Sunday, March 23, 2025
New York Mets Spanish radio producer credits self-reliance class
(thechurchnews.com 3-20-25)
When the Major League Baseball season begins in a couple of weeks, Brian Munguia of the Brooklyn New York Stake is going to be busy.
He is the Spanish-language radio producer and engineer for the New York Mets — a dream job that is now a reality.
“There were people along the way that believed in me,” he said.
Munguia grew up as a big baseball fan and had a lot of support in his life — including his mother, who was a Mets fan, and a school teacher, who was a Yankees fan. One of his professors at Brooklyn College introduced him to working in radio.
Besides those influences, he also credits the support of his wife and a self-reliance class from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints called Find a Better Job.
“If it wasn’t for that class, I wouldn’t be working for the Mets,” said Munguia, who is a father of two and a member of the Staten Island 3rd Ward (Spanish).
The 12-week course was offered through his stake and led by a facilitator. It combines spiritual principles with practical skills, and as a returned missionary who served in the California Anaheim Mission, Munguia appreciated the importance of the spiritual aspect.
To improve, he said, “you have to put your trust in God.”
In the class, the group learned how to write a better resume and cover letter, how to network, prepare for job interviews and promote themselves to potential employers.
Above all, Munguia said the class taught him how to be bold. He was already working in the sports broadcasting industry, but his fellow group members encouraged him to reach for more.
Through a contact, Munguia visited the Mets broadcast booth at Citi Field. That visit eventually led to a job offer. Now he has been in his current role for three baseball seasons and is starting his fourth.
Each game, Munguia makes sure the New York Mets’ live Spanish-language broadcast is on the air. He helps the play-by-play announcers have the right notes, details and information and he keeps track of the timing for the on-air product. He also makes sure all the connections are set to each platform that carries the Spanish broadcast.
He has since facilitated a self-reliance course in his stake and encourages other people to consider taking one — such as Starting and Growing My Business, Education for Better Work, Personal Finances, Emotional Resilience and more.
Munguia knows those who want to improve their lives have to step up to the plate and take a swing.
Church receives award for reconstruction, preservation of Ohio historic site
(thechurchnews.com 3-22-25)
A historic site of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has been recognized with an award.
The Joseph and Emma Smith Home was honored with an Award of Merit for the Reconstruction of a Religious Landmark by the Cleveland Restoration Society and AIA Cleveland during the 2025 Celebration of Preservation awards ceremony held in Cleveland, Ohio, on Friday, March 21.
Representatives from the Church History Department attended the event at the historic Ariel LaSalle Theatre in Cleveland to accept the award, which recognizes outstanding achievements in historic preservation in Northeast Ohio.
The award recognizes the Joseph and Emma Smith Home for enriching and preserving Kirtland’s historic and cultural heritage, Benjamin Pykles, director of the Church History Department’s Historic Sites Division, wrote in an email to the Church News.
“The Church invests significant resources to restore, preserve and share its historic sites with the public,” he wrote. “Great care and attention to historical accuracy are paid to ensure that visitors have an authentic experience at these sacred places where they can learn about the great things the Lord has done in restoring His gospel to the earth. We are grateful that others appreciate and celebrate the Church’s efforts to preserve and share its history.”
-Award criteria-
Each year, the Cleveland Restoration Society and AIA Cleveland collaborate to recognize preservation projects at the Celebration of Preservation awards, according to Margaret Lann, Cleveland Restoration Society’s director of Preservation services and publications.
A jury of nine reviewed nominations based on the following criteria:
Quality of the work.
Adherence to recognized preservation standards.
Risk factors.
Strategic implications to promote preservation in the region.
Innovative preservation, financing or partnering techniques.
Impact of the nominated property on the larger community.
Based on the criteria, Lann said the Smith home stood out among many nominations.
“It was a unique nomination in that the home is being used as part of a museum that tells events related to the history of the region and a religion,” Lann wrote in an email to the Church News.
“The jury was especially impressed with the amount of research that was done prior to the reconstruction, something that is not easily done on a home that is almost 200 years old and has been through multiple reconfigurations. They also appreciated the careful balance of preservation and reconstruction techniques that were paired with application of materials that will allow the building to perform as a museum and tourist destination for what we hope is next 100 years.”
