How I Lead as Seminary Council President | An Interview with Rachel Wagner

Rachel Wagner has served as the Beehive class president, Mia Maid 2nd counselor, stake youth council representative, and seminary council president. She enjoys composing uplifting music, baking and decorating cakes, dancing, playing soccer, and being with friends and family. Rachel is also excited to continue to help others come unto Christ by serving in the Benin Cotonou mission this fall. Highlights 2:50 About Seminary council and her calling as president 5:30 Getting started in this leadership position and learning to listen to each other's ideas 6:30 Leading the weekly council meeting, preparing committee leaders, and arranging a spiritual thought and prayer by members who had not participated recently 8:35 Planning with a schedule and being prayerful about making changes as needed Leadership Principles 1. Feast upon the words of Christ and say two kneeling prayers every day (9:45) * Example of her busy schedule and learning to put God first in her life; decided to read her scriptures first as soon as she got home from school * Saying two kneeling prayers creates a stronger relationship with Christ and makes it easier to turn to Him and seek personal revelation * Encouraged this with the entire council * Making time for the Lord shows the effort God appreciates 2. Love and accept everyone for who they are (14:00) * Christ never turned anyone away; they focused on loving every student at the high school * Anonymous answers to questions at a retreat helped her realize we have no idea what people are going through * "Heart attack" for people who are experiencing a trial or need some extra love * Doing the simple things: looking people in the eye, calling them by name * Assume that everyone is going through something hard; reach out to everyone because we can all use some love 3. You get out what you put in (18:00) * It can be easier to fall back and not contribute as much * The Lord loves effort * 19:45 At first it was more difficult when they didn't know each other but as people found their places and were patient with each other things fell into place 4. Be open to all ideas (21:10) * Personal revelation is distributed among everyone involved * Experiences choosing a scripture to focus on as a group * Importance of listening to the Spirit 24:40 Activities they did: Focus on "love, share, invite" * Daily prayer meeting with all students * Also invited students of different faiths to participate * Sought to make their prayers more conclusive * 27:25 The ministering wheel of love with service ideas for each week * WWJD bracelets * 29:35 Changes in assemblies and devotionals because of Covid restrictions * Friday forums: a speaker each month over Zoom because they had school from home on Fridays * Devotional with teachers rotating through the classes 32:45 Being patient with yourself: we are all learning together 34:30 Whenever we serve others and lead we are Christ's hands and can serve others as He did Links TRANSCRIPT coming soon