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Although John Bytheway produces much literature sprinkled with strong substance and full of divine direction at want point does a John Bytheway cross over and become guilty of filthy lucre?

I have encountered a text or two and several speeches by Mr. Bytheway. He appears to have built a name as an author, motivational speaker, etc in the LDS community. From Golf: Lessons I Learned While Looking for My Ball to Righteous Warriors: Lessons from the War Chapters in the Book of Mormon it is rather obvious Bytheway is pandering to a highly educated crowd and not looking to regurgitate thoughts in hopes of notoriety, money, and a chance to build a stable money making career focused towards all things Mormon.

Below, I have listed many of Bytheway's writings. I find all of them appear to be very intriguing. I had a chance to thumb through Isaiah for Dummies and found this well researched text to offer so many new insights minus the the pertinent discussions of detero and trito Isaiah. But discussion of different authors and time periods in Isaiah should not concern Mormons.

So what says Mormon Discussions. Has Bytheway crossed over into filthy lucre land? If so, does it matter?

Publications & audio-video releases

What I Wish I'd Known in High School
What I Wish I'd Known in High School: The Second Semester
Are Your Standards Fences or Guardrails?
The Best Three Hours of the Week, Audio Talk and DVD
Big Ideas, Little Budgets: Youth Activities and Family Activities
Bytheway, It's John: The Second Verse
A Crash Course in Teenage Survival
Everything I Need to Know I Learned at Home
First Solo: Learning to Recognize the Spirit
Five Scriptures That Will Help You Get Through Almost Anything, Audio talk
When Times Are Tough: Five Scriptures That Will Help You Get Through Almost Anything, Book
Get an Attitude!: Heroic Examples from the Book of Mormon
Golf: Lessons I Learned While Looking for My Ball
Heroes: Lessons from the Book of Mormon
Honoring the Priesthood: As a Deacon, a Teacher, and a Priest, Book and Audio Book
How To Be Totally Miserable: A Self-Hinder Book
How to Be an Extraordinary Missionary
How to Be an Extraordinary Teenager, Book and Audio Book
Isaiah For Airheads
No-Brainers: Five Hard Decisions that the Gospel Makes Easy
Out of the Mouths of Babes and Dudes
Righteous Warriors: Lessons from the War Chapters in the Book of Mormon
Rough Start, Great Finish!
Standards Night Live
Supersonic Saints: Thrilling Stories from LDS Pilots
Supersonic Saints, Vol. 2: More Thrilling Stories from LDS Pilots
Tour De Family: Doing Your Part to Help Your Family Succeed
Turn Off the TV and Get A Life!
Weed Your Brain, Grow Your Testimony
What's In Your Backpack?, DVD
What Are You Carrying in Your Backpack?, Audio Talk
What I Wish I'd Known Before My Mission
What I Wish I'd Known When I Was Single
What We Wish We'd Known When We Were Newlyweds, with Kimberly Bytheway, Book and Audio Book
Whose Values Do You Value?
Women Are That They Might Have Joy Too, with Emily Watts
You're Gonna Make It!
You're Gonna Make It Through Junior High
5 Things You Can Do Today To Bless Your Marriage

By the way , john by the way is a darling of the education week groupies!

whether he has a day job is unknown but with all those books/ pamphlets he probably has no time for one.

just sayin

k

I have mixed feelings on this-- as usual.

As a teenager, my friends were crazy about all-things-John-Bytheway. I remember listening to his tapes on temple trips and while driving to youth conference. I thought he was funny and enjoyed his perspective, never really giving any thought to the idea that he was making money with his talks. Then, I went to a fireside he was speaking at and he was taping his talk, and it occurred to me that this was not just a fireside, it was also his business. That bothered me and I came away less than inspired.

On one hand, he is clearly working very hard to produce these products and ideas, and surely his work has to be of some value. On the other hand, even during my faithful days as a member, I felt uncomfortable about people personally using gospel ideas and values and connections to make money. I felt the same way about dramatized Book of Mormon stories that were peddled by RM's using ward directories back in the 90's. Using church-related credentials and ideas to make a living just makes me uncomfortable.

I don't know what to think about such things.

kairos wrote:By the way , john by the way is a darling of the education week groupies!

whether he has a day job is unknown but with all those books/ pamphlets he probably has no time for one.

just sayin

k

I have been rolling over the idea of perhaps becoming a LDS youth motivational speaker. I am thinking my first book will be Skateboards, Rapping, and Sports: Find Your Testimony in Five Easy Steps.

angsty wrote:I have mixed feelings on this-- as usual.

As a teenager, my friends were crazy about all-things-John-Bytheway. I remember listening to his tapes on temple trips and while driving to youth conference. I thought he was funny and enjoyed his perspective, never really giving any thought to the idea that he was making money with his talks. Then, I went to a fireside he was speaking at and he was taping his talk, and it occurred to me that this was not just a fireside, it was also his business. That bothered me and I came away less than inspired.

On one hand, he is clearly working very hard to produce these products and ideas, and surely his work has to be of some value. On the other hand, even during my faithful days as a member, I felt uncomfortable about people personally using gospel ideas and values and connections to make money. I felt the same way about dramatized Book of Mormon stories that were peddled by RM's using ward directories back in the 90's. Using church-related credentials and ideas to make a living just makes me uncomfortable.

I don't know what to think about such things.

Living Scriptures is a great example of profiting off the LDS membership base. Another example would be for a large corporate wing (Deseret Book) compiling talks from leaders into a book and selling the book in order to make money off the membership instead of freely sharing with their generous tithe paying membership base.

lostindc wrote:
I have been rolling over the idea of perhaps becoming a LDS youth motivational speaker. I am thinking my first book will be Skateboards, Rapping, and Sports: Find Your Testimony in Five Easy Steps.

I hope there's a market for my book. What I wish I'd known before I apostatized

You all are equally blinded by your abject hatred of Mormonism and are clearly nothing but puppets of Doctor Scratch.

You are all the same person, and I'll let you guess who that is.

Cease your campaign of defamation against Daniel Peterson in this thread right away.

Your party is coming to an end very soon.

Stormy Waters wrote:

lostindc wrote:
I have been rolling over the idea of perhaps becoming a LDS youth motivational speaker. I am thinking my first book will be Skateboards, Rapping, and Sports: Find Your Testimony in Five Easy Steps.

I hope there's a market for my book. What I wish I'd known before I apostatized

My secret plan is to wait for about five years and then have a “miraculous re-conversion’ to the church. I will then write a book about it and sell DVDs and make big bucks and then leave the church again. Just my way of getting my tithing money back.

son of Ishmael wrote:My secret plan is to wait for about five years and then have a “miraculous re-conversion’ to the church. I will then write a book about it and sell DVDs and make big bucks and then leave the church again. Just my way of getting my tithing money back.

Thanks for the heads up, Doctor Scratch.

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