Temple Bound

Richie Steadman on Imperfect Saints and Unconditional Love

• Will • Season 1 • Episode 86

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What happens when the loudest message God ever sends you is a last name on a piece of paper? In this powerful episode of Temple Bound, host Will Humphreys sits down with Richie Steadman, the veteran host of The Cultural Hall podcast, for one of the most honest and faith affirming conversations this show has ever had.

Richie shares his full faith journey, from navigating his parents' divorce as a teenager and wrestling with a black and white view of the gospel, to receiving a mission call to Cleveland, Ohio that changed everything. He opens up about serving near the Kirtland Temple, the sacred covenant he made at the Newell K. Whitney Store, and a spiritual experience while running near the temple that gave him a glimpse of the early Latter day Saints in their time. These experiences became the foundation of his testimony.

Topics Covered in This Episode:

  • Growing up in the LDS Church through a family divorce and the cultural pressures of youth
  • Why Richie started The Cultural Hall podcast in 2011 and what keeps it going
  • Receiving a mission call to Cleveland, Ohio and overcoming disappointment about a stateside assignment
  • Serving near the Kirtland Temple and what it meant to walk the same ground as Joseph Smith
  • Making covenants at the Newell K. Whitney Store at the start and end of a mission
  • A sacred and personal vision of the early Saints during a morning run near the Kirtland Temple
  • The unique spiritual weight of serving in Church history sites
  • Coming home from a mission and being excommunicated within a year
  • What excommunication actually feels like from the inside and what the Church can do better
  • Why Richie kept coming to church every week for nearly a decade
  • The moment at the Jordan River Temple when a last name on an endowment card said everything
  • How unconditional love is the only right response to someone navigating excommunication
  • Richie's definition of perfection: the only thing you can truly be perfect in is never giving up

Whether you are navigating a faith crisis, supporting a loved one who feels on the outside, or simply trying to show up better for the people around you, this episode will meet you exactly where you are.

Find Richie: 

Podcast: The Cultural Hall (available everywhere) 

Instagram/Socials: 

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Follow And Review Request

SPEAKER_01

Before we start the episode, I have a small favor to ask. If Temple Bound has meant something to you, would you take a moment right now and follow the podcast and leave a comment on the app that you're listening to? When you follow and leave a comment, it helps the podcast show up for more people who are trying to learn, grow, and come closer to the teachings of the Temple. It's free and it's simple, but it really makes a big difference. Thank you so much for being here. Welcome back to Temple Band. What if the loudest message God ever sent you was a name on a piece of paper? That's exactly what happens to our guest today, Richie Stedman, who, by the way, is the host of The Cultural Hall, an amazing podcast that's been around for 15 years. We're going to talk about his faith crisis as a kid, where he served his mission in Ohio that helped him really connect earlier saints in a very special way, all the way to almost a decade of distance from the church as an excommunicated member of the church. His inspiration and his insight on that alone is a powerful example for all of us. So stay with us through the end. Richie's final answer might be the most honest definition of perfection you've ever heard.

Meet Richie Steadman

SPEAKER_01

Here we go. So, Richie, welcome to Temple Bound. I am so honored to have you as a guest today.

SPEAKER_03

Thank you for having me.

SPEAKER_01

Dude, um, and you're, like I said in the introduction, just for people who just reiterate, so you're the host of the Cultural Hall. How long has that been going on, that podcast?

SPEAKER_03

Uh, what feels like any passion project for forever. Uh 15 years. We started the 6th of April uh 2011. So we're cut we're in our 16th year of doing this thing.

SPEAKER_01

And what inspired you to start the Cultural Hall?

SPEAKER_03

True story. Uh podcasts at that time. Let's let's go back in the Wayback Machine editor. Uh back then, not many people had podcasts. This was the day before everyone has a podcast. And um, a friend of mine that I worked with professionally, he had a podcast, and he was talking about like comic books, and he was talking about like action figures, and it was this, you know, it that was in the height of all the Marvel stuff. And I thought, man, that sounds terrible.

unknown

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

But I like the idea of doing a podcast. And so I thought, okay, well, what do I like? And actually the idea had come out in like 2009 that I wanted to do it, but what I wanted to call it was the cultural hall because I was like, I love Mormon stuff. This was back when we could say Mormon stuff and you didn't get side-eye from some people. Um, and I was like, Yeah, I want to do this. And I thought about names, and people were like, call it green, jelly, and whatever. And I was like, nah, it's not that, it's more than that. Um and then I fell in love with the name, the Cultural Hall, and then got the social media for it, and then I was locked in, but I couldn't get the website because someone else owned the domain. So I sat on the idea for a couple of years, and then finally I was able to purchase the domain from the person who owned it, and then uh started publishing episodes on the 6th of April, 2011.

SPEAKER_01

So you but what was the thing that got you because you could you could have done multiple topics, right? What made you lean into your faith?

SPEAKER_03

Uh I it literally is the thing that I find I could talk about the most with people. Sometimes that's religious aspects. Sometimes it's just people, and when people are people

Starting The Cultural Hall

SPEAKER_03

in and you just go, I don't know why they did that, and then there's a religious route to that.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Um there's there's some part of it that I feel like my uh experience uh through my faith has been different from a lot of folks. And so I thought that there was some uh space for me to be able to take like some real estate as far as that goes. But then honestly, like, and I always make this joke on the cultural hall, I'll say 25% of the reason was I wanted to meet famous Mormon people in the name of recording a podcast episode, and like the top shelf, the guy for me that I wanted to meet was Peter Breinholt, because I just love his music, I love his voice, I think it's distinct. Some people may not know. If you don't know, you need to check it out. It is iconic as far as the culture of the church and and some music. And then when I had had him on episode six, I was like, well, that part's done, so I guess I'm gonna have to do something else.

SPEAKER_01

How was he, by the way? What was it like meeting Peter?

SPEAKER_03

Oh my gosh. So so he has again, this was, you know, this is then mid-2011. Um he came in the studio. If you listen to episodes of the Cultural Hall, he made the little jingles that we still use at the end of every episode and between some of our news segments and stuff like that. There's been other times where I've reached out to him and I've said, Hey, I need this, or we're doing a live show, are you gonna be around? Could you do this? And he's just a guy that um is so like straightforward and honest with his faith, where we've had conversations previous episodes of our show where he's just been like, Yeah, man, struggling. Struggling, here we go. Or like, I don't see this the way that I used to see this. And here's why. And I I appreciate the heck out of people that can go, hey, you know what? I know that people may think one way or about this or another, but I have got to say it the way that I feel it and know it. Otherwise, there's not there's no it's not worth a conversation.

SPEAKER_01

Yes, there's a there's an element of authenticity and uniqueness to your your voice, your show that is so powerful because you aren't taking a view of trying to fit in to anything as much as just be you. And it's something I think is very clear from the second anyone meets you or watches your your content. You alluded earlier that you said that your faith journey has been what you considered different is the word you used. How was that different?

