March 2026

Leadership Instruction

RootsTech is March 5-7. If you don't have time to attend on those dates, that's OK because the online sessions will be available for some time. So register, look through the list of sessions, and make a playlist that you can use to catch the sessions later that you're interested in.  But try not to miss the leadership instruction, you might even view it together as a  leadership council.

RootsTech 2026 Temple and Family History Leadership Instruction will be led this year by Elder Patrick Kearon. The instruction will be recorded, and the video will be released on March 5 at 10:00 AM CST. 

Elder and Sister Rasband will host the Family Discovery Day live session on March 7 at 2:30 PM CST. 

RootsTech Registration

Be a part of the world’s largest family history gathering:

• Online participation is FREE

• In-person early bird pricing:

  • $99 for a 3-day pass

  • $69 for a 1-day pass
    https://www.familysearch.org/en/rootstech/

Highlights for Members:

• Family Discovery Day (Saturday) – Hear a special message and insights from a General Authority.

• Latter-day Saint specific sessions offered throughout the conference.

• Temple and Family History Leadership Instruction-intended especially for any who have callings specifically influencing Temple and Family History but any can participate.

For All Attendees:

• Inspiring Main Stage guests (past speakers include Sean Astin, Ndaba Mandela, LaVar Burton, Kristin Chenoweth, and more!)

• Discover new technologies enhancing family history research from FamilySearch and partners like MyHeritage, Ancestry, and Find My Past.

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A Zion People

I've enjoyed studying the Old Testament in Sunday School. I'm especially drawn to the Enoch chapters, and how they show the promise of the Lord's mission statement in Moses 1:39, "This is my work and my glory - to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man." What a great teacher Enoch must have been! I really like how the concept of a "Zion society" relates to the temple, too.

Everything in the temple, from the tip of Moroni's trumpet at the top of the building to the sole of the oxen's hooves at the bottom, points to Jesus Christ, His atoning sacrifice, and His central role in that work. It's no wonder that Lord continues to build temples throughout the world - He needs a Zion people, and temples teach the principles of celestial law that are the foundation of a Zion people.

Elder Bednar said, "Covenants and priesthood ordinances are central in the ongoing process of spiritual rebirth and transformation; they are the means whereby the Lord works with each of us from the inside out. Covenants that are honored steadfastly ... provide purpose and the assurance of blessings in mortality and for eternity. ... We do not come to the temple to hide from or escape the evils of the world. Rather, we come to the temple to conquer the world of evil. As we invite into our lives the “power of godliness” by receiving priesthood ordinances and making and keeping sacred covenants, we are blessed with strength beyond our own to overcome the temptations and challenges of mortality and to do and become good."

I am always impressed by the way the five covenants of the Temple Endowment teach about living a celestial life:

• Law of Consecration: This is specifically geared toward building Zion by requiring the selfless giving of time, talents, and material means to the Lord's work and the care of the poor.

• Law of Sacrifice: Members covenant to support the Lord's work, which helps eliminate temporal and spiritual poverty.

• Laws of Obedience and The Gospel of Jesus Christ: These focus on individual righteousness and following Christ's higher law, ensuring the community "dwells in righteousness".

• Law of Chastity: This centers on personal behavior and its effect on others, fostering trust and strong family foundations within the community.

We don't have a lot of information in the standard works about how Enoch became such a master teacher or about precisely what he taught, but I like to think there are things that he did that are also taught in the temple; universal truths like the importance of symbolism, revelation, simplicity, and patterns.  The goal in family history work is to point members to the temple in all things, so I thought that I might give some thoughts about simplicity and patterns in the work that we do.

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Simplicity

The temple is not complex. I thought it was when I went through the first endowment session many years ago, but that's because I didn't understand much then. It's actually pretty simple: Heavenly Father loves me and so does His Son, Jesus Christ. That's the simple truth we teach to our Primary kids! Now I know about moral agency, individual responsibility, seeking divine guidance, being anxiously engaged in a good cause, the need for opposition in the pursuit of personal growth, all the things that help me "overcome the temptations and challenges of mortality," as Elder Bednar said, but the simple truth is still centered in the infinite love of Heavenly Father and Jesus Christ.

Temple and family history work has a lot of moving parts, but the simple truth here is that its purpose is to get people to the temple. To increase the liklihood that we keep that simple truth on the top of all those moving parts, I think that we can:

• Have an agenda for each Ward Council meeting that includes T&FH agenda items (to avoid surprises, which often become very complex)

• Create and incrementally update a ward T&FH plan with simple and measurable goals

• Invite T&FH Leader to Ward Council

• Invite representatives from RS, EQ, YM, YW, and Primay to regularly held T&FH coordination meetings

• Use the Family History Activity Report (FHAR) to update Ward Council and inform T&FH Plan goals

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Patterns

I've learned that patterns are important in relation to temple and family history work. The temple is all about patterns. In fact, the word "temple" comes from the same root as the word "template," something most of us need when we have to make something out of something else that has no resemblance to the finished piece we have in mind. We go to the temple to learn about the Lord's pattern for the exaltation of His children. We see patterns all around us in the physical world, in nature, in our relationships, our families, really everywhere. We see patterns that lead to good results and patterns that lead to results that are not so good. The scriptures are full of both types of patterns, and we know which ones are good because the Lord tells us so, by His own voice or by the voice of His prophets.

