Shane Baldwin's fascinating life story reads like a movie script - from the heights of success and prosperity to losing everything and serving 5 years in prison - ultimately finding purpose and redemption in the journey through helping others and sharing the gospel.
In this episode, we get a glimpse into the life of the man tagged as the "Mormon Wolf of Wall Street," as he shares his unique journey of resilience, faith, and transformation.
*** Please SHARE Shane's story and help us spread hope and light to others. ***
To WATCH this episode on YouTube, visit: https://youtu.be/rjRNgcMbi6M
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To READ Shane's book, "The Honest Lie", visit (direct link): https://www.amazon.com/Honest-Lie-How-Navigate-Matrix/dp/B0C9FXZZH9
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Also, if you have a faith-promoting or inspiring story, or know someone who does, please let us know by going to https://www.latterdaylights.com and reaching out to us.
Shane Baldwin's fascinating life story reads like a movie script - from the heights of success and prosperity to losing everything and serving 5 years in prison - ultimately finding purpose and redemption in the journey through helping others and sharing the gospel.
In this episode, we get a glimpse into the life of the man tagged as the "Mormon Wolf of Wall Street," as he shares his unique journey of resilience, faith, and transformation.
*** Please SHARE Shane's story and help us spread hope and light to others. ***
To WATCH this episode on YouTube, visit: https://youtu.be/rjRNgcMbi6M
-----
To READ Shane's book, "The Honest Lie", visit (direct link): https://www.amazon.com/Honest-Lie-How-Navigate-Matrix/dp/B0C9FXZZH9
-----
Also, if you have a faith-promoting or inspiring story, or know someone who does, please let us know by going to https://www.latterdaylights.com and reaching out to us.
Hi everyone, I'm Scott Brandley.
Alisha Coakley:And I'm Alisha Coakley. Every member of the church has a story to share, one that can instill faith, invite growth and inspire others.
Scott Brandley:On today's episode, we're going to hear how the Mormon Wolf of Wall Street found gratitude in suffering behind bars. Welcome to Latter-day Lights. Welcome to Latter-day Lights. We're so glad you're here with us today and we are grateful to have Shane Baldwin with us joining the show. Shane, how are you doing today? Awesome, scott, alisha, thanks for having me on. Yeah, thanks so much for jumping on. It's funny because when you had messaged us, I have a feeling that you're going to be able to get through this, and I'm glad that you're here with us today.
Alisha Coakley:And I'm glad that you're here with us today. And I'm glad that you're here with us today, shit. So what I'm going to tell you now is I do have a little video message. I have the privilege of being able to kind of like vet the stories beforehand, and so I always do a little FBI snooping and I don't know, I always sorry, scott, I just always embarrass you. It is what it is so. So I did a little snooping and I found your profile picture on Facebook and I was like, whoa, like you and your wife like should just be on like the cover of every magazine, pretty couple. And I was like, oh my gosh, I like send a picture of my husband. I'm like honey, look at how pretty these people are, you're so kind, you're so kind.
Alisha Coakley:No, I'm serious. So I was just like, wow, fantastic.
Shane Baldwin:I don't know Like anyone listening should just come and watch, you don't have to go to prison, but they do say that prison does preserve you, so I've been preserved for five years in prison. So, and my wife that you mentioned, that's the first girl I went on a date with when I got out of prison.
Alisha Coakley:And somehow.
Shane Baldwin:I sold her on Mary in this ex con so I feel wow, well, I was very happy.
Alisha Coakley:I was like oh, I just, I don't know, I love pretty things.
Scott Brandley:It's funny, yeah, she looks at people's faces and she's like, oh, they're so pretty. I look out their hair. I wish I had hair like that.
Alisha Coakley:Scott is just admiring the web going on there.
Scott Brandley:I know I'm jealous of your hair. I am too.
Alisha Coakley:I'm pretty. My hair is pretty flat.
Shane Baldwin:today I need whatever product you're using, shane, I need to yeah, my wife actually uses my product too, so we share products.
Alisha Coakley:Well then, you're going to have to let me know what that is.
Shane Baldwin:So I can in my beauty routine. Sounds great.
Alisha Coakley:Oh, awesome. Well, aside from being a beautiful couple, tell us a little bit more about yourself.
Shane Baldwin:Yeah, you know I'm an author, so I have a book out. It's called the Honest Lie. We'll get into that. I'm a speaker. I was a co-owner of a sales organization and I just sold my interest about three months ago and I did a YouTube series called Million in Sixty that I just got done filming. I spent 60 days and the show was me making a million dollars in 60 days and showing how that's possible. So that's on YouTube, and so you know, I've been doing a variety of different things. I'm involved in a number of different startups and I'm heavily involved in the gospel of Jesus Christ and so I'm excited to be on your show and talk about my experience with the gospel and my journey with it.
Alisha Coakley:Awesome. And now you've been married. For how long?
Shane Baldwin:So I've been married for three years.
Alisha Coakley:I got out of prison in 2020.
Shane Baldwin:And two weeks after I got out, I sent a DM to my now wife and she accepted a date, first date. I went on and after going on one date with her, I knew I had to close that deal. So that's the biggest deal I've ever closed and I've closed a lot of deals, so yeah.
Alisha Coakley:I feel really really fortunate. That's awesome. Any kiddos yet Not with.
Shane Baldwin:I have four and she didn't have any. And so we're we're in our 40s. She doesn't think she can have kids, but I don't know. This week she's been waking up in the morning, sick. So I told her. I said maybe you're pregnant.
Alisha Coakley:So who knows? All right, well, we'll just put a little fingers crossed if that's what you guys want. That's what the Lord wants I'm down. There you go. I love that. That's. That's the easy way to do it right.
Scott Brandley:Perfect, awesome. Well, shane, we're really excited to hear your story. Why don't we just get right to it and turn the time over to you, my friend Perfect?