Divorce And A Black And White Lens

SPEAKER_03

Well, how much time do we have? Uh so uh I think first and foremost, so when I was a teenager, parents got divorced, and dad was like, church is the way, and mom was like, bye, Felicia, I'm out. And I understand the older that I've gotten, and knowing how some people responded when my parents got divorced and how they treated my mom versus how they treated my dad, in large part, and it's and it's a difficult thing to say, I almost don't blame her, right? I almost don't blame the fact that she was like, I why would I want to be a part of this with people telling me these things, um, not supporting me or supporting me in these terrible ways? Why why would she want to be a part of it? So, so that first and foremost, right? I'm a teenage kid who's like, you know, wrestling with like, why does this feel this way? And why does my voice and this hair is awfully weird? What's going on here? And then added into that is this dynamic of, and I was really black and white in my teenage years of like, mom's going to hell, I guess I gotta figure that out.

SPEAKER_01

That must have been really hard. That must have been really hard. Because like it's interesting because you know you see that pull of how people are treated differently. You're able to see maybe the culture versus the the you know the faith of what we do, and then it's it's hitting so home at a time in your life where you're completely redefining who you are as a human being all at once. That must have been incredibly difficult, especially with more of a um binary perspective that a lot of us have. I know I have that same perspective as well. It's like, you know, this is right, that's wrong. Very clear, right?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Yeah. And so I can remember it in my kind of you know, later-ish teenage years having conversations with my mom where it's like, that's great you feel that way, but it's not gonna get you to heaven. And I'm just like, oh. So then I go to college and uh start decided to

A Prayer That Changes Everything

SPEAKER_03

study. Um, when I went down initially to college, I was like, I'm gonna be a college guy, and college guys are business guys, and business guys make money and we communicate and we all these things.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

And so my first semester of college was the absolute worst because I took like all the like I'm a college guy classes, and then the second semester I was like, I just want to do theater and dance, so we're gonna load up this semester. And my mom's like, Are you like, are you studying things? And I'm like, Yeah, one and two and three and four and you know, all this stuff gives me a hard time about it. That's key, right? But I just was like, I I gotta figure myself out, and I had tried to be something else and then wasn't, and then after the first year of college, I was like, okay, a mission. What what is what does this look like? What is this about? Um, older brother served a mission in Argentina, huge uh example to me, like you like I think a lot of people do with their older brother. It's like, you know, there's the there there's your LeBron James's and they're maybe up here, but then that older brother, just older than you, he's he's way better.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

For some ridiculous reason, because my brother doesn't play basketball or make millions of dollars or give me any of that, so there's that. But just looked up to him and I was like, but I don't want to I don't want to go and teach something that I don't know. Uh I don't know that I know it. Uh I don't know, you know, like what it's gonna be like, I don't know, you know, I I there were so many things. And uh I can remember, and this will don't let me forget to tell you about this, because there I was dating a girl at the time who said, Well, you know what you should do is you should just pray about it. And it's like the first time that anyone had ever told me to pray about something, although I'm sure every young men's advisor and primary teacher and parent, but you know, you hear it from the one that you're interested in, and you're like, and then she had the most profound message I've ever heard. She said, pray about it. And and uh I go into my bedroom and I do the thing. This is this is how much of a cliche uh in some parts my life is. I did the thing that I thought you'd do when you're praying for answers. Um I took my scriptures quad and I threw it on the bed, and then uh, you know, it uh it opens up, and then I read the verse, and then I go on a mission. That's literally what happened. It was first Nephi 46 that says that I was led by the Spirit, not knowing beforehand the things which I should do. And I was like, Well, this is the Spirit, and this is the scripture, and I don't know what I'm gonna do, so thanks God. I guess I'm going on a mission, and that's all it took.

SPEAKER_01

I love, by the way, I get both as you're talking, it's so funny because you tell it in such a funny way, and it still sounds like as profound as anything I've heard. Yeah. How beautiful this. But the coolest part of the story is just that you're going through this, like, you know, that pair, like you have to hear it from someone that actually you you connect with. It's almost like this parenting lesson of how many times I tell my kids things, and then I'll come back and go, you know what my friend said to me the other day? And I'm like, dude, how many times have I told you? But in my mind, I'm like, I get it. I get that younger version of me who's like, no, it's gotta come from there because you're at you're becoming an individual at that point. You're a college student, you've tried different skins that don't fit, you're trying the ones at work, and this beautiful girl tells you something and it changes your life. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_03

It just clicks. So I'm like, oh, I'm gonna serve a mission.

The Cleveland Call And The Letdown

SPEAKER_03

So I uh I get the uh I get the mission call and I actually open it in front of my institute class and then call my parents later and let them know where I'm going. And I open up the mission call and it's Cleveland, Ohio, and everyone's like, ah, and I and the you I'm bless my sweet institute teacher's heart. I'm sure that he saw me go womp, womp, womp, womp.

SPEAKER_01

Well, there's there's a cultural pressure. I've seen it with my own kids in a way that I don't like. I I'm not ripping on anybody for doing this, but sometimes when we're celebrating something, we start to develop almost a um a Sadducee-Pharisee kind of like way of doing things. Whereas like my little boys are going to some of their cousins' letter openings and there are these huge ceremonies with hundreds of kids, and I'm like, well, what if my kid doesn't have hundreds of friends? Yeah. Or what if they get called stateside and there's all this like social pressure to go exotic and foreign? It's like, you know, or heaven forbid, a service mission, which by the way, to me, I believe service missionaries are the bravest, strongest, because there's not this if anything, they're fighting the culture while they're serving Jesus, which to me is the purest expression of that. So I'm not putting them above well, maybe I am a little, and culturally speaking, only because, but even that could be a downward you know spiral if I'm not careful. I'm just saying authenticity is there. So that wah wah wah, I I'll I know exactly what you're talking about.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. So he chimes in and he says, but you know what's in his mission? And I said, No, I don't. And I'm clearly just distraught about he's like Kirtland, and I was like, the thing from Costco, and he's like, no, Kirtland. Uh sorry.

SPEAKER_01

From Costco. Okay, keep going.

SPEAKER_03

And uh I was like, oh, cool, so like the early, and then I start to get into like Doctor and Covenants 3832. I will send you to the Ohio and you'll be endowed with power from on high. And I'm like, yeah, me, take that, suckers. But it was so hard because to your point, like my college roommates, one went to Australia, English speaking, one went to Austria, and he spent most of his time around the Alps and these little villages and blah blah blah, and another one went to South Africa and then Cleveland, Ohio, and I'm like, cool guys, well, have fun. I'll see how Cleveland is. But if I may, to all the people that have uh like stateside uh mission calls, guess what you're gonna do that all those suckers don't get to? Go in a two-hour Delta flight from wherever you live, and you can go as many times as you want, and you can't just pop over to Austria or you know, I'm just gonna cruise down to Brisbane, Australia. There are blessings from being able to be stateside that you don't get otherwise.

