CES Director and Wife Leave Mormonism - John and Brooke (Lark) McLay (Rebroadcast) | Ep. 2024
Mormon Stories Podcast
Dr. John Dehlin
4.6 • 5.2K Ratings
🗓️ 26 May 2025
⏱️ 290 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today we are rebroadcasting an older, classic, episode of Mormon Stories from 2012!In this episode we interview John and Brooke McLay. John served for 14 years as an employee of the LDS Church Education System (CES). In this capacity he served as: a seminary teacher and principal, an institute teacher and director, a BYU Education Week speaker and an EFY Director. John also served as a member of a stake high council, and was serving in a bishopric during the months leading up to his decision to leave the LDS Church. John and Brooke resigned their membership of the LDS Church in August of 2011. This is their story.Join us in the next episode where we re-interview Brooke Lark!
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hello, everyone and welcome to a very special edition of Mormon Stories Podcast. I'm your host, |
| 0:05.3 | John DeLinn. I am announcing a two-part episode that I think you're really going to love. |
| 0:10.9 | The first part is a rebroadcast of one of the most iconic, important, and epic episodes |
| 0:17.0 | in the history of Mormon Stories podcast. It's John and Brooke McLeigh. It's a four-part series combined into one that I released back in January of 2012. |
| 0:27.6 | It was one of the first, it's the first, as far as I can remember, |
| 0:31.6 | couples that I interviewed on video long before Mormon Stories ever became a YouTube channel. |
| 0:38.5 | John and Brooke McLeigh lived in Colorado. |
| 0:42.3 | John was a CES as a church education system seminary and institute teacher. |
| 0:48.7 | He was popular on the Education Week circuit. |
| 0:52.3 | And, you know, if you have learned anything about letter to a |
| 0:56.0 | CES director, John McLean was a CES director. And he and his wife lived in Colorado and were |
| 1:01.7 | living the Mormon dream. Brooke, of course, was also a devout, faithful Mormon. And John and |
| 1:07.4 | Brooke began doubting the veracity of the Mormon Church way back in 2012, and John lost |
| 1:12.6 | his faith while he was working as a CES employee after having dedicated his entire life to |
| 1:19.2 | the Mormon Church's church education system. And so this interview is special for so many reasons. |
| 1:25.1 | Not only is it, again, the first video interview of a couple |
| 1:28.2 | chronicling in long form their faith crisis, but also it's before the CES letter. It's before |
| 1:34.6 | the gospel topics essays. It's while I, John Dylan, was still an active and faithful member of the |
| 1:41.8 | church. I was before my excommunication. And most importantly, John and |
| 1:47.4 | Brooke are just a super thoughtful, committed Mormon couple. And you'll just be able to hear the pain |
| 1:53.6 | and the anguish that John and Brooke experienced, you know, just literally weeks and months after they lost their faith and ended up |
| 2:02.6 | having to quit working for the church and ultimately, I believe, resigning their church membership. |
... |
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