John Dehlin

Urgent Feedback Needed on a New Project

[00:00:00] Hey, everyone, it's John. I am in urgent kind of critical need of feedback regarding Mormon Stories Podcast, particularly from people who donate, because this is really a question for people who donate and support Mormon Stories Podcast. So here, here goes.

[00:00:19] We just had our best year ever for Mormon Stories Podcast. I think we had something like 8.8 or 8.9 million downloads and views. And that's particularly remarkable for the year for 2020. That's particularly remarkable because I did. I made a huge change in the fall. I stopped chopping my episodes up into multiple parts, you know, which would be sometimes five or six parts per interview. And I just started releasing one part. And so that dramatically reduced the number of downloads and views that I had for 2020, especially in the fall.

[00:00:56] And even with that change, we broke our record by like a million of downloads and views. So it's just a phenomenal year, which means that Mormon Stories Podcast is stronger than it's ever been. And I have just like an endless number of interviews that I want to do that I'm dying to do. In fact, it's almost like. It's not depressing, but it's almost depressing to me how many interviews I want to do relative to how much time that I have. So part one is best year ever for Mormon Stories Podcast. It's very clear that we need to just keep it going super strong. There is another issue that you've heard me talk about in the past that is just pummeling me in my brain, and that is that we desp Mormonism, you know, questioning Mormons, progressive Mormons, post Mormons, and investigating Mormons.

The Case for Short Explainer Videos on Mormonism

[00:01:49] I have a full testimony that there is a huge need for short videos to be released on topics, you know, first vision Book of Abraham, Joseph Smith's polygamy, racism in the church, LGBT issues in the church, patriarchy and sexism in the church, trans issues. You know, just so many issues that need to be, you know, short videos need to be created covering these issues for YouTube, for Instagram, for Twitter, and for TikTok. And they need to be just informational tidbits so that people who. Who use or used to short videos, who want to consume the information in short videos can do so. There's an amazing community on TikTok right now in the progressive and post Mormon space.

[00:02:41] I only want to support it. Instagram's doing great. This isn't to compete with or displace existing initiatives. We need those. I'm supporting those. But there is just obviously a huge, gaping need for short, topical videos to help People get up to speed and no one's doing it. And so I feel super called through the Open Stories foundation, through my platform to help make this possible. The problem is I don't have time to do both.

[00:03:10] I've hired some help to help get me to the position where I can do this. We've created the understanding mormonism.com website. It's just the shell of a site. We've started releasing short videos through the Understanding Mormonism YouTube channel. We've had a lot of success there in a very short amount of time. Huge thanks to Brooklyn Alden for helping with that. But I've tried. I can't keep doing Mormon Stories at its current level and launch this channel and give it the attention that it needs. But I know that Mormon Stories podcast needs to continue and get better. And I know that this Understanding Mormonism channel and a derivative channel for TikTok and Instagram, I know that this needs to happen.

[00:04:00] So in my mind, I have two options. And I am particularly asking donors here for their feedback because this is going to. The success of this plan is going to depend on donors not pulling out or withdrawing their donations to Mormon Stories because we need your support to make all this happen. To pay me, to pay Brooklyn, to pay for the, you know, Gerardo, the graphics, the editing, the technology improvements, all the things. We need your support. Not. Not. I'm not asking for like more support than we have.

[00:04:32] Mostly I'm just asking for continued support if I make a big change. So here are the two options that I'm asking donors to weigh in on. Option number one is that I just continue to do Mormon Stories podcast and that I try to find some talented person to record the videos for the video shorts. The upside to that is Mormon Stories continues unabated.

[00:04:58] The difficult part about the second is it'll be someone who isn't known. I'll have to vet them for their talent. There's a lot of risk in bringing someone on and there's a lot of investment in bringing someone on. And then you just, you never know if the relationship's going to go well, how it's going to turn out. And it takes a lot of time to kind of bring someone up to speed for them to be able to be successful and for it to be a positive long term relationship. So there's benefit in doing that. And I'm talking about someone who can deliver these short videos, who, who can help write them, who can help deliver the information in a short, effective way, and who can become a long term partner in becoming the voice and the personality for these short videos.