SPEAKER_01

I want to chime in on that, my second son who's coming home from Texas in two weeks or two months, he said this to me. I remember he opened his call right here with me and my my wife in my office, the very one I'm I'm talking in right now, and he opened it up and he said Texas, and it was wah, wah, wah for him. And and I was like, hey man, do you know that I'm a sixth generation Texan? Do you know what this is gonna look like? And so when he opened his call, he did one just kind of intimately with his aunts and uncles, the ones who were from Texas, and it was yeehaw, and it was we're proud of you. You're going back home, you know, you're gonna pick up some authentic Dr. Pepper. But it was this thing about it, and somewhere around a half halfway through his mission, this Mr. Authentic was just like, you know what? This was exactly what I needed. And for for me, I love it when um the there's disappointment. I almost like look forward to the disappointment that comes to me and my family around things that are supposed to be a certain way because I'm just saying that it's behind those things where we really get to find the savior in our way, in our personal, no one else knows it but us kind of way. And there's like you said, blessings. He'll be able to, we're gonna go, you know, Texas. Oh my gosh, I fly through there all the time. We're gonna be able to go back and visit those people, those those temples when they open up. It's gonna be amazing. So I love that you share that.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah, but I didn't feel that at first. And and and there was part of me too, because I'm born and raised in Utah, where like I saw more cultures in the Cleveland airport than I had my entire life, and I can remember distinctly being like, okay, we are not in Salt Lake City anymore. So uh, but but and I and I truly think this, I know that this is another cliche, but I truly think this. Like, God's kids are God's kids, and they're everywhere, and it can be like when I have found myself really like tuned in, like on my ward level, like that's the best ward ever. That's the best place I could be. And that's literally on the street with people who have similar socioeconomic, and I'm just like, the this is the best place. Similarly, it's the worst place when I don't feel that love for people in a neighborhood that I may be living or or a ward that I may be in. And so I, you know, I I really do truly think it's cool to see great like places, but you can always travel and be able to do that. But the people, I think by far is where you go, oh man, yes, that was my heart right there, those people right there.

SPEAKER_01

So tell me about the mission in terms of how that affected you overall. If we can go back and look at that two-year span and just say, you know, I see now, I really empathize with you, Richie. You're in this place of like you're identifying who you were, but deep through this whole process, I feel this testimony that's present. If anything, you were learning how to kind of find that mercy with the justice as you're going through the diverse with your mom divorce with your mom and all these things. Sure. Now you're in your mission. How did that how did that impact you? How did

Learning Gray Through Missionary Love

SPEAKER_01

that change you?

SPEAKER_03

Well, the the mission was a huge change, and I'll try and highlight just a couple things uh around it. One, um, it it was truly on my mission that I sort of went from like the black and white to, oh, hey, there's gray. But there there was uh a process around it. Um the other uh another thing that I'll say about it is there's a certain part of me that has I I think regrets uh is maybe too strong of a word, but I look back and I think that if I did a mission now, I would do a mission very differently than how I did then. So I'll tell you a little bit about that. But then also uh like sacred. Um so many things when when I think about um like being a missionary and like, hey, how's it going? You know Jesus, I'd love to tell you about Jesus. And also, at the end of this, you know, 45 minutes that we've spent together, I would like you to completely change your life. Are you willing to commit that? Like the the like righteous um, like, I don't know, the righteous ambition of something like that. I look back at that and I go, wow, wow, that's pretty amazing. Um so let me pick up a couple pieces. One, I'd never read the Book of Mormon before I went on my mission. Uh when I was in the MTC, I can distinctly remember the moment where uh it clicked in my brain that uh the Book of Mormon was another testament of Jesus Christ and that Christ came to the Americas. Yep, that's how basic I didn't understand what the Book of Mormon was. That's a hundred percent what I'm saying. Is that what it is? Yes, it is. And I can remember in my class of like 16 people and being like, Do you guys realize that the Book of Mormon is about Christ in the Americas? And they're like, Yeah, yeah, yeah. And I'm like, no, but do you realize? Like, it's a whole other book. Where and they're like, yeah, that's why we're deciding to do it. And I'm like, no, no, like, like we came. Like that it's our book. And they're like, yeah, dum-dum, what did what have you, what are you, you know, what do you think was happening here? Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

But there's so many people who relate to that. My second son Alex told me he's somewhere about a month into his mission. He's like, hey, honestly, in the MTC, I if you had told me to go flip to the book of Mosaic, I would have gone to the Old Testament first. Yeah. It's like, okay. A lot of people not everyone, but a lot of people relate to that.

SPEAKER_03

Yes. So so that was exciting. Um, and then uh I would tell you that like loving loving people in just such like a like a big way was my favorite.

SPEAKER_01

Yes.

SPEAKER_03

Um like I loved being able to like look at the day and go, I don't know what we're doing today, but I know that we're gonna love the crap out of some people. Um and sometimes that meant I I don't know that cleaning gutters was loving the crap out of people, but I'll take that God, that's fine. And other times it was like, you know, teaching people about the restoration of the priesthood, or like that there's a God in heaven that cares about them, or that they can be with their family. Like um the the massive amounts of success for me probably didn't have too much to do with the the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It was about me to be able to connect with people and be like, hey, I love you. Certainly I'd love it if you would do, you know, if you meet end game of what I'm doing here, which is, you know, that you make covenants and come in, but also, like, I just sort of love that you're an amazing person, and I love being able to connect and talk about things that deeply matter with that. So I really loved that. And then you have this whole other separate part of being like, hey, so today the town that I'm in was where Joseph Smith lived. And that temple is what hundreds of people smashed their china and ripped their hair out of their head to make sure that that building could be there. Not actually rip their hair out of their head, they just used hair clippings, but the Kirtland Temple, like this edifice of sacrifice, and being like, Man, that's cool. I'm in the same place where that happened.

SPEAKER_01

You're teaching it and you're right there. Like that's that had to have been so cool as you were learning it to see to have these physical, literal, like representations of this is where it happened.

SPEAKER_03

Yes. And and it's a different kind of study because I think when you're like, and Jonah got to the well, you're like, where is this? Is this like the you know, is this over in the the Red Sea? Are we doing this over and and and I and there's something to it, and I think there's something valuable with studying it, but it's like Joseph Smith was uh uh tarred and feathered, and I'm standing in the place where Joseph Smith was tarred and feathered. Oh, like the same town? Nope. Literally right where they drug him from the house and being able to do it, it was something that was very sacred, and something that like because I went to the place and could see the place and could feel the place and could smell the place and could all of the senses in the place, I was like, oh, this is this is a whole different kind of like testimony building or faith affirming or or or something. This feels different than anything else that I have experienced. And I know. And we get all the people with the Book of Mormon, they're like, You probably walked where the Book of Mormon took place. Yeah, I know, but we all speculate where it is. We don't know for sure, but I know. I know where the Kirtland Temple is, I know where the Johnson Farm is, I know you know where all these the Newell K. Whitney store um took place. So uh I'll round. out a couple other things. Um the Newell K. Whitney store, when we served our mission, we had the opportunity to be able to start and end our mission in the top of the New K. Whitney store. That's where the Word of Wisdom was received. That's where the School of Prophets was uh housed for a while. And um it was incredible because you'd start your mission and they would they would encourage you to make covenants with God about how you would serve.

