Will Leading Saints Last?
Leading Saints Podcast
Leading Saints
4.8 • 1.2K Ratings
🗓️ 4 December 2025
⏱️ 33 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Kurt Francom, the executive director of Leading Saints, shares his thoughts on the challenges and responsibilities of leading a nonprofit organization within the Latter-day Saint community. He reflects on the need for support, the complexities of church culture, and the importance of individual leadership in building the Kingdom of God.
Watch the video and share your thoughts in the Zion Lab community
Links
“I’m Not the Gatekeeper, I’m the Welcoming Committee” | An Interview with Kurt Brown
Being an Advocate for Those You Lead | An Interview with Robert Ferrell
Rallying the Ward Around Sacrament Meeting | A How I Lead Interview with Ryan Webb
Getting the Youth to Do Hard Things | A How I Lead Interview with Tanner Pursley
Young Men Can Do Hard Things | A How I Lead Interview with Skylar Haws
Zion Lab: LeadingSaints.org/Zion
Transcript available with the video in the Zion Lab community
Highlights
Funding Challenges: Kurt discusses the difficulties of securing funding for Leading Saints, emphasizing the need for both small and large donations to sustain the organization’s mission.
Cultural Issues in the Church: He highlights the complexities of church culture, including the struggles of church leaders and members with faith crises, LGBT issues, and the need for a supportive community.
The Role of Individual Leadership: Kurt stresses that effective leadership is crucial for fostering a positive church culture, which can help individuals navigate their faith journeys and challenges.
Transformational Experiences: He believes that rather than providing formal training, Leading Saints focuses on creating transformational experiences that empower individuals to lead and make a difference in their communities.
Call to Action: Kurt invites listeners to engage with Leading Saints through initiatives like Zion Lab and becoming Zion Builders, emphasizing the collective effort needed to build Zion.
Leadership Applications
Encouraging Community Support: Latter-day Saint leaders can foster a culture of support by actively seeking and encouraging contributions from their communities, similar to how fans rally around a sports team.
Promoting Individual Initiative: Leaders should empower members to take initiative in their callings and personal faith journeys, recognizing that everyone can contribute to building the Kingdom of God, regardless of their formal position.
Creating Transformational Opportunities: Leaders can focus on providing experiences that inspire and uplift their congregations, rather than relying solely on traditional training methods, to cultivate a more engaged and resilient community.
00:01:08 – The Journey of Leading Saints
00:02:25 – The Role of an Executive Director
00:04:14 – The Need for Funding
00:05:57 – Articulating the Problem in Church Leadership
00:07:34 – The Complexity of Church Culture
00:09:11 – The Importance of Individual Action
00:10:51 – The Law of Consecration
00:12:19 – Building Zion and Community
00:14:10 – Connection to BYU Football
00:16:20 – Community Support for Leaders
00:17:01 – The Call for Support and Funding
00:19:14 – The Role of Leading Saints in Cultural Issues
00:21:23 – Transformational Experiences and Leadership
00:23:12 – Call to Action: Join the Zion Lab
00:25:00 – Becoming a Zion Builder
00:26:25 – Sponsoring Others and Seeking Larger Donors
00:29:11 – The Impact of Positive Culture in the Church
The award-winning Leading Saints Podcast is one of the top independent Latter-day Saints podcasts as part of nonprofit Leading Saints’ mission to help Latter-day Saints be better prepared to lead. Find Leadership Tools, Courses, and Community for Latter-day Saint leaders in the Zion Lab community. Learn more and listen to any of the past episodes for free at LeadingSaints.org.
Past guests include Emily Belle Freeman, David Butler, Hank Smith, John Bytheway, Reyna and Elena Aburto, Liz Wiseman, Stephen M. R. Covey, Benjamin Hardy, Elder Alvin F. Meredith III, Julie Beck, Brad Wilcox, Jody Moore, Tony Overbay, John H. Groberg, Elaine Dalton, Tad R. Callister, Lynn G. Robbins, J. Devn Cornish, Bonnie Oscarson, Dennis B. Neuenschwander, Kirby Heyborne, Taysom Hill, Coaches Jennifer Rockwood and Brandon Doman, Anthony Sweat, John Hilton III, Barbara Morgan Gardner, Blair Hodges, Whitney Johnson, Ryan Gottfredson, Greg McKeown, Ganel-Lyn Condie, Michael Goodman, Wendy Ulrich, Richard Ostler, and many more in over 800 episodes.
Discover podcasts, articles, virtual conferences, and live events related to callings such as the bishopric, Relief Society, elders quorum, Primary, youth leadership, stake leadership, ward mission, ward council, young adults, ministering, and teaching.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Hey everyone, Kurt Frankum here from Leading Saints and, man, it is, what is it, Wednesday, |
| 0:12.3 | December 3rd. And, man, I have so much on my mind that I just thought, you know, I'm |
| 0:19.5 | going to sit down and share some stuff on my mind. |
| 0:24.5 | Get it out there. I think the more that this is communicated, the better for leading saints and |
| 0:31.8 | our vision and mission and all the things we're trying to accomplish with leading saints. |
| 0:38.8 | And this is just going to be real and raw. |
| 0:40.6 | I've got some notes here and I'm sure I'll glance at them from time to time. |
| 0:44.4 | But, man, it is just, it's tough sometimes being an executive director of a nonprofit organization connected to the Latter-day Saint world. |
| 1:00.0 | And I guess it's weighing a little heavier on me, which I'll get to, but strangely because of the recent news out of the BYU football program where they re-signed |
| 1:12.2 | Kalani Sataki, right? |
| 1:13.3 | He was being, he was being pursued by Penn State. |
| 1:20.5 | And anyways, I'll get into that. |
| 1:22.0 | But with Leading Saints like, I don't know, I'll do another episode as it gets to the end of the year as far as I do one every year about the story of Leading Saints and what I see Leading Saints to be in 26. |
| 1:37.8 | So I'll get into that, but man, the journey I've been on to be here, you know, Leading Saints technically started in 2010. |
| 1:46.1 | I bought the domain name LeadinglDS.com on May 26th, 2010. |
| 1:54.1 | And I never thought I would turn into this career that I've had. |
| 1:59.5 | This is my full-time focus. |
| 2:01.3 | A lot of people even don't realize that when they ask me, so what do you do for work? I'm like, well, I do |
| 2:05.8 | leading saints. I've been full-time with leading saints since 2016, and that's a whole story. |
| 2:11.0 | But at the end of the day, I often look at myself and think, why am I in this chair as an executive director |
| 2:18.2 | of a nonprofit organization? |
| 2:19.9 | Like the reality is my core competency |
... |
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