[00:05:40] So that's option number one. There's pluses and minuses to that. Option number two is where I'm leaning, but I also need your feedback. Where I'm leaning is to kind of take a semi sabbatical, and this is so hard to do because I'm loving my work with Mormon Stories, but it's to take a semi sabbatical with Mormon Stories podcast where I find some of our top personalities. People like Natasha Alfred Parker, you know, maybe Gina Colvin, maybe Leah Young, maybe Anthony Miller, maybe Margi, maybe, you know, Julia de Azevedo Hanks. I don't know. But I basically just ask, you know, people that you would recommend are top personalities to kind of take over Mormon Stories Podcast for a year.

[00:06:22] RFM Bill Real, Jonathan Streeter, Samantha Shelley from Zelf on the Shelf Tanner, like, I basically just line up the topics in the interviews that I know need to happen. Ask your favorite personalities and players in this space. John Larsen, to replace or guest host Mormon Stories Podcast for a season, let's say for six months or a year or even a year and a half. Sometimes I would still do interviews, but for the most part, I would just hand off the primary interviewing duties of Mormon Stories Podcast for a season. And then I would dig into the Understanding Mormonism YouTube channel, the webpage, the TikTok, the Instagram, and kind of creatively bootstrap and launch this new initiative using my brand, using my personality, using my platform, and help make this thing hugely successful.

[00:07:19] So those are the two things that I'm weighing. Again, the benefits of that latter initiative is that we could get a bunch of diverse voices on Mormon Stories Podcast. Again, Spencer Nugent, people of color, LGBT people like Kyle Ashworth or Gerardo Sumano or others. The benefit is we could get diverse voices on Mormon Stories Podcast. We could keep Mormon Stories going, and I could take over Understanding Mormonism and launch that and make it successful. The drawback would be I don't want donors to pull out. I don't want donors to Mormon Stories to be upset or dissatisfied. And, you know, I don't know, it could improve the quality of Mormon Stories Podcast or it could make it worse, potentially.

[00:08:04] And the worst thing that could happen would be that donors pull their support and Mormon Stories Podcast fails and we're not able to get Understanding Mormonism off the ground. So this is a call to donors. I need your help. I need your suggestions on what the best thing would do. And particularly, I'm asking for you to speak from the standpoint of supporting. If you're going to support us either way, I want to know that if you are only, you know, if you're going to pull your support if I do Understanding Mormonism, or if you're going to pull your support if I don't do Understanding Mormonism, if you have ideas, if you have suggestions, what has to happen is that we pick a plan that doesn't introduce too much risk, that doesn't lead to a scenario where it can't be managed, where everything explodes and people are unhappy, or where it's such a cash drain either from donations dropping or expenses are so high that it's unsustainable and that it backfires and it hurts Mormon Stories podcast.

Listener Input on Hosting and Format

[00:09:01] Because if there's anything that's clear, it's the Mormon Stories podcast needs to only continue and grow and be more successful. So I'm asking for your help. I'm asking for feedback, particularly from donors who. What do you see as the most viable option? What are you willing to support?

[00:09:16] Do you have ideas on how to make this happen? Do you have suggestions for a person that would be a great, dependable, reliable, low drama, high quality person to run the Understanding Mormonism channel if it's not me again, they would need to do writing and performance and they would need to be affordable in a way and a reliable partner in the long term that wouldn't blow up and backfire and cause all this drama. Or, or, you know, if you like the idea of me doing Understanding Mormonism, who would you want to see as a host for Mormon Stories podcast? How would that work? Do you see concerns with that?

