Follow The Prophet – The Words & Deeds of God's Living Prophet, President Thomas S. Monson

It seems there may be some readers that have misunderstood the purpose of this website. Some have even suggested we are “stalking the prophet.”  The sentiment of “stalking” is in stark contrast with the intent of this site.

The purpose of the site is to post public activities of the prophet, such as those already reported in the Church News. We also may periodically post anecdotal vignettes such as sittings at “normal” places like Dee’s restaurant. Foremost and more important, we desire to highlight anything he teaches about the gospel.

We desire to aggregate these events in a central location, and to provide links to the original sources.  Some have suggested we should be “following the Savior” instead. We do not disagree. However, there are thousands of sites already providing this service. We noticed there were no sites dedicated to sharing the wonderful life and example of the living prophet, primarily with the members of the church who venerate him and want to follow his example.

The site will hopefully help members of the Church better know what the prophet is doing, what he is teaching, and to get to know the prophet as a person better.  Most of the posts will be from major news media about the prophet’s travels around the world to visit with the Saints (such as the links to the BYU-Hawaii newspaper), giving devotional addresses, dedicating temples, visiting the Saints, and links to transcripts of his teachings. We may occasionally include personal interactions with members if there are any.  The prophet is always teaching, everywhere he goes.

Because we have the prophet’s safety in mind, the posts will be published well after the prophet has visited the locations, sometimes several days after.  We have no plans to post daily. You will notice already on the site that there have only been a handful of posts every month for the last few months.  We have no plans or desires to track the prophet’s every movement in real-time, and we do not plan to publish anything that is not already public knowledge.

FollowTheProphet.net is a site that aims to help members of the Church stay close to the prophet, and stay connected with his teachings and counsels.

Positive Feedback

We were pleased that Larry Richman, Director of the Church Publications and Media Project Office for the Church, posted a complimentary blog over at LDS Media Talk about this new site.

We are also pleased that Emily Jensen from the Mormon Times website, published by the Deseret News, also posted a complimentary snippet about this new site.

Rachel Bruner, About.com’s guide to Latter-day Saints, likewise has written, “I think this site will be a great resource for members of the Church, and help us feel more connected to him, especially with the impossibility of every member being able to personally meet the prophet.”

Another friend of ours, Greg McMurdie, who is a Search Engine Marketer for the Church said, “Great site Bryce. Congratulations! I’ve been wondering when someone might do this.”

We’ve had many others give us positive feedback of the site.

We have worked hard to make the site uplifting and to provide aggregated public information, especially to members who live far from the prophet, to help them feel more connected to him, and to keep abreast of his teachings and example.  Some mothers have already expressed interest in using the site as a teaching aide with their children, to help them better come to know President Monson.  Hopefully the information on this site will be viewed in that sort of light.

Today we are pleased to formally announce the launch of the FollowTheProphet.net website.  This site’s mission is to help members of the Church follow the prophet, President Thomas S. Monson, of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by collecting all the news, talks, speeches, devotionals, dedications, interactions, and activities he does and posting links to those things in one central location.  This way members of the Church may more easily learn more about the prophet, and his ongoing counsel to us, as well as his daily example.  A more comprehensive introduction can be read on the About page, as well as short bios of the founders of the site.

Much of the news about the prophet comes from his travels around the world as he visits the members of the Church, and dedicates temples.  Because of this, many of the posts will follow a similar format.  The prophet’s location will be noted, as well as the date he was there.  Links to news stories and reports on his visits will be included, as well as the transcripts of any talks he gives.  Short snippets of things he said or did will also be included.  Please note that we will only post about the prophet’s activities some time after he has visited a location, unless it is a scheduled event, so there is absolutely no security concern for the prophet.

A Global Map is also included on the site.  This will show markers at all the locations we have noted.  Clicking on these markers will show the dates when the prophet was there, with a link to the post on the site which describes his visit there.

You can “follow the prophet” in several ways – Twitter, RSS feed, by email, or Facebook.  Use whichever way is most comfortable to you.

We hope that this site is useful to you, and helps you follow in the footsteps of our beloved prophet, learn more about him, and his words to us.  It may be particularly fun to use as a teaching aide with your young children, to help them learn more about President Monson, and what he has been doing recently.

If you have any tips, suggestions, questions, or comments, we’d love to hear from you on our Contact Us page.