Shane Baldwin:So I was adopted as a baby through LDS social services. My birth mother was, I think, 15 years old when she got pregnant and I was able to meet them when I turned. Well, I was around, I was 33 years old and somebody called me and said hey, I think you're my brother, and I was able to reconnect. My birth parents ended up getting married after they had given me up for adoption and I was able to ask her. I said why did you make that decision to give me up? And she says I've never told anybody this, but an angel came to me and told me that's what I needed to do, and that was really powerful for me to learn that.
Shane Baldwin:So I got adopted by Dwight and Cindy Baldwin. They couldn't have kids. They didn't have any kids. So I was their first child and I got adopted into the most incredible situation and I think the Lord kind of knew that I was rebellious by nature. So my mom and dad are super straight arrows and they raised me, you know, in the church and in the gospel, and every morning playing throughout the house would be the primary hymns. So I grew up, you know, in the church. My dad was my bishop when I was a teenager, thankfully, so I never wanted to go have to talk to my dad about anything. It was a pretty good teenager. I was a pretty good athlete in high school I played football and basketball and then at 19 years old, I decided to go on a mission in 1999. I got called to South Africa and I was going to say I went there.
Alisha Coakley:Yeah, I went to Cape Town. Oh, no way. So are you familiar with the language?
Shane Baldwin:Yeah so my first several companions. I was in Johannesburg and my first several companions were Tulsa's from that tribe and I said teach me the language, and so I learned all the different dialects and it was just a great place. Scott, you were probably there in the what mid 90s, early 90s.
Scott Brandley:Right after apartheid, yeah, so like 94, 95 to 97, I think it was.
Shane Baldwin:Incredible time, right? I mean, the church was brand new in the townships and you know, the church was really new. And so I had just some incredible experiences to share one briefly I got sent to an area called Tabanshu. It was my second area and I got a call from the mission president because I wasn't supposed to be going to that area, I was supposed to be going to a different area, and he said I have to change your assignment. I said well, how come? He said well, your new companion is going to be Elder Mariebe. Elder Mariebe is from Nigeria, he said he just pulled a knife on his companion, elder Hansen, chased him around the apartment, and so we have to separate those two. And Elder Mariebe is going to be your companion.
Shane Baldwin:And I'm like oh so he said don't worry, though, you'll only be there for maybe one transfer six weeks, we're going to shut down the area. The area only has six members of the church and even the branch president's inactive, and we're going to shut it down. And you have to drive 45 minutes to the area because the missionaries kept getting robbed that lived in the area, so we had to remove them from the area. So not only was I getting a companion that was a little crazy I was going to a really tough area. And I remember, after getting that call, I went into the bathroom and I just knelt down and I said, heavenly Father, you put me here for a reason. I need to be with this companion for a reason and I'm going to this area for a reason, just help me. And I went out to that area and we had so much success in that six week period reactivating people and baptizing people. It got to the point to where I had the mission president by me and above the ground pool, because we were meeting in a trailer and we had so many baptisms that we needed like a pool to do it in and we just had one of the most amazing experiences of my life in bringing people to Christ in that area of Tabanchu. By the end of my mission I was working with Elder Robert C Oakes he was the, I guess, area president at the time and we were able to go out because we had had so much success in that area. They had to build a chapel, and so at the end of my mission the chapel was built and I was able to go out there with Elder Oakes and dedicate that chapel. So my mission experience was just spectacular and I'm sure, scott, you can attest the people in South Africa are just some of the most humble, god-fearing, loving people on planet earth and they were just so receptive to the restored gospel. So I got home for my mission and I married a girl that had written me on my mission.
Shane Baldwin:I went to BYU Hawaii. I got involved with a company called Clean Flix, owned some franchises, if you remember Clean Flix. I sold those in 2004 and had some early success and I got offered a job to go work at Merrill Lynch with my dad. So what you're about to hear is the real-life story of the prodigal son. So I worked with my father for three years and after three years I decided I wanted to do my own thing. I wanted to start my own company, so I left my father's business and I had a great gig. I played golf almost every day when it was sunny and I had front row seats to jazz games and my job was just to go and convince people that had money at other financial institutions to transfer it to Merrill Lynch. That was my job. It was a great job and I just I wanted to do my own thing.
Shane Baldwin:So in 2007, I left my father's business, started my own company called Silverleaf, ended up finding a niche and an opportunity to buy bad debt secured by real estate all over the country from failed banks. So, during the middle of the recession, I ended up raising hundreds of millions of dollars and buying these assets. And I was young I was 28, 29, 30 years old as I was doing this, living a pretty fast life. I had airplanes and fast cars and nice homes, and I eventually ended up owning a private golf course that I was the owner of, and I would say a lot of this went to my head and I started doing things that were the wrong things. I started what I call managing information not telling my investors the whole truth and just not doing the right things in business, just not having integrity and assuming that I'll be able to figure it out until I couldn't.
Shane Baldwin:And ultimately, in 2012, 2013, the FBI decided to investigate me on what's called securities fraud. They held an investigation and they offered me a deal to go to like a federal camp at that time, which I turned down. So they held a grand jury to decide if they were going to indict me and ultimately they decided not to indict me and that was a huge wake-up call for me. I remember, you know, whenever we have these wake-up calls, I think we turn to the scriptures or we turn to God At least, that's the way it is for me and I started reading the Book of Mormon and there was a phrase that I saw multiple times that almost jumped off the page at me, and it says to go no more out. It's also mentioned in the New Testament that phrase, to go no more out and I thought to myself I don't know exactly what that means, but whatever it does mean, I don't want to go out anymore.