SPEAKER_01

Interesting. So it's not like hey you're starting here this is a special place. It's like leverage the sacredness of this place like a temple almost in this like elevated state of where you're there and you're making a commitment but the covenant is not something that's like you know revealed through the priesthood and done like the the formal way we do it in the temple. This is more of the the pattern of you going through and just making a special covenant as it pertained to your mission. That is awesome.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. So you get in and I can remember I'm like I'm gonna get up every day on time and all these different things right like because I didn't know I'm like what are you what am I covenanting? Here's some things I'm gonna really try really hard. And um well and I'll give you an example and then I'll come back to the don't let me forget we're coming back to the New K. Whitney store. So I remember one of the covenants that I made was like hey man God respectively I'm gonna get up every day and I'm gonna like I'm gonna get up on time and I'm gonna go to bed you know on time. It's gonna be lights out. Like that's something I can look at because again this is early black and white I know if I'm awake at 6 30 and I know if I'm in bed trying to go to sleep by 1030. That's something I can look at and go, I did that or I didn't do that. And I can remember the first morning that I slept in past and this is not a joke I swear to you the first time that I ever slept in past 630 it was like 645 and I woke up and there was like blue lightning in our room and you're like okay I'm listening I it was and then like an electric charge and I was like holy crap what time is it 64 you know 645 God's mad I'm sorry I broke the covenant I didn't wake up what was actually happening was there was a power line that had had fallen and was arcing across the uh like the grass to the apartment or maybe it was on the apartment or ever but it was like sparking in the metal window frame of our apartment but I immediately was like God I'm so sorry I'll never sleep in again I don't mean to do this but like God was manifesting to you to wake up like hey man. Yeah oh well I uh it literally was at first I thought it was like this is God sending lightning because I slept in oh my gosh how could you have done that and then I sort of was able to take a step back and then be able to look at it. So that's how serious I took the commitments that I made um going back now to the New K. Whitney store it was a fascinating um uh transition f from the beginning to the end where same group of elders in the district are back there on our very last thing it's like they you know you do your last night at the uh mission home you do your last meal in the morning and then right before they take you to the airport you go out to the Newell K. Whitney store and it's like hey you started here you're ending here go ahead and and um like report back whatever that means to you. And it's this like as I tell as I tell this it's this very sacred um sort of feeling and and I can remember I can remember a couple of things. The first thing that I remember is you just hear this like sobbing um in the room and it's just like like for me it was this sobbing of like man I really I really feel like I did everything that I possibly could. Man like I feel like I really you know just like I didn't do it perfect that's not what I'm saying. I didn't find I don't know that I found everyone blah blah blah blah blah but like I just was like man I really tried my hardest to do this and then you you like uh you also observed the sobs from people that you knew that they were reporting back and being like yeah I didn't do it I didn't do the things that I said I was going to do or like they were laying out this sort of sorrow of like yeah shoot sorry now I'm being held accountable in the same place where I began this whole thing and um and so I thought it uh like it it it was such a unique um a unique experience to be able to to your point I I I I mean I would argue um that it that it is a temple um in the new in the New K Whitney store and I I think I'd win that argument so take that but it's such a sacred place that I I was like man this is this is this is the the thing and I've thought about that many times since I've been back um where God kind of led me and and then that transition to you know uh from being black and white to being gray that that I was able to to go back to the same place and be like hey I've learned a few things thanks for thanks for the journey and all this um I'm glad to I'm glad to be back.

SPEAKER_01

Glad to be done. I think there's something so powerful in what you shared I you know you're comparing this to this you know black and white and gray element as you describe it. And it's true I think what we're talking about is justice and mercy and we we see like these these experiences like it's almost like gravity right like some of these these uh concepts that we believe these these commitments these covenants it's like gravity you know it just exists but the problem is that when we start thinking about spiritual progression in in that objective way we remove all all the human parts of of imperfection that are required for us to grow and develop that was been my journey is it's through it's it's it's that shift of being like repentance is is a correction to the path versus being the path like we were gonna mess up. We were it was like we it in a way we have to but the black and white is no unclean thing can never enter in the presence of God. So we think we tend to think very binary but when we talk about gray we're talking about mercy we're talking about like all those elements and it feels I had never known about that whole thing about the the that spiritual experience of where you started and ended your mission and I'm guessing you've been back since.

SPEAKER_03

Yes.

SPEAKER_01

How has that been?

SPEAKER_03

Incredible I it's it's just so special um you know the jokey me that sort of deflects real feelings is I was like well of course I went there because they say that Joseph Smith picks all the missionaries for the Ohio Cleveland mission and so of course he picked me but like the really like um like uh it's I can only describe it as just this um like transitional uh transformational I don't know words don't describe it but I I would not be who I uh am and could not have made it through the things that I have personally made it through church and otherwise without the experience of being able to um you know uh have the the testimony that I gained in in the Kirtland and greater you know Cleveland area. It was like would not be here we would not be chatting.

SPEAKER_01

Yes um yeah distinct experiences as far as that goes that and it's it is one of the things I've experienced knowing you in a short amount of time is that you can feel the love that you have for people in large amounts very fast from you. Yeah you said it you've learned you learn to hone that more than anything else in the mission. And um I wouldn't be a good host of Temple Bound if I didn't ask you about the Kirkland temple and if if what that was like for you I don't want to assume that you had some sort of like um unique perspective of the temple but I do want to ask was there anything unique or anything that you learned by having that be in your mission and it's like how did that impact your experiences?

Kirtland Temple As A Life Pattern

SPEAKER_01

Here's the question. How did serving a mission near the Kirkland temple actually impact your testimony of the temple andor how you see it?

SPEAKER_03

Well I'll I'll I'll answer the question that you didn't ask first and I would tell you that I learned to never call it the Kirkland temple like you just did. It is the Kirtland temple. Kirkland Kirtland is Costco Kirtland is Ohio and there Everyone who knows and loves me is cracking up because I do that all the time with everything.

SPEAKER_01

So that's great.

