ClobberBlog | Mormonism, Evangelical Christianity

In February of 2000, while I was still working through my rejection from BYU and trying to figure out how I would get in, an LDS apologist passed along this article from Christianity Today: A Peacemaker in Provo, the story of how the pastor of Rock Canyon Assembly of God in Provo, Utah had called his congregation to repentance for the way they had been treating Mormons and had taken a new approach to reaching out to the LDS community around him. By the time I reached the end of the article, I was in tears—of joy. I felt so deeply connected to this congregation, and I had only ever read about them from a magazine article. But they were just like me, and I knew it. I found the church address on the Internet and wrote a letter to Reverend Dean Jackson, letting him know that I was trying to get in to BYU and that if I made it I wanted to attend his church when I got to Provo.

So that was what I did. I spent some time during the first few semesters attending both Christian Life Assembly of God in Payson and RCAoG in Provo, working with both Dean Jackson and a man named Rick Ruddquist, the pastor of the Payson assembly who usually worked with college students. Eventually I transferred my Presbyterian membership to Rock Canyon Assembly of God, and if you want to get technical, I am still a member of the Assemblies of God today.

I also found out there was an evangelical Christian Bible study there, called the Fellowship of Evangelical Christians, that was sponsored by Orem Evangelical Free. It was there that I met Greg Johnson who would later found Standing Together Ministries. I liked Greg immensely, and I learned so much from him, but he left to found Standing Together after my first semester there. I always wished I could have spent more time learning from him.

Hales

About halfway through the semester, when I was still pretty much avoiding all aspects of my LDS ward, my roommate came to me and suggested that I ask one of the guys in the ward to Preference. I’m not really sure why I consented to this hair-brained scheme beyond the fact that the guy in question, named Hales, was taller than me and fun to look at. I did ask him to Preference though, and he did agree to it, and we had a great time. We began to hang out a lot more and went on some other dates.

In hindsight it’s difficult for me to quantify what exactly my relationship with Hales was. We both felt that interfaith relationships were doomed, so we weren’t formally dating. Our relationship did not have a physical level, not unless you count the numerous arm locks Hales put me in when we were flirting. “Friend with whom I engaged in an obscene amount of non-committal flirting” is about the best I can come up with.

I recorded one of our conversations about our relationship in my journal on Friday, April 20, 2001:

Hales was the last LDS guy I really had feelings for until I met my husband. I’m sure plenty of evangelicals will shake their heads to read about these LDS guys I liked (and the one I eventually married), but you know what? I regret none of it. Hales was hot.

Other People of Interest

I hunted down Daniel C. Peterson at the FARMS building and did an interview with him for an honors writing class paper. Evangelicals, take heed: he’s just as terrifying in real life as he is on the Internet.

Kenneth West was working as a community assistant in Heritage Halls and would often come up to the Morris Center to eat along with his wife, Penny, and their two children. He was very interested in interfaith dialogue and fascinated with the story of how I came to BYU. We had many long conversations about LDS theology and philosophy over meals there. He was another person I wish I could have spent more time learning from, but he was accepted to Yale Divinity School that year and moved away in the fall.

On March 3, 2001, I met Spencer Macdonald, who often posts on LDS apologetics discussion forums, and his wife and two children. I also met Greg Olson sometime that semester, and if you don’t know who Greg Olson is, I’m not going to explain it to you.

Evolving Approach to Mormonism

I blogged elsewhere about an experience I recorded in my journal wherein I went to my freshman ward on F&T day and gave my testimony there. It was that experience that got me thinking: why had I been trying so hard to avoid my LDS ward? Why had I spent the semester saying “no” to invitations and shooing people away from me? Did I really want to live in a tiny little evangelical bubble within the BYU campus? If I was sure the LDS church was not true and nothing could sway me on that, what was the harm in being more involved with the religion of the community around me?

When I returned for Fall 2001, things were going to change.