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Wednesday, August 6, 2025

Elder Gary E. Stevenson Marks His 70th Birthday

Hello again, everyone! With today being August 6, Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is celebrating his 70th birthday. This post is in honor of that milestone. Gary Evan Stevenson was born to Evan and Jean Stevenson on this day in 1955 in Ogden, Utah. He grew up in the Cache Valley. He served full-time in the Japan Fukuoka Mission, after which he continued his secondary education at Utah State University's Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. 

During the course of his studies there, he met Lesa Jean Higley, whom he later married in the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple, and with whom he would raise four sons. He spent his professional career working as the COO of ICON Health and Fitness, and served on both the Marriott School of Management Advisory Council and also the USU Foundation Board.

In the Church, he has served as a bishop and a stake president's counselor. From 2004-2007, he and his wife presided over the Japan Nagoya Mission. Less than a year after his return, he was among the first general authority seventies called during President Thomas S. Monson's prophetic administration in April 2008. In August of that same year, he was called to serve as First Counselor in the Asia North Area Presidency, marking his third return to Japan as a representative of the Church. 

The following year, he became the president of that same area, and he served in that assignment until April 2012, at which point, he was released as a General Authority Seventy and sustained as the Church's 14th Presiding Bishop. In October 2015, with three vacancies in the apostleship due to the deaths of President Boyd K. Packer and Elders L. Tom Perry and Richard G. Scott, Elder Stevenson was unexpectedly summoned to meet with the First Presidency. 

He related that he felt sure that he was being notified that one of his counselors (Bishops Gerald Causse or Dean M. Davies) were being called to the apostleship. He was stunned when the apostolic call was instead extended to him personally. He was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on October 3, 2015, and was ordained an apostle on October 8, then released as Presiding Bishop one day later. His call to the apostleship marked the second time a current General Authority Seventy who had subsequently been called as Presiding Bishop was also eventually called to the apostleship. Previously, that had been the case with Elder Robert D. Hales, who was called as a General Authority in 1975, and as Presiding Bishop of the Church in 1985 before being called to the apostleship in 1994. Those two former Presiding Bishops of the Church would serve together in the apostleship for approximately two years before Elder Hales' passing on October 1, 2017.

2015 marked the first time since 1906 that the Church needed to fill more than two apostolic vacancies ar the same time. In 1906, following the resignations of Matthias F. Cowley and John W. Taylor over the Church's repeal of the doctrine of plural marriage, and the death of another apostle, Marriner W. Merrill, the Church called George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney, and David O. McKay, Of the three, then-Elder McKay was the youngest, with Elder Whitney being the oldest, and Elder Richards between the two. 

This was an exception to the general rule that when more than one apostle was called on the same day, they have typically been called and ordained from oldest to youngest. The three apostolic calls in 2015 marked a similar anomaly in that respect. Although Elders Ronald A. Rasband, Gary E. Stevenson, and Dale G. Renlund were all called to the apostleship on the same day of the week in the week prior to General Conference, Elder Rasband is the oldest, Elder Stevenson is the youngest, and Elder Renlund is in the middle of those three.

At the age of 60, Elder Stevenson was the youngest man called to the apostleship since Elder David A. Bednar (who was 52 at the time of his October 2004 apostolic call). He would retain his status as the youngest currently-serving apostle until the April 2018 call of Elder Ulisses Soares, who was 59 at the time of his call. With the apostolic calls of Elder Patrick Kearon in December 2023, Elder Stevenson is now the 8th in seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the 11th in seniority among all current apostles. In terms of his age, he is the third-youngest among both the Quorum of the Twelve and the apostles overall.

In view of his 70th birthday today, there are now only two current apostles under the age of 70: Elders Ulisses Soares and Patrick Kearon

In his 17 years of service as a general authority, he has given 23 addresses in General Conference (1 as a General Authority Seventy, 2 more as Presiding Bishop, and the remaining 20 since his call to the apostleship). All of these addresses, covering a wide variety of topics, are well worthy of your time, attention and review. I gratefully sustain Elder Stevenson as a prophet, seer, and revelator, and appreciate this opportunity to post this tribute to him for his birthday. 

I similarly greatly admire and sustain each and every one of the other apostles in their God-given roles and responsibilities, and I am grateful to them for giving their time and talents to build up the kingdom of God, and to go wherever they are sent, bearing witness of the Savior at all times and in all circumstances. I share my witness that these men are called of God, and that we will be blessed as we give heed to their words.

Stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them. In the meantime, that does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as all such feedback is made per the established guidelines. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe to receive the applicable updates. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Monday, August 4, 2025

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Opening Arrangements Announced for the Alabang Philippines Temple

Hello again, everyone! Today, I am suprised and pleased to report that the First Presidency has announced opening arrangements for the Alaabang Philippines Temple. Let's get right into the relevant details: The temple will host a media day on Monday, November 17, 2025, followed by three days of tours for invited guests. The public is intived to tour the temple between Friday, November 21, through Saturday, December 13, 2025. The temple dedication will follow on Sunday, January 18, 2026, in one session, with Elder David A. Bednar of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presiding thereat.

This temple dedication announcement came sooner than I was expecting, and the open house and dedication dates are sooner than I anticipated as well. I had anticipated that, if opening arrangements were announced for any temples today, that the Lindon Utah Temple would be the natural choice. I'm sure finishing touches may need a little longer there, since that temple is slightly larger than Alabang. Despitethe fact that the timing of both the open house and dedication are sooner than I expected them to be, I'm glad we got them.

Stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them. In the meantime, that does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as all such feedback is made per the established guidelines.

I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe to receive the applicable updates. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Monday, July 28, 2025

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: First Presidency Confirms the Site Location, Releases the Rendering, and Sets the Groundbreaking Arrangements for the Brazzaville Republic of the Congo Temple

Hello again, everyone! In a surprise development I could not have foreseen or conjectured, the First Presidency tripled-up a temple announcement in more ways than one. Let me explain: first, today's announcement relates to the Brazzaville Republic of the Congo Temple, which was announced during the April 2022 General Conference. And we got everything about that temple today. I'm referring to the site location confirmation, the release of an exterior rendering, and the setting of the groundbreaking ceremony.

Having reviewed the temple's announcement information, let's get into the relevant details: The planned temple will be approximately 10,000 square feet in area, meaning it is likely to be another modular temple. The temple's construction will occur in conjunction with the construction of adjacent patron housing and arrival facilities. The released exterior rendering appears to confirm that it will be another modular temple, or something very similar.

The temple project will be built upon a 1.5-acre site on Avenue de la Republique (T-Ville), ex rue de Lamonthe 103 et 109, Bacongo, Brazzaville, Republic of the Congo. And as for the groundbreaking, that, surprisingly enough, will also occur on August 23, 2025, with Africa Central Area President and GA Seventy Elder Thierry K. Mutombo presiding over that ceremony.

This will mark the Church's third temple groundbreaking to be set to occur on that date. The big difference is that Brazzaville time is ahead of Tampa Florida time, which in turn, as previously noted, is ahead of Vancouver Washington time. So Brazzaville will be the first of the three to have a groundbreaking, followed 5 hours or so later by Tampa, with Vancouver following roughly 3 hours after that.

These updates have been reflected in my document showing a side-by-side comparison of temple groundbreakings in 2024 vs.2025. 2025 is now well ahead in groundbreakings, with 16 this year so far as opposed to last year's 14. And there are now 3 scheduled to occur on the same day. Bearing in mind that the Church has not yet set any other groundbreakings for September, I have a feeling some may be scheduled in the coming weeks. In fact, that is an almost certainty. I am grateful for today's announcement. 

And, as expected, the Church has not yet confirmed the opening arrangements for the Lindon Utah Temple. I would not anticipate those to be announced for at least the next 3-4 weeks. I have mentioned in the past that I heard an anecdotal report that President Nelson may have told both the Special Projects Division and the Temple Department that he didn't want the announcement of new temples every six months to amount to an IOU to Latter-day Saints around the world. 

The latest announcements we have seen bears out the fact that the Department and Division in question listened to the prophet, and the announcements have accelerated accordingly. Having gotten groundbreaking announcements more regularly, and with more temples in the queue awaiting opening arrangements, I assume that dedication announcements are on track to continue in the coming weeks.

But aside from today's announcement, there are several temples with full-scale construction pending, and there are several others that lack a site location confirmation, exterior rendering, scheduled groundbreaking, or all three. So there is lots of work to be done with temple construction, and I hope the meaningful progress we are seeing is on track to continue for the foreseeable future.

Stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them. In the meantime, that does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as all such feedback is made per the established guidelines. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe to receive the applicable updates. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.