Hello, Doer of the word!
Let's dive into the invitations from Elder Kelly R Johnson's October 2025 General Conference address, "Be Reconciled to God."
Invitations
1 - "I invite you to be reconciled to God through the Atonement of Jesus Christ. ... [R]ealize that reconciliation is dependent on mercy, implying that Jesus Christ’s gracious act of atonement makes reconciliation possible."
Application Idea: Read Elder Andersen's great book, The Divine Gift of Forgiveness. I enjoy the audiobook version because he read it himself.
2 - "[W]e are free to act for ourselves.... But if we are not diligent, this freedom to act for ourselves may lead to a loss of alignment with the will of God."
Application Idea: If we're living too unconcerned about the Lord's boundaries, realize what they're there for. Check out President Holland's classic sports analogy he gave prospective missionaries about "dribbling out of bounds."
3 - "[T]hink about a time when you felt distant from Heavenly Father because you had moved away from Him. For instance, perhaps you became less diligent in your prayers to Him or in keeping His commandments. Just as we choose to distance ourselves from God, we must choose to initiate the effort to reconcile."
Application Idea: Start small. Set aside 5 minutes right now, if you can, or schedule it for later today to ponder Elder Johnson's question. Then prayerfully come up with and commit to take one small action today to "initiate the effort to reconcile" with God.
4 - "[D]isobedience, doubts, and fears can weaken our connection to ... Jesus Christ, allowing us to be easily shaken and separated from Him. As faithful as we may be, we must guard against a weakening of our connection to Jesus Christ. ... The antidote to becoming ripe for destruction is to do those things that will strengthen our connection to Jesus Christ. ... There is strength in repentance—regular, prompt, and frequent repentance. ... [T]he prophet Jacob taught that being aware of God’s hand in our lives, seeking and receiving revelation, and listening to God when He speaks all help us to not be shaken."
Application Idea: Daily Repentance:
• We Can Do Better and Be Better, by President Nelson, April 2019.
• The Joy and Gift of Repentance—Recent Messages from Prophets and ApostlesBeing Aware of God's Hand in Your Life:
•O Remember, Remember, by President Eyring. Listen to the full talk for context and the story about how seeing his father-in-law serve his family led to the Lord directing Pres. Eyring to journal such experiences. If you must though, here's an 88-second excerpt of the core message.
5 - "Listening to and acting on the words and invitations of the prophets and apostles can fill us with hope, confidence, and strength, resulting in our faith becoming unshaken."
Application Idea: Not to be self-serving, but if you received this newsletter, you're already working on this invitation. We'd encourage you to also subscribe to the GCA podcast and YouTube channel, if you haven't already done so, and to please share these resources with others who'd benefit from "listening to and acting on the words and invitations of the prophets and apostles." :)
Additional Resources
Download a copy of these invitations: Google Sheets | PDF. If you use these resources as a handout in Church, use the PDF (it prints prettier) and please invite the members of your ward to subscribe to the General Conference Applied newsletter and podcast!
General Conference Applied S6 E62. Shaking Cherry Trees, Forensic Accounting, & Daily Repentance—Elder Kelly R. Johnson, "Be Reconciled to God" - Amazon Music | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube. Clay and Mitch were joined by Brock Stewart, a skilled forensic accountant who knows Elder Johnson very well from working alongside him for many years. Brock helped us better understand Elder Johnson's accounting analogy to reconcile ourselves to God. We also went deeper into Elder Johnson's cherry shaker metaphor to better understand how to become "unshaken." This episode touches on daily repentance, reconciling with God, strengthening our faith, getting out of stagnation, helping others grow, and much more.
External Resources Shared In This Episode:
Norman, Townsend & Johnson, LLC (Elder Johnson's accounting firm)
Come Back Podcast - Amazon Music | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube
Hymn Number 1001: Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing
The Divine Gift of Forgiveness by Elder Neil L. Andersen
GCA S6 E51 – Sunday, January 25, 2026 – What to Do If Your Life's Recipe Tastes. . . Off — Elder John D. Amos, "The Good News Recipe" - Amazon Music | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube
GCA S6 E27 – Friday, November 28, 2025 – TEMPERANCE and TRUE CRIME! Forgiving Your Would-be Killer – Ulisses Soares – Amazon Music | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube
Elder Patrick Kearon, April 2022 General Conference, He Is Risen with Healing in His Wings: We Can Be More Than Conquerors: "Jesus specializes in the seemingly impossible. He came here to make the impossible possible, the irredeemable redeemable, to heal the unhealable, to right the unrightable, to promise the unpromisable. And He's really good at it. In fact, He's perfect at it."
2 Nephi 4:18 - "I am encompassed about, because of the temptations and the sins which do so easily beset me."
Take Action
Clay's Application: To help me better act on general conference invitations, I made a separate spreadsheet to have my commitments all in one place. I'll experiment to find effective ways to plan how/when I'll take those actions and good methods to track my progress. My aim is to use good planning, calendaring, and tracking to work on these inspired invitations gradually rather than being surprised and rushed as each Return & Report episode sneaks up on me.
Mitch's Application: I will create the "All October 2025 General Conference Addresses" invitations files by the end of the day Sunday, February 8, 2026.
Reply to this email and tell us how you'll take action on one of these invitations and whether we can share your response in our newsletter, podcast, and/or on social media.
Get Involved
If you’d like to volunteer in helping us encourage more people to take action on inspired invitations from prophets and apostles, please reply to this email.
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