Fourth General Conference Post: Changes in General Church Leadership and Statistical Report

As you are all aware, with my predictions for this general conference, I included my predictions for changes in general Church leadership and what the statistical report might look like. I am posting each, and between the two will offer my comments on the reported developments.

Changes in General Church Leadership

General Authority Seventies: New General Authorities sustained from Area Seventies or Church at large. NOTE: Since the Church has stopped differentiating between those of the First and Second Quorums of the Seventy, any new General Authorities will simply be sustained under the general title of General Authority Seventies. ADDITIONAL NOTE: President Uchtdorf paid tribute to Elder Bruce D. Porter. RESULT: Six new General Authority Seventies were sustained; namely: Taylor G. Godoy, Joni L. Koch, Adilson de Paula Parrella, John C. Pingree Jr., Brian K. Taylor, and Taniela B. Wakolo.

Relief Society General Presidency: Linda K. Burton, Carole M. Stephens, and Linda S. Reeves released as Relief Society General Presidency, new Relief Society General Presidency sustained. NOTE: It has been customary of late for general presidencies to be changed every 5 years. Since the above-named individuals have served since 2012, it would make sense if they were released and a new presidency called. It is anyone’s guess, however, as to if any of the current presidency will be retained in a new presidency. RESULT: The sisters named above were released; Jean B. Bingham, Sharon Eubank, and Reyna I. Aburto are the new Relief Society General presidency.

NOT PREDICTED: In view of her call to be the new Relief Society General President, Jean B. Bingham was released as First Counselor in the Primary General Presidency, Bonnie H. Cordon, formerly Second Counselor, is the new First Counselor, and Christina B. Franco will be the new Second Counselor.

Area Seventies: Releases and sustainings. NOTE: It has been customary for most changes in area seventies to take place in April, when President Uchtdorf leads out in the sustaining vote, and for only a few to take place in October, when President Eyring leads out in the sustaining. Since we are talking about an April General Conference, it would make sense if a lot of changes happened this go-round. ADDITIONAL NOTE: The following Area Seventies have been called to serve as mission presidents and will be among the many releases: Pedro U. Adduru, Angel H. Alarcon, Winsor Balderrama (Sejas) and Abenir V. Pajaro. RESULT: Only two area seventies were released, and they were both called as General Authority Seventies. It is odd that they did not at least release the 4 above, but it may be that if they are mission presidents in their own lands, they might be able to continue their assignments as area seventies.

NOTE: The tribute offered by President Uchtdorf was the first of the two tributes to Elder Porter in that session. Elder Andersen, who served extensively with Elder Porter, also paid an inspiring tribute to Elder Porter during his remarks.

Before sharing how my predictions for the statistical report turned out, I would like to offer some comments about the changes in general Church leadership. First, President Uchtdorf paid tribute to Elder Bruce D. Porter, the long-serving General Authority who passed away in December. Since I knew the tribute was inevitable, I should have remembered to include it. But I did not. I did appreciate how, later in that same session, Elder Neil L. Andersen, who had served extensively with Elder Porter, also paid an inspiring tribute to him and the service he rendered.

Next, I wanted to note that only two area seventies were released, Elder Godoy and Elder Pingree, and they both became General Authority Seventies. But I know that Elders Koch, Parrella, and Wakolo have all previously been Area Seventies. And Elders Koch, Taylor and Wakolo were serving as mission presidents at the time of their call, while Elder Parrella served as a mission president following his service as an area seventy. I have a feeling that Elder Pingree may somehow be related, if only distantly, to Anne C. Pingree, who served in the Relief Society General Presidency from 2002-2007 during the tenure of Bonnie D. Parkin, but I have been unable to verify that.

Elder Godoy is another Peruvian General Authority, while Elders Koch and Parrella hail from Brazil, Elders Pingree and Taylor are native Utahns, and Elder Wakolo becomes the third black currently serving General Authority, though he was born in Fiji, and may be the first Fijian general authority.

The fact that only Elders Godoy and Pingree were released as area seventies did make me wonder more than a bit, as Elders Pedro U. Adduru, Angel H. Alarcon, Winsor Balderrama (Sejas) and Abenir V. Pajaro were all called to be mission presidents. I was therefore expecting that they would be released as well, even if no one else was, as service as a mission president usually necessitates a release as an area seventy. But then I got to thinking: a mission president assignment is full-time, and an area seventy only serves on a part-time basis. So it could work for one man to do both. After all, General Authorities have previously simultaneously served mission presidents, so why couldn't a current area seventy do likewise, especially if they are called as mission presidents in the same country out of which they serve as area seventies? 

