Hello, Doer of the word!

*We are looking for one Administrative Manager who is willing to volunteer five hours per week for General Conference Applied. If you or someone you know is willing to join us in a big way, please reply to this email and let us know.*

Do you or someone you know have a story related to a conference talk or connection to the speaker? Reply and let's talk! We need all the help we can get to find podcast guests. We all have stories. Even if you don't think you're anyone special, your story may be exactly what another listener needs to hear!

REFERRAL PROGRAM. Between now and Christmas Day 2025, for anyone who refers five people to the General Conference Applied Newsletter, we will send you (by the end of 2025) the following two general conference invitations files: 1) A Google Spreadsheet with a tab for every October 2025 General Conference address; 2) A PDF with a page for every October 2025 General Conference address. You receive these files one page at a time in each of our Invitations newsletters, but this will package the invitations into one file, and you won’t have to wait an extra five weeks to receive the invitations for all the addresses. To receive this gift, here are the steps:

  • Reply to any Newsletter email (or email us directly) and provide the email addresses for the five people who signed up for the General Conference Applied Newsletter because of your referral (i.e., this only applies to those who subscribed to the Newsletter after 9:00 p.m. MST on Thursday, December 4, 2025).

  • As long as those five people are still active subscribers as of Christmas Day 2025, we will email your gift to you.

Let's dive into the invitations from Sister Tracy Y. Browning's October 2025 General Conference address, "Tune Your Heart to Jesus Christ: The Sacred Gift of Primary Music."

Invitations

1 - "Primary music is one of God's most tender tools for planting the seeds of testimony in the hearts of the Savior's youngest disciples. Parents, leaders, and teachers give nourishment to that seed as they testify to and invite the testimonies of children of all they are coming to know of Heavenly Father; His Son, Jesus Christ; and the Holy Ghost."

  • Application Idea: Incorporate more children's worship music into your personal and/or family study. If you don't consider yourself or your family musical, focus on the lyrics while playing the audio on the Gospel Library App. For fun, learn about President Heber J. Grant's efforts to learn to sing after being given up as a hopeless case.

2 - "President Russell M. Nelson, taught: '[Music] can exert a continuing influence for good well beyond times when children are small. … [It] has [the] power to provide spiritual nourishment. It has healing power. It has [the] power to facilitate worship; it allows us to contemplate the [Savior's] Atonement and the Restoration of the gospel with its saving principles and exalting ordinances. Music provides power for us to express prayerful thoughts and bear testimony of sacred truths. ... Children can learn the doctrine when they're learning to sing just as much as they can learn the doctrine in a class.' As parents, leaders, and teachers, our effort includes helping children access these promised blessings by teaching with intention the gospel truths found in the music."

  • Application Idea: Try what Sister Browning did: "I have spent time singing and learning from Primary music while contemplating a few questions:

    • How can Primary songs learned in childhood become the spiritual language children use to testify for the rest of their lives?

    • How does singing gospel truths help children remember the Lord as part of their covenant and prepare them for His ordinances?

    • How can Primary songs help write God’s law upon the hearts of these youngest disciples?"

3 - "As Primary leaders, we have the opportunity and the sacred responsibility to ensure that music in Primary is taught with joy, with doctrinal understanding, and with the Spirit. This includes inviting children to notice what they feel as they sing and helping them recognize that those feelings come from the Holy Ghost."

  • Application Idea: If you're in a primary presidency, work with your music leader to explain and testify to the children of the truths in the songs they're learning. Ask the kids what they are feeling whenever a song brings the Spirit.

4 - "Each week, baptized and confirmed members of the Lord's restored Church, including baptized children as young as eight years old, prepare to take the Lord's sacrament. Through singing sacred music, congregations of God's children are given an opportunity to prepare their hearts for that sacred ordinance to take upon themselves His name, to always remember Him, and to keep His commandments."

  • Application Idea: Sing the sacrament hymn as a prayer to prepare for the ordinance. Many of the sacrament hymns mention the sacrament in a later verse that unfortunately tends to get skipped. Instead of closing your hymnal when the music stops, read and ponder any verses the congregation didn't sing to get the full effect of the lyrics. For example, see verse 5 of Eliza R. Snow's poem in hymn 195, "How Great the Wisdom and the Love." There's even this note at the bottom, "Verses 1, 2, 5, and 6 are especially appropriate for the sacrament," but if your ward is like most, you probably sing only 1–4. Two-hour church makes long hymns impractical, but there's nothing stopping you from reading through the full poem or singing it at home.

5 - "I invite you to consider what foundational truths have been written into your hearts through the simple teachings of these songs and to testify of those truths to the Savior's youngest disciples as you teach them the good news of the gospel through song."

  • Application Idea: Revisit the Primary songs you loved as a child. There are likely many you've forgotten, but which you'll immediately remember like an old friend.

LDS Scriptures in 40+ Colors! Lots of Personalization Options!

We carry over 40+ colors of LDS scriptures in Book of Mormon, Triple, Bible, & Quad combination. Personalize your scriptures to make them 100% unique.

ldsbookstore.com/color-scriptures#af_id=GCA&bann_id=3fc62709

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 E34. We're Not Using Primary Music Enough - Sister Tracy Y. Browning, "Tune Your Heart to Jesus Christ: The Sacred Gift of Primary Music" - Amazon Music | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube. This short podcast episode is an audio / video version of this newsletter.

General Conference Applied S6 E35. LDS Children's Songs Saved My Life—Emily Susan Pack's Story—Tracy Y. Browning, "Tune Your Heart to Jesus Christ: The Sacred Gift of Primary Music" - Amazon Music | Apple Podcasts | Spotify | YouTube. Clay and Mitch were joined by special guest, popular LDS musician and accidental social media influencer, Emily Pack, better known to her 30,000+ followers as ⁠@emilysusanpack⁠. They shared insights into Sister Browning's teachings and deeply personal stories of how children's Primary music has blessed their lives and can bless yours, no matter your age. Listen to the end to hear Emily share her testimony in song!

External Resources Shared In This Episode:

Take Action

Clay's Application: I will start including more singing and music in our evening family scripture study. Starting with worshipful Christmas songs, we'll learn to sing them, discuss doctrine found in the lyrics, and I'll learn to accompany at least a few songs on various instruments to play for children as lullabies.

Mitch's Application: In her address, Sister Browning shared "foundational truths" from seven primary songs. I want to discuss these truths and the corresponding primary songs in a family home evening with my family. And, as a bonus application, I will start listening to a hymn or primary song before I study the gospel each morning.

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.

Thanks for joining us in becoming a "Doer of the word!" Please help others do the same by sharing this newsletter with them.

Keep Reading

No posts found

© 2026 General Conference Applied.

Report abuse

Privacy policy

Terms of use

Powered by beehiiv