-History of Smith home-
Joseph and Emma Smith lived in the home — located just down the hill from the Kirtland Temple — from late 1833 until 1838, when they fled Kirtland, Ohio, because of persecution and threats of violence. The home is where Joseph and Emma lived together and raised their family longer than any other place prior to his death in 1844.
In addition to being a residence, the Smith home served as a center for Church administration. Joseph met with other Church leaders, instructed missionaries and oversaw and participated in the construction of the Kirtland Temple. He and Emma also oversaw significant publications for the Church in their home.
Some of the revelations Joseph received in Kirtland came in the home, including a portion of the preparation of what is now Doctrine and Covenants 109, the dedicatory prayer of the Kirtland Temple.
-Restoration of Smith home-
The Church acquired the Smith property in 2012 and conducted extensive archeological and architectural research to determine which parts of the structure are original to the home and which parts were added later.
Construction to return the structure to its original appearance began in May 2022.
Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated the restored home in August 2023.
-New historic sites in Kirtland-
The following March, the Church acquired the the Kirtland Temple, along with other historic properties, documents and artifacts from Community of Christ. Tours of the temple began on March 25, 2024.
Pykles said more than 33,000 visitors toured the Smith home in 2024, the first full year it was open to the public. Tours focus on the Prophet Joseph; his wife, Emma; and their young family. Visitors learn about how the couple cared for family, fellow Latter-day Saints and guests as well as Joseph’s efforts to lead the Church through revelation during a significant period in the history of the Church. The tour also highlights Emma’s contributions to both her family and the Church.
“We hope the Smith home historic site will continue to bless and inspire all those who visit,” he said.
Saturday, March 15, 2025
Breakthrough Challenges Fundamental Laws Of Nature, Opens Doors For Quantum Computing
What this Hebrew word teaches us about Christ’s nature
(ldsliving.com 3-7-25)
On Monday of Holy Week, four days before His crucifixion, Jesus cleansed the temple in Jerusalem.
Upon finding merchants carrying out dishonest transactions inside the holy temple, Jesus sent them away and overturned their tables, declaring:
“It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves” (Matthew 21:13).
Compared with the ever-patient and loving Jesus, the one who taught us to “turn the other cheek,” this Jesus may feel unfamiliar. But when we understand the Hebrew word for prayer, Jesus’s actions make more sense—and we learn something essential about His nature as our Savior.
-Hebrew Word for "Prayer"-
Sunday on Monday host Tammy Uzelac Hall explains that “the word ‘prayer’ in Hebrew is tphillah (תְּפִלָּה) and it derives from the root verb palal (פָּלַל), meaning ‘to pray’ or ‘to intercede.’”
To intercede means “to intervene between parties with a view to reconciling differences; to mediate.”
It may feel unusual to think about the temple as a house of intercession, but when we go to the temple, we are asking God to intervene in our lives. We are seeking miracles, comfort, and blessings. And during the endowment, we learn that Jesus Christ is our mediator with the Father and the One who has interceded on our behalf.
Intercession and mediation require movement. They ask Jesus to put Himself in the way of danger, right the wrong, block us, and protect us. It is not a passive word.
The merchants in the temple were interfering with the holiness of the temple, and Jesus interceded, restoring its cleanliness with action and power.
-Our Savior, the Lord of Armies-
Jesus’s portrayal as a powerful intercessor is not unique to this scene in the Jerusalem temple. In Doctrine and Covenants 98, the Prophet Joseph Smith receives a revelation in the wake of the intense persecution the Saints endured in Missouri. In verse 2, he is told:
“[Wait] patiently on the Lord, for your prayers have entered into the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth, and are recorded with this seal and testament—the Lord hath sworn and decreed that they shall be granted”.
In Hebrew, Sabaoth means “armies” or “hosts.” We are probably most familiar with the English translation of the full phrase as “Lord of Hosts.” But what about “Lord of Armies”? With this translation, Christ becomes more than our loving and gentle Savior. He becomes a powerful leader, the commander of all heavenly and earthly forces.
Tammy Uzelac Hall says:
“How could we possibly trust in a Savior who doesn’t know how to overcome and destroy the enemy? That’s the Jesus we want. That’s the Jesus I want to have hear my prayers. I love that idea that a fighting, conquering Savior … is going to do everything in His power to help me.”
With this perspective, perhaps our faith in Jesus can become a bit grittier; the adversary stands no chance against the Lord of Sabaoth.