Shane Baldwin:So I went on this quest for purpose. I went on this quest to figure out how I could best utilize the talents and gifts that I had been blessed with. The last thing I wanted to do was return home after my earthly mission, return home, report to my Heavenly Father and have Him go. Shane, that's not what we sent you down there to do and it's go out time so I get sent out again. I don't want to do that. So I started divesting myself from my business affairs and investing a ton of time into the study of the scriptures, pondering, meditating and really asking God what my purpose is here. By 2014, I got this magic trick where I can make a million dollars in 60 days. And, sure enough, 34 days later, I made a million bucks. Jeez, it's a story that's in my book.
Shane Baldwin:I met a guy at the gym. He had some assets. I bought them for a half a million bucks and sold them for a million and a half. I made a million bucks, and I had never asked God what I should do with my money. So I went up to the mountains. I love this hike in Layton. It's called Adams Canyon. I went up Adams Canyon and I prayed and I said listen, what do you want me to do with this money? And I swear to you, I heard a voice say Shane, I want you to give it away to random people, not to a charity, but to random people. So I was like, okay, can I pay off my house? It was like, no, you can't do that. I'm like can I use some of it to live on? It was like, yeah, that's fine, but the majority of it you need to give it away.
Shane Baldwin:So I started in Utah just finding random people that were in need, and then I decided to take massive action. I called one of my friends who owns a door-to-door company and I said listen, I want to go out and I want to sell your product door-to-door. And he said, okay, he didn't know what was going on. I said, okay, I'm going to sell it. He didn't know what was going on because he knew me as this rich real estate guy, but he had somebody that was willing to go sell for him. So I ended up going out to Natchez, mississippi, knocking on people's doors, and my real purpose was to find people that were in need.
Shane Baldwin:And it's really interesting what happened for me in that moment, because my focus was on serving and helping other people. It was as though I was given some amazing gifts. For that time I would knock on somebody's door and I would know her name. I'll give you an example. I knocked on a door. Lady came to the door and I'm like, your name's Pam. She's like, yeah, I'm like you have a daughter that's sick. She's like, yeah, and I said you owe us some medical bills. I'm here to pay them off.
Scott Brandley:And it was like.
Shane Baldwin:It shocked me, and this continued to happen while I was in Natchez Mississippi. While I was out there, the kids in the street were like, hey, what they call you, I'm like. Well, my name's Shane. They're like no, no, no, what your nickname is, I'm like I don't have a nickname. So if you go to Natchez Mississippi, they called me sugar Shane.
Shane Baldwin:That was the nickname, but I just had this amazing experience going door to door, and I would tell people, as I would help them, I would say, hey, don't tell anybody, because I didn't want people to just come up to me knowing that I was giving away money. I wanted things to happen organically, and I wanted the spirit to direct me as to where to go and who to help, and so that was an incredible experience. I came home from that experience, went back to those mountains, still not knowing exactly my full purpose, prayed at the same place, and continued to have things kind of revealed to me of what I should do, and the more I focused on what my purpose is and tuning in to the spirit, the closer I got to understanding my purpose. What happened, though, is I told God. I said listen, what I think you're asking me to do is something that's too big for me to do and I don't know if I can do it. And if I got a, sell all my belongings and go live in a tent. To fully understand Exactly what you want me to do, I went straight Lehi like I'm, like I'll go do that, and about three months later I got arrested by the state of Utah and found myself in an 80-foot cell. It took me a minute, but I realized that this was the tent God wanted me to live in, and and and I tell people this all the time you know that experience for me was like going to God's University. But when I first went there, I thought how can this be? How can that? The state of Utah picked up the very charges the FBI had dropped several years later. I didn't see it coming. I thought it was behind me and at this time, man, I'm doing everything that I should be doing. So right at the time, the FBI is investigating me, I'm doing the wrong things, and at the time I actually get locked up like I'm doing all the right things.
Shane Baldwin:And so I was really confused by this and my my wife, decided that it was best that she divorced me, and I don't blame her. I mean I'm in, I'm in jail, so she divorces me. And I'm at my rock bottom and I start asking the other inmates like, hey, how do you commit suicide? I didn't want to live anymore. I didn't, I didn't see purpose, so I had lost purpose. And so I'm talking to the other inmates and they're like Well, you can hang yourself. And I'm like okay, how do you do that? They're like well, you got a kneel down, tie it to the top bunk and just Hunch over. I'm like well, I'll stand up. And they're like oh, you can jump off this ledge. And and it's like a 20-foot drop. And I'm like now I'll just end up paralyzed.
Shane Baldwin:So every way that I learned of how people try to commit suicide, I'm like it's not a hundred percent. So I came up with my own plan. Wow, my own plan was I'm not gonna eat and I'm not gonna drink for as long as I can possibly go. And so for 13 days, contrary to what the internet will tell you, I went 13 days with no food or no water, and during that time period was when I started writing my book. So here I am, at my rock bottom moment, and I had been a student of guys like Dale Carnegie, who wrote the book how to when influence people, or Napoleon Hill thinking grow rich. Yep, and I have a golf pencil. In fact, I have my original manuscript right here. This was this is from prison. This is the original writings. So I have a golf pencil in these papers and I just start writing all the positive Psychology tips and things that I learned and that's what I start writing during that time period.
Shane Baldwin:On the 13th day I I just knelt down in my cell and I poured my heart out to God and I asked him to stop my heart. I said I don't want to do this anymore and Ultimately I fell asleep. And when I fell asleep, I had a dream. I was. I remember I was in this field and this man came to me and he said Shane, I'm here to offer you a deal. I'm like you know I'm a deal guy. Give me a deal. He said I'll let you travel back to three different time periods of your life, making a different life decision, and I'll show you what your life looks like. I'm like awesome. I know exactly where I wanted to go. I wanted to go to 2007, when I left my father's business, and so I said take me back there and my different life decision is I stay working at Merrill Lynch. He said okay and he showed me. It was like I don't know what the movie is. There's some movie where some guys able to do this a Wonderful life, or I don't know what it is right.