[00:09:52] Do you see that as a great opportunity? I just need your feedback. Okay. In terms of how it would be best for me to consume your feedback, I'm broadcasting this on all my channels because I want as many people who as who are donors who want to give feedback to give feedback. It's going to be hard for me to consume all this feedback if it's in a million different places. So we're going message me with your feedback. That'd be great. I'm going to post this as a more as a Mormon Stories podcast post. I would love comments there. At MormonStories.org, you can do so anonymously.

[00:10:23] You don't have to use your real name. Your email address will be obscured. So it would be great if you could put your comments there. And then if you're going to privilege where you put your comments, it's harder for me to get your comments on Twitter. It's harder for me to get them on Instagram. I would rather get them consolidated on the MormonStories.org website or as private messages to me or posted somewhere on Facebook if possible. But please give me your feedback. I would love your support. I'm so grateful for it. We need to make understanding Mormonism possible, but we need to do it in a way to where MormonStories.org only maintains its current success or grows.

[00:11:04] Thank you so much for your feedback. Thank you. Let me just read whatever comments really quickly you have right now because I have an amazing interview that I'm doing today. Let's see. Tara Chapman writes, keep Mormon Stories going with just you don't change it. Just keep it. Keep it up. Keep it simple. Okay, thanks for that feedback, Tara. John says I won't pull support for Mormon Stories regardless. I like Option one gives an opportunity for more diversity and representation in the space. John Nelson when you say option one, I need to know which option you're talking about.

[00:11:36] Chad Brown says, I am not a current donor but have been in the past. My two cents you can't do everything. Do what you do best, which is the podcast. Bring someone on to do the shorts if you feel the need to fill that void. The problems you talk about with bringing someone on are age old leadership problems. Focus on upping your leadership games so that Ms. Can scale without you trying to do everything. Chad first of all, I adore you. Second, I appreciate the feedback. Third, I agree that it's a management problem. The biggest challenge I've had is that I am an individual contributor.

[00:12:05] That's what I want to do. That's what I feel like my talents best are served at doing. And I can't be a good manager and run Mormon Stories podcasts. I just can't. I'm not capable. But the more time I invest being a manager, the less time I have to run Mormon Stories podcast and then I'm not doing Mormon Stories podcasts well and any new projects don't get run well. So I am limited in my ability to manage and the last thing I want or need are blowups with staff because that's bitten me in the past. So. So you're right, it is a management problem. I don't know the right answer, but thanks for the feedback, Chad.

[00:12:41] I'll keep thinking about it. McClain Juggler writes, Create a whole Mormon Stories podcast network. All of those people you named Start with the first year doing interviews for you and then have the best of these people launch their own podcasts on your network, you could have five to 10 podcasts all doing different niches in your network. So McLean, that's an interesting piece of feedback. I've done that in the past. I had Dan Witherspoon with his own podcast, Natasha Alfred Parker with their own podcast, Gina Colvin with their own podcast. And by the way, Natasha and Gina still have podcasts at Thoughtful Faith and Mormon Mental Health.

[00:13:11] Again, the problem is the more moving parts, the more complexity there is in management. Plus you have to find a way to compensate everybody and it just gets really complex. It's a great idea, McLean. I haven't been able to figure out how to do that and not just add complexity.

Donor Suggestions and Closing Thoughts

[00:13:25] James writes, Samantha Shelley would be an amazing host of Understanding Mormonism. She is very well spoken and has proven herself capable of getting her points across on Zelf. I love Samantha. I would love to partner with Samantha. The only challenge I have with Samantha, you know, and I should talk to her about this because we're, we're pals, is that she has a full time job and she's coaching and she runs ELF on the shelf. I don't know how she would have enough time to do Understanding Mormonism, but it's worth checking out. Jerem says, pray about it. John I will do that. Jerem. That's great. Excellent feedback.