-Make Your Home a House of Prayer-
As Easter approaches, we can remember Jesus’s statement in the temple that His house is a house of prayer. Interestingly, the Lord repeats this statement twice in the dedicatory prayer for the Kirtland temple in Doctrine and Covenants section 109.
“I think He’s encouraging us to have our homes be houses of prayer,” Tammy says.
Consider having a family discussion of who or what you can pray for as a family during Holy Week. Read together Matthew 21:12–13, the Lord’s promise to the Saints in Doctrine and Covenants 98, and the Kirtland dedicatory prayer in section 109. How can your home become a house of prayer? How can your family better recognize Jesus Christ as Intercessor and Lord of Armies?
As the beloved hymn says:
“Fear not, though the enemy deride;
Courage, for the Lord is on our side.
We will heed not what the wicked may say,
But the Lord alone we will obey.”
https://www.ldsliving.com/what-this-hebrew-word-teaches-us-about-christs-nature/s/12693
Most Church members will soon be within an hour of a templ
(ldsliving.com 3-12-25)
Elder Neil L. Andersen shared a notable statistic last weekend at RootsTech 2025, a global genealogy conference.
“In only a few years, 80% of all the temple recommend holders in the Church will be within an hour of a temple,” he said. “It is a glorious day, isn’t it? The love of our Savior Jesus Christ and the power, the protection, the peace—all of which comes from His holy house—will be so important as we prepare for our Savior’s Second Coming.”
This increased access to temples reflects the ongoing proliferation of temple construction worldwide.
For example, in October 2024, President Russell M. Nelson announced plans for 17 new temples, including the first temples in Ireland and Uganda. Only one month later, he dedicated the Church’s 200th temple—the Deseret Peak Utah Temple.
Today, there are currently 367 temples operating, announced, or under construction, and early construction work for the future Vancouver Washington Temple started just this week.
This rapid growth in temple construction is evidence of the Lord’s love for His children, as Elder Andersen has taught. In the April 2024 general conference, the Apostle shared:
“Why is the Lord now bringing hundreds of His temples closer to us? One reason is that amid the turmoil and temptations of the world, He has promised to strengthen and bless His covenant Saints, and His promises are being fulfilled! ...
“In this day of confusion and commotion, I testify that the temple is His holy house and will help preserve us, protect us, and prepare us for the glorious day when, with all His holy angels, our Savior returns in majesty, power, and great glory.”
https://www.ldsliving.com/most-church-members-will-soon-be-within-an-hour-of-a-temple/s/12700
Sunday, March 9, 2025
Big news, Mormon Village is coming back!
So, over the past several months I have received hundreds of emails from my faithful readers saying they want me to bring back the old blog title and URL of Mormon Village. They say they really miss it.
I've thought about it for a long time, and I've finally come to the decision that I will do as my followers have requested. I guess they never really understood the whole "templar" thing.
I suppose most aren't fascinated with the Templar Knights as I am. Imagine that.
And eventhough President Nelson asked members to not use the term Mormon as much, I don't think one little blog name will hurt.
So, with that said, sometime this week I will switch over to either mormonvillage.blogspot or mormon-village.blogspot.
I have to actually see what blogger will let me do, it is acting a little wonky at the moment. But it will be one of those two URL's.
So, thanks for hanging with me, thanks for being such loyal readers!
Catholics Are Rapidly Losing Ground
(crisismagazine.com 3-4-25)
Last week the Pew Research Center released a new survey on religion in America; their first major study of this type since 2014. Upon the survey’s publication, I could almost hear a collective groan from Catholics, since we’ve come to approach such polls with a sense of dread. The question isn’t, “Will it be bad?” The question is, “How bad will it be?”
I won’t bury the lede: it’s bad. Really bad.
Only 19% of Americans self-identify as Catholic, down from 24% in 2007. This is a 20% decrease. By comparison, Protestants decreased by 21%, while religious “nones” increased by 81% and Muslims increased by an astounding 200% (although they still make up a small percentage of the overall population—only 1.2%). Even though the Pew Survey headline suggests that the decline in Christianity in this country may have “leveled off,” it’s clear the overall direction is downward.
The numbers get worse for Catholics. Perhaps the most stunning finding in the survey is that for every 100 people who join the Catholic Church, 840 leave. So when you rejoice seeing folks become Catholic at Easter (which you should), remember that more than 8 people have left by the back door for each one who’s come in the front.