Shane Baldwin:But this is what was happening in my dream. So I go back to 2007 and he shows me my life. I only have three kids. In this instance, I have four kids, but I only have three in this timeline, or whatever you want to call it. I stay married to my wife. I'm very successful at Merrill Lynch, I'm a multi-millionaire. I become a bishop, a stake president, mission president, a general authority. My life's amazing. And I'm going oh, this looks pretty good. I think I'm gonna go ahead and accept this. And he says well, don't you want to see what your children's life look like? I said oh, yeah, yeah, what about my children? He's like well, you only have three and my children's life's all three of them turned out horribly.
Shane Baldwin:They were addicted to a variety of things just horrible. And I'm like, oh well, I don't want to do that. Well, my life's amazing. Their life isn't. I don't want that. He said okay, well, what's option number two? I said option number two let's go to 2011.
Shane Baldwin:This is when I started making mistakes in my business, not being totally honest, not being totally upfront. What does it look like if I'm totally straight up and I just do things the right way? He said I'll show you. And this instance I divorced my wife, I marry somebody else, I go on to be one of the Forbes 400 richest men in the world and you know, from a worldly standpoint, I have everything that the world can offer. I said, okay, this, still, this looks pretty good. What about my kids? He said okay, you only have three. You have no relationship with them, they have no relationship with you, they don't want a relationship with you and you don't really care to have a relationship with them. I said, well, what about my relationship with God? He said you don't have a relationship with God. You're so into yourself, you have no place for God. So I'm like, okay, well, I don't want to do that either.
Shane Baldwin:So I'm down to my last one and I remember in my dream, kind of pausing, thinking about all the different times in my life I could possibly go to, and the thought came to my head and I asked what does it look like if I stay right here? And he said, shane, I'm so glad you asked, you're going to be here for five years. During the next five years, you're going to help so many people that struggle struggle with addiction or that are simply they struggle with confidence, and you're going to be there to lift them up and you're going to teach them the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. But the person you help the most is yourself, and the relationship you develop with Christ is amazing. He said after the five years, you get out, you find love again and you find your soulmate and you become successful. And at this moment in time showed me exactly what my purpose was here on this earth. And I said okay, what about my kids? In this instance, I have all four of my kids and they all turn out incredible. And I asked the guy in the dream. I said why is it, in this instance, with me going away for five years, why do my kids turn out so well? And he said because they've been through some adversity, they're battle tested and this adversity is for them, even though it was hard. So I woke up from that dream.
Shane Baldwin:I accepted a plea deal, told my attorney. My attorney's like, hey, I think you can beat this. I said no, I did the wrong thing, knowing in my head I needed to be there for five years. I accepted a plea deal. The judge sentenced me to a four to 30. What that means is a minimum of four years, maximum of 30 years in prison, and so utah is indeterminate sentencing. What that means is it's up to a board of pardons to determine how long you're going to be in there in between four and 30 years. So I went to see the board of pardons for the first time in December of 2016. I had been um incarcerated for 18 months at that time and they gave me what's called a rehearing for April of 2020. I got arrested in April of 2015, and April of 2020 is when I would see them again exactly five years to the date, and when I saw them in 2020.
Shane Baldwin:They released me. I remember getting that news and just kind of dropping to my knees and and just telling the lord listen, I'm an instrument in your hands, I'm here to do your work, whatever you want me to do. But during those five years, I got a degree in psychology from California coast university. I read 20 to 25 books a month while I was in there. I would tell you that the scriptures opened up to me, that I understand the words of Isaiah. In my mind, isaiah seems to be the easiest, most simple book of scripture for me to understand. Wow, it never. It never was prior to that and I don't think it's anything special with me, but it was special with the circumstances I was in, where it was quiet in there, I didn't have to worry about how I was going to go make money. I didn't even have to worry about what I was going to eat. I just, I just knew when I was going to eat, um, and and when you're in that place in that state of humility, um, the, the scriptures just really opened up to me, and so I I really appreciated that time that I had Um.
Shane Baldwin:So when I got out, um, I was all excited I'd written this book and I thought I needed to go and and uh, get this book going. So I was talking to some big publishers and they offered me some really big deals. Uh, but I have learned at this point to not do anything big without consulting with the lord. Um, I tried doing things without consulting the lord and it didn't go so hot for me. In fact, it it sent me to prison. So I went to the lord and said, hey, should I take this deal with this big publisher? And the answer was no. Uh, wait till 2023 and I'll let you know what to do, but in the meantime, go ahead and start, start a business and reconnect with your kids and Um, two weeks later, as we mentioned earlier, um, I met the love of my life and um, we went on a date and after the first date and really the first kiss, we both knew that, um, this was meant to happen and so we were married, you know, a few months later and um, the rest isn't history.
Shane Baldwin:It's it's becoming history. But I'm I'm super happy. I started a business and um, you know, that's kind of my story. So I know that's that's a lot. Uh, it's a lot of information on you guys, but yeah, that's. That's a little bit of my story. Um, what's also interesting Um, I did not get excommunicated.
Shane Baldwin:Um, really so normally when you go have a felony, um, the handbook would say you would get excommunicated, and I didn't. And when I got out, I had several meetings with my stake president. Um, that resulted in me, while on parole, able to even get a temple recommend, and so that was also very a unique circumstance and another blessing. While while I lost everything else, all my money and and you know, my, my first wife and my freedom, the one thing that I had the whole time in there was my, my membership In the church of jesus christ of latterday saints, and and I think the lord really does know, you know kind of what we can take and um, not losing that but was Was important.
