LDS Cooperative "one heart and one mind...with no poor among us"

In Alphabetical Order:

Andrew Ainsworth

Andrew is the proud father of four beautiful daughters and the lucky husband of a phenomenal woman. He is a native of Southern California, where he currently resides. He has also lived in Utah, Virginia, and Colorado, where he served a Spanish-speaking mission. Andrew works as an in-house attorney for a private college system. In his spare time, he enjoys playing in his ward rock band, Mormon studies and world religions, nurturing his pet reptiles, watching MMA and "high brow" reality TV, photography, and growing over a dozen varieties of tomatoes. Andrew is reluctant to label himself as a conservative, moderate, or liberal Mormon, and prefers to consider himself a "faithful and open-minded" Mormon. He actively attends his ward and currently has the privilege of teaching the brightest group of 11-12 year-old Primary boys in the Church.

Andy Munzer

Andy comes to LDS studies from the background of lifelong membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and more recently, his research in English Literature. His interests lie particularly in areas of Historical interpretation, the role and use of language, processes of poetic/prophetic inspiration, and the development of 'Zion' community in the LDS tradition. He counts as significant influences, particularly, Noam Chomsky, William Blake, and Woody Allen.
Andy grew up in the North-east of England, and Australia, and served a full-time mission in Portland, Oregon from 2002-2004. His ambition is to continue his studies into a life in academia, and to use his studies as a basis for writing meaningful fiction. To unwind he enjoys playing guitar, walking, idle banter, and watching films. He currently serves on the Bishopric in his local ward.
He welcomes questions and collaborative research proposals and projects in the field of Comparative (especially English/American) Literature, and is always willing to meet up for conversation over a nice hot chocolate.

Ashley Sanders

Ashley Sanders graduated from Brigham Young University with a degree in Philosophy and English, which makes her liable to go into fits of abstraction on any topic at a moment's notice. She is a Mormon from the heartland and has spent most of her cognizant life trying to figure out what that means. She is particularly interested in the way institutions can both help and harm ideas--in this instance, religion--by consolidating but also standardizing them. She believes in fighting daily against the cultural Mormon canon--the set of rules that we inheret rather than wrestle with--in order to find the radical requirements and spirit of true religion. She believes that Christ's ideas ask people to exhibit radical compassion for all people and creatures, and she wants to use her writing to plead for this kind of compassion wherever she can.

Anne Wellington


Anne Wellington is currently an Art Student at Brigham Young University. She is passionate about those things of beauty within the world and has a desire to help others receive them. She particularly loves to attend galleries or listen to amazing music.
Anne was born and raised in the Middle East. This opportunity helped her come to realise the importance of understanding one another and discovering for ourselves what is just and true.
She has recently returned home from serving a full time mission in Scotland. Anne wants to see change and continue discovering truth.

Jason Brown

Jason Brown graduated from BYU in 2007 where he studied anthropology. A life long member of the LDS church, Jason served a mission in the Dominican Republic. Cooperativism has long been one his primary interests. He is also interested in studying Mormon and Christian concepts of Environmental Stewardship, Environmental philosophy in general, anarchism, social ecology, and permaculture. Starting in the fall of 2008, he will begin a masters degree in forestry at Yale University in New Haven Connecticut.


John Hamer

John is a cultural Mormon whose ancestors moved to Missouri in the 1830s to build up the kingdom of Zion on Earth. Events of the Missouri Mormon War intruded, but the idea lingered. John has developed a strong fascination with his heritage and is especially interested in the efforts of the early Mormons to build cities and temples.
When not at work at their software company, John and his partner of 11 years, Mike Karpowicz, spend their time touring Mormon history sites. Among other spots, they’ve been to Palmyra NY, Sharon VT, Nauvoo IL, Voree WI, Lamoni IA, Kanesville IA, Winter Quarters NE, Mesa AZ, Paris ID, all across Utah from Logan to St. George, and more than a dozen times each to Kirtland OH and Independence MO. All the while, John’s been formulating his own plans for new Zionic communities.
Having conducted an exhaustive survey of places to live in North America, John and Mike have begun preparations to move to Toronto, Ontario, this summer so that they can eliminate the automobile from their daily routine. John was born outside Chicago, Illinois, and grew up in the Midwestern United States. He recently co-edited a book called Scattering of the Saints: Schism within Mormonism and is busily at work on several other Mormon history projects.