No other religion has nearly as bad of a join/leave ratio. For every 100 people that become Protestant, 180 leave. That’s bad, but it’s not Catholic bad. Conversely, for every 100 people who leave the religious “nones” (i.e., they join a religion), a full 590 become part of that irreligious cohort.
Where are the former Catholics going? Of all the former Catholics, 56% become religious “nones” and 32% become Protestant. I think we all know from personal experience that these numbers ring true. What Catholic doesn’t have family members who have become Protestant or have stopped practicing any religion? It’s just part of being an American Catholic these days.
Like I said, it’s bad. But it’s actually much worse than you might first think from those numbers.
You might have noticed something peculiar about what I’ve shown so far. If so many people are leaving the Church, how is it that the total number has only dropped by 20%? Shouldn’t it be more?
Yes, but there’s something that keeps the numbers slightly afloat: immigration. As the Pew Survey itself states, “immigration has helped to bolster the number of Catholics in the United States.” So while millions are fleeing the Catholic Church, new migrants keep the overall numbers from looking horrific. I’m not saying our bishops are working so hard to keep mass immigration alive in this country to keep the true horrible state of the Church hidden, but the inflow sure does end up having that effect.
However, that’s not all the bad news (I’m starting to feel like a TV salesman constantly saying, “But wait! There’s more!”). All of the numbers above reflect self-identifying Catholics; it makes no distinction between practicing and non-practicing Catholics. If you say you’re Catholic, then you’re counted as Catholic. We know, of course, that what really matters, when it comes to the salvation of souls, is actually practicing the Catholic Faith.
Fortunately, the survey also asks about attendance at religious services, but these numbers are also discouraging. Only 29% of self-identifying Catholics attend Mass weekly. So only 29% of the 19% of Americans who identify as Catholic actually fulfill the Sunday obligation.
At the risk of earning broken record status, I think it’s even worse. The Pew survey doesn’t ask about going to Confession, but based on other surveys I’ve seen over the years, the total number of self-identifying Catholics who go to Confession at least once a year is around 10%. Let’s be optimistic and say it’s actually around 20% and that all those Catholics also go to Mass weekly.
Based on the very-minimally-defined idea of a “practicing Catholic” as someone who attends Mass weekly and Confession yearly, probably at most 20% of the 19% of self-identified Catholics are practicing Catholics.
Let’s run these numbers:
340 million Americans
19% self-identify as Catholic: 64.6 million Catholics
20% of those Catholics: 12.92 million practicing Catholics, or 3.8% of all Americans
Compare this number of practicing Catholics to the 98.6 million religious “nones”—there are almost eight times more religious nones in America than practicing Catholics. And then remember more than 50 million of the people who identify as Catholics don’t even do the minimum to be considered practicing their faith in any real sense.
Like I said, the news is bad. Very bad.
The two questions that naturally arise when looking at these dire numbers are:
1) How did this happen?
2) What can we do to correct it?
Obviously, we must answer the first question before we can answer the second, but unfortunately most Catholic leaders are wholly uninterested in that first question. They might want to talk about how we can attract new Catholics, but they will not seriously look at why so many are leaving. Yet, for every 100 new Catholics there are 840 former Catholics. We absolutely must look at what caused this problem in the first place.
Catholics ignoring the problem is the biggest challenge, but there is another challenge: giving simplistic answers. There is no “silver bullet” that will reverse the decline. Just spreading the TLM (the trad silver bullet) or improving catechesis (the conservative silver bullet) or accepting modern sexual mores (the liberal silver bullet) won’t solve the problem. There is no one answer for how to move forward.
Just off the top of my head, here are a few factors I believe have caused this massive outflow from the Church:
Ineffective leadership, especially among bishops
Religious indifference
Poor catechesis
Scandals within the Church
Irreverent Masses
Lackluster parishes
Overall lack of enthusiasm for the faith
The secularization of culture
Rapid advances in technology that allow someone to feel “fulfilled” without religion
The full answer to “How did this happen?” includes all of the above and much more. Because of this, Catholics need to consider a complete overhaul in how the Church currently operates. Absolutely nothing should be off the table, except those things that are of divine origin (no abolishing the Sacraments, for example). The status quo that has reigned over the past 60 years must become a thing of the past.