Alisha Coakley:Wow. So let me ask you real quick I, whenever I think about prison, obviously like I think Big and tough and scary and everybody wants to beat everybody up, and you know, like I have no idea the reality of it, but did you have any fear going into Into prison not knowing how long you were actually going to be there, other than your dream that you know, that you believed that you were going to have five years, but you didn't truly, truly know until Until you were released, right. So like you're like, yeah, I, I mean, hopefully it's just five years, but tons of fear in fact.
Shane Baldwin:Yeah, even knowing everything, even having that dream that I felt like was from God, we still, even for me, I didn't trust it, you know, and I was afraid. Yeah, I mean, I was nervous going in there, but I knew I was in the hands of the Lord. I knew that there were people in there that I needed to teach the gospel to, that I needed to share the Book of Mormon with, and that if I treated it like I was on a mission and this is what the Lord had called me to do, I was also confident that he would protect me. And that's certainly what happened. I never had any problems with anybody in there.
Shane Baldwin:In fact, those who were the hardest core gangbangers and the scariest guys were some of my best friends in there, and they were some of the people that I ended up teaching and were also the most receptive to the message of the restored gospel. So I felt like I told a young man today that just came home from his mission. I said, yeah, I've served two missions. I served one when I was a young man. Then I served a five-year mission. He says what kind of mission is that?
Shane Baldwin:And I said I've served five years in the Utah State Prison, but I treated it like it was a mission and the Lord had called me to the prison. And I think it's interesting when we think about where Jesus left. I think it says in Peter or something that he went and visited the spirits in prison. So I just said, yeah, I was doing what Jesus did, only not the spirits, the physical prison.
Alisha Coakley:Well, and even Jesus was arrested, right. Like we've got tons of different prophets and scripture heroes that did go to prison too. So you're kind of among the best of the best there, right. I'm just saying I mean, if you look at it, you know what I mean Like Joseph Smith was in prison when he passed away, and so you know I can see how. You know, from a world's perspective you can think that's the worst thing ever to have happened. But I love that you let it be a mission. You know that you were able to change that mindset and stuff and it didn't mean that you were going in all happy go lucky right away. Like it took you some time, like you were saying, even your suicide attempt, which is a very, very serious thing, and you know like it took a lot of getting down to the bottom before you could start working your way back up to the top, right. So did you ever feel like, while you were in there, did you ever feel like you had added protection given to you?
Shane Baldwin:Yeah, I did, and you know, again, the scriptures are such a powerful thing I think it's 2 Nephi, chapter 2, verse 2, and he talks about consecrating thine afflictions. And I remembered reading that in the middle of my own affliction and saying, hey, if the Lord consecrated that affliction for this person in the Book of Mormon, he can certainly consecrate mine, and what that means is I'll be protected, I'll be safe, and I just totally bought into that and because of that, I feel like I was directed to the right people to share the right message. But at the same time, you know, prison was a great teacher for me. I was able to learn some things. I was able to connect with people that I would have otherwise never been able to connect with. I'm able to empathize with people who suffer from addiction because I was able to spend time with them and understand what they were dealing with. And so I have this, this deeper love for my fellow man.
Shane Baldwin:Because of the time in there, I think I developed greater empathy. I remember thinking in there how am I going to attack this when I get out of prison? Like how am I going to explain to people, because people are going to Google me? And I decided that the best thing I could do is just be transparent and authentic. In my book. I have a quote in there that says transparency is a superpower, and I really feel like if we'll just own our experience, all of it, the good and the bad, and we just own it and we're authentic about it, people can feel that. And then, more importantly for me, it was like I now understood the atonement in only a way when you commit the kind of sins that I committed, that you can understand. And so the atonement has had such a huge impact in my life because I, more than most people, because of my sinful nature, had to utilize the atonement, and so, to some degree, prison became that sanctification type experience for me and it was just, it was transformative.
Alisha Coakley:Wow, oh man, that's awesome.
Scott Brandley:Can you share any stories that you might have had in prison where you shared the gospel with somebody?
Shane Baldwin:Yeah, I'll give you one. There was a guy they call him TK. He was a shot caller for one of the gangs and he looks scary. In fact if you look at him, his name is Jared Charles Lance. He's actually back in prison right now. I mean, he's a scary guy.
Shane Baldwin:And for three days this guy's eyeballing me and I'm thinking he wants to fight me. And eventually he approaches me and he says I have been told that you know where my dad is and you know how I can be with him. And I'm like has your dad passed on? And he said yes, I said I said I can share with you what I know. Who told you that? And he said God did. And I said okay. So we sat down and I began teaching him the plan of salvation and I gave him the Book of Mormon and he just gobbled it up. He just loved the Book of Mormon, loved everything about it, loved the war stories and really bought in at that time with me to the restored gospel. That was one experience I'm going to share with you. Another one, and this one's kind of like super near and dear to me I was in there with a guy and he was in the bunk next to me and he became one of my best friends. But in 2008, he's a returned missionary. He's a member of the church.
Shane Baldwin:He found out his wife was cheating on him and in a church parking lot he shot her 13 times.
Alisha Coakley:I don't know if you're a historian in 2008.
Shane Baldwin:And I was in the bunk next to this man and this man felt like God doesn't love him, that what he had done, there is no chance for repentance to even happen. And he had completely lost his faith. And I started to become friends with him and we got talking a lot. At the time when he committed his crime, he had two kids, two years old and four years old. He had not had hardly any contact with his two sons and I just I call them rags. I said rags, I promise you, if you draw near to the Lord, if you reconnect number one, I'm confident the atonement can work for you, just like it can work for me and anybody else. No matter what you've done, I'm confident the atonement works. Get back into the Book of Mormon. Come to church with me. And we started this journey together. About a year into the journey, he said I really want to see my kids. I said what does that look like to you? And he explained in his mind what it would look like for him to reconnect with his kids. And so we built up this meditation where he would envision just before bed what it would be like to be meeting with his sons and reconnecting with his sons and I said I promise you, if you will continue on this path, that you're on reading the Book of Mormon daily, praying, connecting to God, connecting to the Savior and doing this meditation. Eventually I don't know when, I don't know how long it's going to take, but eventually you'll have that connection with your children.