Joshua Madson

Joshua graduated from BYU with a degree in history and Juris Doctorate from J. Reuben Clark Law School. He currently practices law in a small family office in Alpine, UT. He is a lifelong member of the LDS church and currently teaches priesthood in his ward. He was raised in Las Vegas, NV and later served a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Marilia, Brazil from 1996 to 1998. He is a writer for The Mormon Worker and is currently working on a untitled book discussing the message of the gospel as it relates to war and conflict. He is currently studying the writings of Rene Girard, John Howard Yoder, and NT Wright. He is a strong believer in plain living an high thinking.

Kate Kelly


Kate was raised in Oregon as a member of the LDS church. She is a reformed political conservative, who at one point in her past life met Anne Coulter, and admired her. She served a mission in Barcelona, Spain where she first began to see the brute injustices of the world, particularly for people who immigrate "illegally" to other countries. Poverty, educational inequities, and immigration reform are her particular passions. She believes Rigoberta Menchu who said, "It is the duty of Christians to create the kingdom of God on Earth. . . This kingdom will exist only when we all have enough to eat, when our children, brothers, parents don't have to die from hunger and malnutrition." www.kateandneil.com/

KC Kern

KC Kern is a multi-generational Mormon and a current BYU student. He is studying Information Systems at the Marriott School of Management, and will be graduating with a Bachelor’s of Science degree this August. After graduation, he will be moving to the Bay Area in California to work as a systems analyst with Accenture, Ltd (formerly Arthur Andersen Consulting.) KC was born in Massachusetts, but spent nearly a decade growing up in Europe: 6 years in Belgium, 1 year in France, and 2 years in Germany. He spent his teenage years in Sandy Utah, and served a full-time mission in Seoul, Korea. He brings to the table an overall traditional, yet thoughtful, perspective on Mormonism, and a deep affinity for the Scriptures. His other internet-based project is BookofMormonOnline.Net, a technology-enhanced presentation of the Book of Mormon text.

Neil Ransom


Neil Ransom spent the first 3 years of his life in Mexico, and the next 14 in Nairobi, Kenya. He came to the States to go to Rick's college and served a mission for the church in Sacramento, California which was about as much culture shock for him as a person can have. He has a BA from BYU in Anthropology, but his passion is caring for people through caring about the environment. He is striving to live life as sustainably as possible, spiritually and otherwise. www.kateandneil.com/

Ron Madson

Ron grew up in theWashington, DC area He served an LDS Mission to France-Switzerland from 1973-75. He graduated as an English major then attended BYU Law School. He has practiced law for twenty years in Las Vegas, Nevada and then moved to Alpine, Utah where he practices law with his son, Joshua Madson. He has contributed a couple of articles to the Mormon Worker and with my son we are primarily focused on anti-war writings (working on a book together yet to be named and published).

Stephen Wellington

Stephen Wellington is a 3rd generation Latter Day Saint with his Grandparents and father converting in 1960 in Düsseldorf,Germany. Stephen lived in Dhahran, Saudi Arabia for 13 years whilst growing up. Stephen served a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints in Cape Town, South Africa from 2001 to 2003. Stephen's interest in Mormon History was ignited after his mission. He contributes to The Mormon Worker. Stephen defines himself as a Cooperativist and a Libertarian socialist with Tolstoyan leanings. He is currently studying Medicine at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England. He is married with a child on the way and plays rugby for the University Medical School.
Stephen hopes that LDS Cooperativist will be an oppurtunity for Latter Day Saints to meet up , to forge friendships and to serve one another through cooperative endeavours.

Tyler Bushman

Tyler Bushman served an LDS mission to Puebla, Mexico. Tyler has worked with the Zapatistas for several years, is the operator of a small anarchist community library for the Orem-Provo Action Coalition (OPAC) and is one of the founders of The Mormon Worker. He is currently an alternative economics intern for the Mexico Solidarity Network (MSN). www.themormonworker.org

William Van Wagenen

William Van Wagenen lives in Provo, Utah. He served an LDS mission to Frankfurt, Germany. He took a bachelors degree in German from BYU, and a Master's degree in Theology from Harvard. He studied Arabic in Occupied Palestine for a semester, and did human rights work in Iraq for seven months. He is a founder of the Mormon Worker, a journal devoted to Mormonism and radical politics. www.themormonworker.org