Maddy is a content producer for LDS Living. She graduated from Utah State University with a degree in Journalism and Communications. In her free time, you’ll find her attempting to master the perfect chocolate chip cookie, taking a long walk to power through her podcast queue, or defending her status as a Diet Coke critic.

Erik grew up in Idaho and served in the Belgium / Netherlands mission. He is currently a student of Biblical Hebrew at BYU who loves Jesus Christ.

Joshua M. Sears received a BA from Brigham Young University, an MA from The Ohio State University, and a PhD in Hebrew Bible at The University of Texas at Austin. His research interests include Israelite prophecy, marriage and families in the ancient world, and the publication history of Latter-day Saint scripture. His wife, Alice, is from Hong Kong and plays in Bells at Temple Square; they live in Lindon, Utah, with their five children.

Rebekah Call is a teaching fellow at Utah State University teaching religious studies and history. She has a PhD in religious studies with an emphasis in critical comparative scripture from Claremont Graduate University, as well as an MA in the Hebrew Bible and the Ancient Near East from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. Her research interests focus especially on women in the Old Testament and exploring nuances that are lost in translation. Dr. Call’s book, Rediscovering Eve: Eden, Women, and the Plan will be released this year through Deseret Book, and she has an additional volume on new translations of “help meet” in Genesis 2:18 and 20, soon to be contracted with Sheffield Phoenix Press.

Lani Hilton is the author of Celebrate Sunday: 52 Ideas to Help Your Family Delight in the Sabbath. She has also published articles in the Liahona and LDS Living magazines. She is a speaker at Education Week and For the Strength of Youth Conferences. Lani and her husband, John, have six children. She loves to live Jesus, learn Jesus, preach Jesus, travel, hike, bike and ski (in that order).

Raised in California (split between the San Francisco Bay Area and San Diego), Kate Willardson Stoker now lives in Cottonwood Heights, Utah with her husband of 21 years and counting and two teenage sons. Kate graduated with a degree in History Education from the U of U, but her heart remains at BYU where she completed the majority of her coursework. Kate has recently picked up some new hobbies including watercoloring and riding her new Vespa around the neighborhood. Kate remains fully committed to growing her testimony of Jesus Christ through frequent personal study of religious books, podcasts, and scriptures. Her favorite study is Church history.

Matthew C. Godfrey is a senior historian in the Church History Department in Salt Lake City, Utah, and has a Ph.D. in American and Public History. He has authored or coedited several books, including God Knows You: Getting Real About Spiritual Challenges (Deseret Book, 2025) and Know Brother Joseph: New Perspectives on Joseph Smith’s Life and Character (Deseret Book, 2019). Matt is a frequent speaker at BYU Education Week, and has appeared on podcasts such as All In, Follow Him, and the Church News Podcast. He loves 80s alternative music, reading, and sports (in that order), and hates watermelon, cucumbers, and getting stuck in traffic (in that order). He is married to Carrie Huber and has four wonderful children.

Ryan Baughman is a cofounder and managing director at Sundance Bay, a real estate private equity firm based in Salt Lake City. He and his wife, Shima—who teaches at BYU—are raising five children and share a love of faith, family, and pickleball.

Heidi A. Smith works for the Church Education System and currently teaches Institute at Ensign College. She earned a Juris Doctor and Master of Accounting from the University of Utah and received a bachelor’s degree in Deaf Studies from Utah Valley University.

Brent M. Rogers, Ph.D., is a managing historian for the Church History Department of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. He worked for thirteen years on the Joseph Smith Papers and, for three of those years, served as the project’s managing historian. Brent is the award-winning author of numerous books and articles. His first book, Unpopular Sovereignty: Mormons and the Federal Management of Early Utah Territory (University of Nebraska Press, 2017), received The Charles Redd Center-Phi Alpha Theta Book Award for the Best Book on the American West, the Mormon History Association’s Best First Book Award, and the Utah State Historical Society’s Francis Armstrong Madsen Best History Book Award. Brent is also the author of Buffalo Bill and the Mormons (Bison Books, 2024) and several articles including “A ‘distinction between Mormons and Americans’: Mormon Indian Missionaries, Federal Indian Policy, and the Utah War,” Utah Historical Quarterly (Fall 2014), which won the Western History Association’s Arrington-Prucha Prize for Best Article on the History of Religion in the West. When he is not researching and writing history, Brent enjoys reading about history, watching movies, walking his dog, and trying to keep up with his family’s busy schedule of school, sports, and music.