Banbury Ward of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Message from the Bishopric

Dear Banbury Ward,

I apologize for yet another musical play tie in, but this one is also really special to me. My entire family and I participated in the Stake’s Second Act of the “Savior of the World” somewhere around 2012. We performed at Centennial High School’s Fine Arts building and the show started with a movie. Because the screen had to go up on the stage, we had 45 seconds to integrate something into the show before it truly started with the actors. I was selected to fill this time to walk across the stage to greet the apostle Thomas (played by my bro-in-law) and we embraced before Peter asked me to close Jesus’s tomb. It was a time of great mourning for all but shortly after that, two angels roll the stone back and a bright light rises from within. The play then moves to show Mary Magdalene, who sings:

Where is He who walked with us? Where is He who prayed?

Where is He whose voice rang out, “Come forth from the grave”?

Where is He who knelt alone, Who for us did bleed?

Where is He who gave His life For our cause to plead?

It was He who taught all Galilee, He who fed us by the sea.

With a smile He turned His head to say,

“Look on me, follow me, Come to me, I am the Way!”

Where is He who dried the tears Of the suff’ring soul?

Where is He who stayed our fears, He who made us whole?

He who healed the broken heart, Ooo... He who calmed the storm,

He who came to save us all, Where is He this morn?

As Mary cries near the empty tomb, she sees the Savior but initially thinks he is the gardener. Once He speaks, she recognizes him, saying “Rabboni!” Shortly thereafter, Jesus visits the apostles and proclaims, “Thus it is written, and thus it behooved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day; and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And ye are witnesses of these things.”

From Elder Gary Stevenson’s April 2025 conference address, he proclaims “We are followers of Jesus Christ, and we seek to both receive and share His light. Implicit in the name of the Church is our theology of “Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone.” Through ancient and living prophets, our Heavenly Father has commanded us to “hear Him!” and to “come unto Christ.” “We talk of Christ, we rejoice in Christ, we preach of Christ, [and] we prophesy of Christ.”

We teach that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and during His earthly ministry, Jesus taught His gospel and established His Church.

We testify that at the end of His life, Jesus atoned for our sins when He suffered in the Garden of Gethsemane, was crucified on the cross, and then was resurrected.

We rejoice that because of the Savior’s atoning sacrifice, we can be forgiven and cleansed of our sins as we repent. This brings us peace and hope while making it possible for us to return to God’s presence and receive a fulness of joy.

We prophesy that because of Jesus’s Resurrection; death is not the end but an important step forward. “We will all be resurrected after we die. This means that each person’s spirit and body will be reunited and live forever.”

Elder Stevenson later explains the importance of the Tomb in our new church symbol:

He indicated that many are not aware of a hallowed feature that it embodies. Jesus Christ stands under the arch. This represents the resurrected Savior emerging from the tomb. We truly celebrate the resurrected, living Christ, even in the use of the Church symbol. From when I stood at that tomb at the start of the play to then sing beautiful songs about Him as the Resurrected Lord in the play, my testimony was full and the Spirit bore witness to me that this Jesus, once of humble birth, once forsaken, left alone, is now….exalted…. to a throne. The last scene of the play was all of the choir and actors together with Jesus singing this beautiful song. I recall that experience often and cannot deny the Spirit I felt.

I testify that there is a resurrection, therefore the grave hath no victory, and the sting of death is swallowed up in Christ. He is the light and the life of the world; yea, a light that is endless, that can never be darkened. He is Risen!!!

Love,

Bro. Thomas

• April 2026 Cleaning Assignments - Please come to the church Saturday morning at 8:00am on the assigned day or trade with another family. 

  • April 4: Schrum, Shreeve, Simmons, Spencer, Stone, Stone, Strong, Swenson, Swenson, Swenson, Taylor

  • April 11: Thomas, Thompson, Vande Merwe, Wahl, Ward, White, Wissenbach, Yearsley, Yorgason, Young

  • April 18: Adamy, Anderson, Armstrong, Asetre, Azzarito, Bates, Bennett, Bernhardt, Bevan, Bird, Bull

  • April 25: Cambron, Chaffin, Clark, Clark, Coltrin, Cook, Cranney, Crawford, Crawford, Daniels, Davis

• Youth Camps this year will be the week of June 22-27.