The problem with the status quo, of course, is that it’s familiar and comfortable. Dioceses and parishes have been operating the same way for decades now, and any institutional change will be greatly resisted by the keepers of the status quo, which is often bishops and many parish priests…and definitely the lay staff in chanceries and parish offices. Even orthodox Catholics fall into this rut, just looking for the next program from various apostolates to solve our problems.
The path forward, however, must be much more radical. If Facebook executives found out that for every 100 people who join their platform, 840 leave, you can be sure they would consider sweeping changes. Likewise should Catholics entertain significant reforms: it must include how bishops manage the Church, how we celebrate Mass, how we educate our children, how we interrelate with other religions, and every other aspect of ecclesial life. A few practical ideas that come to mind:
Promote homeschooling among Catholics
Make the traditional Latin Mass much more widely celebrated
Abolish the USCCB
Halt all interreligious activities
Return to the Baltimore Catechism
Bring back year-long Friday abstinence
Shut down parish sports leagues that play on Sundays
In truth, these ideas only sound radical if one is fixated on continuing the failures of the past 60 years.
We’re at the point of a serious ecclesial crisis in our country, which means we need to be serious about solutions, even if they go against our post-conciliar status quo. One thing that’s for sure, as long as we bury our heads in the sand and keep doing what we’ve been doing, the number of Catholics leaving the Church will only continue to grow.
https://crisismagazine.com/opinion/catholics-are-rapidly-losing-ground
Who’s Buying Nebraska? After shopping spree, Mormon church is top land purchaser
(investigatemidwest.org 11-27-23)
Early in the summer of 2018, a nonprofit few Nebraskans have heard of bought a 22,613-acre chunk of land in Garden County.
The next year, the nonprofit, tied to a P.O. Box in Salt Lake City, picked up another 3,331 acres of county land, buying it from a Colorado investment company.
The unknown nonprofit grabbed two more pieces of county land on the same day in March 2020, adding 10,278 acres to its mushrooming total. Then, two years later, it added still more land in this rural Nebraska county tucked between Chimney Rock and Lake McConaughy.
Before anyone really knew it, the nonprofit owned most of northern Garden County.
Not even the assessor could calculate the nonprofit’s total acres, an employee in the Garden County Assessor’s Office said. The organization simply owns too many parcels, through too many sales, for county officials to comb through the records.
“You’ll have to ask Farmland Reserve Inc.,” she said politely before hanging up the phone.
Farmland Reserve Inc., a nonprofit owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon church, has been quietly buying up ranch land in Nebraska’s Sandhills for the past three decades.
The Garden County shopping spree, coupled with more buys in four neighboring counties, made the church Nebraska’s top single buyer of land in the past five years.
The church bought a whopping 57,500 acres – double the amount of the second largest buyer– between 2018 and 2022, according to a Flatwater Free Press analysis of data gathered by a University of Nebraska-Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications data journalism class.
The Mormon Church now owns about 370,000 total acres of zoned agricultural land in Nebraska. It could soon become Nebraska’s largest landowner – passing Ted Turner, who has famously long occupied that No. 1 spot – if church representatives continue to buy land at their current pace.
How much land is 370,000 acres? It’s almost exactly the total amount of land in Douglas and Sarpy counties combined.
The church sees its land buys as a force for good, an investment in agriculture “to generate long-term value to support the Church’s religious, charitable, and humanitarian good works,” said a Farmland Reserve spokesman.
The nonprofit owned by the church also pays property taxes like any other ag producer in the state, and state and federal income taxes, too, the spokesman noted – though an unknown amount of revenue is given to the church itself, which doesn’t have to pay taxes on passive investments.
The Nebraska Farmers Union sees the church as another out-of-state corporation that arrives, drives up prices and makes buying harder for smaller farmers.
“All of the land that the Mormon church owns is land that individuals in Nebraska do not have the opportunity to own,” said John Hansen, president of the Nebraska Farmers Union.
Unlike other nonprofits in the U.S., religious organizations don’t have to publicly report their income or assets, including real estate. The church has never given a total accounting of their properties, in Nebraska or globally, while amassing a fortune exceeding $100 billion.
“Even for those of us who follow the church closely, we’re in the dark when it comes to specific church financial information,” said Patrick Mason, professor of Mormon history and culture at Utah State University.