SPEAKER_03

Kirtland I meant yes and and and and so much to the point that it's a fun thing for me that like when people uh it it's almost like religious Tourette's and I don't mean any sort of anything about this but like when people will bear testimony and they'll be like we recently got to go to Kirtland without even being able to control it I will audibly say Kirtland so that would be the first thing okay yeah talk to me about the other question then how does that go yeah so so Kirtland is man um it is man geez hold on let me get in the feelings here um Kirtland is such a special place um and oh and it's um I almost said Kirtland is life so let me lean into that and say Kirtland is life and here and here's what it is it's it's a group of people or it is a it is a symbol of a group of people that uh we can all learn from you know Joseph Smith told hey build a temple and he's like yeah yeah yeah I'll get to it I got some other things going on and God's like hey but like I was serious so maybe get to it and then uh the people of the town are like well we don't really know like where do we put it and how do we build it and uh and and just you know doing the best that they can and and sacrificing um to to be able to make the Kirtland temple happen. And um and and and then I'm sure again as it as it's a an example to all of us as far as life goes you know saints are driven out of Kirtland and I'm sure both because I've read about it and and just because of human nature that there were a a large handful of people that were like we built it and now we're leaving it why are we doing this? Why did you have us do this? I didn't want to do it in the first place. Then I did it and now we're leaving it and we see it repeated again in Nauvoo and I just um I I I think that the Kirtland Temple to me is an example of um like o of in the gospel just kind of doing the next right thing and when you didn't do the next right thing recognizing you didn't do the next right thing and then doing the next right thing and and not truly understanding um the impact of what you're doing the right thing means certainly first to you but then to those that will come after you. If you think about the sacrifice of the saints and what they did in Kirtland it you know the questions and reasonably so could be like you know would the church st still exist if we hadn't uh built the temple, if there hadn't been that sort of forging through the sacrifice uh the people that were brought to Kirtland etc so so to me it it is it is every bit like um like a symbol of like hey that's it that's how your life is do your best and maybe you're gonna think that that building is going to be the thing that you're gonna be in the rest of your life and guess what? God may have other plans but there are plenty of people that I'm sure it's like yeah no that's exactly how I wanted it to be and that's what it is. But but like like sacred moments uh in and around the Kirtland Temple we got to have a zone conference one time in the Kirtland Temple where we got to sing the Spirit of God which spoiler that that song is about that temple and so singing that song in that place the acoustics alone but just like being like this is literally the place where Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery and and you know all of these people were and and and and um you know the the the priesthood restored and the keys restored and you know all of these things happened in this place and you're singing the Spirit of God like a fire is burning and you're like and I'm burning and it's just it's just incredible is the only word I can like all almost almost unbelievable had I not experienced it but but undeniable when you when you have that opportunity um to be able to do it. And just as a quick sidebar because I wouldn't be who I am if I didn't say something like this and for a long time I think that saints were like yeah but once the church owns it we'll feel it differently and you know they and and members of the community of Christ would say things like yeah the members will say these disparaging things about the the Kirtland temple. And now of course uh the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints has purchased the Kirtland temple and we're able to have it and I would contend it makes no difference except that we're paying for it. It's different in your mind because you put it in your mind that way I felt all of these things saw these incredible things felt knew all of these incredible things and it wasn't you know I didn't look at the deed of the property and it said the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter day Saints. That is us getting in our own way of spiritual and religious experiences.

SPEAKER_01

I love that you say that Richie, I'm getting this really clear idea about what what's unique about your love for people. You I think between your mission and what you're doing now with Cultural Hall what's really clear for me in terms of like this is Will's perception of Richie's purpose on this earth is to love the saints and to help them see truth because you're um you have a very special unique connection to the early saints like you feel them you know you know them in a way like you know and so like it's interesting because we you know all these connection points between like black and white and mercy and justice and all this it's all we're just talking about human beings. We're just talking about people and you have this a unique relationship with the early saints that's very special. And then you also have this bridge that goes now to the latter days and now you're cultural hall and you're helping distinguish these things of what matters and what doesn't at the end of the day what I'm really hearing even through your humor is love. It's like just about love and acceptance man. It's like here we're all just doing the best that we can we're doing what we can um would you mind sharing a little bit of that experience you shared on the show with on your show when I was a guest on your show regarding how you were able to connect with those

A Run Where The Veil Feels Thin

SPEAKER_01

saints.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah okay gonna make me go here for a second time will no I think my audience would just love this I um so I had the opportunity to um serve as a like a zone leader or district leader and and be able to you know spend the night in Kirtland and then a morning um a morning run. We got up early companion and I and we got to experience Kirtland um quiet so quiet and um you know up before any of the cars and and any of that stuff and had the opportunity to kind of run up and around the the Kirtland temple and um and and it was crazy and people think and and you know I said this before but uh it genuinely uh when I I don't share this experience very much because I feel like people are like okay crazy and I because that's how I feel like I treat people which is uh you know whatever on me but like running uh that morning you know I'm about eighteen months probably in my mission I think at this time and and get up early super quiet and and started running up uh Chillicothe Road up towards the temple and um it is as though the uh I don't know like the veil or like I traveled back in time or like um or what the experience was exactly but as I'm running I I see the saints from the time of Joseph Smith in in that time. And you know they're working on the the you know uh they're in the town and and it's sort of bustling and and and we get up around the temple and there's the you know the excitement of the temple and and and um and like people anxious to be able to have this temple that that shows their their sacrifice and and like I it sounds so crazy but I feel like uh like literally it was like oh people are going in and out and there's that activity of people talking about the the things that they've learned at the f at the feet of Joseph Smith and there's the school of prophets and that's in the Kirtland temple and and and the angels that are uh you know on top of the the Kirtland temple that we read about in people's accounts where it was like it was glowing in fire. It's like I experienced every bit of that and and um and more than just like oh I fell asleep and I sort of saw it in my head in my head it was like I again it's like I saw it and felt it and knew it and uh you know and can't deny it and just was like oh man this this is real this is true this occurred this is where this was in and in such an experience that like being so candid about it I know that people go all right that's that's a that's a wee bit crazy there pal. You saw like ghosts were they flying around and it's like no it was like I had been able to to have like the you know the veil of time or however that works like a wormhole blah blah I don't know but being able to like be there at the time with the Saints feeling the excitement with them feeling the angst um with them the community with them the fervor the all of the things just being able to be in that space and and feeling like I was one of them one of the if not the most sacred experiences um that I've had uh in my life and and got to experience that there in Kirtland.

SPEAKER_01

Thank you thank you for sharing that I it's one of those I hesitated to even ask a little bit but I felt as I was thinking in my mind and praying about it, Richie, I'm like, no ask him I think it's because here's the thing I'm starting to realize especially as we get into the latter days is that you know most people will who have never had that experience and most of us haven't had an experience like that might judge it because there are people who leverage different ways of telling stories for different purposes but there's that that doesn't land that way to me in my mind why wouldn't we be able to even expect visions at times I you know I had a guest on my show by the name of Dennis Steaton who I reference all the time and he he shares this story of interviewing saints in Europe you know after World War II early when the church was fresh and young and stuff and they would come over and they'd be like oh you guys haven't seen angels like like it was such a commonplace experience to for the veil to part and for people to see people on the other side. If anything one thing I've learned in this journey is that that isn't something that can happen. It's what we should be striving to have happen for us. Like this is and it should and it does happen and people don't talk about it openly and I get why they don't like number one it's the whole pearls before swine kind of thing.

SPEAKER_02

Sure.