Shane Baldwin:So I got out and I had the opportunity to connect with his ex-mother-in-law, who was raising his two boys, and I was able to share with her how rags had changed. And then I connected with his sons. His sons started writing letters to their dad and about two weeks ago he was able to see his sons for the very first time. His two sons, his 16-year-old son, his 18-year-old son went and visited him in the prison.
Shane Baldwin:Rags calls me every Sunday and he's just so happy. He's so happy and he's seen the atonement work. Even for him, he's had this experience connecting with his kids. He said, shane, it was the greatest day of my life and to have some involvement in that, to have the Lord put me there at that time, to be around rags and then see that come full circle. It was a five-year process. We started this process in 2018, and in 2023, he finally connects with his two sons, and he is just so committed to the gospel of Jesus Christ while he's in there Feels as though you know at this point that he has received forgiveness and he feels good about who he is. So he has confidence again, and so that was just another incredible story that continues moving forward.
Alisha Coakley:Oh my gosh, that is just oh Like. For one, I don't know how I would have responded to having a roommate that was, you know, that was a murderer, let alone to befriend someone who had done that. You know and it's funny because I know I was actually just thinking about this today we had our state conference and for some reason, my mind was just going into this whole I don't know rabbit hole of things that I was thinking about how we are one decision away from our best selves and our worst selves. You know, like there, like to be so confident, is to say, oh, I'll never do that or I'll, you know, I'll always do this.
Alisha Coakley:I just think it's so arrogant, you know, like we really don't know what the thing is that's going to break us and it's going to send us down a fork in the road for either good or bad, you know, and so I was thinking about that. But for you to be able to befriend someone and to have such a close relationship and to open up about the gospel and to have that confidence because that is a huge thing to say that the atonement, you know, can cover even that, and we know it can. We know that the atonement can cover everything right, like even the worst imaginable crimes and and and choices and everything like that, but for you to be able to one, be inspired and to be willing to follow that inspiration, that is. It's just mind blowing to me. It really really is mind blowing to me.
Scott Brandley:We're not we're not put in positions like that, where we know that's true, but we're most people don't ever have that situation where we're talking to someone that's done something.
Alisha Coakley:I mean, we have a hard time believing the atonement is going to work on someone who's like a different political party than us, right, like, like that's? That's where the the average person is at. They're like oh well, they believe this other thing and so there's no way that the atonement is going to work for them. But I mean, just what an, what an amazingly beautiful experience that you were able to have being surrounded with the people who definitely are in need of the atonement. Thank you on such a huge scale, you know.
Shane Baldwin:It was such a beautiful experience to see so many people work through their own process of the Atonement. I saw some incredible miracles even just in, with what they did inside of the church. As we would attend church weekly there and I was bringing people along with me to church, it really did feel like a mission to me. While I was in there, I grew out a longer beard and I had longer hair and I tried to emulate Christ in every single way, even in my appearance, and I really focused on that. One of the things that I'm doing now I think it's in Doctrine and Covenants that talks about practicing virtues, and so I'm like okay, how do you practice virtues? And there's a talk I guess not a talk, it's in the Liahona. It just came out by an Emeritus 70, Lynn G Robbins. I have it on the floor. It says practice virtue continually. And it was a great article to kind of teach me how I can continue to practice the things that I learned in prison outside of prison, and practice virtue. So I picked a virtue. Here's my plan I'm gonna, once a month, I'm gonna pick a virtue and I'm gonna practice that virtue and I'm gonna study that virtue and I'm gonna try every day to really live by that virtue. So the virtue that I'm practicing right now is meekness, and I've learned some really cool things about meekness.
Shane Baldwin:I think when we hear the word meek we hear the word weak, and that's not what meekness means at all.
Shane Baldwin:In fact, the Greek for meek is prowse, and prowse means strength under control.
Shane Baldwin:So to be meek means that you have immense power, like the Savior clearly had immense power and during when they were whipping him and beating him and doing everything that they did to him, kneeling him to the cross at any moment in time, he could have just said to any one of those guys you're dead, or he could have stopped anything, but it was his meekness that he controlled that strength. And so I'm really working on how do I make sure and control my strength, and that's really what meekness is. So I'm gonna practice these virtues. I'm gonna pick one once a month and try to do my best to practice virtues, one of the things that I've really tried to do as well. Like I have this perspective now because of prison. I call it my prison perspective and I'm grateful for the simple things, for the little things, for the little freedoms that I have, and I try not to complain about things that I should not be complaining about. So I try to maintain what I call prison perspective every single day.
Alisha Coakley:Wow, I love that and I can identify with that in my own little way, like when I was diagnosed with leukemia years ago, and there's a shift that when you have some big, huge, hard obstacle that comes into your life, there's an opportunity there to have that shift in perspective and I think that when someone really gets it, it just doesn't go away, it sticks with you and really can just edify your life in such a grand way moving forward.
Alisha Coakley:So I love that you have that your own little prison perspective. I think if we all take a minute, we can look back and we can see, even if we didn't do something as big as go to prison or get diagnosed with leukemia or lose a loved one or get a divorce, even if it's not something really big, I think we can find those places in our life where we can remember that we were low, remember that we were hurting, that we were alone, that we were confused, whatever it is, and we can kind of think about that perspective that we really wanna have and we can keep going back to that. So I love what in the intro here we mentioned that you had this gratitude in suffering and I just I wanna ask you how do you maintain that gratitude, like, do you have any daily routines or is it a certain way that you pray? Is it just constantly thinking about that perspective, like, how do you continue to be grateful for the things that you have?