[00:13:58] I love that feedback. Dear Divine Universe, what should I do? Please send me. Please send me the answers and I'm waiting. I'll wait till they give that feedback. Bobby says, stay with your cash cow. Hand off the emerging arm of Understanding Mormonism and pay them. Bobby I love that idea. I just need to find the right person that's reliable, that's effective, that is low maintenance and that's affordable. So if any of you have ideas on that, if any of you think you're that person, I just need to know that you're affordable, that you are low drama, that this won't backfire and that you can be relied upon and that you'll be an effective writer and performer talent wise.

[00:14:37] I need kind of evidence of that. Scott writes, I'm not a donor, but share and introduce people to Mormon stories. But I most enjoy you. You are authentic, open, honest and not sure there are many that match your caliber of morality. Thank you, Scott. I'm super appreciative of that. Hannah writes, I support you either way though I am only a small, intermittent donor. Hannah, if you're donating, you're important to me because most of my donors, the overwhelming number of my donors are like you small, intermittent donors. And so you're the, you're the person that I want to make sure most won't pull your support cash.

[00:15:08] Valley Bike writes, please don't stop the Mormon Stories interviews. Okay, thank you for that feedback. I don't plan to. Hannah writes, I think most people like your supporting podcasts and heartfelt stories. So Hannah, I think that's a vote for me just to keep doing Mormon. If anything to find other people to support. Jerem Lee Thurston writes, I agree, Bobby. There's talent to make more creative short stories while keeping John D. As the main host interviewer. So Jerem, so you're kind of voting for the have someone else do Understanding Mormonism and I'm totally open to that. Let's see. One anonymous Facebook user says, I love you as an interviewer, but I'm thinking the interviewees are the stars of the podcast, so give option two a try and we won't pull donations either way.

[00:15:47] So this is basically saying that I should do Understanding Mormonism and let someone else do the interviews. So that's good feedback. Anonymous Facebook user Cache Valley Bike writes, I'll support either way. Al writes, ask Anthony Miller as a co host. Anthony's brilliant. I love that guy and I do plan on him being a main interviewee if he's willing. And if I go with this option, let's see, Honeymoon always says give your second option a try. It's easy to adjust if it doesn't work than it is to change after you bring someone else on. Also like you posting excerpts from long interviews that you have been doing.

[00:16:25] So I'm confused when you say second option or first option. I'm confused which one you're voting for, so please clarify. I I'm lost in the drama of my own interview and I don't remember which one's option one and option option two. Glenn Fulmer Short videos via issues with specific facts would be great. Don't do both. Do the short videos yourself, just as long as they are factual and not feeling stuff. I do like that idea, Glenn. And by the way, I plan on understanding Mormonism. Not to be sarcastic or highly produced. I really want it to be journalistic style where people are just giving credible evidence in a non dramatic, non hyperbolic way.

[00:17:03] And so Glenn, that's what I'm planning to do and I really love that feedback. My dear friend Kristen Robin Osborne says there seems to be a mix of the two options. You are too important to Mormon stories. You are the voice. So Kristen, I I, I worry about that that if I leave Mormon Stories Podcast that I am Mormon Stories Podcast. So. So yeah. All right. I need to wrap this up and get ready for my next interview. Lynn Moore I love you Lynn Moore.

[00:17:28] Lynn Moore says you will always have my support. I would miss your interview style. So I vote for someone else doing Understanding Mormonism. That is a great feedback, Lynn and I love you, Lynn and I want to come to Houston soon. Please give Bill and your entire family, Jason and everyone else my love. Bryce Jones says, I love the short videos of Understanding Mormonism. I also enjoy Mormon Stories as well. Thank you for the support. Bryce Jones let's see. Emily Ellis McBride says, could all of your suggested guest interviewers instead take on Understanding Mormonism topic or two? Emily that's possible. I can play with that idea of having people having those potential guest interviewers do Understanding Mormonism.

