Though so much of Tavis Knudsen’s last week has revolved around finding volunteers to oversee finances, schedules and events, his long-term goals for Erda’s new LDS stake has little to do with any of those worldly things.
Rather than developing programs, Knudsen said, he hopes to focus his ministry on bringing everyone in his community to Christ.
“There might be a different vision for this house than for that house,” he said. “One family, it might be to get them to the temple. Another family, it might be to get their son on a mission. But all of that being said, the end goal is to bring people to Christ.”
As the first president of the new Erda Utah Stake, Knudsen, a Stansbury resident who works in software sales, will not only oversee the day-to-day operations of an administrative unit responsible for six individual congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, but is also responsible for the initial organization of his stake.
Nonetheless, he said, while there are many programs and events that need his attention, he believes ministering on an individual basis is far more important.
“If the programs become more important than the people, then we’re doing it wrong,” he said. “If the programs take us away from being able to focus on the individual, then we’re doing it wrong. The way that we plan to do that, is that we minister to every individual according to their needs. Some person might be in the hospital, some people might be in financial distress and never know what way to turn, other people may have spiritual problems that they need forgiveness for. And so understanding each individual’s need is really the only way we’re going to see that goal happen.”
Knudsen, a Logan native, grew up in the LDS Church and has believed in the faith as long as he can remember. But his deep conviction was solidified at an early age, while he was still in high school. His older brother had just been called on a mission in Spain, Knudsen said, and he then realized that he wasn’t sure he had the faith to leave home to preach the gospel in a far-away country such as Spain.
“I remember closing the door to my room and just praying to Heavenly Father for my own personal conversion,” he said. “I remember saying … I need to have a deeper set of convictions than I have right now if I’m expected to do hard things.”
But Knudsen said he didn’t begin serious church service until after his marriage, when he was called as a youth leader for teenage boys. Since then, he said, he has continued active volunteer service in the church’s lay clergy, and served from 2008-2013 as the bishop of the Ponderosa ward before his appointment to the stake presidency.
An avid sports fan, Knudsen volunteers as a coach for neighborhood youth leagues when he’s not busy with church activities or traveling for work.
Knudsen said he also enjoys jogging and golfing in his free time, but mostly considered his family — his wife and four kids, ranging in age from 14 to 5 — his primary hobby.
“I try to keep it in balance with the family,” he said. “The family — if I fail my family, it doesn’t matter what I do at church.”
But for Knudsen, it makes sense to put family first, church second, because to him, the LDS Church is primarily about individuals and families.
“We can’t get distracted by programs and business and tasks,” he said. “We need to be about the individual and saving families.”