Several years ago, the Lord established a standard pattern for temple and family history work in stakes and wards. Here is a picture of the standard pattern:

Elder Renlund said, "To deviate from this standard leadership pattern requires a good reason, concurrence of the stake president, and confirmation by the Holy Ghost." 

The Ward Temple and Family Consultant has a role similar to our missionaries. Their role is to encourage member families (and others) to seek out their ancestors so that those ancestors have the opportunity to make temple covenants. They do this by:

• Preparing spiritually: seeking to be worthy of the guidance of the Spirit, and ask the Lord for help as you prepare to meet the needs of the family.

• Discovering family goals: asking the family what they would like to accomplish during your visit.

• Reviewing their tree: helping the family set up a FamilySearch account, and then requesting access to explore the family’s tree. 

• Preparing and delivering a personalized lesson: Prepare a plan, using Partner Resources (such as Ancestry.com) if necessary, then deliver the plan to the family to help them accomplish their goals and feel the Spirit.

• Helping with preparations for the family to take names to the temple.

After the lesson, they ask the family to think of others who would enjoy a similar experience, and then follow up on the referral.

The results of these "discovery experiences" become agenda items for the T&FH coordination meetings, and then they are taken to the ward council for discussion. The members of the ward council can make plans for ways their organizations can best support ward families. Then they, or their delegates, can request further help from the T&FH Leader, according to the ward T&FH plan.

The ward/branch council is responsible for creating the T&FH Plan and forwarding it to the bishop or branch president for his approval. It could focus on any number of things, including:

• Involving 10- and 11-year-old children in family history work, including creating personal FamilySearch accounts and temple baptisms.

• Helping youth and new converts obtain limited-use recommends to attend the temple.

• Encouraging members to enter at least four generations of their family tree on FamilySearch.org, with a reminder that there's no such thing as "my genealogy's all done!"

• Inspiring members to attend the temple more often without establishing a quota or reporting system for temple attendance.

• Involving Primary children aged 8 and older in family history work using their own personal FamilySearch accounts.

Take a look at the sample plan below  (from a RootsTech session!) for some ideas about how to make a simple, concise and measurable T&FH Plan for a ward.

"Ok, that's great, but where do I go to get the measurement data?"

Glad you asked!

It's in the excellent but little-used FHAR (Family History Activity Report).  The FHAR is a tool provided by the church to help local leaders track member engagement in temple and family history work. A sample of the coordinating council report is below (individual stakes redacted). 

Just a few reminders about the report:

• Members Submitting this Year: This is cumulative; it shows the number of members who have submitted at least one unique name to the temple during the current calendar year.  To be counted, the member must print an FOR (Family Ordinance Request) or a family ordinance card, or share a name with the temple. The member is counted only once during the calendar year, so the trend line commonly shows a sharp increase initially, but levels out as the pool of eligible members draws down toward the end of the year.

• Youth and children: The report is designed to track youth and adults. Youth are counted as soon as they turn 12 in any month of the current calendar year and continue as members of the Youth group until they turn 19. They are counted as youth to the end of the year in which they turn 18. While children who are between the ages of 8 and 11 can have FamilySearch accounts, with parental approval, they do not participate in the metrics.

• First Four Generations: The number of individuals who have logged into FamilySearch.org from the start of the current year to the end of the previous month. Again children are excluded from this metric, only adults and youth (starting January 1 of the year in which they turn 12) are included.

• Members Using FamilySearch: The number of individuals who have logged into FamilySearch.org from the start of the current year to the end of the previous month. This is a rolling average, so December 2025 is included in the January 2026 metric as shown in the report below.

• Members Contributing. These are discovery and contribution activities, and serve to measure the breadth of participation, and not the volume - a member is counted only once in the calendar year regardless of the number of contributions he or she makes in these categories (but that contribution is persistent and so is included in subsequent monthly totals):

  • Added Names to Tree: Adding any new person to their tree, living or deceased.

  • Added Memories: Uploading a new photo, document, or audio file, or creating a story. Note that tagging an existing photo does not count as a new activity for this stat.

  • Indexers:  Completing at least one batch of records to make them searchable for others. 

These are metrics that fit well into the Ward/Branch T&FH Plan. They are simple and measurable (and useful, once you understand how they are calculated).

What can stake leaders do to help their wards and branches create a Zion society?

• Point to the temple.

• Make temple and family history an important and regular part of leadership meetings, talks, and stake activities.  

• Assign a motivated and dependable high councilor to be a stake temple and family history leader in order to  oversee and promote temple and family history efforts in the stake. 

• Provide for T&FH training for stake high councilors and stake Relief Society presidencies.

• Conduct regular training for ward/branch elders quorum and Relief Society presidencies.

• Conduct regular training for ward temple and family history leaders and consultants.  

• Conduct specialized training as needed for new consultants, family history research, indexing, etc. 

• Embrace church-sponsored technology, such as Ordinance Preparation, Family Name Assist, Ordinances Ready, RootsTech, and others, including the many discovery activities on FamilySeach.  Encourage its use.

• Coordinate with the full-time missionaries and stake mission leader regarding the use of temple and family history in teaching, activation, and retention efforts  

• Invite family history consultants from your home ward into your home for personalized family history experiences. 

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FamilySearch and RootsTech

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We help one another become devoted disciples as we minister to the one in ways that lead to the house of the Lord.

Elder Peter M. Johnson