Seven months ago, Luke Nichols, the creator behind the Outdoor Boys YouTube channel with over 18 million subscribers, posted a video simply titled “Goodbye” and stepped back from regular content creation.
In his farewell, he told viewers he wanted his family to have more of a normal life and that they were getting recognized too often in public. On the surface, it appeared to be a personal decision about privacy.
But weeks later, Nichols appeared on an official Mormon church leadership list as a newly appointed member of the Young Men’s General Advisory Council, a position that reportedly began on December 1st.
YouTuber and ex-Mormon Alyssa Grenfell, who covers the Mormon church in pop culture and doctrine, addressed the development directly in a recent video.
“I personally do not think it’s a coincidence that he left YouTube and then six months later turns up on a church leadership chart,” Grenfell said, “especially when you consider that of these 14 men who were assigned these new positions, five of them are social media figures.”
Grenfell noted that when Nichols posted his goodbye video, he made no mention of the church.
She stated: “He said that he wanted his family to have more of a normal life and that they were getting recognized a lot in public. And so he was scaling back his presence online, which is a totally understandable reason to leave the internet behind. But many people have wondered if there’s more to the story now that we have this development of his Mormon church leadership position.”
For Grenfell, his background as a devout member of the church provided important context. Nichols served a two-year mission to Japan at age 19, attended Brigham Young University, and married in the Salt Lake City Temple.
She pointed to a specific promise made during the Mormon endowment ceremony, known as the law of consecration, which she quoted directly: “You’re promising to consecrate yourselves, your time, talents, and everything with which the Lord has blessed you or with which he may bless you to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for the building up of the kingdom of God on the earth and for the establishment of Zion.”
She also cited a video in which Nichols discussed his faith and stated plainly: “Fishing’s not the most important thing in my life. I enjoy fishing and it’s a hobby, but you know, my faith and my family are much more important to me.”
Grenfell’s theory is that the church approached him before he publicly announced his departure. “My guess is he was kind of mentally in that state when the church came knocking,” she said. “I think when it looked like they would probably ask him to fill this position, he probably announced his departure from YouTube.”
As for what Nichols himself has said publicly about the leadership role, Grenfell confirmed he has yet to address it directly.
