The Power of Learner Councils | A How I Lead Interview with Russell Rigby

Russell Rigby was born and raised in Vancouver, Washington, served
in the Mexico City South mission, and helped open the Cuernavaca
Mission. He attended Western Washington University where he majored
in Accounting and met his wife. He later received a master's in
Taxation from the University of Washington and currently works as a
tax manager for Paccar. Russell has two sons, ages twelve and ten,
and has served in Primary, the Young Men program, a Spanish branch
presidency, and as a financial clerk. He is now serving for the
first time as a Sunday School president. Links There is already a
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access to the Core Leader Library Highlights 03:20 Introduction to
Russell Rigby and getting called as Sunday School president. 05:30
Starting his new calling by picking really great counselors to work
with and dreaming up big ideas. Going beyond the normal. 06:40
Making a difference as the Sunday School president. They expanded
the idea of teacher councils and identified certain groups that
needed help, not just the teachers. 08:20 The scripture that has
inspired Russell in his calling is Alma 31:5. The word of God has a
more powerful effect on people than anything else. 10:30
Stimulating discussion in presidency meetings. Russell talks about
how they structure their meetings. 14:45 Russell and his presidency
did counsels with different groups in the ward. They didn’t just
focus on teachers but also on presidencies and some of the youth.
Very isolated counsels to get to know the needs of each
organization and make the discussions more relevant. They got a lot
of positive feedback from all groups. 16:45 Meeting with all the
different groups was a little overwhelming but they manage by doing
four groups a month and dividing it between two Sundays. They split
up their presidency to do the different discussions. Basically they
meet with each group once a quarter. 19:00 How they approach the
councils. They are there to be facilitators and stimulate the ideas
and discussions. Build off each discussion and check in to see how
things are going. 26:00 Creating a safe space to bring up concerns.
That is one of the reasons they decided to meet as small groups in
their learner councils. 28:00 Finding ways to engage with members
in the ward through scriptures They send out a weekly email with a
scripture plus a ward bulletin. 30:25 Creating group councils where
meaningful and relevant discussions can happen 31:30 Russell and
his presidency are trying out a new idea with google docs where
groups can add to the google doc and share ideas between meetings.
36:00 Russell shares the impact that serving has had on him and
made him a better follower of Jesus Christ. The Leading Saints
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