  • • Young Women's Camp - It will be at Hayfork campground near Idaho City (an hour away)

      • • Girls Camp: YCL's will leave Monday, June 22 to set up camp. The rest of the girls will come up Tuesday morning, June 23rd. Everyone will clean up camp and go home Thursday, June 25th.

    • Young Men's Camp – June 24-27th at Northwest Passage Campground - Mccall and Garden Valley.  All Young Men - Deacons, Teachers, and Priests are invited.

• Sunday Youth Assignments

  1. • March Chair Set-Up - Priests

     • March Greeters - Young Women 14-18 Class

     • April Chair Set-Up - Deacons

     • April Greeters - Young Women 12-13 Class

• Seminary registration for the upcoming school year is now open. All youth entering grades 9-12 are invited to participate. Parents should register their student at myseminary.churchofjesuschrist.org and select Religious Release.

• March 29 - He is Risen - Stake Easter Program - The Stake is presenting a musical program in celebration of the Easter season on Sunday, March 29th at 6pm at the Stake Center. See flyer below.

• Holy Week - Palm Sunday - Easter - Mar 29 - April 5 - Find a study guide for each day on the church's website.

• General Conference - April 4-5.  Sessions at 10am and 2pm (no Saturday evening session).

• April 11 - Baptismal Service for Zach and Arden Nelson - Saturday, April 11 at 11am at the Stake Center.

• April 18 - Ward Activity for Adults - Saturday, April 18 at 6:00 pm at the Stake Center – Pizza, Puzzles & Pickleball – Get to know other ward members by playing board games, building puzzles or learning a new sport, all while enjoying a fun meal together!

• The Remember Him Area Initiative, which invites us all to focus on Becoming Lifelong Disciples of Jesus Christ, is featured on the Area website. All members are invited to:

  • • Share the Remember Him Video featured on the Area Website.

    • Invite families and individuals to visit the site and discuss the video message at home.

• Missionary Meals - We can invite the missionaries to dinner any day or night of the week; there is no longer the requirement to have a non-member present. Please reach out to our Ward Missionary Leader, Larry Nelson, if interested, and for further details and options. The missionaries will not be passing a calendar around, you will need to schedule directly with the missionaries. 

• Are you interested in being called as a Temple and Family History Worker with the assignment to work in the Family Search Center? Like a temple worker, this would be a weekly commitment, however each shift is only 2.5 hours. This is an extremely fulfilling calling and an opportunity for anyone to serve the Lord in a meaningful way.  Those who work at the center are witnesses to the miracles that happen there and the joy that the work brings into their lives.  Please reach out to a member of the bishopric if this is something you would like to discuss.

• "To allow for greater access to the words of the living prophets, printed copies of Church magazines are now available at no cost. These magazines include the Liahona, For the Strength of Youth, and Friend. This policy will eventually apply to every area of the Church.

  • • • Members can use their Church account to choose their preferred subscription(s) on a yearly basis at MagazineSubscriptions.ChurchofJesusChrist.org"

      • Please contact a member of the Bishopric, Relief Society Presidency, Elders Quorum Presidency, or your ministering sisters/brothers if you have any questions about this change or if you need assistance with subscribing for no-cost print magazines.

• For temple recommend interviews with the Bishopric and other meetings with the Bishop, please call or text David Swenson at (208) 447-8903.

• All temple recommend interviews with the Stake Presidency must be scheduled ahead of time. There are no walk-in appointments at this time.  For recommend renewal interviews, please visit https://calendly .com/minorth/temple to see available times and schedule an interview with the stake presidency.

Worldwide Church Events

The following link will take you to the church website with a list of all the upcoming and recent church events

https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/events/