Today we’re honored to share a special session from Restore 2025 featuring Steven Kapp Perry, Alisha Anderson, and Ben Schilaty—three gay Latter-day Saints who have each taken different paths, and who share a deep commitment to following God with honesty, courage, and faith.
In this on-stage conversation, Steve, Alisha, and Ben share personal and vulnerable reflections on what it means to seek God when the road ahead feels uncertain, and the courage it takes to keep moving forward in faith. They explore belonging, revelation, and the complexity of spiritual life as they describe discerning and following paths that looked very different from one another’s and the ones they once expected—often amid the pain of being misunderstood.
This session was a powerful reminder that God is at work in every life, and that each person’s journey is sacred.
As Ben shares near the end of the conversation, “The stories that truly matter are the stories of the LGBTQ people that you know in your lives.” That’s our invitation this month. We hope this conversation opens the door to deeper connection with people in your own life whose paths may look different than your own.
We’re grateful to Steve, Alisha, and Ben for their vulnerability and wisdom.
You’ll hear Steve mention a short film at the beginning of this session that tells more of Alisha’s story. It’s beautiful and moving, and you can find a link below.
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JOIN US AT THE WAYFARE FESTIVAL ON JULY 11!
You're invited to the Wayfare Summer Festival!
The quality of attention that we bring to the world changes what we find. In our time of mass distraction, artifice, and vice, we need to develop our capacities for spiritual discernment more than ever.
New speakers announced for the Wayfare Summer Festival!
This year we’re bringing 13 special breakout sessions to the Wayfare summer festival! These will be intimate, interactive opportunities to learn together with some of our tradition’s brightest and most expansive thinkers. Find the session descriptions below!
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STUDY “COME FOLLOW ME” WITH FAITH MATTERS
Seeing Clearly by Looking upon the Heart
What does it mean that Jesus is our King? What is prophecy and how does it work? How might we think about obedience? How can I "look upon the heart" of others?
How do I fight today's battles?
How can one person make a difference? Is there a healthier way to think about forgiveness? How can I trust the direction I receive from God? How are good friends a blessing? What does it mean for Jesus to be King?
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Crucial Conversations Across Faith Divides: The Courage to Stay Connected
On June 16th, Joseph Grenny and Tucker Boyle invite you to an evening designed to equip you for some of the hardest conversations life brings, the kind that happen between loved ones when faith changes.
Joseph will draw from his decades of work with crucial conversations, walking us through practical principles for navigating high-stakes moments without losing the relationship or ourselves. Tucker will bring a somatic and nervous system lens to each principle, helping us notice what’s actually happening in our bodies when these conversations get hard.
The insight at the heart of the evening: people on both sides of a faith transition share remarkably similar embodied experiences. The protective urges, the impulse to shut down or push harder, the way the body tightens before the words even come, these aren’t signs that something is wrong with you. They’re signals worth learning to read. This insight can open a pathway to patience, empathy and even compassion when in otherwise risky moments.
All it takes is one party to a conversation with this capacity to dramatically alter its outcome.
JOIN THOMAS MCCONKIE IN UTAH AND LONDON!
