HARVESTREPORT

Nauvoo Christian Visitors Center Mission to Mormons

Summer 2011

WILLIAMSBURG OR TRAP?

The historic homes, shops & temple have been restored. The horse-drawn wagon rides & brass band are rolling through town. The nightly perform-ances are heartwarming. The annual pageant is world-class. The only thing left, as far as the LDS Church is concerned, is to promote the Nauvoo experi-ence to a wider market. Mormons will always be drawn to Nauvoo. As Mormonism con-tinues to expand throughout the eastern U.S. (especially the Bible Belt) Nauvoo has become an important gathering place for LDS wed-dings, reunions, family vaca-tions & religious pilgrimages. The old Mormon capital on the Mississippi has truly been re-born as a place of significance. To increase the number of non-Mormons—potential con-verts—coming to Nauvoo, the image of the town must be carefully considered. LDS leaders realize that the perception of some people is that Nauvoo is a religious tour-ist trap. Promotions by a church with a reputation for aggressive missionary pro-grams are suspect, so the LDS are now working to conceal

themselves behind a neutral early American ―historic‖ ap-peal. Efforts are under way to in-crease the role of the Nauvoo Tourist Bureau, a non-religious entity that can highlight the local winery, for example. Nauvoo as The Williamsburg of the Midwest is the motto. The LDS will still be awaiting

all visitors with an army of period-costumed missionaries serving as guides at the town’s 60 plus historic sites. An-other way in which the LDS Church is attempt-ing to down-play its in-

fluence in Nauvoo can be seen in the recent renaming of the massive LDS Visitors Center to that of the Historic Nauvoo Visitors Center. Only time will tell if these efforts will succeed in giving Nauvoo a broader ap-peal. If they do, it gives us even more urgency to help those who would otherwise fall prey to the trap. Blessings to you! Steve Dealy Executive Director

©2011 Nauvoo Christian

Visitors Center

P.O. Box 93 1340 Mulholland

Nauvoo, IL 62354 217.453-2372

NauvooChristian

VisitorsCenter.org

contact@NauvooChristian VisitorsCenter.org

dealybread@blogspot.com

twitter.com/mission2mormons

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Revealing that which is concealed… lifting high the Cross of Christ.

2011 2011

Pageant Pageant

OutreachOutreach

(More on page 4)

From July 5 through July 30 our ministry conducted an evangelistic outreach outside the entrances to the Nauvoo Pageant. We distributed hundreds of tabloid–size papers to visiting families as well as many pag-eant performers and staff. These papers contained historical information regarding the life of Joseph Smith, problems in the Book of Mormon as well as an

There was a time when Mor-mon membership gains seemed unstoppable. That may no longer be the case as LDS apostle M. Russell Bal-lard admitted earlier this year that church leaders are wor-ried over the ―massive loss‖ of young Mormons aged 18-30. A special young adult meet-ing at the LDS Conference Center this past April was held

to help explain the restructur-ing and closure of a number of LDS student and Young Single Adult wards in the State of Utah. Ballard challenged those in attendance to bring at least one other person back into the fold. He said the goal for all young Mormons should be to

participate in LDS worship and social activities—and also to marry in a Mormon temple. The current process of elimi-nating some Young Single Adult wards and all of the ―student‖ wards, began in the Ogden area in April 2010, and then was expanded to include other small college towns in Utah before being introduced in Salt Lake and Utah counties–home to the state’s largest universities. LDS leaders claim their ex-periment was successful at bringing some back to church activity and getting them to

marry. Members of the newly cre-ated YSA wards in the experi-mental areas visited 4,600 of their peers who had drifted from the LDS Church and were able to get 1,100 of them to return to active member-ship. Ultimately the reorganiza-tion of these wards will affect nearly 150,000 young Utah

Mormons. ■

Source: Salt Lake Tribune, April 26, 2011

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Mormons Face ―Massive Loss‖ of Youth

Visit the new mission2mormons.org

“Ballard chal-

lenged...bring

at least one

other person

back into the

fold.”

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In Memory of

J O H N F A R K A S 1932-2011

Former NCVC board member, faithful friend & brother in Christ.

explanation of the Gospel. Concern over the impact of our outreach could be seen when the president of the pag-eant began to address the au-dience prior to the show- drawing attention to an ―official‖ pageant paper printed by the LDS Church. By doing so he was sending a clear signal to those with our literature that they had taken something unofficial... and undesirable! LDS workers would also approach visitors who took our pa-per and try to talk them into throwing our literature into stra-tegically placed trash cans. Others LDS workers were on a campaign to interrupt any lengthy conversations they saw us having with visitors. The primary reason we invest so much energy and resources into our annual pageant outreach is because the LDS Church promotes the event to non-Mormons with television ads, spe-

cial Broadway-style Sunday shows in surrounding cities, and through press releases and other media. Once the public arrives they are targeted for conversion both through the message of the pageant and with aggressive fol-low-up after the show. Visitors are asked to fill out a response card so that missionaries can hand deliver a CD recording of the music of the pageant to their home with the hope of initiating the missionary lessons. Our work is to protect and inoculate these non-Mormon guests, providing them with enough information to make an informed

choice regarding Mormon membership. ■

Volunteers from St. Louis help spread the truth about Mormonism.

Continued from page 2

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Arizona Mormon watched a film and discussed the scrip-tures.

Utah man asked for informa-tion on local Mormon history, which we provided and then proceeded to have a good discussion about salvation by grace.

Christian youth group came for a presentation on how to share Christ with Mormons.

LDS family from North Caro-lina came for a copy of the Nauvoo Expositor newspa-per.

About ten LDS youth from different states walked in to-gether and allowed Steve to give them a presentation on Christ and the Jewish temple.

Group of Mormon teenage girls from Wisconsin took several tracts and a DVD. Christian man from Northern Illinois visiting Nauvoo with his family. He was encour-aged to find our Center in town and took some materi-als to study.

LDS woman from Arizona had a discussion with Steve about the Book of Mormon.

Pageant volunteer from Can-ada spent some time in the Center watching a film and discussing Christianity.

Man from Utah spent 45 min-utes listening to an explana-tion of grace.

Family from Idaho Falls, Idaho received materials.

Three recent high school grads from Utah had a fan-tastic hour-long discussion with Steve about the Bible.

LDS college-age group from Las Vegas took Gospel tracts.

Korean family accepted ma-terials that contrast Mormon-ism with Christianity.

Group of women from Texas took copies of the Nauvoo Expositor.

LDS woman from Denver, Colorado came for tourist information and received Christian literature as well.

History teacher from Beverly Hills, CA spent about 45 min-utes asking questions and picking up materials for his research. Christian minister from Idaho

was happy to see our work in Nauvoo, was encouraged in his own ministry to Mormons.

After about 40 years in Mor-monism, man from the D.C. area surrendered his heart to the real Jesus of the Bible!

Mormon woman from Ten-nessee spent time in the Center learning about our mission.

Youth from central Utah learned about the require-ments for Biblical priesthood.

Christian motorcycle group from Iowa dropped in, appre-ciated learning more about Mormon beliefs.

Two LDS women from Mis-souri took materials.

Man from Northern Ireland was interested in learning more about the Latter-day Saints, appreciated our infor-mation.

A Look Inside the

NCVC Guest Book

This is just a sample of the many ways in which God is using the NCVC to touch hearts, educate the public and point Latter-day Saints to the truth of Christ.

Nauvoo Christian Visitors Center P.O. Box 93, Nauvoo, Il 62354 Address Service Requested

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