Introduction
In a special stake conference convened on June 7, 2015, and presided over by Elder Paul V. Johnson of the Seventy, Darrell L. Moseley was sustained as the eighth president of the Spokane Washington Stake. Christopher J. Holland and Matthew M. Borders were sustained and set apart as first and second counselor, respectively.
At the time of the reorganization, the stake had 5,200 members across nine wards and one Marshallese language branch. Each conventional ward had both an Elders Quorum and a High Priest Group. The duty of Bishop included being the chartered organization’s representative for the ward’s Boy Scouts troop. The Stake Young Women’s organization was active in supporting young women through the Personal Progress program. Most Sundays, public church meetings were three hours long with no virtual attendance option for those who were ill or immunocompromised.
Much has changed in the Spokane Washington Stake, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and the world since June 2015. Considering the imminent reorganization of the stake presidency, it’s worth reflecting on the milestones of the Spokane Stake over the past nine years.
Lengthening the Cords, Strengthening the Stakes
Throughout the past nine years, there have been changes in the Church that have transformed our lives and our pursuit of the covenant path set out by our Savior Jesus Christ. These also represented many changes to the Spokane Stake. Church-wide changes that were implemented in the stake since 2015 and visible in 2024 include:
- The end of High Priest groups in each ward, with greater emphasis of the Work of Salvation in Elders quorums and the Relief Society.
- The introduction of Come Follow Me as a home-centered, church-supported gospel study program.
- The consolidation of adult leadership supporting Aaronic Priesthood quorums, with bishoprics taking on a more direct support of quorum leaders and their activities, prioritizing the bishop’s role in working with youth.
- The introduction of the Children and Youth Program, concurrent with the ending of the Church’s longtime partnership with the Boy Scouts of America.
- The transition to two-hour Sunday meetings.
- The ability for ward and stake leaders to stream meetings for those unable to participant in person.
As used in the Church, the term “stake” is a group of local congregations organized to administer the ordinances of the gospel and build unity among the disciples of Jesus Christ. The word comes from the Book of Isaiah: “Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations: spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes;” (Isaiah 54:2)
The Spokane Stake has been divided multiple times over the past seven decades to create new stakes as the Church has grown in the Inland Northwest (learn more here). Shortly after his call, President Moseley and several other stake presidents were tasked with developing a plan for the creation of a new stake. Church leaders recognized the continued growth of the Church in the area, but also acknowledged that a new stake would need to be derived from multiple existing stakes, necessitating the collective effort.
Several steps preceded the creation of the new stake. This included the creation of the Palouse Ward in April 2016, which included boundary adjustments for four other wards in the stake. Historically, ward and stake boundary adjustments had been accomplished using paper maps submitted to Church headquarters. Pinpointing where members lived on the map to understand impacts of changes was tedious. Not all details would be captured accurately. For changes made in 2016, the stake was able to use new web-based software the Church was piloting to draw new boundaries online. Overall, the software improved the accuracy of the process, and made it easier to disseminate the information when it went into effect.

Shortly after the Palouse Ward was created, stake leaders in the Spokane, Spokane North and Spokane Valley stakes announced new boundaries of the Spokane Mount Spokane Stake. The Beacon Hill and Shiloh Hills Ward (the original Spokane 11th and Spokane 20th wards) were moved into the new stake, along with the Friendship Park Branch, which had been organized in October 2010 to serve Marshallese members throughout the region. As a member of the Beacon Hill Ward, President Matt Borders became a member of the new stake and was called as 1st counselor in the Mount Spokane Stake Presidency. Ryan K. Jensen, previously serving as stake executive secretary, was called to serve as 2nd counselor to President Moseley.
While some smaller adjustments occurred in 2018, the second most significant boundary adjustments (after the creation of the Mt. Spokane Stake) occurred in September 2020. At that time, the stake implemented new boundaries that affected all conventional wards in the stake to varying degrees, seeking a better balance of membership and youth throughout the various wards of the stake. As various restrictions were in place in response to the COVID-19 Pandemic, the boundary adjustments presented an opportunity for spiritual growth. Members found ways to reach out and connect to friends and members in new ways.
In August 2022, the Spokane 2nd ward joined the Spokane Stake, after 30 years as a unit of the Spokane West Stake. The change included a boundary realignment with the Manito Ward, providing for a diversity of backgrounds and experiences that have blessed both wards and the entire stake.
For The Rising Generation
A stake president is constantly concerned with the children and youth of the Church, seeking ways to draw them closer to Jesus Christ, to help them obtain a sure witness of their divine identity and to invite them to live a life of discipleship. Much of this work is centered in the home and wards. However, the stake president organizes stake leaders to train youth leaders and facilitate stake-wide activities that strengthen faith. The stake president also works with individual youth as they prepare to serve a mission.

Stake leaders organized several stake youth conferences, including Joseph’s Legacy (2015), Trek (2017) and Trek (2023). These events have proved to be focal points for fostering faith. With the first “For the Strength of Youth” (FSY) conference in 2022, stake youth conferences now are supplemented with broader, churchwide efforts to bring youth together in unity and love.
In addition to stake youth conferences, the stake Young Women organization convened Girls Camp every summer, except for 2020. The camps have been a tremendous opportunity to develop faith, a knowledge of divine worth and a sense of belonging among the young women of the stake. Visiting these camps each year to share stories and testimonies was always a special highlight for the stake presidency.