Shane Baldwin:That's a great question, Alisha. So I do something every single day. I try and think of three things or three people that I'm super grateful for and something I'm grateful about, and once I've identified those three people, I send them a text or I shoot them a call letting them know how grateful I am. So that's three different people, and it can be the same person it could be my wife every day of the week, but I'm trying to show gratitude and think about that and then feel it Like as I'm thinking about it and I'll usually do it on my drive to the gym, when I call it my gratitude moment, where I go through, okay, what am I grateful for and what's going on in my life. But I think, for those of you out there who know the book the Secret, I think the Secret to the Secret is gratitude in suffering.
Shane Baldwin:It's being grateful when things are not going your way, and we will all experience things in life, some more than others, where things aren't gonna go your way. And for me, what I did is I sat down when things weren't going my way and I said to myself what are the things I can be grateful for while I'm here in prison? And I just listed them out. And then I started finding things that I could do to express that gratitude, and it changed my whole experience. And I also found, if we're in a hole, the fastest way to get yourself out of a hole is to help somebody out of theirs. So, instead of focusing on my problems and my issues, I started learning what other people's problems were and what the issues they had and started realizing oh wow, like mine aren't as bad as theirs are. How can I help them now? And the more I helped other people out, the more it helped me out.
Alisha Coakley:Wow, so almost like service is like the antidote for suffering, right?
Shane Baldwin:Yes, yes, service is key and it's simple things. I think when we think of service, we think we gotta do these big, grandiose service projects, and it really isn't that. It's holding a door open, it's smiling and saying hi to some random stranger in the grocery store. These are simple acts of service that we can do every single day that can not only change somebody else's day but can change ours.
Alisha Coakley:I love that Interesting. So, oh sorry, go ahead Scott.
Scott Brandley:Okay, so I'm just thinking about your life and the perspective that you've had. I mean, you've had times in your life when you had everything right Planes, houses, money and then you've had time when you had nothing right and you were locked in a cell. Now that you've gone through all of these things, how do you view life? How do you view, I guess? How do you view money? How do you view freedom and what do you see the future of your life looking like going through these things, scott, you're asking some really big questions.
Shane Baldwin:Well, the way I view money now is as a tool.
Shane Baldwin:I found more joy, more happiness giving away money than I ever found making money.
Shane Baldwin:And, as I look at my freedom, what I choose to do with my freedom now is every day I'm focused on how can I lift somebody else up, how can I make somebody feel like they're a million bucks, like what are the things I can do or what are the things I can say, and I'm praying for those opportunities daily. Now I have a quote and my quote goes like this If you have a desire to change the world, which I do then you have to change America, because at the end of the day, america changes the world. So I am planning in the near future to launch a run in politics. I'm not super excited about some of the things that are going on in politics and I can either sit on the sidelines and complain about what's going on or I can get involved, and I've decided that I'm gonna get involved. How that's all gonna work, I'll let the Lord kind of coordinate and orchestrate things, but I'm willing and ready to do really whatever the Lord asks at this point.
Alisha Coakley:Wow, that's awesome. I can see Shane for president. All right, we'll just do that.
Shane Baldwin:I'm gonna put that convict in there. Maybe that'll be the trick.
Alisha Coakley:Wow, that is amazing, and I'm like seeing these correlations with Joseph Smith. Joseph Smith, he too. He was gonna run for president before he was killed.
Shane Baldwin:He had a whole platform. It's interesting he had a whole platform on prison reform, of all things, and so obviously our prison system is broken and that's one of the things that I intend to get involved in fixing is how and the types of things we do to incarcerate individuals. We need to truly provide correction facilities. Right now, they're just detention facilities.
Alisha Coakley:Right, yeah, I can see how I believe Doctrine and Covenants. It talks about the difference between punishment and what's the other word that they use for it. There's a difference between discipline and punishment. Punishment typically is not initiated through love. It's not done with love. It's like a very hard, vindictive, cold type of thing. But discipline having to discipline someone or reprimand them that should be done with an increase of love. So I love that. That's the target of yours. I know we had Portia Lauder on and she too.
Shane Baldwin:I've heard her. She's awesome, by the way, she's amazing.
Alisha Coakley:Yeah, she says the same thing, like she ended up going to prison for I think it was five years as well as a matter of fact and yeah, she just she sees the need, but she loves that there are so many people who are willing to change in prison. You know, like she makes this part of her platform is to go out and to speak to those who are still still having to pay for their crimes and everything like that, and I love the light that she's bringing. I love the light that you're bringing. I just think it is so beautiful, like how unique our plan is from our Heavenly Father for each and every one of us. You know, like that's your call, that's not my call, but we both can bring light to the world. We both can use our talents, we can use our experiences.
Alisha Coakley:I really love what you said about being transparent, because I think that sometimes, when you're transparent with where you're at, how you got there, you know, and how much responsibility is really on your shoulders for being in that position, that it helps you one to not play the blame game right, like then, all of a sudden, you're not blaming Heavenly Father, you're not blaming another person, you're not blaming the world. You can just take that on and just say, okay, well, I'm here because of the choices that I made, even if I didn't make every choice to get me here. I made enough of the choices that this is where I'm at and this is what I'm struggling with. But now I also have the opportunity to make a choice to move forward from here. You know, and I just I love that you were able to gain that insight of being transparent.
Shane Baldwin:So Well, thank you.
Alisha Coakley:Oh yeah, man. So let me ask you real quick before we go, because you said you read 25 to 30 books a month when you were in prison. If you had to recommend, I'm gonna say your top three favorite books that you just feel like anybody and everybody should read, aside from the scriptures, because we know that that's Guys. We just need to read the scriptures. But what else could we read? What do you think are like your tie hey?