But watchdog groups have made estimates by identifying church-owned companies, often through registered addresses.
An early 2020 nationwide analysis of real estate holdings connected to the Mormon church by Truth and Transparency found approximately 365,000 acres of land zoned for agriculture in Nebraska. The Flatwater Free Press analysis of county assessor records show that the church continued to add acres at a slower pace in 2021 and 2022.
Farmland Reserve Inc. confirmed that it is currently ranching on about 365,000 acres in the Sandhills. The church doesn’t plan to continue expanding its ranching operation, the spokesman said, but it may buy row crop land to lease to local farmers.
The Nebraska land is just one slice of the 1.7 million acres of American real estate the Mormon church is now estimated to own.
And that 1.7 million-acre total is most likely an undercount, said Truth and Transparency co-founder Ryan McKnight, because it only includes corporations definitively traced back to the church.
“They were able to go completely under the radar in terms of the largeness. Anecdotally people do think ‘Oh, the Mormon church, you know, owns a lot of land,’’ McKnight said. “I don’t know that people really have a grasp of how vast it is.”
Layers of Church Business
The Salt Lake Tribune estimates that the church’s investment holdings exceed $160 billion. Truth and Transparency’s co-founder, Ethan Gregory Dodge said he believes it owns at least another $100 billion in U.S. real estate.
Combined, the church’s estimated wealth equals the net worth of roughly two Warren Buffetts.
The church uses both nonprofit and for-profit subsidiary corporations to manage its business operations under a variety of names.
Historically, the church has had a sprawling and complicated corporate structure. Sam Brunson, professor of nonprofit tax law Loyola University Chicago School of Law and member of the church, said that as best he can tell, a description of the structure is not public anywhere.
“The church is remarkably untransparent about its finances,” Brunson said.
The church likely originally purchased land in Nebraska through its nonprofit, Farmland Reserve Inc., to use a loophole in a Nebraska law that once banned for-profit corporations – but not nonprofits – from owning farmland in Nebraska, Brunson said.
Why did that law, Initiative 300, allow the Mormon church such an easy workaround?
“You can only slay so many dragons with one swing of the sword,” said Hansen, who helped put Initiative 300 into place.
Initiative 300 was ruled unconstitutional in 2007. By that point, the church had already purchased more than 200,000 acres of Nebraska ag land under Farmland Reserve Inc.
AgReserves Inc., a for-profit corporation also owned by the church, now manages ranches on Farmland Reserve land in Nebraska.
What are they doing with all of that land?
Rex Ranch, AgReserves’ sprawling 365,000-acre cow-calf operation, covers most of northern Garden County and stretches through the Sandhills into Grant, Hooker, Morrill and Sheridan counties.
Despite its unusual size, the ranch has gone largely unnoticed by Nebraskans in the 30-plus years it’s been owned by the church.
Hansen, for example, said he had heard rumors that the Mormon church owned “a lot of land in northwest Nebraska” but didn’t know about Rex Ranch – and had no idea that the Mormon church has bought more ag land than anyone in recent years.
Dale Bills, a spokesman for Farmland Reserve, said that the Rex, and its employees, are very much a part of the local community. The Rex’s employees live on the land they work and regularly participate in the Nebraska Cattlemen’s Association and Nebraska Grazing Lands Coalition.
AgReserves hires ranch hands to work at Rex Ranch through public job postings. The church generally wants to be well integrated in the communities where it operates, said Mason, the Utah State University professor.
Farmland Reserve did not share specific details about staffing at Rex Ranch, but Mason said he would be “not at all surprised if all of the management are LDS (church members).”
Austin Anderson, Rex Ranch’s current general manager, previously worked at another AgReserves cattle ranch in Florida. His brother Tyrell, who attended the church’s Brigham Young University, manages Ted Turner’s Blue Creek Ranch nearby.
Rex Ranch sources more than 90% of its purchases for feed, tools, equipment, and other ranching inputs from local suppliers, Bills said. Employees also volunteer with local schools, nearby ranches, 4-H clubs and at county fairs.
AgReserves also operates the more widely known Deseret Ranches of Florida, and is believed to be Florida’s largest private landowner. Other operations span more than 30 states, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Mexico and the United Kingdom.
Produce and meat from the church’s various farms go in two directions, Brunson said: to a charitable grocery store for church members called the Bishop’s Storehouse, or to the open market where they’re sold for profit.