Throughout his presidency, President Moseley and his counselors have prayerfully pursued ways to strengthen young single adults (YSAs) in the stake. The Spokane YSA Ward was originally organized in the 1990s as the Havana YSA Ward and has been a great asset to young single adults, helping to fortify testimonies and create opportunities to develop lifetime, and even everlasting, relationships. Prior to serving as stake president, President Moseley was bishop of the Spokane YSA Ward and grew to understand their strengths and challenges.
Sometime around 2022, The Church developed guidance on what is called a “YSA Gathering Place.” A YSA gathering place may be an institute building or meetinghouse where YSAs and their friends can gather and participate in wholesome activities and experiences that will bring them closer to one another and to God. President Moseley initiated conversations with other stake presidents in the region to explore ways in which this concept could be implemented.
For more than a decade, the Spokane Institute of Religion had been housed in rented space in Spokane’s University District, across the river from Gonzaga University. While the space was convenient for many students, it didn’t have enough capacity or versatility to accommodate the variety of activities that would ideally occur throughout the week at a YSA gathering place. What’s more, the Church’s lease of the space was set to expire in March 2023. After considering several available spaces for lease on the market, Church leaders in the area focused their sights on the Indiana Chapel, the oldest Latter-day Saint chapel in the region. Through a consolidation and reorganization of YSA wards announced on April 30, 2024, the Indiana Chapel became the YSA gathering place for young single adults in five stakes in Spokane County.
Going into All the World
The Spokane Stake is the beneficiary of countless missionaries laboring to draw everyone to our Savior Jesus Christ, beginning with the first missionaries to visit Spokane in 1896. It also has a rich legacy of missionary service. During President Moseley’s tenure as stake president, scores of missionaries were sent forth to preach the gospel around the globe, included an immediate member of President Moseley’s family. In January 2019, adult members of the stake were pleasantly surprised by the airing of a video during stake conference that featured missionaries serving from the stake sharing their experiences with the Holy Spirit.

Hundred of individuals were baptized in the Church and Spokane Stake over the past nine years. In every ward, these members become “fellowcitizens with the saints” (Ephesians 2:19), and have done much to strengthen the stake with their testimonies and teachings. In some cases, these new members have been able to serve as missionaries elsewhere in the world.
One of the defining missionary stories of the past several years has been the work of gathering among African Saints spearheaded by the Spokane Stake, both in Spokane and around the world. As part of the September 2020 adjustments to ward boundaries, the stake announced the creation of a Swahili language group in the Lincoln Heights Ward. In February 2023, the group was reorganized as the Regal Branch. While the branch is technically a Swahili language unit of the Church, it has become a gathering place for African saints who might speak French, Kinyarwanda, or other dialects native to Africa. It also has been an influence in distant lands, particularly in Burundi, where several branch members have relatives who are part of the growth of the Church in that country.

Service and Stretching
A stake in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is “for a defense, and a refuge from the storm” (Doctrine and Covenants 115:6). Bishops and ward councils are where so much of the stake efforts reach directly to individual members. During the past nine years, President Moseley called, ordained, and set apart 21 bishops. The contributions of these men, plus those who were serving at the time of President Moseley’s call, had tremendous positive impacts on the lives of stake members. Additionally, many other sisters and brothers have served with these bishops in stake and ward councils and organizations, to lift and encourage members and friends of the Church.
While primarily manifest on a spiritual level, the stake’s purposes also play out in the physical and temporal realms. Members of the stake came together many times through the past nine years to provide service in the community and to confront the impacts of storms. They also weathered the health and societal impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic, which included five months of home church, followed by capacity-constrained meetings, and a prolonged period of masking in public gatherings in compliance with state-imposed restrictions, until early 2022. While there were many negative impacts of the Pandemic, including several who passed because of complications with COVID-19, stake members rallied to comfort and support one another, just like is done in so many other aspects.
Below are highlights of a variety of service events and efforts conducted since 2015.






Joy in the Journey
Members of the Spokane Stake have come together in many ways to celebrate faith and friendship. Many events have included participation from friends who are not members of the stake. These include:
- Production of The Lamb of God oratorio in 2016 and 2018.
- Freedom celebration held to commemorate Martin Luther King Day in January 2017, with speakers that included City of Spokane Mayor David Condon and Pastor Happy Watkins of Hope New Baptist Church.
- Fun runs, including the May 2022 Stake Color Run (image below).
- Commemoration of the 75th Anniversary of the Spokane Washington Stake.
- Annual stake pioneer picnic, most often held at Comstock Park. A stake tradition stretching back for longer than the stake’s existence!

Conclusion: The Stake in 2024
As of June 1, 2024, stake membership stood over 4,000, in eight conventional wards, one YSA ward and a language branch. With various adjustments to wards, many members of the stake who have lived in the stake all nine years are most likely worshipping in a different meetinghouse or with a different ward than in 2015. Youth who were in primary in 2010 are now serving missions. Some of the youth who participated in Joseph’s Legacy in 2015 have children of their own.
This article captures only a fraction of the life and times of members of the Spokane Washington Stake over the past nine years. That said, we can see from the milestones shared above, the growth and evolution of the Spokane Washington Stake reflect a pattern for the church: changing lives and transforming our community of faith to be more Christ-like; more loving, more obedient and more confident in the promises of God. As the next chapter of the stake’s history is written, may we all find ourselves anxiously engaged in doing good and building Zion in Spokane.
