REXBURG — Dale Sturm is a religion professor at BYU-Idaho, and he loves it!
Before taking this job at the university, he worked at the Institute of Religion for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at the University of Utah and helped produce seminary videos for the Church. Sturm said that as he left the University of Utah and was working for the Church, he began to miss interacting with the students and being in the classroom.
So, when he was made aware of a job opening at BYU-Idaho in the late 1990s. Sturm admits that it was not on his radar at all, but he and his wife decided to apply for the position.
“We came and spent a day on campus,” Sturm said. “At the time, Elder (David A.) Bednar was the president of the university. And the day ended with an interview with him. And, I came away from it feeling like, I think this is where we're supposed to go next.”
Sturm was hired and has worked for the university as a religion professor for more than 20 years. However, his teaching career was interrupted when he received a call from the Church to serve as the mission president of the Iowa, Iowa City Mission. The Sturms arrived mere months before the COVID-19 pandemic. Sturm said although it was a stressful time, it greatly strengthened his testimony to serve during that time in the history of the Church’s missionary effort.
“One thing I noted was the prophets, the First Presidency and the Twelve — the leaders of the Church — All we ever felt from them was confidence and peace,” Sturm said. “The Lord knows what He's doing. We're going to be just fine.”
In the end, President Sturm and his missionaries were baptizing more people into the Church than they had pre-pandemic.
Sturm said that when he reflects on his time as mission president and the efforts of the missionaries during that trying time, he is interested to see what the Lord has in store for those missionaries down the road. He wonders what the Lord is preparing them for.
Once Sturm returned to the classroom, he says that his experiences as a mission president during COVID have taught him how to better empathize with and understand students.
“Some mental health issues, maybe they were there all along and COVID revealed them to us,” Sturm said. “They were certainly more recognized now in a post-COVID world. And so, helping students who have a desire to be successful at the university but are struggling with some things, that was kind of new. But the mission helped me with that, certainly.”
Sturm said he loves BYU-Idaho and is looking forward to the future of the university.
“God's eye is on BYU Idaho, and His attention is clearly here, and His messengers come here in person,” Sturm said. “We're about faith formation. We're about preparing students to be productive and successful in all of their careers. But to do it as disciples of Jesus Christ.”
This interview is part of the BYU-Idaho Disciple Journeys Podcast.