June 21, 2025, 3:47pm MDT
Provo, Utah – At the 2025 seminar for new mission leaders on Saturday, June 21, Elder Gary E. Stevenson, a quorum of 12 Apostles, demonstrated how missionaries can build a strong conversion foundation through setting prayer goals and plans through missionary objectives.
Elder Stevenson used blocks on stage to form a powerful pyramid representing lifetime transformations.
First, the foundation stone blocks were placed. According to Elder Stephenson, the cornerstone is the most important foundation stone in the pyramid. Its placement determines the overall location, orientation and alignment of the building that is set.
“We respect Jesus Christ as the main cornerstone of the Church,” Elder Stephenson said. “He is the important foundation of salvation, immortality, eternal life. He is the reference point that aligns and locates his work, his work.”
Elder Stephenson also stated that the Latter-day Saints’ Church of Jesus Christ is “built on the foundations of the apostles and prophets, and Jesus Christ himself is the main horn stone” (see Ephesians 2:20).
“Missionary work continues with this model,” he said. “Under the direction of the first presidency, a quorum of 12 will form the Church’s missionary committee.”
The missionary’s purpose is fundamental
He later demonstrated how missionary objectives were the basis for conversion.
“It embodies the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel. Jesus Christ is at the heart of it, at the heart of the cornerstone,” he said.
As stated in “Preaching My Gospel,” the purpose of the ministry is to “invite others to invite them to Christ by receiving faith in Jesus Christ and his tone sin, repentance, baptism, the gift of the Holy Spirit and enduring the end, helping them to receive the restored gospel.”
Elder Stephenson said: “As the mission continues to emphasize missionary objectives, they observed that they were far more successful in finding, educating and baptizing converts.”
Achieve work through goals and plans
Chapter 8 of “Preaching My Gospel” says, “Turn your goals and plans to the purpose of your ministry.” It also outlines how missionaries can achieve their goals through key indicators.
These key indicators include another building block for transformation, such as what new people are being taught, lessons learned with participating members, those who attend the St. Craip section, those who have a date of baptism, those who have been baptized and confirmed, and new members who will be participating in the Sacramental Conference.
Elder Stephenson said missionaries can pray for goals and plans to standardized important indicators for conversion, and thinkfully embodying them. He also balanced and warned the mission leader.
“Look for that balance,” he said. “On the one hand, missionaries must feel both focusing on your enthusiasm and key indicators of conversion. On the other hand, avoid pressure, coercion, assignment, or external rewards associated with them. Key indicators should stimulate and juxtapose missionaries with their purposes.”
Success Story
Elder Stevenson shared the story of two missionaries who are “prepared for miracles to happen” by working to achieve set goals.
After the final lesson of the day, the missionaries said they had spoken with more people in the day than ever before, but still lacked the goals they had set that morning.
They calculated that if they returned to their apartment they would arrive 15 minutes before the curfew, so they decided instead to swing by the train station and talk to several more people to achieve their daily goals.
At the station, unknown to them, the man was surprised by the audible voice saying, “They are God men with an important message. Please talk to them.”
Elder Stephenson said the miraculous encounter led to a cascade of life-changing events, leading to the man’s baptism and confirmation.
“Following the baptism, I listened to the missionaries and their friends reflected on the miraculous encounters they had at the station that night,” he said. “Each of them wondered what would have happened or if they didn’t set goals for the morning.
He also warned that key indicators for conversion are not the ultimate goal.
“In fact, they represent the potential spiritual progress of a person towards baptism. They are not the end, but the means of the end. They help both friends continue on the path of the covenant.”
“Baptization and confirmation are not the final destinations. Rather, these ordinances are the gates for God’s children to enter the path of covenant, which leads to temple ordinances, contracts and blessings of joy.
