Rush Creek Ward

Ward Mission Plan

"When we speak of gathering Israel on both sides of the veil, we are referring, of course, to missionary, temple, and family history work. We are also referring to building faith and testimony in the hearts of those with whom we live, work, and serve." — President Nelson

Ward Mission Leadership

• Clay Scott, Elder's Quorum 1st Counselor
• Marlena Johnston, Relief Society 2nd Counselor
• Bill Tervort, Ward Mission Leader

Ward Missionaries

Donna Blanch, Lucile Smith, John Slayton, Alma Rodick (coordination and communication)

Key Initiatives

• Sunday School for New Friends: We hold a Sunday School class for new friends and recently returned members as an alternative to the usual class. This helps them not feel overwhelmed while still being nourished by the word of God.
• Weekly Coordination Meeting: Every Sunday at 3 p.m. on Zoom (~20 minutes). Helps ward missionaries, leadership, and full-time missionaries stay on the same page.

Monthly Goals

We will see how these go and re-evaluate our plan for the second quarter of the year.

View full Ward Mission Plan →

Temple & Family History Plan

Temple & Family History Leadership

• Matthew Tate, Elder's Quorum 2nd Counselor
• Michelle Johnston, Relief Society 1st Counselor
• Joshua Lawyer, Temple and Family History Leader

Temple & Family History Specialists

Millie Bonfield, Suzie Jordan, Giselle Korcz, Ross Schriever, Sue Schriever, Katherine Solomon

2026 Goals

• ∞ Have every ward member know how to access their LDS Account and how to access FamilySearch.
• ∞ Have every member, age 10 and older, find and submit at least one name for temple ordinances.

∞ = rolled over from 2025

Key Initiatives

• TFH Consultants invite at least two families each month to meet in their home
• Monthly Ward Temple Night concluding with a dessert potluck at a member's home (starting end of June at Brother Tate's house)
• Ensure all Primary children visit the temple grounds
• "The Restoration Race" challenge in April

Integration with Youth Interviews

All auxiliary presidencies, the Young Women's older class presidency, and the Priests Quorum have Temple & Family History Committee members in their leadership. This has helped us make great strides in:

• Ensuring all members have Church Online accounts and FamilySearch accounts
• Helping youth and new members prepare names for temple visits

View full Temple & Family History Plan →

Ministering Efforts

Ministering Structure Changes

We've made a conscious effort to move away from couples as ministering companions so we can have more interaction between:

• Relief Society members and Young Women
• Elder's Quorum members and Young Men

We still have a few couples who minister together for exceptional circumstances or members whose particular needs are best met by a couple, but these are exceptions.

Elder's Quorum Initiative

Sacrament Meetings

We generally follow Come, Follow Me as our topics for sacrament meeting. This supports the Church's emphasis on a home-centered, church-supported gospel learning environment.

Meeting Structure

• Fast & Testimony Meeting: Conducting bishopric member bears a Christ-centered testimony and emphasizes that testimonies should be brief and centered on the Savior
• Other Sundays: One short testimony, one youth talk, one musical number, one adult talk
• In the past, quarterly invitation letters were sent to speakers with instructions on relating remarks to the Atonement (currently in transition)

Focus on the Sacrament Ordinance

• Regular training for Aaronic Priesthood holders on administration of the sacrament
• After sacrament is passed, conducting bishopric member asks if anyone was missed — if so, we fix it immediately

Home-Centered, Church-Supported Gospel Learning

We follow the Church's curriculum of Come, Follow Me as the basis for our sacrament meeting topics and second hour classes.

In interviews, the bishopric emphasizes the importance of Come, Follow Me for individual gospel study, as well as family gospel learning.

Children & Youth Program

Annual Emblems of Belonging Meeting

Next week, we will hold our annual meeting with all youth and parents. At this meeting we cover:

• For the Strength of Youth program
• Children and Youth program
• Young Men's and Young Women's Theme
• Mutual Theme for the year

New Initiative: Youth Goals Community

In the past, there's typically an initial push after our January/February meeting where people are excited about setting goals. But many goals are personal, and youth don't feel comfortable sharing them or using them for quorum/class activities.

Organization Highlights

• Primary: Excellent job building activities using the Children and Youth program. Primary Activities help children set and work towards goals.
• Young Women: Excellent job helping girls set goals. Many mutual activities are based on young women's goals.
• Young Men: Committed to using youth goals as part of planning processes.

Key Indicators

Quarterly trends from 2023-Q1 through 2025-Q4 (12 quarters). Select indicators below to visualize trends.

Summary: Start vs. End

Note: All indicators are either stable or showing improvement over the 3-year period.