Summary3 min read

Podcast Summary: Ward Councils Need This 360° Perspective Shift

Podcast: Leading Saints
Host: Leading Saints
Episode Air Date: July 22, 2026
Featured Guest: Deanna Murphy
Main Theme: Become a Leader, Not a Calling

Episode Overview

This episode shares a powerful excerpt from the Leading Saints’ "Meetings with Saints Virtual Summit," featuring Deanna Murphy. The focus is on shifting the mindset and perspective of ward councils and leaders from a role-based approach to a more holistic, 360° view—fostering unity, empathy, and appreciation for differing viewpoints. The episode highlights the importance of grace, vulnerability, and open communication within leadership relationships, especially when facing misunderstandings or differences in style.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Challenge of Differing Perspectives in Leadership

Deanna Murphy reflects on her time as a Stake Relief Society President.
She candidly recounts the initial disconnect between herself and the Stake President due to different viewpoints and communication styles.

“He was looking at the opposite side of the equation. And sometimes I'd be listening to him and I'm going… he's talking English, but I don't even know what he means.” (B, 04:14)

Emotional Reactions and Growth

Murphy describes feelings of confusion, self-doubt, and fear stemming from this disconnect.
She notes that both leaders were new to their callings, compounding uncertainty.

“I'd feel confused and then I'd feel scared or stupid or all the things that we do when we're listening but we don't understand.” (B, 04:25)
Over time, she learned that unity doesn’t mean sameness, but the ability to combine strengths:

“His way wasn't right and my way wasn't wrong. It was together we got more complete.” (B, 04:51)

The Importance of Grace

Murphy strongly emphasizes the need to grant oneself—and others—grace, acknowledging that leaders aren’t expected to know everything at first.
This grace paves the way for mutual understanding and less defensive posturing.

“To grant myself grace allowed me to grant him grace. When I was self-conscious and fearful that I was failing him, I became maybe more defensive.” (B, 05:18)
She connects defensiveness to personal uncertainty and underscores the normalcy of such feelings.

Scriptural Insights

Deanna highlights Ether 12:27 and Ether 12:37, drawing a parallel between scriptural teachings on weakness and leadership journeys.
Notably, she remarks:

“Heavenly Father gives us weakness just like he gives us strength. And it's not bad…because you've seen your weakness, you'll be made strong… I learned to lean into him and I became strong in him and he became stronger in me.” (B, 05:45–06:14)

Unity Through Diversity

Even though Murphy and the Stake President never fully aligned in style or perspective, their willingness to appreciate and lean into each other’s differences made them stronger as a leadership team.
The episode encourages all leaders to follow this example within ward councils and other church leadership roles.

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

On realizing and navigating differences:

“It's so easy to impose our negative feelings onto other people. And in reality, I was scared at times because I didn't know.” (B, 05:30)
On growth and unity through struggle:

“We were more unified in the Savior when we learned to appreciate each other's differences and to hold each other with grace when we didn't know.” (B, 06:28)

Timestamps for Important Segments

[04:03] Start of Deanna Murphy’s story about initial misunderstandings with her Stake President.
[04:51] Realization of complementing strengths.
[05:18] Discussion of granting grace and becoming less defensive.
[05:45] Scriptural application from Ether 12, and how recognizing weakness produces strength.
[06:28] Closing reflection on unity in diversity.

Final Takeaways

Real leadership transcends titles or callings and instead focuses on collaboration, open communication, and mutual respect.
Differences among leaders are assets, not hindrances, and should be leveraged for greater completeness.
Applying grace to oneself and others fosters an environment of safety, unity, and growth.
Deep spiritual principles, such as those found in Ether 12, can anchor leaders through times of uncertainty and misunderstanding.

For more insights and to access the full summit, listeners are encouraged to register via Leading Saints. This episode’s excerpt demonstrates just how transformative a shift in perspective can be for ward councils and church leadership as a whole.

