Manhattan, Anyone?

I’m just wrapping up a short visit to Manhattan attending a conference on intellectual property and will be back in a few days for another one. For those of you who live in the area, are there interesting LDS events going on next week? You know, something like a fireside with an internationally recognized LDS celebrity like Ken Jennings?

Speaking of celebrities, I’m in charge of finding an LDS speaker for a community event we’re having on April 7 when we have a community luncheon at the open house of a new Stake Center in Neenah, Wisconin (near Appleton). Any suggestions?

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Author: Jeff Lindsay

18 thoughts on “Manhattan, Anyone?

  1. You might consider the following for speakers:

    -You
    -Recent Convert
    -Ward Missionary
    -Full-time Missionary
    -Mission President or Counselor
    -Member of Area Presidency

  2. An internationally recognized LDS celebrity like Ken Jennings? Yeah, the guy can’t walk the streets of Tokyo without getting mobbed. JK Jeff
    What gives you the impression that he is internationally recognized?

  3. Jeff, If I remember correctly, a few of the regulars from MillennialStar.org and TimeAndSeasons.org are in Manhattan. Maybe leave a comment over on those blogs.

  4. Although Jeff was being jocular and Lesterville is being silly, I’m sure the description “internationally recognized LDS celebrity” does apply to Ken Jennings. I have no doubt that people from nations other than the US know who he is.

  5. Although I was being silly, Itbugaf was being vague. Please tell us all how it is that you have “no doubt” that people from nations other than the US know who he is? An international celebrity? I don’t think so. But if you have proof that he is, as I am sure you do to make such a bold statement, then I stand corrected. Please provide proof. What’s that phrase? Oh yeah, Put up or shut up.

  6. Lots of Canadians watched Jeopardy when Ken Jennings was on. I can tell you he was the talk around my water cooler. Given that at least two countries know of him, that counts as international.

  7. Back to the topic of your community event for your Stake Center open house…

    ‘Scuse me for being a one-note-Johnny, but may I suggest a display of all 103 translations of the Book of Mormon?

    Another item illustrating the world-wide nature of the church might be a world map with pins, pictures and blurbs showing where full-time missionaries from the stake are serving.

  8. I would think a good speaker on behalf of the church would be a college President. I would bet the President of Robert Welch University would be available.

  9. Bookslinger, I really like that idea. A map and a spread of Books of Mormon would be fun.

    Anonymous @ 7:51, I bet you’re a member from the Appleton area. Others might not know that one of our local members, G. Vance Smith, is the President of Robert Welch University, a small online university affiliated with the John Birch Society, both of which are headquartered in Appleton. He was also in our Stake Presidency here, and several years ago was a counselor in the bishopric when I was bishop (I enjoyed noting that I had a CEO working for me!). Speaking of Vance Smith, he was the CEO of the John Birch Society until a recent coup of sorts – a very controversial topic. Don Fotheringham, a respected acquaintance of mine and an LDS supporter of President Smith, has created a Website that delves into the controversy in some detail, if any of you are interested. See DonFoth.com. I don’t understand the internal politics and other events behind recent events and am not sure what has really happened, though I do know and respect both Vance Smith and Don Fotheringham. But I also know and respect some people with quite different views as well. Life is never as simple as I wish it could be.

  10. Sorry I wasn’t around to answer Lesterville’s challenge. Apparently I touched a raw nerve??

    Anyway, others have amply answered for me. I was indeed founding my assertion minimally on the knowledge that Jeopardy is broadcast in Canada. (Then, too, there are foreigners in the US who know of Ken, including Alex Trebek, the host of the show, who is one of our friendly neighbors from the North.)

  11. Another thought would be to have a local CES employee.

    The last stake mission president we had in my previous stake was a director of CES in Lethbridge and a local Christian consortium invited him to speak at one of their meetings. It went very well.

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