In 2014 during a keynote address at Education Week at Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, Elder David A. Bednar invited Church members around the world to use social media to #sharegoodness. He said:
“My beloved brothers and sisters, what has been accomplished thus far in this dispensation communicating gospel messages through social media channels is a good beginning—but only a small trickle. I now extend to you the invitation to help transform the trickle into a flood. Beginning at this place on this day, I exhort you to sweep the earth with messages filled with righteousness and truth—messages that are authentic, edifying, and praiseworthy—and literally to sweep the earth as with a flood.”
Four years have rushed by since Elder Bednar’s historic address, and since then he and his Temple Square colleagues have been using Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram to share the gospel like never before.
So, have you joined the flood yet?
If you’re still wondering how to best participate in the hastening of the work online, here are nine ideas to use social media to flood the earth with the right kind of water.
1. Launch your own #missionarymonday. Each Monday, post a conference meme and invite people to ponder how it might bless their week, too.
2. Next time the full-time missionaries are in your home for a meal or a message, use your phone to film them singing a hymn, playing a song on the piano, or presenting a simple object lesson. Post it on social media and let your local friends and neighbors see a glimpse of their spirit and goodness.
3. Do you remember the day you were baptized? Whether it was 3 or 30 years ago, post a photo on the anniversary and share your thoughts and feelings from that special day.
4. Take a closeup photo or screenshot of your favorite scripture and share why it means so much.
5. Film your family singing a song during Family Home Evening and share it online. In the video description, briefly share what the evening is all about and your love for your family.
6. Visit YouTube and find your favorite hymn being performed by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir. Describe why it’s meaningful and share the link.
7. Do you remember how you felt the first time you finished The Book of Mormon? Post a photo of the book and write a few sentences describing your emotions on that occasion and what the book means to you today.
8. Speaking in Sacrament meeting next week? Kids singing in the annual Primary program? Prepping for the ward pizza party? Use social media to invite friends in a safe, no-strings-attached way.
9. After your meetings on Sunday, take a scenic outside photo of your church and share one thing that stood out from a special lesson or talk that you’ll take home with you.
If one of those ideas doesn’t fit your family or routine, consider the countless other ways to follow Elder Bednar’s counsel. And may all who #sharegoodness remember his closing apostolic blessing:
"We have been and are blessed in so many ways; and where much is given, much is required. As an Apostle of the Lord Jesus Christ, I invoke this blessing upon you: that you may come to understand more fully the spiritual significance and blessing of living in the dispensation of the fulness of times, that you may have eyes to see clearly both the possibilities and the pitfalls of the remarkable technologies that are available to us today, that you may increase in your capacity to use these inspired tools appropriately, and that you may receive inspiration and guidance about the role you should play in helping to sweep the earth as with a flood of truth and righteousness. As you press forward in this holy work, I promise you will be blessed in mortality in the individual, specific, and necessary ways that will prepare you for eternity. I so bless you."
