front porch for the world to see what
Ba's about and what the mission of the church is about.
So he is one thousand percent bought in on all
of that. And so if I'm a BYU fan. I'm like,
get me a seat next to this guy because we're
going somewhere.
Speaker 4: Yeah, as do I I'm excited for it now.
Speaker 3: You know, there's been some controversial things that have happened
over the last year or so in association with BA
student athletes, student athletes falling short of the standard, legal
issues for those that do not believe that BA athletics
should or is a ambassadoratorial ambassadorial tool for good or
the front porch it shouldn't be the front porch of
the university. When you see these things happen, you know,
you know, I often wonder, I'm like, what is the
internal collaboration and correlation in response from these individuals that
are in in the corem that do believe in maybe
BA athletics and when they see this fall short, is
there are they a little bit more reticent to maybe
you know, be as supportive in BA athletics when these
things do happen.
Speaker 5: I don't think reticence starts. I think correction starts. I
think the the idea is to say, let's make sure
we're doing what needs to be done so that this
is corrected, so that this isn't an ongoing issue so
that everyone's clear about the standards. But it seems to me,
I mean, if you've been following BYU football and basketball
over the last couple of years, you've also seen the
university and by extension because the and do things without
the approval of the Board of Education, the Board of
Education double down on BOA sports. I mean, this is
an era of growth and expansion and the football program.
We've seen the new contract with Klonie Satake, We've seen
the support for moving into the nil era for football
and basketball, and all of that is going on under
the approval of church leadership. So this is to me
a time when we see the church leadership is does
believe it has an ambassadorial role? Do they do believe
that this is a positive, But they are of course
going to be terribly concerned about these instances and wanting
to see that cleaned up.
Speaker 3: We got Tad well Cheer talking obviously BUA athletics, but
also Elder Clark Gilbert his call to the corner of
the Twelve Apostles, and you know it's I think you
wrote a piece on Elder Clark Gilbert. Correct, it's in
the Deseret News currently. I believe I'm just pointed out here.
Speaker 5: Yes, Yes, I did a story yesterday after the calling,
and then today I interviewed him for twenty minutes and
I have a new story up about that interview and
his things that he talked about that have shaped him
and his background with knowing apostles now that he has
become one.
Speaker 3: Yeah, So give me a little bit more detail on
the piece when we invite him one to read it
at the des Rednewsdesret dot com. It's entitled in new Interview,
new Apostle Elder Clark G. Gilbert shares details of his
call and what has shaped him.
Speaker 5: So the first question that I asked him was who
I've known that Clark has been mentored by apostles, Elder Gilbert,
So I asked him, what was the first apostle you met?
And it was President Spencer W. Kimball, who then was
president of the church when Elder Gilbert was ten years old,
and he tells a great story about how President Kimball
came to Arizona where Elder Gilbert living as a ten
year old boy, and he was so excited to meet
the church president for the first time that after he
shook his hand, he ran to the back of the
line and got back in it and went back to
shake his hand again and did that's four or five times,
he told me. And then we go into and talk
about these these mentors that he's had. President Jeffrey R.
Holland sealed him and his wife when they were married.
President Henry b Iring has been a close confidant and
mentor for him at both his you know, business professors
in their pasts, and so it talks about that and
about how he was shaped by decisions when he that
he started to make to go into church employment and
service more than following the possible business opportunities he had.
And so I think there's some interesting things there that
people will find intriguing and worthwhile to know about. The
new Apostle.
Speaker 3: Always intrigued about leadership and division that these uh, these
these chosen elect men have for the church, for its
members uh and and also for the the institutions that
they they help administer to and govern down.
Speaker 4: Ah chokes the prophet.
Speaker 3: He he was at b YU this past week and
gave a devotional. Uh, your your thoughts, your takeaways from
the devotional. I don't know if you were able to
do to listen to it, to read some of the quotes,
et cetera. But give me some of your takeaways. I'm
always intrigued as to what the prophets uh are saying
about or saying to the the students that next generation
of of Latter Day Saints that are gonna be in
the professional world, leading the stakes, the wards uh these uh,
these these geographies around the country leaving the Saints.
