The Subtext: Should the Church Have Reputation Managers?

No Small Endeavor with Lee C. Camp

Lee Camp

Philosophy, Society & Culture, Religion & Spirituality

4.8 • 555 Ratings

🗓️ 15 April 2026

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

What happens when a church starts thinking like a brand, and hires people to protect its image? In this episode, we explore the rise of reputation management inside religious institutions, starting with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its growing ecosystem of influencers, media strategy, and image control. From the “second Mormon moment” on social media to The Secret Lives of Mormon Wives, we ask what it means when faith communities adopt the tools of PR and branding. Along the way, we look at how reputation management can shape not just perception, but truth, connecting it to broader questions of power, storytelling, and what gets protected (or buried) in the name of a larger mission, including the complicated legacy of figures like Cesar Chavez. When reputation matters most, who pays the price? Things we mentioned in this episode: New Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton Follow The Subtext: Instagram | Threads | X | YouTube | TikTok Follow Lee: Instagram | Twitter | Lee's Newsletter Follow Savannah: Instagram | Substack Join our Email List: nosmallendeavor.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi Lee, welcome to our show.
0:01.4	Hello, Savannah.
0:02.5	Welcome.
0:03.2	Good to see you again.
0:03.8	What are the vibes?
0:04.3	What's happening at the moment?
0:05.7	Oh, life is full and adventurousome and plugging right along.
0:11.2	So how about you?
0:11.7	You just got back from a trip from Minnesota.
0:14.6	Yes.
0:15.1	What were the vibes?
0:16.5	I very much enjoyed my time in Minnesota, enjoyed getting to wander around in
0:20.3	Minneapolis a bit and learn about the great wheat capital.
0:24.4	Well, you sent me pictures from a factory.
0:26.2	The mill, the mill.
0:26.6	Yeah, the mill capital.
0:27.4	Yeah, a mills a factory.
0:28.3	Yeah, a mills a factory.
0:31.0	But, yeah, I did not know the history of the mills in Minneapolis.
0:35.3	And they were, they were like turning out more flower than any place on the
0:39.0	planet in the early part of the 20th century is Minnesota full of wheat fields or was that being
0:44.2	important Minnesota and the Dakotas apparently and so this is about the same time that you have
	...

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