Members of the church can access food assistance at the Bishop’s Storehouse, but members of the public must get permission from the individual presiding bishop to receive food.
“The church’s sort of cascading PR message that they would give out on why they own so much farmland is ‘Oh, it’s about our principle of self-sufficiency,’” said Truth and Transparency’s McKnight.
AgReserves primarily sells products in the U.S. and abroad. On its website, it describes itself as “a preeminent supplier of premium-quality nuts and olive oil” and “meeting the demand of today’s beef consumers.”
So does the church pay taxes?
The short answer: Yes. Sort of.
The church’s agriculture businesses pay both income and property taxes, though the structure is complicated.
“We pay both real property taxes and personal property taxes … just like any other ag producer or rancher,” said Bills, spokesman for Farmland Reserve.
In Nebraska, the structure of corporations seems to work like this: the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints owns Farmland Reserve Inc., which owns the land ranched by AgReserves Inc.
When AgReserves Inc. makes profit ranching it pays income taxes like a normal company.
Then AgReserves pays rent to Farmland Reserve Inc, which pays tax on a portion of that income.
But AgReserves also sends an unknown amount of profits directly to the church. The church doesn’t pay income taxes on that money because it is considered passive investment income.
Religious organizations are exempt from paying property taxes on land used directly for their nonprofit mission, Brunson said. The church’s properties that hold temples, for example, are not taxed.
But the church’s ag land isn’t eligible for that religious tax exemption since it’s a business run by a for-profit corporation. It’s paying property taxes on its ag land in all five Nebraska counties, county officials confirmed.
But there’s still a big difference between the Mormon church’s agricultural arm owning Nebraska ranch land versus a small rancher owning it, Hansen said.
“As they say, in real estate, location, location, location. In the case of agriculture, it’s ownership, ownership, ownership and ownership matters,” Hansen said. “Ownership creates different kinds of relationships with the land, and how the land is thought of and managed.
The Nebraska Farmers Union opposes the church’s investment into farmland and ranch land, Hansen said, as it opposes all outside investor ownership of Nebraska ag land.
“We’re not going after the Mormon church specifically,” Hansen said. “We’d go after the Catholics or the Methodists if they were doing exactly the same thing.”
In fact, the Mormon church isn’t the only religious organization buying Nebraska land. Divine Word Missionaries Inc, the largest missionary order of the Catholic Church, also appears in the Flatwater Free Press’ Top 100 Buyers by Acre list at No. 93, having purchased 2,833 acres of Nebraska farmland in the past five years.
Why ranching?
Former church president Gordon B. Hinckley explained its farming plans in the 1991 State of the Church. “We have felt that good farms, over a long period, represent a safe investment where the assets of the Church may be preserved and enhanced, while at the same time they are available as an agricultural resource to feed people should there come a time of need,” Hinckley said.
The church’s focus on ranching comes down to two factors, a good economic investment and preparedness for upheaval, said Betsy Gaines Quammen, historian and author of “American Zion: Cliven Bundy, God and Public Lands in the West.”
Stockpiling food and resources to be prepared for upheaval before a religious event is a central part of Mormon theology, Quammen said.
“Mormons are really big on being prepared for a disaster,” said Dodge, who was raised Mormon. “They believe that before Christ comes, there’s going to be a lot of disasters … and they would advise their members to have a year’s worth of food storage. I still have six months worth.”
Farmers and ranchers were virtuous characters throughout Mormon history, Quammen said. There’s a mystique around working the land, and many members of the church view agriculture as a noble pursuit.
“The church has people with the expertise to run and manage ranches, because they’ve been doing it for a long time,” Brunson said.
Working the land was a form of worship for early Latter-day Saints, Mason said. They believed that God entrusted the Earth to humans to develop, and turning wilderness into productive land is a religious duty.
AgReserves also prioritizes sustainable management of resources, Bills said. Ranch managers work with the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission to monitor range health and protect wildlife habitat.
“We are unconditionally committed to the humane treatment and care of our cattle because it’s the right thing to do. Humane treatment of all animals on our ranch is a reflection of our level of humanity,” Bills said.
Land ownership is also a solid long-term investment strategy, Mason said. Church leadership is not bound to shareholders or quarterly reports, and they see returns in 50 years as just as important as the next five.
