Mormon Stories #1120: The Purves Family: How a Davis, CA Bishop Navigate(d) a Faith Crisis Pt. 1

When the Bishop Has Doubts: The Purves Family and Mormon Faith Transition Stories

What happens when the person responsible for shepherding a congregation through faith crises is himself navigating one? That question sits at the center of the Purves family's story, recorded in Mormon Stories Podcast episode #1120 and hosted by John Dehlin in May 2019. Scott and Joanna Purves, along with three of their four children, sat down in their Davis, California home to document something the institutional LDS Church rarely acknowledges publicly: that faithful, fully-invested members, including bishops, can reach a point where the historical record no longer squares with what they were taught.

The episode matters because Scott Purves was not a peripheral, nominal member. He was a sitting bishop.

Background: A Family Built on Believing Mormonism

Both Scott and Joanna came from California LDS households that were, by any reasonable measure, deeply committed. Scott's father joined the church as an adult and was quickly called as a bishop himself. Joanna's upbringing was more scripture-intensive: her father held what she described as a Bruce McConkie-style approach, sitting the family down to discuss Armageddon, the pre-existence, and the millennium in formal, deliberate sessions.

They both served missions and met in the mission field, which is about as Mormon an origin story as it gets.