Speaker 5: Yeah, this is why they called BUYU the flagship institution
of the church, because that's what they see in those
students as they want them to go out and be
leaders around the world, in in the church and outside
the church. President of Oaks I got to cover that
devotional as well and wrote a story about that. He
went down and he said, look, I understand people have
many of you may have questions. I mean, first of all,
we've got to say Ben, there were people lining up.
The earliest I heard was four am. By six thirty,
there was a good line. By nine thirty. It went
from the Marriage Center up past the BYU Broadcasting building,
across the Harmon the front of the Harmon building, over
to that light by the Missionary Training Center, and eighteen
thousand plus were in there was packed, every seat taken
and President Oaks said, look, you need to surround yourself
with people who believe and that will help you find
happiness and help you find the things, the guidance and
direction you need. Gave four ways to draw closer to
Jesus Christ. But the quote that stood out to me
that I liked the most, that that struck me the
most was what he was talking about. One of those
ways to draw closer to Christ with humility, and he said,
look to the needs of others and humility follows. And
that's a quote I might just put up on my wall.
That's a good one.
Speaker 3: Always looking for an inspirational quote on my phone, on
my wall around my house, no doubt about it. Tad
Walsh des Red News discussing a number of topics today
and appreciate you hopping on, Tad, always appreciate our conversations
as let me shift back to you know, one of
the conversations that I was having with my producer.
Speaker 4: I have seen more.
Speaker 3: I mean, I maybe it's it's recency bias, maybe because
I'm I'm paying attention to it more. Has there been
an uptick in general authorities attending BYU athletic events from
your perch, from your purview, I feel like, you know,
Elder Gong handing out ice cream, Elder Rasban at BAU
basketball then football games. Uh, we've seen you know the
these uh, these these men that have been called to
do very spiritual things also come down and and mingle
with the people, if you will, and get out there
and enjoy a night of competition at b YU athletics.
Speaker 5: That is a great question. I don't know for sure,
so I don't want to make a bold statement, but
it does seem that way a little bit to me.
Speaker 4: Now.
Speaker 5: I know the president of the b YU usually always
has a general authority and and quite often apostle sitting
with him at a basketball game or a football game.
But I do think you know, when you've got Elder
Gong passing out ice cream as you mentioned, and Elder
Matthew Holland was sitting courtside earlier this season at a
basketball game with his wife and daughter, had some fun
talking with his wife Page about that they're just they
they're they're interested their their fans. They won't be a
you to do well. And yeah, I don't think that
you're wrong.
Speaker 4: You know, many people.
Speaker 3: They they expect a lot from the ambassadors. You know,
Bronko Manhaal used to call them the flag bears of
the university, right, And we we had a model, we
had a uh you know things that we would we
would actually recite, you know, where the flag bears of
the university. It was a mantra, uh if you will.
And we had to try to live up to that standard.
And so you know, these student athletes they fall short. Uh,
and then we fall short time and time again, and
and uh it's just that maybe the nature of men
and maybe it's the nature of the of us student athletes.
Speaker 4: Uh. But one of the things that.
Speaker 3: Stands out to me is like, you know, the these
converts that have come through by U, whether it's Tom
Homo Robbie Bosco both called to serve as mission presidents.
They were both Conference TI Debtmer Heisman Trophy winner. I
played with a number of individuals that ended up converting
to the faith, Curtis Brown and others.
Speaker 4: Uh. That that that the you know, the.
Speaker 3: Interactions at b Y you made a very positive uh
you know, just a positive impact in their lives.
Speaker 4: We we tend as human.
Speaker 3: Beings, I want to say, and I don't have all
the scientific data behind it, but we tend as human
beings to to lean into the negative and the negative
fruits rather than really focusing on all the positive fruits of.
Speaker 4: Of anything in life.
Speaker 3: And I wonder if some of that is lost sometimes
when the bad things happen and they they're they're pushed
forth into the limelight.