That is the case for all of them. Elders Adduru and Pajaro are serving as area seventies in the Philippines, and have been called to be presidents of two of the missions in that nation.  Elder Alarcon, who lives in Ecuador, has been called to preside over a mission there. And Elder Balderrama serves out of Peru, out of which his mission assignment is based. So it is no great surprise after all. I think it's awesome that the Church has done that in this case.

In the meantime, the Church called a large number of new area seventies, which is great, because it shows how much growth is happening worldwide.

The other prediction I had for changes in Church leadership was a change in the Relief Society Presidency. That happened, but I could not have predicted how that came about. Jean B. Bingham, First Counselor in the Primary General Presidency, was called as the new Relief Society General President, which necessitated a change in the Primary General Presidency. I have been very impressed with what I've heard of Sister Bingham, and I can sustain her fully in her new calling. This reminds me of what happened 10 years ago when the Relief Society General Presidency was changed. On that occasion, Sister Julie B. Beck, then First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency, was called as the Relief Society General President, which led to a similar reorganization of the Young Women General Presidency.

For both changes, the women who had served up to that point as the Second Counselor in the affected presidency became the new First Counselor, with a new First Counselor called. 10 years ago, Elaine S. Dalton became the new First Counselor to Susan W. Tanner, whom she would succeed as General Young Women's President a year later. And Mary N. Cook, a member of the Young Women General Board, became Sister Tanner's new Second Counselor.

So this weekend, Bonnie H. Cordon, who has been Second Counselor to Sister Joy D. Jones, became her new First Counselor, and Christina B. Franco became the new Second Counselor in the Primary General Presidency. I don't know just yet how or if the traditional 5-year tenure of most auxiliary presidencies will become a six year tenure for Sisters Jones and Cordon. But there is still time to figure that out.

In the meantime, Sister Bingham's counselors in the Relief Society General Presidency are Sister Sharon Eubank, who has been employed in the Church Welfare system and will continue to be so, and Sister Reyna I. Aburto, who was born in Nicaragua. And this gets even more coincidental. The Church happened to report that Sisters Bingham and Eubank went on a UNICEF field visit to Uganda recently. The trip, which appeared to be humanitarian in its nature, was right in line with their new responsibilities.

I will take this coincidence even further. When Julie B. Beck was called as the new Relief Society President, her counselors were Silvia H. Allred, who was from South America, like Sister Aburto, and Sister Barbara Thompson, who was unmarried, just like Sister Eubank. So this new Relief Society Presidency is much like the one sustained 10 years ago.

And I know a bit more about Sisters Eubank and Franco. Sister Eubank is the daughter of Mark Eubank, who was a KSL 5 weatherman for years and also serves as one of three or four hosts of the weekly Music and the Spoken Word broadcast, and the sister of Kevin Eubank, who succeed his dad as the chief meteorologist at KSL. As for Sister Franco, she is the wife of Rodolfo C. Franco, a former area seventy.

That does it for the discussion of Church leadership changes. Here are my estimates of the statistics, followed, in brackets, by the correct figures. I perfectly predicted many statistics that were announced, came close with a few others, and was nowhere near the actual figures for some others. For what it's worth, here are those results. It does not appear that the tool I am using to write these posts will allow me to post text below this report, so I will end things here. Thanks for reading this. Comments are welcome, but civility is required. I don't want to have to delete any comments that are not in line with what this report was intended to accomplish. Thanks for your cooperation, interest, and support.

2016 Statistical Report

Stakes	3,266
Missions	421
Districts	545 [556]
Wards and Branches	30,207 [30,304]
Total Church Membership	15,932,508 [15,882,417]
Increase in Children of Record	114,655 [109,246]
Converts Baptized	310,646 [240,131]
Full-Time Missionaries	90,517 [70,946]
Church Service Missionaries	33,410 [33,695]
Temples Dedicated during 2016 (Provo City Center, Sapporo Japan, Philadelphia Pennsylvania, Fort Collins Colorado, Star Valley Wyoming, Hartford Connecticut)	6
Temples Rededicated during 2016 (Suva Fiji, Freiberg Germany)	2
Temples in Operation by the end of 2016	155