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I’m looking to hand Mormon Stories (and all the MP3s/videos/assets/domain) over to someone who will carry it forward w/ integrity.
If you are interested, please let me know.
Published By
I’m looking to hand Mormon Stories (and all the MP3s/videos/assets/domain) over to someone who will carry it forward w/ integrity.
If you are interested, please let me know.
John, is life just getting too busy for you, or are you under pressure to stop publishing?
John say it’s not so. Where are you going? You will be greatly missed.
john, you saved me with this site. hopefully the church isn’t doing this to you.
I actually like this site. I’m what you would call, a more conservative, old-school, or fundamental Mormon. I find some of the ‘stories’ on here to be refreshing, and I like to argue my positions against those I don’t agree with. It’s important for us all to do that. However, more than anything else, I found some of the comments on here to be quite troubling. It seem this site has created a haven for critical, pessimistic, or ‘the fading testimony’ ‘members’ of the Church. Mike’s comment is emblematic of this.
Hopefully this site can continue, with some good stories of awareness to soon follow. We will miss you John, even me. :) If you look at my past comments, it may not seem so, but I do enjoy your positions and stories here.
Yes, please, an explanation! Your videos on Youtube, your podcasts, and everything else have been awesome. A true asset that would be greatly missed. I certainly hope your reasons for turning this over to someone don’t lie in pressures from the Church…
John,
Say it ain’t so. :0
We have appreciated you so much. Thank you for all your work.
We would love to hear about where you are now with everything if you feel so inclined to share.
John,
I hope this isn’t pressure from the church leaders. You have helped so many people stay in the faith and find a new perspective on these difficult issues.
You will be greatly missed! I appreciate all of your work and it has helped me to become active in church again.
John,
Your quest led you to this point where you’ve learned what there’s to know get on with your life.
The messages you left are indelible, no one can erase.
Your soulsearching interviews with people left us in awe.
It doesn’t matter if you leave us with grace.
We got the best out of you.
Thanks for your courage.
Sorry that you are moving on with your work. I am sure that the lds church did not pressure you to give it up. The amount of time that it takes to do mormonstories must be enormous. Hopefully, whoever takes it over will show it the consideration that you have shown it.
Your personality will be missed and the person who does it over will have quite a pair of cowboy boots to fill. Take care John…
Why me
Opps I made a mistake. I should have written:…the person who does take it over will have quite a pair of cowboy boots to fill.
Hopefully, you will continue being a source of inspiration for lds members….
@ se7en’s comment: ” I like to argue my positions against those I don’t agree with. It’s important for us all to do that”
I would submit to you that true peace and spirit will only come into a person’s life when they discover that this “important” need is gone.
John,
Your podcasts have really been a great help to me and I’m sure to many others. I’m sure that Mormon Stories has been a great deal of work-thank you for devoting the time that you have. Best of luck with whatever endeavors you will be taking on.
John,
You have done a great service here, but I guess it was not realistic that it should last forever. I admit that your podcast has delayed the inevitable for me, and my family will forever be grateful for helping to make this transition less painful for them. I am now ready to leave, and instead of leaving with bitterness, I am leaving with happiness and peace. My wife and kids are accepting of me and still love me, even though they don’t agree, and you have helped immensely. Are you also leaving?
I am so sorry you are leaving. I know all things come to an end eventually, I wish I knew your reasons for leaving – burn out?, moved on?, busy with life/family/job?, pressure from others?, just feel like you have come to a natural end with this site? Anyway, you will not be forgotten by all your podcast friends. What a tremendous service you have done for so many of us. God bless you and your family always.
susan
John,
I’d like to add my voice saying thanks for your work. I sure wish you weren’t leaving, but wish you the best. I feel a bit like I’m losing a friend, and selfishly want you to keep doing your thing.
(If a donation from my federal loans would help . . . ?)
All the best! Fight the good fight!
John,
I’m one of what I’m sure is a large group of rather passive http://www.www.mormonstories.org visitors. I’ve made a comment only once (but remember getting a message from you welcoming me to the site (!) when I did). But I have to say I’ve been incredibly impressed with the work you’ve done and respect and admire you enormously for your efforts. I think we are all better for the countless dialogues you’ve started. I love the podcasts.
I hope that you are still able to contribute to the dialogue in whatever you move on to do.
Luke
John,
I have really enjoyed all that you have done for this website. I have listened to probably 80% of the podcasts and learned something new from each one. These interviews have been the starting points for many topics of research about Mormon history that I have began over the course of the past six months. Thanks for using the internet to tackle many of the issues surrounding the past. Thanks for making this available to me and many others. I wish you only the best.
Sincerely,
Lucas
John, its been real. Hopefully you find someone who will follow in your footsteps. Take care!
Hi John,
If you can’t find someone willing to put the money and time in to keep the forum alive, I’d like to suggest making torrents of the individual shows available.
https://www.bittorrent.com/
I would be more than happy to host the audio files when I’m able. I’m sure others would also.
Thanks for such great content. I only found this site a few weeks ago, and already it is disappearing. Just my luck.
Best wishes…
John, thank you again for all the work you’ve put into MormonStories. I’m one of the many whom it helped to find another way in the Church; to make sense of things that seemed impossible to reconcile. And I know I’m hardly the only one. You’ve blessed many lives through this site, John, and I’m sure you’ll continue to do so in where ever life takes you.
God bless.
