By the Numbers › Speakers › Sheldon F. Child
General Conference speaker · October 2003 to April 2008
Elder Sheldon F. Child
Of the Seventy
Elder Sheldon F. Child gave 2 General Conference talks from October 2003 to April 2008. The main topics of these talks are Faith and Obedience and Commandments. The verse cited most often is Omni 1:17. Weak Things has 2 sketch notes of these talks.
01 · The timeline
Every conference, April 2000 to April 2026
Each dot is a conference where Elder Child spoke. Hover for the talk; click to open its sketch note.
02 · Topic fingerprint
What these talks are about
The main topic of each talk, shown as petals. Longer petals mean more talks. Gold petals are topics this speaker chooses at least 1.5 times as often as the average speaker.
- Faith1 talk9.0× average
- Obedience and Commandments1 talk16.7× average
Key phrases from these talks
03 · The measuring stick
How these talks compare with every talk since 2000
The bar is this speaker. The line marks the average across all 1,909 talks.
04 · The scripture shelf
Which scriptures these talks use
Share of all verse citations by volume of scripture, compared with every speaker. Counted once per talk from footnotes and links in the text.
Verses cited most
- Omni 1:17 1
- John 14:15 1
- Jacob 7:10 1
- Helaman 5:12 1
- John 5:39 1
- Mosiah 18:10 1
- Jacob 7:9 1
- 1 Nephi 4:13 1
- Jacob 7:12 1
- John 14:16 1
The number is how many of these talks cite the verse. Verses with their own page link to every conference talk that cites them.
Books cited most
06 · Who these talks quote
The voices in the footnotes
Leaders named in the footnotes, outside authors named in the text or footnotes, and the conference speakers whose talks are cited. Each counts talks, not mentions.
Church leaders quoted
Conference speakers cited
These talks do not link to earlier conference talks in their footnotes.
Outside authors
No outside authors on the Bookshelf list are named in these talks.
07 · Who quotes them
How later talks build on these talks
Footnotes in later talks do not yet link to these talks. Newer talks often take a few conferences to be cited.
Speakers who cite these talks most
None yet.
The sketch notes
2 talks, one page each
Hand-drawn sketch notes from Weak Things. Each page links to the full talk on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
The Best InvestmentApril 2008
A Sure FoundationOctober 2003
For teachers and families: each sketch note has a printable PDF. Browse all Conference Sketch Notes →
Every talk
All 2 talks, newest first
Titles open the Weak Things sketch note. "Read" opens the official talk on ChurchofJesusChrist.org, the source for every number on this page.
| Talk | Conference | Main topic | Words | Footnotes | Cited by | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Best Investment | Apr 2008 | Obedience and Commandments | 1076 | 5 | 0 | Read ↗ |
| A Sure Foundation | Oct 2003 | Faith | 1513 | 10 | 0 | Read ↗ |
Sources and method
Where these numbers come from
- Talk text, footnotes and callings come from the official General Conference pages on ChurchofJesusChrist.org. Every talk above links to its source.
- Coverage is April 2000 through April 2026: 1,909 talks by 370 speakers. Sustainings, audit and statistical reports, and videos are left out. October 2026 joins once its text is posted.
- Verse counts use scripture links in footnotes and talk text, counted once per talk. "Cited by" counts later talks whose footnotes link to one of these talks.
- Main topics are estimates assigned by a language model from each talk's opening and closing. Signature phrases compare how many of these talks use a phrase with how many other talks do.
- Leaders quoted are found by name in footnotes. Outside authors are found by name in the text and footnotes. Sketch notes are Weak Things study aids, not official Church materials.