Making Precious Things Plain

Randal S. Chase spent his childhood years in Nephi, Utah, where his father was a dry land wheat farmer and a businessman. In 1959 their family moved to Salt Lake City and settled in the Holladay area. He served a full-time mission in the Central British (England Central) Mission from 1968 to 1970. He returned home and married Deborah Johnsen in 1971. They are the parents of six children—two daughters and four sons—and an ever-expanding number of grandchildren.

He was called to serve as a bishop at the age of twenty-seven in the Sandy Crescent South Stake area of the Salt Lake Valley. He served six years in that capacity and has since served as a high councilor, a stake executive secretary and clerk, and in many other stake and ward callings. Regardless of whatever other callings he has received over the years, one was nearly constant: he has taught “Come, Follow Me” classes in every ward he has ever lived in as an adult—for a total of thirty-five years.

Dr. Chase was a well-known media personality on Salt Lake City radio stations in the 1970s. He left on-air broadcasting in 1978 to develop and market computer-based management, sales, and music programming systems to radio and television stations in the United States, Canada, South America, and Australia. After the business was sold in 1984, he supported his family as a media and business consultant in the Salt Lake City area.

Having a great desire to teach young people of college age, he determined in the late 1980s to pursue his doctorate, and he received his PhD in communication from the University of Utah in 1997. He has taught communication courses at that institution as well as at Salt Lake Community College and Dixie State College of Utah for twenty-one years. He is currently a full-time faculty member and recently completed a four-year term as communication department chair at Dixie State College in St. George, Utah.

Concurrently with his academic career, Dr. Chase has served as a volunteer LDS Institute and Adult Education instructor in the CES system since 1994, both in Salt Lake City and St. George, where he currently teaches a weekly LDS Adult Education class for three stakes in the Washington area. He has also conducted multiple Church history tours and seminars. During these years of gospel teaching, he has developed an extensive library of LDS teaching resources, including lesson plans and handouts that are the predecessors to these study guides.

Michael Chase is the son of Randal Chase. He received his Bachelor’s degree from Utah Tech University in English and Art. He has tutored students in writing at Southern Utah University and has 6+ years experience in editing book manuscripts.

Michael has edited all 18 of our book manuscripts and fact-checks all cited LDS references and teaching resources. He enjoys drawing and painting gospel-related artwork and studying Church History.