SPEAKER_01

But what I want to appreciate you sharing that is that I also think if we don't ever share these things, we don't illustrate what's possible and not even what's possible, but what we can have and and Richie in your case looking as a fan of yours, as someone who loves and appreciates what you're doing in your whole life story, it's like I see the it's easy for me to connect the dots in your life of like that experience I'm sure has way more profound depth for you personally, no question. But your role in this like you know foretold time of bringing to pass all of us to come be ready for Christ's second coming is you're connecting the saints through the love that you have. You needed to know them even more intimately to love them so that you can show up now on your show on the cultural hall and share this connection, this love. And it looks like you know gray as you say but it's like at the end of the day it's just savior. You're you're like I'll always reserve a one of my favorite things about the cultural hall is how do you say it it's like a We'll be saving a seat we'll say we'll be saving a seat for you on the back row of the cultural hall. That's what you say at the end of your shows. We'll be saving a seat because I'm gonna try not to get emotional. We all know how it feels to not feel like we belong. And so in and in and and when you're a parent and you have an adult child that feels that way that like extension of having a seat save for them from with someone who's just to gonna accept them for being the guy who wants to sit in the back is like is the pure one of the I seemingly dark horse moments of the purest love of the savior that I can think Think of. It's just like, hey man, you and I are in the back. We're not sure how this whole thing is going for us personally, but we're together. And that's that's what's so powerful about that. And for you and your journey, this was an experience that you clung to as you went through different child trials. Um, can you highlight one thing, maybe one trial as we I'm sure there was lots of things that this mission experience gave you in terms of testimony for the saints, the the temple and all these different elements. But what was something well can you mention one trial that maybe you experienced later in life that you used that this was a foundational rock for you to help you get through? Like you had mentioned earlier.

SPEAKER_03

What is my favorite trial we could chat about?

SPEAKER_01

Um That was a weird question. But you kind of know where I'm going with it. It's like I'd love an illustration of that for people to relate to.

Excommunication And Choosing To Stay

SPEAKER_03

Well, uh, without a doubt, and especially uh as we talk about this audience, so I got home from my mission, and within uh a year and some change, I was excommunicated from the church. Um I always used to make the joke it was because I came home and started my own church, and then people would stop asking me questions about why I got excommunicated. Because people are so interesting that way. Everyone wants people ask. Oh my gosh, yes.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, come on.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, oh yeah. And and here's why. Because I'm a guy who loves God and loves Jesus and loved my mission and it was everything like that. And so then they'd be like, hey, this really outgoing person, we'd love for you to serve in this function within our ward or in our community. And I'd go, Yeah, I'd love to. I can't. Why can't you? I'm excommunicated. What'd you get excommunicated for? Tried to start my own church and they didn't appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01

You know, we I I I want this to be as a message to all members of the church who are hearing me now. Asking questions about the they're seemingly innocent. But for example, if you ask a young man, so when are you turning in your papers? I don't think we're realizing, hey, are you we're asking them, are you worthy to serve a mission? You don't mean to, because you're you're you're culturally, and I used to do this too, man. I'm not judging from how I'm within. It's like all the time I would just like it's just like the nice thing to do. You're trying to connect with a youth, you're trying to just find out what's interesting in their life, but even questions further back, like, so what's after high school for you? I've learned as a parent who had a child once who was like really trying to find any sort of path, that question was incredibly heavy. Sure. It's like, so what are you what are you doing afterwards? It's like, or like it's like when you're married. So when you guys having kids, like let's just let's just be like, so what are you up to these days that are that's exciting for you?

SPEAKER_02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah, what are you working on these? What are you working on right now that excites you? That's like the safest way to do that. But we don't but when people are like, What'd you get excommunicated from? That's pretty I mean, that's pretty uh painfully obvious, like let's not go there kind of thing.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Uh but because even still, even though we had that whole thing around what we just talked about, I know that there are people that are listening that are like, but I still would like to know. I'm still curious, so let's just leave it at uh poor choices of sexual impropriety upon returning home from a mission.

SPEAKER_00

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Um and anything that your mind might go toward, know that it wasn't even nearly that severe. It is a series of circumstances, and that's part of the challenge for me. Had roommates and other folks that I know had done um to say far worse makes it whatever, right?

SPEAKER_01

But uh had done uh gradients or that they didn't get it sounds like they didn't have the same thing happen, and their gradient was definitely more significant.

SPEAKER_03

Right. And so that's the first struggle, right? Is I was like, well, what you know, this is sort of the reverse of so what's so special about me? What's so special about me that I got excommunicated? Well, this guy's got his girlfriend there, and there we got this, and now this is happening to me. So that's uh the like is sort of the first trial with it. Second one is there's a a phenomenon with um being excommunicated that I don't think anyone, unless you have been excommunicated, understands is that there is a feeling if you believe that these individuals speak for and in behalf of God, of God not wanting you at church. Hey, we'd love to have you around, can't participate, but you know, yeah, come around, sure. You you bet. Or not.

SPEAKER_01

Almost like it may be that feeling of like, we're not gonna turn you away. It's like they're saying come, but they're like, if you want. Like it's it's just not like that same desire.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Um, and so there was every bit of that. I remember first day, uh first Sunday. Well, for the sake of making this a little lighter for a second, I remember the first thing I get back into my car after finding out I was excommunicated and um and being like I I don't know what underwear I'm gonna wear. All my underwear is garments. Uh is it all right that I wear my garments tonight? And I actually asked them the question, and they're like, Yeah, and then get some other underwear tomorrow, and and then you know, you're you're not wearing garments anymore, because it was explicit you don't do that as you're excommunicated. Um and then I remember the neck that first Sunday where I'm sitting in the parking lot, I pulled in, and and it was like, All right, are you going in or are you staying in your car? And I remember being like, Well, if God doesn't want me, why would I go in there? Why would I want to be in there? Made it pretty clear. And um but then I remember being like, ah, you know, it's probably the place that you should be. I wish that this was a moment that I was like, and I recall the saints and they lifted me and carried it wasn't. I just was like, I should probably go in. But I but I do remember um because I was excommunicated for probably like better part of a decade, maybe eight or nine years, and I would go to church every week and um I would uh participate as much as people would let me. There were some opportunities along the way. I was per part part of a performing group and we would perform firesides, and I was allowed to like bear testimony within that sort of thing. Um there were like some uh bishops or stake presidents that would allow me to hold like uh very small callings. Like you you can call people and remind them that church is on Sunday, like that kind of a calling, right? Or like you can print the program, you'll be program printer guy. That's your calling. Um but but all the while just sort of knowing where I needed to be as far as my life goes, and then just not being there. And so so to take the question that you asked, and then the experiences that I've shared, like that was the thing for me. A lot of people are like, Well, why didn't you just leave? So much easier if you left. You don't have to come, you don't have the rules, you didn't have the rules anymore at that point. And it and it really was a culmination of like answer prayers before I went on my mission, and then just the experience on my mission where I was like, no, this is true, this is right, this is this is what I need to be a part of. I don't I don't have questions around this. I have behaviors that are you know precluding me from being able to participate in this, but it was never like there weren't saints, you didn't have that experience, you didn't see people's lives change as they engaged in the gospel. There was never any sort of that, or like you were misled, or this and that. It it literally was just like, yeah, and yeah, I mean you'll get there. You got some things, you're gonna you're gonna kind of figure that out, but you know, ultimately, you know where you want to be and uh and you'll get there. And so you know, you fast forward and I got uh married, and then um largely any of the issues that I had that were keeping me out of the church uh disappeared with being married and then was able to be re-baptized and was like, yeah, here we go. Let's go. Now I'm back I'm back in and part of it. And I have lots of feelings about most of those steps along the way, but for the sake of this, I would just tell you it's not we we do not do our excommunicated brothers and sisters uh a great favor in how we treat them, and I think it's largely because we don't know it unless you've been through it.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

Those in leadership have not ever been through it.

