The Ministering the Savior’s Way podcast is a project initiated by Jared Garfield and Tom Obenchain. Jared and Tom are both members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. They have been striving to minister the Savior’s way most of their adult lives. Recently, however, with the announcement of significant changes to the way LDS church members are encouraged to minister, Jared and Tom realized that more was needed. Even with nearly 60 years of ministering experience between them, they realized there is much yet to learn. They decided to set out on a journey to discover how ministering has touched other people’s lives, how it has made a difference. It is their hope that as they gather and tell the stories of those touched by ministering the Savior’s way, that each person who listens will be inspired, touched, and even changed in the way they minister.
Jared Garfield
Jared Garfield was born and raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It is fair to say that he has been interested in ministering for most of his life. He once started to leave home with his lunch packed. When his parents asked him where he was going, he responded that he was “going on a mission!”
Jared served as a missionary for the LDS church in the California, Roseville Mission. He returned home, met his wife Diane Carling. Together Jared and Diane have 5 children ranging from 3 to 17 years old.
Jared loves missionary work and has often served as a ward or stake missionary and as a ward mission leader. He also taught seminary and is currently serving as an Elder’s Quorum President where he is active in ministering to his quorum members. Jared and his family reside in Prattville, Alabama.
Tom Obenchain
Tom Obenchain has also been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints his entire life. When he was 10 years old, he remembers Elder Henry D. Taylor, then an Assistant to the Quorum of the 12 Apostles, asking him what he was going to do in nine years. After perhaps a little bit of prompting from his mother, Tom answered, “Go on a mission?” Elder Taylor, pleased with the answer, proceeded to let Tom (then called Tommy) enter his office with his family. They were in Salt Lake City to see his father set apart as a bishop.
Years later, when the moment came to choose to serve a mission or not, Tom held true to that promise, even if only subconsciously, and his life of ministering began with a call to serve in the Germany, Munich Mission. Later, Tom would marry Julie Peterson who also served a mission for the LDS church in Lima, Peru. Together they also have five children.
Tom has served as an Elders Quorum president, Young Mens President, Ward Mission Leader, High Councilor, and Bishop. Ministering is his favorite thing to do. His goal is to learn from the stories of others how to be a more effective minister and to follow in the Savior’s footsteps in this important work. Tom and Julie live in Colorado Springs, Colorado.