No limitations

On Sept. 13, Nick Vujicic will become not only the third evangelical Christian to speak in the Tabernacle on Temple Square in the past century-plus, he'll likely be the first man without limbs ever to do so.

Born without arms or legs, Vujicic will present a nondenominational message about Jesus Christ during the two-hour event organized by Standing Together, a local group of 57 Christian ministries that also secured an invitation five years ago for another leading evangelical — Ravi Zacharias — to speak from Mormonism's signature pulpit.

That visit elicited an apology to Latter-day Saints from Fuller Theological Seminary President Richard Mouw, who also spoke, on behalf of some fellow Christians for a misrepresentation of LDS beliefs and practices. The comments delighted many Latter-day Saints, who have often been characterized as "non-Christian," and infuriated many evangelicals.

When word got out about Vujicic's visit, more than 1,000 tickets reserved for distribution on lds.org were snapped up in 36 hours in early August. Local evangelicals are expected to fill the rest of the historic tabernacle.

After what many Latter-day Saints saw as a political hatchet job of Mitt Romney's LDS faith by a handful of Eastern evangelicals during the presidential election campaign last year, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' First Presidency has shown some admirable goodwill by hosting the event, according to organizer Greg Johnson.

The Sunday evening appearance will conclude Vujicic's weekend visit to Utah, following several appearances at the Salt Palace that are free and open to the public (see accompanying box).

Johnson approached Elder Jeffrey R. Holland of the church's Quorum of the Twelve in December about the possibility of getting Vujicic into the Tabernacle. "Things go a little more specific in January, and we got confirmation," in the spring in the form of a letter from Elder Holland on behalf of the church's First Presidency.

In conversation with Elder Holland, "we told him we thought Nick would be enjoyable" for an LDS audience, "but your folks are nervous about coming to our events," Johnson told him.

After a couple of meetings with Elder Holland and Elder Robert Wood of the church's Quorums of the Seventy, "we got a letter back in April or May that the Tabernacle would be available to us for this."

As excited as he is about Vujicic's visit on Temple Square, Johnson said he was a bit nervous about what would and wouldn't be appropriate within the Tabernacle. "With all good will we've fostered and developed in last five to 10 years, I wanted to be clear" about the proper decorum.