SPEAKER_01

Yes. Man, it's again, here's what's interesting. You you made the comment, like, as you were going through this trial of come going back to being baptized and being excommunicated. You're in a place where you never thought about that that vision in Kirkland Kurt Lind. It's I I didn't realize how bad how often I said that wrong, by the way, until just now. But it's one of those things where and you but you still like it changed you. And I think the way that it changed you, of course, with the testimony of the savior and all those things, that's like without saying, the uniqueness of of your testimony has to deal with the um the saints. This this ability to connect to like people in a way that almost like created space for people to be imperfect in your journey. Yeah, and again, I'm not I'm not putting any judgment on either side of that equation, you or the leaders who are involved, but what I do know is that you have a bunch of imperfect people, which is the church, doing the best they can with the process, and you were able to navigate those feelings because your grounded faith in the saints as a whole, regardless of any, you know, how it was handled by anyone and how they and like people, even down to people asking why you were excommunicated, like you were able to see for a lot of people, Richie. I just want to highlight for a lot of people, they'd be like, judgment, I'm out, and I wouldn't feel I would not judge them for doing for feeling that way at all. You were able to kind of just like, well, this is annoying, and I'm coming back every week anyway. Like, because of that, so I see that connection, which is cool in such an inspiring way that like a true love of the savior creates almost infinite grace, or should at least hopefully for us for others, in a way of like, well, because we're gonna be mistreated. We're gonna have people say the question that maybe we shouldn't be asked, like they're just gonna be insensitive. I I am thinking of very specific examples in my mind right now, but I can't because if I share them, I thought people will know who they are. But it's like there's just trials that we go through that people ask. So um I have to ask, um, what was that?

Returning To The Temple With Nerves

SPEAKER_01

I'm just curious, what was that like when you went back to the temple?

SPEAKER_03

Well, did we talk about this before? I can't remember if I told you about this.

SPEAKER_01

No, not at all.

SPEAKER_03

Well, uh yes, but let me let me um because I in addition to Kirkland, I have one other thing that I just want to make sure and address. People uh dismiss bad behavior within the church by saying, Well, we're imperfect, God is perfect. And I and that is true, and also um like i if someone says to you, hey, uh you know, that that question is not necessarily a great question, and they're willing to engage with you in that conversation around it, I think that for for uh for you to say something like, Well, I don't know why you're so offended by it, or what well, we're just imperfect, we're just doing the best we can, I I do not care for when we use that as an excuse. Yeah. Am I trying to be better? I am so sorry that uh that that happened to you. That must have been rough to be excommunicated and feel like you shouldn't have been excommunicated. Sure. Not dismissed with, well, the church is imperfect, so but you know, or the people are imperfect, but the church is perfect, so I hope that's a very good thing. I appreciate that.

SPEAKER_01

You're saying we should hold a standard.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01

It's like, no, we we've got to reform that. We've got to set standards and because uh again, that's what the Savior does for us individually. We should do that with each other as well. Yes.

SPEAKER_03

So going back to the temple after being out uh of the church uh you know for for 10 almost 10 years, nerve-wracking. Um and here's why. I got endowed and then went on a mission, and I went like once or twice. I wasn't one of these guys that's like, and every day after I got my call, I went to the temple every day and and all that. It's like I think I went once. And and I can remember this is around the turn of the millennia. I can remember the first time going through the temple with my dad and being like, they want me to what? What are we doing? And my dad's like, it's okay, and I'm like, I this uh mmm. And then go and serve the mission. And Kirtland Temple, uh obviously not a functioning temple as far as that goes, you know, endowments and there wasn't another temple in a mission, so we didn't have that opportunity to be able to do that that way. And then I think I went one time when I got home from my mission, like, hey, I'm home, I'm gonna go to the temple, and then sort of other parts of life. So it had it had legitimately been half a dozen times that I had been um before I was excommunicated and then put ten years in between it. And there is a lot, and and I'll be delicate of the way that I speak about it, there is a lot that uh happens in the temple that when you go to the temple more you feel more comfortable with.

SPEAKER_01

Sure.

SPEAKER_03

Things that you need to know and remember and do and all that stuff. And so having not done that, I'm just a big old ball of nerves, right? And I'm like, I don't even know if I go. Uh my clothes don't fit. Can I still rent clothes? Is that do we do that? Yeah. I don't have a name, do I need a name? But you know, so I'm just I'm just all of these things. It was like I was going through uh the temple um for myself, and I had decided to go by myself because I didn't want to, you know, like bring someone along, or I don't know. I just decided that that was the thing that I was gonna do. I was gonna go by myself. And I and I just was a stress case about it. And I remember um like coming in, I'm like, is this the right door? Am I dressed appropriately? Like, is my tie like I I could not have been more like anxious about it. And um but I'm like, I'm doing it, I'm back, I can do this, I've I you know I've I've paid my tithing so I can do this, I passed the you know, thing, and this is where I need to be. And you know, they check me in and I have the temple recommend, and there's a certain part of it to me that was like, that's right, I'm back. Because when you get rebaptized, you still have to wait a year to uh to be able to be admitted and do the temple work, right? So this is not only now I've been back in the church and functioning for a while, but this is like the culmination of the whole back process.

SPEAKER_01

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03

So stressed, throw the you know, the temple recommend down, and they're like, Yeah, okay, it's gan and let you in. And they're like, Do you have a you know a name that you're gonna do? And I said, No, I don't. And they said, That's all right, we'll give you one, and they take you. I think this was the Jordan River Temple, they take you kind of to this little side place, and they're like, Hey, here's your name that you'll be going through the temple for. And uh you know how like you can wander through life and you're like, maybe God, but maybe not God. Like you can sort of question, like, if God was there, why does that happen to that person? Or like, really, God, you had a plan as far as this, or how like we can sometimes even the most believing of people, um I I think that sometimes you can have like doubts, and and this was a thing that I just was like, I'm so overwhelmed by this. And I get the name for the uh work that I was gonna do in the temple, and the last name is Steadman, which is my last name.