[00:18:07] The problem is keeping a standard production quality. They need to be able to come into studio delivery quality, writing quality. Again, part of the challenge is the more moving parts, the more complex anything gets. NdogStrike says Exmo Lex is one of my favorite smaller YouTube and TikTok creators. Maybe she would be willing to collaborate with or run Understanding Mormonism. Huge shout out to exmolex. I love her. This is in no way to compete with or replace her. I need her to be super successful. I want to have her on Mormon Stories at some point and maybe she's a partner for Understanding Mormonism. That's super possible.

[00:18:42] Again, could she do whatever she does and still support me? I don't know. But it's it's worth talking about. Someone else is is voting for that we that we bring on Zelf on the Shelf to be guest hosts for Understanding Mormonism. That's a possibility. I love those guys. Chad writes, maybe partner with the CEO type so that I can stay focused. I am totally open to. I've always wanted like a chief operating officer type of person to help run the operations of the Open Storage Foundation. The problem is finding someone I can afford, who I can trust, who won't backstab me and who is an effective manager that I can afford and who'll do a good job.

[00:19:24] So if they can do a good job, I can afford them. They won't backstab me and they're super effective, man. I'm in. So if that person exists, I've been praying for that person I've gotten. Gerardo Simano has been an incredible help in many ways. He can't do this job. I would love him to do it and if that person exists and they're out there, I'm just, I'm dying for that to happen. One vote for John Larsen in some form. John's great. I do plan on having John Larsen on Mormon Stories more in the next year. We've, we've agreed to that. The challenge is he can only give a minimal level of commitment because he's full time job guy and he's fantastic.

[00:20:05] All right. Yeah. Jimmy Snow. I love Jimmy Snow. I'm trying to get him on Mormon Stories, but he's busy. Jana says it won't be Mormon Stories without me. So maybe I don't do understanding Mormonism. Maybe I hand that off. I need your feedback. And then I'll just add this is the final feedback for today. Either way you go. You're the voice for the voiceless and Mormon stories. Be blessed. So thanks, Raymond Ortiz for that feedback. All right, thanks for your feedback. Message me, post feedback to mormonstories.org or and, or post your feedback to Facebook or message me. I'll read as much as I can. Please let me know how to solve this problem.

[00:20:43] I'm seeking your feedback if you're a donor. I love you guys. I can't wait for more. No matter what, great things are going to happen. So just look forward to more great Mormon Stories podcast stuff in the months, weeks, days and years ahead.

[00:20:56] Patrick Norris says, John, we're so grateful for you. Truth is, you're the man. Don't stop, whatever, as you still help so many donation on its way. Thank you, Patrick. And if you do want to Support us at MormonStories.org, become a monthly donor, one time donor, whatever you can afford, that will be super appreciative. Venmo, at Mormon Stories, we just, we can't thank you enough for your support. And frankly, if we were to get a next level of donations, a couple hundred thousand dollars more a year, even $50,000 more a year than we're currently getting, we could pay someone full time to do this.

[00:21:34] So if that's something you guys can support, we'll make that happen. If there's a donor out there that just wants to support at some, you know, 25 grand or 50 grand or a group of donors that just want to pay for me to bring on someone like a Samantha Shelley full time, if so, you know, that's another option. I'll just end with this, that if there are, if there's a donor out there, a group of donors that could allocate a substantive amount of money, again, let's say 10, 20, 30 grand to bring on someone full time to do this. I am very confident that we could solve this problem, but what we can't do is, you know, sacrifice our current cash situation, our current sustainability for this future project.

[00:22:14] So if there, if there are substantive donors that are willing to back this new project, in a way, I'm 100% sure we could do this. But I just, I only know if that's possible if somebody steps up. So, anyway, love you guys. Reach out. Thanks for your support. Great stuff ahead. 2020 was the most amazing year. We've already gotten off to a great start in 2021, and I look forward to your feedback and we'll see you guys all again soon on Mormon Stories podcast. Take care, everybody.

Transcript © 2026 John P. Dehlin. All rights reserved. Brief quotations are welcome with attribution and a link to mormonstories.org; all other use requires written permission.