Elder and Sister Teixeira, President and Sister Meredith, family, friends, and particularly you amazing graduates: what a privilege it is for Annette and I—along with our daughter, Katy, who came with us—to be with you today! We add our joyful best wishes to all the experiences which have brought you to this day of commencement.
The Power of a Unique Mission and Board
I am grateful for the assignment today to represent BYU-Idaho's Board of Trustees in extending those congratulations. How blessed we all are for the mission of BYU-Idaho to which President Meredith referred, “to develop disciples of Jesus Christ who are leaders in [your] homes, the Church, and [your] communities.”
As you know, the BYU-Idaho Board of Trustees is unique, since it is led by prophets, seers, and revelators. President Dallin H. Oaks, along with his counselors, President Henry B. Eyring and President D. Todd Christofferson, serve as the Officers of the Board. We feel this blessing even more after this past weekend's Easter Sunday and its wonderful link to General Conference. (And by the way, the BYU-Idaho choir in Saturday afternoon’s session was fabulous!)
I add my testimony to yours that not only are we blessed and strengthened through the Atonement of Jesus Christ and His tomb-bursting Resurrection, but that we are led and guided on the path back to our Heavenly Father by His living Prophet. Perhaps this is no more evident than in the creation of BYU-Idaho through prophetic direction 25 years ago.
The First Presidency has provided you graduates with several gifts. These include the investment of their time and interest in you, and in the resources which support and sustain this institution, all of which have led to commencing today toward new stages and experiences in your lives.
The First Presidency has also blessed you with President and Sister Meredith who are certainly “church of joy” sorts of people and add so much to this institution through their leadership. At President Meredith’s inauguration here two and a half years ago, Elder Ronald A. Rasband reminded us that being led by prophets, seers, and revelators provides each of us with a distinct advantage.
That distinct advantage comes through the beautiful blending of learning and teaching, of faith and knowledge, and of competence and confidence. It can be traced to the guiding and directing influence given to BYU-Idaho through the Lord's prophets.
Commencing Toward Lifelong Discipleship
Now, recognizing how old it will make me both feel and sound, this month marks 40 years since I completed my first year here at then-Ricks College.
Around this time in April, I vacated my student housing just west of the Hart Building and moved back down the road to the great metropolis of Shelley, Idaho, to further prepare for the mission call I had received from the Prophet, with the assignment to serve in Western Australia.
Like most, even with the natural accompanying hopes and dreams, I had no idea what would lie in store for the coming weeks, months, years, and now decades.
I think this is part of what makes today unique. It is likely one of several key inflection points in your life—with this one even named to identify that you are “commencing” on a new and a wonderful journey. I invite you graduates to recognize that this is much more of a beginning than it is an end.
In considering that reality, I have reflected on this counsel Elder Patrick Kearon gave six months ago in General Conference:
[Jesus] brought comfort to the weary, He taught liberating truth, and He called sinners to repentance. To each leper, blind man, and adulterous woman; to the lame, the deaf, and the dumb; to every grieving mother, desperate father, and mourning widow; to the condemned, the shamed, and the suffering; to the dead in body and the dead in spirit, what He did offer was a new beginning.
All of us can have a new beginning through, and because of, Jesus Christ. Even you. New beginnings are at the heart of the Father’s plan for His children. This is the church of new beginnings! This is the church of fresh starts! [1]
I love what President Gordon B. Hinckley taught us: “You are good. But it is not enough just to be good. You must be good for something. You must contribute good to the world. The world must be a better place for your presence. And the good that is in you must be spread to others.” [2]
Two months ago today, on February 10th, President Oaks gave such a marvelous and inspired message. We all felt and heard the power of the message he was directed to give as the Lord's prophet.
Of the four areas of counsel he gave, today I will just reference two:
- Seek help from others
- Be patient
First, seek help from others. On our regular path of new beginnings, the Lord provides others to help and strengthen us along the way. Last April, in teaching of the divine helps we receive for mortality, President Oaks invited us to trust the Lord. Who better to rely on for all the help we need … not just from the eternal importance of relying on and striving to become perfected through the Atonement of Jesus Christ, but in the daily decisions which create a foundation for our lives. While I know I could have been far better than I have, as I cast my eyes back those 40 years to a newly-turned 19-year-old ready to embark into the world, a greater intentionality to seek help from others and to trust in the Lord would surely have enhanced my mortal experience.
Second, be patient. As you commence into whatever awaits you following today, be patient with others, and particularly with yourself. If you have big corporate hopes and dreams, or maybe ideas percolating in your head that would begin a small business and a desire to change the world, be patient. Be patient in the development of your homes and families—both in those sacred interactions which do occur there, or which will occur at a later stage—remember as President Oaks stated, we are all a work in progress.
So, beloved brothers and sisters graduating today, with another expression of congratulations, may the Lord bless you to always be found striving to develop yourself as a disciple of Jesus Christ and become increasingly Christlike. As Elder David A. Bednar said in last Saturday
morning’s session of general conference, “As we live as [Jesus] invites us to live and with His help, our nature and character over time increasingly become more like His … We do not merely perform benevolent deeds; rather, our state of being is changed and becomes increasingly Christlike.” [3]
And you now commence forward from this institution to enhance your leadership in your homes, the Church, and your communities. I know that our Father in Heaven lives. I know He sent His Son to bless and to save us. I know that He has called a prophet in our day. And I know that as we strive to seek help from others and be patient in all our activities and endeavors, we will find and feel His relentless pursuit of us and joy of the path that leads us back to our Heavenly home. That we may always be found doing this in every way I pray, in the name of Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Notes
[1] Patrick Kearon, “Jesus Christ an Your New Beginning,” Liahona, Oct. 2025; emphasis added
[2] Gordon B Hinckley, “Stand Up for Truth,” Brigham Young University devotional, Sep. 17, 1996, speeches.byu.edu
[3] David A. Bednar, “All Who Have Endured Valiantly,” Liahona, Apr. 2026
About Michael J. Christensen
Michael J. Christensen has been the Senior Director of Budgets and Administration in the CES Commissioner’s Office since 2016. A Church employee since 1989, he worked previously at both the Church’s distribution and printing centers, along with the investment securities department. His service in the Commissioner’s Office began in 2002 and includes two-years at BYU–Hawaii. An alumni of Ricks College, he has a bachelor’s degree in accounting and an MBA, both from Weber State University.
Brother Christensen currently serves as president of the Layton Utah North Stake. Prior Church service includes bishop, bishop’s counselor, high councilor, stake and ward Young Men president, high priests group leader, and elders quorum president.
Brother Christensen grew up in California and Idaho. He met Annette Jane Smith while they were both serving as missionaries in the Australia Perth Mission. They were married in the Sydney Australia Temple in 1989, are the parents of five children and they have four grandchildren (with a fifth due this month).