John,
I hope you can find someone to take on Mormon Stories as this site is very important for many people. I have admired all you have done to help others and I know your work has helped thousands of people. You really made a difference for me. There are so many people who struggle with their beliefs, and it was wonderful to know I was not alone. Your viewpoints really helped me so much and I appreciate all you have done to help many of us through the challenges of losing our faith.
This website has been so important to so many people, including myself. I’m afraid I came too late to comment, but I know how long it took me to get through the series, so I can only imagine how much time it took you to create them. I am terribly disappointed that you will no longer be exploring mormonstories, but there’s a time and season for everything, yeah? Thank you so much for your efforts. How I wish I had the resources to keep it alive. There’s really nothing more I can say, and it seems so inadequate for how I feel about this podcast. Thank you again, and God bless!
You Will Be Missed
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Oh, what terrible news. You will be so missed. You were the ONLY voice of tolerance and HONESTY that I have ever come across on the Internet that purports to be pro-LDS. So sad. People like you who have had the courage to do what you did have done more to keep tenuous members of the church in the church than any intorlerant, and bigoted so-called pro-LDS web site or discussion board. More fanning of fires for more defection from the Church will result now instead of putting the fires out with HONESTY and FORTHRIGHTNESS. People want honesty and humility, not white-washed, dogmatic indroctrination. And they will stay if you give them that. Bye, John, and God bless you. Remember what I said to you before: “You’d have my vote!”
– Paul B
I’ve been very impressed by your open-mindedness and dedication to peace. I hope that the next step for you is blissful and fulfilling!
Thank you all of your time and dedication. (Thanks also to your family who sacrificed you time with them)
Thank you, John. Stage five tastes good.
But I say the podcasts and blogs stand on their own. No need for someone else to take over. It’s like someone besides Spielberg directing the last Indiana Jones movie.
jordan
Thank you, John. You gave me hope and opened up my mind to be more objective and honest.
I do wish so much that you would continue…
John,
Thank you for your work. I can honestly say that without this site – its podcasts, blogs, etc., I don’t know where I’d be regarding the church. You’ve made me feel like there is a place for me to do some good in the church. The most important thing to me is to know that there are people out there exactly like me who face the same questions I face. Thanks again for what you’ve done.
Thanks John,
for doing what you have done. I am a convert to the church and have lived in different countries (from the south pacific) and had a lot of terrible struggles. I love truth and as the Lord said its the truth that sets you free. I joined it because I was attracted to its message of restoration and TRUTH. I love to study into things and history esp. this since I have turned my life upside down for it and put my on the line as a missionary. I have felt alone in it and an outsider though. Your site and work on here have helped me feel less alone. I feel disappointed that the LDS church is pretty much a corporation and the question I pose is could the church get a temple recommend by answering those same questions such as are you completely honest in your dealings with your fellowmen?
Man, I kept wondering why I was getting no new episodes on iTunes! Glad I came here to check.
This has been a great work. Thank you John. I’d love to support the continuance of Mormon Stories, in whatever capacity I can.
John,
Like so many others, I am so inspired by your honesty and diligence in spreading the truth with this blog and podcast. I can’t imagine anyone else doing it. Please say that you are just too busy!! I pray that the church is not shutting you down- if it weren’t for you I may not have stayed in the church. I hope that they see that you have been the voice of reason, honesty, and hope to so many educated mormons.
Jessie
I think i’m going to cry!!!
I’ve loved your work John. Sometimes i have not agreed with everything, but it’s definately made me think!!!
Hopefully you’ll have just enough time to either treat us to a discussion on Great Britain and Mormon life outside Utah and the States or the importance on Sealings and what that all really means…i have my questions!
Cheers,
Andy
I was shocked to read of John’s departure. Say it’s only temporary. I’m an academic and convert, and John’s intelligent approach to matters Mormon has been a source of inspiration and education for me. The podcasts and writings have been a big help to me as I’ve moved away internally from the church, while making the movement slowly enough to protect my family from being upset by any abrupt changes.
I’m really curious about why this departure has to be.
Well John I have come to greatly admire your work, your podcasts have been very thought provoking. They have defiantly helped me very much.
I think it is curious that you have gotten so many to tell there stories yet you are silent. I think by engaging these subjects and putting yourself out there as a voice to encourage discussion then to suddenly and mysteriously go quiet doesn’t seem to gel with what I perceived was your practice.
Don’t get me wrong I have a lot of respect for your and your private life and if you want to keep it private that is of course fine. I have become a fan, and a interested participant in your journey to reconcile ideas and fact with our Mormon faith.
In any regard thank you for all you have done, you have performed what I think was a noble work.
Sincerely,
JCS
Hey John,
I found this website not so long ago and so I am sad to see you leave as well but I also realize that seasons change and you have a really busy schedule with other things in your life!
Thanks again for having us over to your home, I still haven’t figured things out but I have hope that I will. If you do organize all the families you were talking about to get together every so often please let us know we would be very much interested!
Thanks for all you do!
Jeremi
Hi John,
Bummer that you make the decision to leave the month before I find out about http://www.www.mormonstories.org.
May your road be paved with God’s grace.
John,
I discovered these podcasts about 6 weeks ago and now my wife and I are addicted. They’ve really filled a great need and are a great supplement to Sunstone and Dialogue.
Hopefully someone will pick up the torch and carry on the way you have. Thanks for all your time and effort.
-Ryan