Speaker 5: Well, what a great point. I think also, b Yu
and the church and other faiths, people of other faiths,
and people who do other good works run into this too.
You have the biblical injunction to do your your good
works and quiet. And while we do see a lot
of information coming out about the church humanitarian efforts, about
things that the way football does to reach out to
the community, to underserved you know, people who need help,
to kids, we don't see all of it by any stretch.
I mean, there is that. What we usually see is
some small percentage I would say, well under ten percent
of everything that's going on to help people and do
things for others, and that's just not reported. And some
of that's because there's an injunction not to do so,
not to do your alms before men. But but and
so you end up in this situation where that that
big negative story overwhelms maybe some of the good. I mean,
we I did the story about ice cream diplomacy, you know,
like you talked about with Elder Gong, what Bay football
has done around the country at games as well as
at Lavelle Edwards, and you know that that's just overwhelming good.
And then when some one or two athletes and a
six hundred plus the department of six hundred plus athletes
does something bad, sometimes we negate all of it, and
that's unfortunate and it is human nature. But you know,
I look at it as someone. I was talking with
someone about it this morning and I said, you know,
he said, I hate when this happens, and I said, no,
I understand why. It feels like the way he's just
taking off and everything's going well, and maybe this is
exactly the way you hope the trajectory of football and
basketball should go. And then guess what opposition shows up?
And again we talk about scriptural injunctions. There is opposition
in all things, and it will never be perfect. And
to expect any one person or program or institution to
be perfect is unfair and leads to even a loss
of grace for your self and your own imperfections. So
you know, I hope we can all be understanding and
I hope that everyone in these issues that we're that
we're reading about today finds ways forward to be to
recover and be healthy and and get the help that
they need and lead good productive lives.
Speaker 3: One of the thoughts that I had seeing all these
you know, general authorities, and look, there's so many great professors,
some many great teachers, so many great administrators and coaches
and personnel down there within the athletic tournament in the
institution itself, So there are many ministering individuals that booy
up the students and obviously the student athletes as well.
But you know, when you're an ambassador of a flag bearer,
as you are a student athlete, I think it's an
imperative for those that are in these prominent positions of
the faith to go minister today is often is they
have bandwidth to do such because I.
Speaker 4: Think it makes a really I think it makes.
Speaker 3: A critical and impactful or a very poignant impact in
the lives of these young men and young ladies that
interact with them.
Speaker 4: I've seen it firsthand.
Speaker 3: Uh, you know, the more they can minister to the
ambassadors and the flag bears.
Speaker 4: I think the better for the institution.
Speaker 5: Yeah, yeah, I absolutely agree. And and you know, our
best story, well I don't know it's the best, but
one of the great stories we have of the impact
of a by U player on a young boy is
Elder Weis Sikahema's impact on Kloni Satake when he was
a boy suffering from the separation of his parents' divorce
and the the you know, moving away from his mother
and being in a strange place, moving to Provo, Utah
and then this heroic national Chaampian football player and it
comes to a school and Vi Sikahema and you know,
now he is one of those leaders of the church
and an elder, a general of forty seventy in the
church and does some of that ministering to these athletes,
and I think and coaches, and I think that's really
uh yeah, it's it's important. It helps because they're in
tough spots and people not only do people put them
on pedestals, but they some people try to knock them off,
and that can be destabilizing and difficult too when you're
trying your best, and you know, on social media, you're
being attacked, and those are those are the ones who
aren't doing bad things, but are still face still face
difficult you know, interactions at times, and so I think
you make a great point.
Speaker 3: Tad Waltz, Ladies and gentlemen, I always appreciate your time.
We invite everyone to follow you on x and also
read all of your your fantastic interviews and content at
the Desert rednewsdesrat dot com. Thanks so much, Dad, Thanks
for spending some time with us today.
Speaker 5: You bet, Ben, it was a pleasure, always.
Speaker 4: A pleasure talking with you. Tad.
Speaker 3: Appreciate you stop stopping by and talking with me about
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