Order of the Priesthood, Sacrifice, & Leadership | An Interview with Todd McLauchlin

Todd McLauchlin served a mission to Japan and studied philosophy at Brigham Young University. In this conversation, Todd and Kurt delve into the concept of magnifying one’s calling in the priesthood, emphasizing the importance of sacrifice and obedience, and discuss how leaders can magnify redemption to others.
For links related to this video, visit leadingsaints.org/order-of-th...
Highlights
00:05:30 - Exploring the intersection of leadership, theology, and priesthood
- A question that has always hounded Todd is do you REALLY believe what you believe? Why do I believe this?
00:09:57 - Understanding the concepts of belief and repentance in the scriptures
- Being Christ-like is more than just being a nicer person. How can I be a much more truthful person and what am I willing to sacrifice for it? Bring the darkness out of you into the light.
- What is the dread of the holy? If you really want to pursue holiness and Jesus Christ you will most likely face dread in that path. You will have to encounter your demons to feel that sanctifying light.
- Even the person that seems like they have everything together and is temple worthy has a lot of work to do on himself.
- We need to humble ourselves without being compelled. We can go to the Lord with a broken heart and contrite spirit to know the depth of our weakness and insufficiency so that we can know the power and salvational abilities of Jesus Christ. It will be a radically transformational experience.
00:13:14 - The significance of the Oath and Covenant of the Priesthood
- The order of the priesthood is a group of people that are obtaining covenantal relationship intimacy with the Lord in degrees of intimacy. Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ share their power with you as you become sanctified and fulfill their purposes.
- The meaning of the order of the priesthood. The ordination is the authoritative invitation to enter into the order of the priesthood but you must do much more to sanctify yourself to share the power of God. That is the difference between being called and chosen.
- Unpacking the temple endowment to understand priesthood theology
00:20:26 - The covenant of the priesthood and becoming clean from the blood and sins of this generation. This is our primary call and covenant.
00:26:53 - Magnifying one’s calling and the connection to priesthood theology
00:36:40 - Sacrifice, leadership, and the impact on relationships and redemption
00:41:52 - The consequences of breaking covenant and the role of priesthood in delivering Christ’s message
00:45:47 - Applying covenant principles to leadership roles like Relief Society and elders quorum presidents. Normally the things that the Lord wants us to do are things that we don’t want to do but that is where the power is unlocked.
- When Adam and Eve were cast out, God said I will give you a savior and the law of sacrifice. We get to partner with Christ through our sacrifices.
- Many are struggling with children that don’t want to participate in the covenant. What can they do?
- When people leave the covenant. They haven’t seen how the gospel can work for them. Their testimony is not the problem; not experiencing redemption is the problem.
- Are people leaving their Sunday feeling the redemption or like they haven’t been doing enough? There has to be a balance. We need to be careful on how we talk about repentance.
- Going through a true repentance process and giving everything to Christ so that you can be transformed. Your own redemptive experience will magnify to others.
- We are ALL sinners. Should we even use the word ‘serious’ in front of sin? We all have to heal our brokenness no matter what the sin.
- Todd’s recommendations for further study (see links at leadingsaints.org/order-of-th...)
- Todd shares his most significant experience with the young men.

[@Shaballah707]

I love this. I've been thinking about how in the endowment we are administered the tokens and signs of the priesthood and that we are to share the priesthood with others through the same process. This is how we build Zion.
This is how I believe we can share priesthood power, or magnify our office: We bear one another's burden, we mourn with those that mourn, we comfort those in need of comfort, and stand as a witness of God for the promises he has made and fulfilled. Giving priesthood blessings I feel is comforting those in need of comfort. There is so much that surrounds this phase in speaking the priesthood that we tend to ignore, mainly because we don't realize how tightly these other elements are connected together.

[@valiantkjones]

Brilliant. There is so much doctrinal depth in this interview. I have listened to it 3 times and feel like there is still more to understand. I don't know what price you have paid for the depth of understanding you have gained, but thank you for sharing.

[@alexostergaard8387]

Hey Val! I agree, this is fantastic stuff.

[@jeffward7140]

I just noticed that your Jacob 1:19 reference is also part of a much larger Chiasmus. Spanning into chapter 2.
Thank you! Truely appreciate hearing all of the things of my heart explained with words that I don’t have the skills to articulate.

[@juliearcher2970]

Wendy Nelson bore witness at the 2022 Alberta Canada devotional of the suffering servants sacrificial role by saying “ I wonder if you and I would study in a little different way, each truth we received from general conference if we had any idea the price our leaders paid to offer that truth.”

[@chasingagreenlife9527]

This guy knows what he’s talking about. I agree with everything I heard and it didn’t seem foreign at all. What’s even better is he says he’s just an average Joe who loves studying the gospel. That’s what we can all do. And the insights are great.
Going deeper than the surface outlined principles and really internalizing the doctrines is what it’s all about. Personal revelation and spiritual growth.
Thanks for the video.
We need more of these topics. 👍

[@lessthanthedust]

Really enjoyed this discussion! Thank you 😊

[@curtiskeller6702]

This is fantastic. Love the idea. But please give some citations of prophets and apostles saying the endowment is the oath and covenant of the priesthood . Seriously love the idea, and it makes some sense. But please provide some citations -articles, scriptures, etc. Would be awesome and give this some legitimacy.

[@cadenallred967]

I don’t think there is any hard quote of that but it’s Todd’s own idea or revelation if you will. But where do we take oaths and make covenants? That are associated with signs and tokens? When we are ordained at church there are no such signs or tokens as baptism by water and by fire. Anytime a covenant is made there are signs and tokens that we made it. Besides think about the initiatory and what it is that we are being initiated into. It’s the priesthood!

[@Freedom0rBust]

Read D&C 107 and we learn that the word "priesthood" is a substitute label used for "the holy order...". An order is group of people with shared characteristics, knowledge, and beliefs.
We make oaths in the temple, and the Lord makes covenants with us. I agree with Todd, it's all there.
In my opinion, the Brethren in the church do not use the word "order" in describing the priesthood because it would draw a clear divide of those endowed and those who are not. And it's better to have these things spiritually discerned than to open up another attack vector where ex-members or current members are use difference in people to divide and diminish people's faith.

[@shellhill3142]

I caution against the belief that if a bishop or any leader puts forth sacrifice to show others that commitment it will automatically lead to a softening of heart.
Sometimes people take that showing forth of commitment as a sign that they are entitled.
Please let's not lead anyone to believing that a bishop can change the hearts or minds of his Ward members through his own efforts or his own repentance/sacrifice.
Jesus Christ was different. His sacrifice was able to bring something about for all of mankind that an individual Bishops sacrifice cannot.
We do not live in a world where every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus is the Christ. We are just simply not living in that ideological world.

[@Freedom0rBust]

I don't know if I understood your point clearly however, as someone who was profoundly influence by a Bishop when I was in YSA many years ago, he's sacrifices to me softened me to consider my ways.
I understood that Jesus is the way to salvation, but having members/ecclesiastical leaders show me a Christlike example allowed me to consider what they said.

[@clayb00g]

The Bishop comes clean after sacrificing with sincerity, regardless if the members accept his sacrifice

[@TheGreatVonBron]

If a bishop is “sacrificing” in order to get gain/entitlement the he is really not sacrificing-he’s practicing priestcraft. In that case he is not exercising priesthood power, because he’s not following the order of the Son of God, which is to humble yourself and condescend below those who you serve. He has to do his sacrifice without hypocrisy and without guile in order for it to have any power.