Wayne Burton and Tyler Castleton – Meridian Magazine

To sign up for Meridian’s Free Newsletter, please CLICK HERE. Our world is in a state of confusion, difficulty and moral digression. The current climate we live in often creates a challenging and unsettling environment in which each of us and our families must live, grow, prosper and endure. As time goes on, we seem to face more and more difficult and disheartening developments and challenges – as individuals, as families, as a Church and as a society. Many members of the Church consistently weather the storms with unfailing faith and an unwavering determination to hold to what’s right, and to live according to the revealed truths of the restored gospel. However, as the challenges mount and the moral climate continues to erode, more and more once-faithful followers fall away from the gospel and distance themselves from the Church. And those moving away from the gospel aren’t just the less-active, the family in our neighborhood we don’t really know that well anyway, or the estranged member who hasn’t attended in years. Those who are wandering include our dearest friends, our brothers, our sisters, our parents, our sons and our daughters. Occasionally even those we once considered stalwart and unshakable encounter difficulties,...

To sign up for Meridian’s Free Newsletter, please CLICK HERE. While personal moments with the spirit don’t change with the years, our church life out in the public certainly has transformed with the times. Who would have imagined the multitude of venues where we can interact with those near and far, share our faith and circulate our thoughts and questions. The Church seems to have chosen an “if you can’t beat them, join them” approach to social media and the internet. Despite the dangers present online, leaders have encouraged us to get visible and vocal on the internet and put ourselves out there to the world as members of the church. Amid all the expressions of faith and confidence showered on the online world, I’ve observed an ever increasing public offering from individuals airing their discontent and feelings of being disenfranchised with the religion of their childhood. It is likely less a sign that people are slipping away in record numbers, but more that publicized concerns and doubts are finding an easy and visible forum. The trend has concerned me. Some are finding it hard to fit in at Church, feeling judged, feeling alone in the crowd. I’m sure I’m a...

To sign up for Meridian’s Free Newsletter, please CLICK HERE. It’s amazing how dramatically technology has changed in recent years and how profoundly it has changed our life experiences in general and in the church. The constant flow of information, opinions and distractions are ubiquitous. Other than temples and a few other choice locations there is almost no place to really find a little space from hand-helds, laptops and Siri. A recent poll found that 92% of teens are on the internet daily and 24% report that they are “almost constantly” online.1 Nearly three quarter of teens have access to a smart phone, and with it now being the phone, the scheduler, the library, the navigation system, and the social gathering place, who needs more than a device like that? Adults sometimes pride themselves on being not as consumed with devices as their kids are, but likely the facts don’t bear out. The honest mom and dad will recognize a lot more time on their devices than they would like to admit. British Daily Mail reported last year that adults were spending an average of 20 minutes more online per day than they spent sleeping.2 You could call it an epidemic....

To sign up for Meridian’s Free Newsletter, please CLICK HERE. It’s amazing how dramatically technology has changed in recent years and how profoundly it has changed our life experiences in general