SPEAKER_01

Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_03

And I I just and even as I tell it right now, I'm just like, okay, alright, I get it.

SPEAKER_01

Message receive.

SPEAKER_03

Message receive, we're doing this, huh? We're gonna go, we're gonna, yeah, I got you. I'm team you, you're team me. Let's go. And it and and um coincidence, maybe, maybe some people could write it off as far as that goes, but without question for me, it was God saying, Hey, you big ball of nerves, you big ridiculous guy that's been out for a decade, welcome back. How about how about I let you know that I care about you in a way that I know that you will see that I care about you and that you are known, here's this last name of Steadman. And I just was like, okay.

SPEAKER_01

It's so special. I love that story. You know, I had the coincidence comment. I always like to quote my son Alex, who's coming home. He says halfway through his mission, you know, uh, because he's very logical. Sure. He's one of those guys that like he he feels the gospel through thinking like logically. There's not like this burning, you know. And he told me he goes uh in an email, he's like, you know, after a while the coincidences become so significant that the likelihood of there being something else going on is more likely than not.

SPEAKER_02

Yep.

SPEAKER_01

And and that idea that like when we have those those miracles that happen, it's these personal communications that the Lord knows how we're gonna receive it. Yep. So I I love this story, and I I can't thank you enough. I know there's more, there's so much more that we have to say on all these things, but I want to make sure um that we leave even a little bit more for maybe another

Rapid Fire And Never Give Up

SPEAKER_01

time. But for now, I'd love to finish um with some rapid-fire questions if you're open for this.

SPEAKER_03

Oh, all right, all right. Is there a little ticker? Are we editing and ticker in the room?

SPEAKER_01

No, I always do this kind of off a cuff, and it's just something right there. So some fun, some kind of serious. Uh fun one, favorite temple.

SPEAKER_03

Uh, favorite temple is the Kirtland temple. So much so that I had an architect who does temple work for the church. He drew up uh fan fiction temple work plans about how they could make it a functioning baptismal uh celestial room temple.

SPEAKER_01

Oh, that's so cool. It's like its own episode. Love it. Um so uh something a little bit more serious. What was something that you would want to tell someone who's listening who's been excommunicated and they're they're hearing you and they're really relating? What's something you would want them to know?

SPEAKER_03

I would tell them uh come or let me know where you're going to church, and I will sit with you uh uh because that first time back, if you haven't been back in a long time, you need someone, even if it's just like you know, it's just someone being present with you, and I would also tell you um that it is worth it uh to come back, and I would also tell you that you don't have to figure out every part of like why excommunication was the process for you all at once, but it will come to you over time.

SPEAKER_01

So beautiful. What one more kind of in that vein. What would you want members of the church who haven't been excommunicated, what would you want them to know? Because you've been through the whole arc. What would you want them to know so that they know how to better support someone who has been excommunicated?

SPEAKER_03

Uh love them unconditionally of what they choose. Show up for them if they are trying to come back, if they're not trying to come back. It's basically just like the two great commandments, love God and then love your neighbor. But I think it's an extra dose of like, hey, when you we can sometimes get in the in the way of like, well, when you do this, I can love you a little bit more, and when you do this, and I do I just would say um it is hard, it is lonely, it is very misunderstood. Um in large part, it is uh you don't feel like anyone else understands or knows the pain that you have been through. So I would tell you to unconditionally love that person and not set expectations as to I can love them more or be more for them if they would A, B, or C.

SPEAKER_01

Love that. Unconditional love, but better defined. Thank you. Okay, more fun. So we're somewhere in the world that you've been, that you've loved, or somewhere you want to go in the world?

SPEAKER_03

Uh somewhere I've been, Chicago. I love it. There is such an energy of Chicago. Uh maybe I'll end up moving there uh one day, but that is just an incredible place to me. And place that I would like to go that I have not ever been, that I just think would be kind of fun. Um I I think that I would like to go to uh Africa.

SPEAKER_01

Okay. Awesome. Okay.

SPEAKER_03

I'm gonna knock out the whole continent.

SPEAKER_01

We're going next year. You gotta come with me. Okay, two more quick questions. The first one is how do the people hear, how do they learn about how do they listen to Cultural Hall? How do they get away?

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Uh you can find the Cultural Hall any place that you find temple bound. Um it's called the Cultural Hall, and you will see hundreds upon hundreds of episodes. Um you can follow and subscribe there on Spotify. We're on YouTube as well. Uh, all the social medias at the Cultural Hall. And uh you can also find me personally at Richie T. Steadman anywhere on the socials.

SPEAKER_01

Okay, love that. Last question, and please go listen to this show. I am such a fan of it. Last question. Um, you know, Temple Bound is one part family history at the very end. This is like you being recorded. In your case, your kids are gonna have like infinite videos of their dad. But I don't know if they've ever had any videos of that of you just talking to them. What would what would be one message you would want them to know about today's topic? What would you want them to know about what we talked about today?

SPEAKER_03

Oof. Okay, let me think about it.

SPEAKER_01

I finish really light.

SPEAKER_03

Yeah. Yeah. Uh I I so um man. What would I want them to know about this?

SPEAKER_01

Uh I uh I'm so proud of myself that I asked a question that's that like had you not be able to respond verbally. You're one of the most communicative guys I've met, so this is great.

SPEAKER_03

Well, there's so much weight, right? Um I think the through line for my life is um and I think it sums up the black and white and the gray and the um like the like the walk with God, etc. And here and here here's what it I would say. I think um regardless of like where you're at now never uh give up. And the reason that I that I that I love like the just keep trying, um, just keep swimming, the you know, never ever ever give up, that all these quotes that we sort of think about is like for for those that are really striving for um like perfection, this thing that we're taught, and there's some part of you that that drives you um daily to try and you know to do a little bit better each day, is literally I feel like the only thing that you can be perfect in is never giving up. Everything else I think that you can fail completely at uh but uh you can pick up and then never give up and just continue and and I and along the way with um with never giving up, you learn you learn uh more about yourself and about the people that are surrounding you, and you learn more about the nature of God and and I think you in essence become more perfect by just refusing to to stop trying.

SPEAKER_01

Richie, thank you so much for being on Temple Bound. And for everyone who's listening, I am so grateful that you tuned into this point. We are so inspired by Richie's message of beautiful um perspective and how we can relate to the saints and have that connection across the board. So thanks again for tuning into Temple Bound, reminding you as always that your value has nothing to do with what you do. You're lovable because you exist. And never give up until next time.

SPEAKER_00

Temple Bound is brought to you by the Light on a Hill Foundation, a nonprofit aimed at building and strengthening families across the globe. Produced by Heather Humphreys, with show notes and social media managed by Isabel Dizon and Kimberly Sympathic. Wardrobe by Anne Collar. These views and opinions expressed by the host and guests are on their own and do not necessarily reflect those of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Thank you for joining us today as we continue learning, growing, and striving to bind our lives closer to Savior. Until next time.

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