SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — One person has sought to reach an understanding of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since he first came to Utah on vacation in 2020. Jeff McCullough is an Evangelical pastor and the face of the YouTube channel Hello Saints. As the slogan on his channel says, he is trying to “fight criticism with curiosity.”
With October’s General Conference for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints taking place this weekend, McCullough has spent the last two and a half years chronicling his journey in learning everything he can about the LDS Church.
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When McCullough and his family came to Utah in 2020 to break the rhythm of the COVID quarantining and social distancing, they were introduced to the state’s predominant religion, founded in 1830 by Joseph Smith. McCullough’s friends who lived in Salt Lake City started to plant the seeds that would eventually become Hello Saints by trying to convince him to come out to Utah because of the state’s “unique” faith atmosphere.
While on a hike in Utah’s July sun the following year, he overheard a comment that stirred him in more than one way. In a video that described his experience on that hike in the Wasatch Mountains, he said he was initially critical. Then, he stopped.
“It was in that moment I caught myself and I basically said, ‘stop,’” he said in the video.
At that moment, he said he should be more curious about her faith. Everything for Hello Saints then started to come together. He contacted some friends and started work on the YouTube channel which he launched in March 2022. The channel has exploded in popularity among members of the Church, amassing over 60,000 subscribers, most of the channel’s subscribers are members of the LDS Church.
Since he launched the channel, he’s explored many of the Church’s historical sites from Independence to Palmyra, relocated from the midwest to the Salt Lake Valley, and has talked with scholars and members of the LDS Church. He read through the Book of Mormon and has continued to try and understand the state’s most prominent faith group. He’s even attended sessions of General Conference.
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The night before McCullough attended General Conference for the first time, he was reminded about the story of the pioneers who emigrated to the Salt Lake Valley and how this story was about people, beyond ideology.
“Everyone’s going to have their own bones to pick with the Church, and that goes for any church,” McCullough said. “Everyone has their different stereotypes and stigmas that, kind of, posture them to broad-brush a people group.”
He says that you lose people when you do that. McCullough’s mission is about pushing past the preconceived notions that some non-members might have about the Church.
During his visit to the October 2022 General Conference, he noticed the people outside of the Conference Center who were “street preaching.” Street preaching, or, open-air preaching is the act of preaching to people in a public venue.
McCullough remarked in his video that he felt uneasy with the street preachers even though they were fellow evangelists. He told ABC4.com that General Conference, while an easy place to have these conversations, isn’t the right place for these types of conversations to take place.
“The problem I have with the street preaching and the people walking around with signs, yelling at one another is that you’re playing by a set of rules the other person hasn’t agreed to, there’s not two-way consent here,” he said. “When [Latter-day Saints] are in mind of going to Conference and they’re super excited to hear what songs the choir is going to sing and praying that President Nelson happens to be one of the speakers at this [session], they are not playing by the rules imposed on them.”
He says what happens in this setting is people talk past one another rather than to one another, which is a big difference. With the October sessions set for this weekend, this allows members to hear directly from Church leaders, something McCullough realizes is important to members.
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“I see how important this is because this is Latter-day Saints’ opportunity to hear teaching from their leadership and to understand the vision moving forward,” McCullough said.
When McCullough goes to Conference, he watches the room to see what’s important to members so he can ask the questions to understand why it’s important. He says that’s key because that’s how curious non-members can learn about this faith group and better understand members.
For McCullough, his channel is about relationships, building bridges, and interfaith dialogue. Something he was reminded about the night before October’s 2022 General Conference when hiked to Ensign Peak. For him, this is about people, people with a story and a heritage, just like everyone else.
“Even though [Latter-day Saints] may outnumber the rest of us, they are still very hospitable, very welcoming, they’re very kind and very neighborly so there’s no reason to look at something they do, like when they all gather together, have mass or General Conference to feel threatened… because I don’t think that’s the posture of Latter-day Saints,” McCullough said. “I think they deserve that space even if [non-members] disagree with them.”
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