Not letting the past control the future isn't just a good piece of advice, but a way of life for Brother Randy Bott, one of the most sought-after religion professors at BYU.

Bott has taught the Sharing the Gospel class at BYU for 13 years, taught for the CES program for 20 years, written several books and served twice in a stake presidency and once as a mission president. Obviously, he did not let his difficult childhood slow him down.

While on his first mission in the South Pacific with a drugged-up trainer, he said he began to feel God had given him the short end of the stick. It was then that he had a spiritual experience which changed his attitude toward his background.

"My dad died when I was four and a half years old," Bott said. "For 14 and a half years, I felt like I was the ward project. Then, all of the sudden, on the beach of the South Pacific, just in a nanosecond, I think God got tired of me complaining, quite frankly, and I saw the blessings I had as a result of not growing up in a standard family."

Bott said he began to realize all the problems the missionaries were facing, he knew how to deal with them, because he had done it forever.

"As I kneeled in the sand, I thanked God for the life he had given me," he said. "It was the realization that drop by drop I had been adding to my testimony, and I didn't realize it."

His difficult background also drew people to him on his first mission, and forced him to learn how to solve problems.

"People would be inconsolable when a loved one would die," he said. "They'd come to me because I knew how to adjust to it. They would say, 'Well, I wasn't born with a silver spoon in my mouth, I was an abused child,' and I would say that [abuse] was the only memory I have of my dad."

People were drawn to him on his mission, which is not too different than the fight to get into his classes, but according to Bott, it has nothing to do with him.

"They feel the spirit every day, that's the key right there; it's not that I'm a good teacher," he said. "I never cover the material I'm supposed to cover, and I get off on tangents. But the spirit is there, and a lot of it is because the kids come wanting to feel it. If I ever get to thinking that I'm somebody, then the spirit just lets me fall flat. I'm just the same person. I'm older and have more experience, but I'm no better."

Going off on tangents, being blunt and caring about his students are a few of the things his students remember about him, said Tyson Fujikawa, Bott's teaching assistant, a junior from San Diego, Calif.

"Some people get offended about how blunt he is about the church," Fujikawa said. "He will give it to you straight and doesn't sugar-coat it."

He has helped recalibrate many unbalanced viewpoints and strengthened faith, said John Livingstone, associate professor of church history and doctrine.

Bott said the reason he tells things like they are is because members of the church are in the middle of a war. This generation is chosen to prepare for the Second Coming and is in the cross-fires of the adversary, and he will make war every time they try to do something good.

"If we don't step up to the plate as teachers and let you guys have it and at least give you the opportunity to hear what you're up against to make up your mind, then I don't think our judgment will go very well," Bott said. "So, I'm not going to teach a powder-puff gospel - it's going to be tough. Yes there is hope because of who you are, but as far as life being a cake-walk, far from it."

Bott doesn't just speak bluntly, but his actions reflect his words.

"He is obsessed with getting people married," Fujikawa said. "He gives away my phone number to his students."

Bott may be straightforward, but he doesn't turn anyone away who wants to speak with him, Fukikawa said.

"He really honestly cares about each one of his students," he said. "He gets numerous e-mails every day from past students with problems and hundreds of e-mails a week."

The reason Bott decided to teach in the first place was because he loves people, Bott said.

"The stupidest thing I've ever said is that I told the Lord I would do anything he wanted me to do, but I wouldn't teach religion," he said.

All of that changed. After getting serious, he realized he loved people, loved teaching and decided he would try not to bore students to death.

Although Bott has taught the same class for 13 years, he himself has never gotten bored.

"I go to class 10 minutes early every day of class because I'm excited to be there," he said. "It is called the new and everlasting gospel. It's everlasting because it's been around ever since Adam's day. It's new every time you teach it by the power of the spirit. There's never a time that it becomes dull."

Going off on tangents is a sign for Bott that someone in the class needed that issue to be discussed, showing how involved the Lord is in students' lives.

"I'll get a call or e-mail saying that the class was an absolute answer to their prayers," he said. "I wish you kids could understand how intimately involved the Lord is in your lives, he has numbered the very hairs of your head."

Then pointing to his partially bald head, he said, "Now that's harder for you than it is for me."

Copyright Brigham Young University 11 Apr 2006