970: Jeremy Young - From Entrepreneurial Bishopric Member to Wine Geek Pt. 3
Mormon Stories Podcast
Dr. John Dehlin
4.5 • 5.7K Ratings
🗓️ 20 August 2018
⏱️ 83 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Longtime friend of John and Margi Dehlin, Jeremy Young joins us discuss his pioneer ancestry, faith journey, ventures as an entrepreneur, and wine!Near the conclusion of the interview, we hear about an exciting scripted TV series on Joseph Smith and the founding of the Mormon church that Jeremy is undertaking with John C. Hamer and other brilliant collaborators.
Part One: Growing up deeply rooted in Mormon culture in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, Jeremy felt the pressure to be perfect but realized early in his teen years that he didn't quite fit the mold. From mimicking the edgy "Zestfully Clean" TV commercialin front of his entire high school - to performing magic tricks as an icebreaker for investigators on his mission - Jeremy had a playful approach to life.
Jeremy attributes much of his success in life to the values instilled in him by his Mormon upbringing. Jeremy served a French-speaking LDS mission in Québec, Canada, which he reflects fondly upon. Attending the temple was never a source of feeling the spirit for Jeremy like playing church music on the piano or attending church was.
Part Two: From climbing the ranks within telemarketing to building Rush Limbaugh's early online store, Jeremy realized great success as a business person. He became a multi-millionaire by the age of 28 with over one hundred employees and multiple ventures under his belt.
After about 6 years of dealing with infertility, Jeremy and his wife Molly adopted their first child through LDS Social Services. Jeremy emotionally recounts the challenging and beautiful experience of growing his family and interacting with the birth mother of his adopted child. "It was a magical experience." In total, the couple now has three children.
German board games became a passion for Jeremy, inspiring him to start a board game company. There, he created the game Settlers of Zarahemla. Jeremy came close to owning the rights to the game Ticket to Ride.
Part Three: After serving in multiple church callings related to music, Jeremy became the Elders' Quorum President as a young father and husband. Jeremy found three of D. Michael Quinn's booksat his mother-in-law's house. Jeremy describes the cognitive dissonance reading these books cause within him as "jolting." Other influential books in Jeremy's were Newell's Mormon Enigma, Bushman's Rough Stone Rolling, Dawkins' The God Delusion.
Around this time, Jeremy heard of John Dehlin's work and Mormon Stories Podcast but was cautioned to stay away. Living in St. George, Utah at this point, Jeremy was grappling with his emotionally-taxing faith crisis.
In a temple recommend interview, Jeremy's bishop questioned Jeremy's tongue-in-cheek Christmas cards that he would send to hundreds of people, using this to threaten not issuing a recommend.
Living in St. George, Utah was a challenge for Jeremy during his faith journey. Perhaps the last straw that made him move was receiving a gift certificate for a massage. When he went to the massage studio, he was given a massage by a polygamist woman in full garb with a Massage Envy t-shirt over her dress. "We've got to get out of here!" Jeremy told Molly.
Expressing concerns about issues within the church prevented Jeremy from having a temple recommend, which strained relationships between Jeremy and his friends. Transitioning out of the church, what took Jeremy thirteen years, took Molly three days after reading Runnell's CES Letter. Jeremy and Molly's participation in Arizona LDS LGBT & Family/Friends and marching in Pride parades "caused all hell to break loose in the ward" and started untrue rumors that Jeremy is gay. The "November Policy" was a final straw for Jeremy and his family, causing the entire family to resign membership in the church through Quit Mormon.
Jeremy details how he and Molly have evolved as a couple, sought help from others, and have moved from "okay" to "great." John and Jeremy share memories of a trip they took together with their spouses to Tuscany, Italy. There, Jeremy shared with John his love of the craft of wine - which John did not drink. The two discuss the role and risks of incorporating alcohol into life as an ex-Mormon.
Transcript
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| 1:22.0 | Welcome back to part three of my interview with Mormon Post-Portment Entrepreneur Jeremy Young |
| 1:34.0 | in parts one and two we've talked about as years grown up in the church and his life as an entrepreneur |
| 1:41.0 | going from BYU student to multi-millionaire in like four or five years and all the different |
| 1:46.0 | cool business ventures he's had and what that's been like and it's super interesting and it's fun |
| 1:52.0 | because Jeremy isn't just someone I've interviewed it's someone that I've known as a friend since |
| 1:57.0 | the late 90s when Marguinay lived in Seattle we were in the same ward together and we knew each other |
| 2:02.0 | and so it's just really fun to hear more about Jeremy's story and how he's found success |
| 2:09.0 | as an entrepreneur and failure in his life and how he's bounced back. So we left the teaser |
| 2:15.0 | at the end of last episode he talked about the highest of highs and the lowest of lows |
| 2:19.0 | where you feel like you've lost everything and I think that's something that many people |
| 2:23.0 | who experience a faith crisis also experience and so let's talk about the evolution of your faith |
| 2:30.0 | let's just say why you're in Seattle because I know that my big faith crisis hit you know I was |
| 2:35.0 | probably a little bit edgy I don't know if you remember any interactions with me in our ward |
| 2:40.0 | you can talk about that if that's even relevant but I know that I hit the full climax of my |
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