Wow! What a marvelous treat I had this past week listening to Dr. Ross Baron, a professor at BYU-Idaho. Two of my children had the privilege of attending his classes as students there. They say he is their favorite professor. Born and raised in a Jewish family, he converted to membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at age 18. He served a mission for the Church in Argentina. Now he is a husband, father, and professor at BYU-Idaho. I love his conversion story!

Here are some unique things he says that he has done (copied and pasted from his bio page at BYU-Idaho’s site).

• Swam across the San Francisco Bay for the Escape from Alcatraz triathlon.
• Went on The Price is Right and won a stove, a mop, and a barrel sauna.
• Went on the History Channel to represent the Church.
• Participated in a radio show in Southern California where callers could ask me any question about the Church.
• Played the drums with a group of institute students at the Hard Rock Café in Los Angeles.
• Played the Drums at Guitars Unplugged in the Fall of 2005 and the Winter of 2006 (Our group made it to the “Best of” both semesters).
• Played chess in the US Open Tournament in 1991 in Los Angeles (My first match was against Arnold Denker who had previously beat Bobby Fisher . . . he worked me!).
• Have spoken at Christian Colleges and Universities on the Church.
• Led 6 Community Firesides about the Church where thousands attended.  This is featured on the Website Fairlds.org

What a fun and smart guy he is! I hope you enjoy these videos below that he did with John Bytheway and Hank Smith. I’ve put some time stamps for Part 1 copied and pasted from YouTube. My favorite thing he said is that “fasting is the best-kept secret in the Church.”

00:00 Part 1–Dr. Ross Baron

01:25 Introduction of Dr. Ross Baron

04:25 Dr. Ross Baron’s background as a Jew and Latter-day Saint

09:16 Isaiah 53 as a testimony of Jesus Christ

11:01 Isaiah is a Christ-centered book

12:07 Dr. Baron’s family’s reaction to his conversion

16:42 How to approach these chapters in Isaiah

19:27 The names and titles for Jesus

23:15 Create a subject index

28:52 Additional tools for studying Isaiah

33:34 Example of examination of Isaiah 58

36:38 Fasting and taking care of the poor

39:36 Fasting practices today

42:35 A tool for depression and anxiety

45:28 Ideas for teaching children about fasting

49:08 Challenges to fasting

53:40 Dr. Ross shares a personal story about Dallin H. Oaks

57:08 Holy envy and the Jewish Sabbath

1:02:29 Joy and the Sabbath 1:04:47 End of Part 1–Dr. Ross Baron