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Transcript3 lines

[00:00]
A
Hey, everyone, you may not realize this, but it's important that you do realize this is that we have a summit going on. A virtual summit. Yeah, that's right. We did the Liberating Saints Virtual Summit last month, or I guess it was this month, last couple weeks. And now we've transitioned to a relaunch of the Meetings with Saints Virtual Summit. Now this is all about turning routine or ordinary meetings into revelatory experiences. How do we do that? What's the science behind meetings? You know, how can we improve meetings? And we're talking meetings both, you know, or including council meetings. We're talking sacrament meetings. We're talking like just gatherings. And even family councils. There's a session on family councils, which is great. And the funny story about this virtual summit is that I originally released this in March of 2020 when the world was turning upside down. And so not too many people enjoyed this summit because the future was uncertain, to say the least. And actually, if you watch my recorded session in this virtual Summit, it was recorded on March 12 when, like, the church announced that we're going fully online. Everything was shutting down. And so I rented out this room to do a live presentation and nobody wanted to come. And so it was liter me and like 200 empty chairs and cameraman and Lillian was there, my assistant. And so it was a rough go. But nonetheless, this is worth relaunching and getting back into it. And we are going full throttle into virtual summits because after this one, we have the AI Saints Virtual Summit coming up, which is all about how to be an effective disciple of Jesus Christ in a world of AI Man. I've already recorded some episodes there and they're really good. Now, I digress. Back to a clip I want to share with you today to give you a little flavor of this Meetings with Saints Virtual Summit. And it comes from the one and only Deanna Murphy. If you aren't familiar with Deanna Murphy's episodes and her time with leading Saints, it would be worth your time to go to Zion Lab and search her name. Find. Find all the episodes and watch them because she is full of fire when it comes to leadership and inspiration. And you'll tell from this clip. Now she talks about this concept of when she was a Stake Relief Society president, how she often disagreed or I wouldn't say that, but just how her and her Stake president were. Were different people. They saw different. That they saw the world differently. I don't know if you can relate. And she talked about just how she processed that and why that was okay and how they found unity and we were able to really work well together, even though that was the case. So this is a clip. Now you got to go to leadingsaints.org meetings and the links in this show, notes of this episode and to register. Now here's how the registration works. All the episodes are available for the next several weeks until August 3rd. So the clock is ticking for you to actually watch these before they go back into the archive. And, and to register, you just need to become a Zion builder, which is 15amonth. Now we have sponsorship opportunities, so if you can't afford 15amonth, get a sponsorship. It's fine. They're there. Donors are standing by to help. And this makes it all possible for us to continue these virtual summits. And it will include your, you know, if you, it'll include your, your access to the AI Saints virtual summit as well. And so jump in. We're going to have a summit after the AI Summit. And so it's going to, it's going to be worth your time to jump in, pay the $15 a month and just benefit from all this content. So here is this fantastic clip with Deanna Murphy.
[04:03]
B
Recognize I remember being a Stake Relief Society president when I would sit one on one with my stake president. He. We were utterly back to back. Like literally, he was looking at the opposite side of the equation. And sometimes I'd be listening to him and I'm going to, he's talking English, but I don't even know what he means. And I'd feel confused and then I'd feel scared or stupid or all the things that we do when we're listening but we don't understand. And I didn't know how to communicate to him. Sometimes at the very beginning, we were both called at the same time. And so both of us are learning and I'm learning how to communicate with him and he's learning how to communicate with me. It took us about two years before we figured it out. About that time, it was time for me to be released, by the way. But over time, we had to learn that we both saw different things. His way wasn't right and my way wasn't wrong. It was together we got more complete. I think a lot of times when we get into those roles and we feel misunderstood, we get our feelings hurt and we might make up stories about other people and they're judging or not judging us. And I just think there's something for us about recognizing all of us see and we don't see. And when we start to grant ourselves first grace. I had to give myself grace and go, deanna, it's okay. You've never been a Sacred Relief Society president before. It's okay if you don't understand what to ask or what to share or what he needs. And to grant myself grace allowed me to grant him grace. When I was self conscious and fearful that I was failing him, I became maybe more defensive. And I believe that's a very normal thing. And I could track my own defensiveness right back to my own uncertainty. Right. It's so easy to impose our negative feelings onto other people. And in reality, I was scared at times because I didn't know. And for me to give myself grace and allow the Savior's mercy to hold that I didn't know. I really fell in love with ether 12, which we often quote. We quote ether 1227 all the time. You know, I give unto men weakness that they may be humb, as in heavenly Father gives us weakness just like he gives us strength. And it's not bad. We often don't quote either 1237 that says, because you've seen your weakness, you'll be made strong. Wow. And I don't know that it's that I'll be made strong is in. Suddenly that weakness becomes my strength. But you know what happened? I never became like my state president, but I learned to lean into him and I became strong in him and he became stronger in me. And we were more unified in the Savior when we learned to appreciate each other's differences and to hold each other with grace when we didn't know.
[06:50]
A
All right, guys, remember, go to the link in the show notes leading saints.org meetings to register for this. Or if you're already a Zion builder, you can just head on over to zion lab leading saints.org Zion and there you'll see in the spaces under virtual summits, you'll see meetings with Saints. Jump in and start watching. You'll benefit from these so much. And Deanna Murphy's is awesome for sure. So we'll see you in the labor.