Shane Baldwin:I got. I got the greatest book that nobody knows about. I'm gonna pull it out. I haven't seen okay, right here.
Shane Baldwin:So here's the book and see, it says in tune with the infinite. It was written in 1898 by Ralph Waldo trine. It's the greatest book that nobody knows about. I have not met a single human. That's like oh yeah, I know that book, I read that book. So that's number one. When you read that book you will understand how true our doctrines are, because this guy's not a member of our church, but he's talking about so many things. He talks a lot about the unseen world and what we call the spirit world and how involved Our ancestors are in our lives. So that that's one book.
Shane Baldwin:Number two Og mandino wrote a book called the greatest salesman in the world, but I'm gonna tell you that that's not his greatest work. His greatest work is called the greatest miracle in the world, and so you should definitely, definitely, definitely Check out the greatest miracle in the world. And then the third one is the John Adams biography. Now here's why it's not necessarily about the American history, while you'll get a lot of that. It's an amazing love story between him and his dear wife Abigail, and their correspondence when he's away from her. Like brought me to tears, and. And so those are three Books to him and the self help. One of them's historical that I would say definitely Check it out. You can find in tune with the infinite. You can listen to it for free on YouTube. It is one of the most powerful books I've ever read.
Alisha Coakley:Okay, thank you for that. And then, what about your book? So if someone wants to get ahold of your book, or is it just you have one book out, or do you have multiple?
Shane Baldwin:Yeah, I just have one book out. It's called the honest lie how to navigate the matrix. It's on Amazon. So you just if you just Google the honest lie, you'll find it, but it's on Amazon. The audiobook comes out in about a month. I'm recording the audiobook and I had no idea, so I'm doing it myself. I thought it would take me to studio sessions four hours piece. I'd knock it out. I'm only halfway through. Way harder than I thought.
Alisha Coakley:Yeah, it is. It is Like I had. I've been practicing because my, you know, once I get mine out there, same thing. And I'm just like huh, I might just hire someone to do it for me because it's so hard. It is so hard to just read, perfectly, but wow, awesome. Well, we'll definitely add a link to your book in the description so if anyone wants to just quickly be able to find that, they can go ahead and they can click on that. Do you have a website or anything else? If people want to know more, or if they want to get in contact with you and have you Maybe on their own podcast or I don't know if you fire sides or any of that kind of stuff.
Shane Baldwin:Yeah, the best way to get in contact with me is through Instagram. It's just Shane Baldwin. You'll see me on there, got a lot of followers. That's kind of the main platform social media platform that I use. So, yeah, instagram, find me on Instagram, dm me. I respond to every DM and every message within 24 hours. So, wow, wow, that is dedication.
Alisha Coakley:I Respond within a week or two. If someone texts me, I'm like oh yeah, I remember.
Scott Brandley:Oh man. Well, Shane, do you have any last thoughts you'd like to share?
Shane Baldwin:No, I really appreciate being able to come on your show and and and talk to you, know our fellow brothers and sisters out there and and I guess I'll leave you with this there's so many people that I've talked to that are having what we've now termed as a faith crisis.
Shane Baldwin:And I'll have people reach out to me that are struggling with their faith, and, and my advice is this get off the internet, open the Book of Mormon, read the Book of Mormon daily for 30 days straight, 15 minutes a day, and at the end of those 30 days, my guess is you won't have a faith crisis anymore. And so the Book of Mormon is. It's a magical book, and if we will take the time to read it, it can have a powerful impact on our life and, can you know, draw us closer to Jesus Christ, which is the goal. So that's what I would tell people to do that might be struggling is go back, go to the Book of Mormon. The answers are there.
Alisha Coakley:I Love that great advice.
Alisha Coakley:Yeah, wonderful, best way to wrap this up. Oh Well, shane, you are fantastic. We are so happy that you're able to come on here and share your story and share your light with us and with everybody who's listening today and who's watching. We really, really Sincerely wish you the very best in all of your endeavors. We're gonna give you an open invitation. You can come back anytime, share other stories that you have with us. We would absolutely love that, and we just want to thank our listeners as well.
Alisha Coakley:Guys, you, you guys have definitely Been a big part of Scott and I's life this last year and a half you know almost almost two years. We're coming up our you know two years. This just a few months away. So we really appreciate you guys, we appreciate all of your comments and we appreciate when you guys write into us.
Alisha Coakley:If you guys have a story that you would like to share, if you'd like to be a Guest on the podcast or you know someone who would be great, please be sure to go to Latter-day Lights dot com and you can fill out the contact information at the bottom of the page. We'll get that. That one we will respond to very quickly. I'm very good at responding to those emails within a day. So we would absolutely love to hear from you guys. So don't, don't forget to reach out to us and definitely share Shane's story. So many good nuggets in it. You know it was such a good, not just story, but like there's so much good advice and perspective and book recommendations and so make sure you guys do that five-second missionary work and click that share button and then comment and let us know what your favorite part of Shane's story was.
Scott Brandley:Thanks, guys so much. You bet Scott is very inspirational and it one thing I love about doing this podcast is it helps give me perspective on my own life, and I think that it does that for other people that watch it or listen to it as well. So definitely appreciate your perspective, your insight, your experiences. I mean those are now part of me and Hopefully I'll use them for good.
Shane Baldwin:Awesome, awesome. Alisha Scott, thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it.
Alisha Coakley:Thanks so much, shane. We appreciate it. All right, guys. Well, that's all we have for you today. If you, like I said, would like to go ahead and share Shane's story, we would greatly appreciate it, and be sure to tune in next week for another episode of Latter-day Lights. Until then, we hope you guys have a wonderful week, keep the spirit with you and don't forget to think celestial. We'll see you guys later, yeah bye-bye, bye you.