Here is my JWHA recap 2025! I’ll show photos and give my reactions to the award winners! Check it out!

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Gospel Tangents

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https://youtu.be/NL_LkWQBApk

Fresh off the plane from Kansas City, I wanted to share a recap of my fantastic, albeit hectic, week at the John Whitmer Historical Association (JWHA) meetings in Independence. It’s been a whirlwind of travel lately—from Atlanta to Canada and then straight to JWHA—but the experience was absolutely worth it.

The awards ceremony was a major highlight, celebrating the brilliant minds in Mormon History. A truly special moment was seeing Mark Staker, this year’s JWHA president, present Grant McMurray with a Lifetime Achievement Award. Grant, a former president of the Community of Christ and one of the founders of JWHA 50 years ago, was in high spirits despite being in a wheelchair, which I hadn’t seen before. He joked that with a Lifetime Achievement Award, he didn’t need to do anything else in his life, which got a good laugh from everyone.

Congratulations are also in order for several other award winners:

• Matt Harris, the incoming JWHA president, deservedly won the Best Book Award for his incredible book, Second Class Saints. It was great to see him presented with the award. His mother attended the conference too!
• Jason Smith, who runs the JWHA podcast, received the Excellence in Leadership award.
• Cristina Gagliano (formerly Rosetti) won Best Biography for her book on Mormon fundamentalist Joseph White Musser.
• William Perez won for his article “Unholy Waters,” and Ryan Davis won for his work on Mormon missionaries and popular music in Spain.
• Katie Rich and Heather Sundahl were recognized for their work on 50 Years of Exponent II. Katie Rich is clearly an impressive historian who has slipped under my radar, and I need to get her on the podcast soon!.

The conference was packed with fascinating people and presentations. I had the opportunity to present with Mark Tensmeyer and Amanda Hendrix-Komoto on Joseph Smith’s polygamy and the statistical question of how many children he should have had. We’re hoping to get a group together for a follow-up discussion soon.

Unfortunately, due to scheduling conflicts, I missed several presentations I was eager to see, including those by Kyle Beshears (my favorite Baptist pastor), my good friend Newell Bringhurst, Ganesh Cherian, and Jared Halverson. Kyle, an expert on James Strang, was even passing out hilarious Nintendo 64-style stickers of Strang.

It was a joy to reconnect with so many friends and colleagues, including:

• My friend Matt Turner, who helped me with a walking tour of Independence a few years ago.
• Historians and authors like Alex Baugh, Brian Hales, Craig Foster, and Mark Scherer.
• Representatives from various restoration groups, which is what makes Whitmer so unique. I chatted with Wayne, a Seventy in the Bickertonite Church, and John Hajicek, who follows James Strang’s legacy.

One of the most exciting parts of the trip was interviewing Stassi Cramm, the first female prophet of the Community of Christ. The interview took place this morning, and I’m hoping to edit and post it this weekend, so keep an eye out for that! I also had the pleasure of meeting other leaders from the Community of Christ, including Bunda Chibwe of the First Presidency.

We also took a fascinating tour led by Matt Harris to Topeka, Kansas, to visit the elementary school of Linda Brown from the landmark Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court case. Now a museum run by the National Park Service, it was a powerful experience to see the history firsthand.

For those planning ahead, next year’s JWHA conference will be in Council Bluffs, Iowa, home of Winter Quarters, so I expect we’ll have some great historical tours there as well.

It was an exhausting but incredibly rewarding week. Thanks to everyone who makes this community so vibrant and fun. I’m already looking forward to next year!

Don’t miss our other Tangent Trips! https://gospeltangents.com/mormon_history/gt-trips/

Copyright © 2025

Gospel Tangents

All Rights Reserved