“Currently, we aren’t looking to expand our ranching operations,” Bills said. “Any future investment we may make in Nebraska would be row crop land for lease to local farmers.”
Over the past five years though, the church has continued to buy land at a higher rate than any other organization in Nebraska. Mason said he expects the church “won’t be stopping anytime soon.”
The Mormon Church, a Massive Landholder, Just Expanded Its $2B US Farmland Portfolio Across 8 States
(realtor.com 10-11-24)
The Mormon Church is expanding its real estate empire with a massive $289 million deal for 46 farms across eight states, further solidifying its place as a major player in the US agricultural industry.
The real estate arm of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Utah-based Farmland Reserve Inc., is acquiring the farmland from Denver-based Farmland Partners Inc., a publicly traded real estate investment trust.
The transaction, set to close on Oct. 16, involves 41,554 acres of farmland spread across states including Arkansas, Florida, Nebraska, Mississippi and the Carolinas, according to DTN.
At nearly $7,000 per acre, the sale will hand Farmland Partners a significant windfall. The company expects to pocket a total gain of about $50 million from the sale, or roughly 21% above the book value of the properties.
Farmland Partners plans to use the capital to reduce debt by around $140 million, buy back stock and fund future acquisitions.
The company is also considering a “significant special distribution” to its shareholders by the end of the year, according to Luca Fabbri, president and CEO of Farmland Partners. Fabbri expressed excitement about the deal and noted that the transaction aligns with the company’s “total return” investment strategy, which focuses on long-term asset appreciation.
“We have consistently advised shareholders that our company is undervalued due to lack of recognition by the market of the appreciation in our asset base,” Fabbri said in the press release. He added that the deal proves the company’s investment thesis, which emphasizes generating returns not just from the farms’ operational income but also from the land’s increasing value.
Farmland Reserve, the Church’s real estate investment company, is already a powerhouse in US agriculture, with more than 1 million acres of farmland under its belt, including 370,000 acres in Nebraska alone.
Though the company remains somewhat mysterious—it does not list how much land it owns or have a contact on its website—it is widely recognized in the agricultural community as a responsible landowner.
“We are pleased to transition our long-standing tenant relationships to a high-quality institutional investor that values relationships as we do,” Fabbri said of Farmland Reserve. He praised the Church-owned company for its ethical management of tenant farmers, noting that its reputation as a “best-in-class” owner made it the right buyer for the portfolio.
Doug Rose, CEO of Farmland Reserve, echoed Fabbri’s sentiments, expressing gratitude for the opportunity to work with Farmland Partners.
“We’re also gratified they saw us as the right buyer for these properties and the farmer tenant relationships that come with them,” Rose said.
Farmland Reserve, with its long-term investment philosophy, plans to lease the newly acquired farms to local farmers for years to come, maintaining the agricultural productivity of the land, they said in the statement.
The company, which owns 145,000 acres and manages another 45,000 acres across 15 states, has acquired more than 300 farms since its IPO in 2014.
Roughly 90% of its acres grow row crops like corn and soybeans, with orchards in California adding to its diverse portfolio. The company also manages over 100 tenant farmers who help maintain its vast holdings across the country.
For Farmland Partners, the sale to the Church’s real estate arm is just another step in a long-term strategy to unlock the hidden value in its portfolio.
For Farmland Reserve, it’s a chance to further cement its position as a dominant force in American agriculture. As the dust settles on this landmark deal, one thing is clear: the Mormon Church’s land holdings—and its influence in the farming sector—are growing at a rapid pace.
According to The Flatwater Free Press, earlier this year the Mormon Church faced backlash after purchasing around 370,000 acres of prime ranch land in Nebraska, now owning at least $2 billion worth of agricultural terrain across the nation.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has become the largest land buyer in Nebraska over the past five years, holding $134 million in land there and potentially overtaking Ted Turner, founder of CNN, as the state’s top landowner.
The Utah-based church is already Florida’s largest private landowner, with agricultural holdings in the Sunshine State alone valued at $884 million.
Amid growing scrutiny of its finances, including a federal investigation and lawsuits from its own members, a recent analysis reveals the church’s vast real estate empire spans around 859,000 acres across the US, outpacing land holdings by Bill Gates and China combined. However, some estimates suggest the church’s actual agricultural assets could be as high as $12 billion.