Massive Church News Update

Though I am somewhat behind on reporting Church news, I wanted to share several items that have really touched and inspired me in the last couple of days. At some point, I will hope to catch up on anything I missed, perhaps this weekend, but for now, here is a summary of the items that have impacted me so much in the last few days or so. Enjoy!

First of all, the Tabernacle Choir has announced that their 2018 tour will cover many major US and Canadian cities. For a description of the specific plans, click here.

The Church is offering aid in the aftermath of major disasters. Such aid has been sent to Texas and Southern Mexico. In relation to an additional disaster, Mormon Newsroom shared this report detailing how President Eyring recently visited areas in the Caribbean that were impacted by Hurricane Irma. Those reports were amazing to read.

I have before shared my thoughts on who might be in attendance at the final two temple dedications this year. In regards to that, I have new information. On the same day of the Meridian Idaho Temple dedication (Sunday November 19), Elders Oaks and Ballard will take questions from the Young Single Adult members of the Church. So it is obvious they will not be involved in the dedication, as the Face-to-Face event will originate from Logan, Utah. For more on the Face-to-Face event (including how YSA members who would like to can ask the questions they have, click here and here. As one who was a YSA for a while myself, I am grateful that the Church is now giving people in that age group (18-30) the opportunity to learn direct answers to their questions from general Church leaders.

For leaders of youth, the Church has released this article (written by Sister Carol F. McConkie about why the Young Women General Presidency & general board members are encouraging Young Women and their leaders to bring girl's camp home with them. There was also this article written by the Young Men General Presidency and general board, describing in greater detail what led up to the decision to discontinue the Church's formal chartered relationship for young men aged 14-18, why the new activity program needed to be instituted, and how young men presidencies & advisers can mentor and assist their quorum presidencies in using the new guidelines going forward.

As I have mentioned before, I spent my teenage years in a ward where the focus on Scouting was targeting 11-13 year old young men. Any of us that wished to do so were perfectly welcome to pursue our Scouting endeavors individually (thereby making each young man in that situation fully responsible for completing those Scouting milestones of their free will and choice), while the Teachers' and Priests' Quorum's weekly activities focused more on fulfilling the requirements of the Duty to God program.

This move the Church has made to focus Scouting efforts on those 11-13 and emphasizing the new guidelines for those young men of Teacher or Priest age is merely an extension and expansion on what many wards that I know of were already doing, and, as has already been mentioned, this new activity program fits all young men of that age worldwide, not just catering to those in the US and Canada, or anywhere else the Boy Scouts have formal troops organized. I am fully on board with these changes.

Next, this article describes the experience of the Latter-day Saint that was involved in the terrorist attacks in Barcelona last month. The Church News also published this article describes the feelings and memories that President Eyring and his son, Henry J., are having as President Eyring prepares to fill his assignment as the First Vice-Chairman for the Church Board of Education and a former president of Ricks College (now known as BYU-Idaho) to preside at the inauguration of his son, Henry J., as the 17th President of BYU-Idaho. Interestingly enough, that inauguration, set to be held on September 19, will coincide with when BYU-Idaho President Henry J. Eyring will mark his 54th birthday.

I have before spoken of how President Henry B. likely recused himself from participating in the decision that led to his son Henry J.'s appointment as president of BYU-Idaho, but, as his father noted in the article above, the new President Eyring has earned this assignment based entirely on his own educational qualifications and merits. And I am sure that, if pressed, the senior President Eyring would respond to this whole situation the same way that President Gordon B. Hinckley responded to his son Richard G.'s appointment as a General Authority Seventy, and say that his son has a wonderful mother, though he cannot recommend his father, and that no one should hold Henry J.'s relatiionship to Henry B. against him, as he (Henry J.) is powerless to help it.

Sorry if I got up on my soapbox for a bit there. I hate the fact that so many people make an issue out of nepotism in the Church. Each of us can and should (if any of us have not already done so) gain a testimony for ourselves that the process by which any Church leader is called and released is divinely instituted. There are many who are qualified to serve in such positions. But I know for a fact that certain leaders have been called to certain positions at certain times because they were meant to be in those positions. For a Church that believes and teaches the principle of foreordination, it should not come as a surprise that certain individuals have been called at certain times. If we have a testimony of the process by which those changes occur on any level (ward, stake, or general), then we should accept the "changing of the guard" rotation of responsibility. And if we do not have such a witness of the way that works, we should do whatever it takes to get one, then share it with those around us. And once we have that witness, we should willingly support those changes as they happen. As I have also observed previously, it is not our place to dispute the calling or decline to sustain anyone unless we know for a fact they have done something that would disqualify them from serving in those capacities, and, if we do have such knowledge, we should go through the proper channels to bring such information to the attention of the proper individuals. If we do not have such knowledge, or have not taken such steps, we have no right to silently or vocally decline to sustain those God has called.

Sorry I keep getting off on tangents. It just bugs me when people cry nepotism or vocally manifest their opposition to sustaining our Church leaders without taking the proper steps to resolve their concerns. I hope no readers of this blog fall into that category. If any of you do, I would ask you to please listen to the direction of the First Presidency member leading the sustaining every six months and contact your stake presidents to get those concerns, whatever they might be, resolved.

In the meantime, the Church News section on LDS.org was updated today to include this article, which goes into more detail about the planned changes in curriculum for 2018. And this article describes how Elder Stevenson spoke at a nationwide conference in Korea for Young Single Adults and Single Adults.

And from the Mormon Newsroom, we have this article with guidelines on reducing suicide and depression, this article with updates on the Church's relief efforts in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey, and this article sharing the latest news on Church aid being sent in response to Hurricane Irma.

Having completed this somewhat massive update on the latest Church news, I would simply like to request that all of us keep in our prayers those affected by natural disasters, and that we would continue to pray for progress on temples worldwide and for the leadership of this Church, particularly our beloved prophet, President Thomas S. Monson. I still don't know whether or not he will be well enough to speak or even attend General Conference, but I am grateful that he was able to mark his 90th birthday just under a month ago, and I hope that he will continue to inspire us for however much longer the Lord wills that he should be the president of His Church. I likewise hope we will continue to include the other apostles in our prayers as well. As I have previously mentioned, the Church has been in this kind of territory before, with the ill health of Presidents Kimball and Benson in the last several years of their lives.

The interesting thing to me is that, from those periods of time to this, the only apostles that have been in the apostleship are Presidents Monson and Nelson and Elders Oaks, Ballard, and possibly Hales. So this is a new experience for everyone else. That said, I again express my gratitude that Presidents Eyring and Uchtdorf have had just over 9 years to learn first-hand how President Monson thinks and feels about important issues, and I know that they will continue to bring to him any matter about which they might have questions. So I have no doubts that the Church will continue to move on. In addition to two wonderful counselors, there are three (or possibly four) members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles that have worked in various assignments with President Monson that can be of great help, and that, with the possible exception of the three junior apostles, all other apostles have likewise had a chance to work and serve alongside our prophet. Because of all of these reasons, I know that the Church is in great hands.

And I know that, no matter what anyone else might say, the Church has not yet and never will enact any kind of emeritus status for any of our apostles. Doing so would mean we would miss out on the final sermons of each of these Brethren prior to their passing, which would result in our missing the tender and inspirational final messages they would deliver. That is not in the plan now, and it never will be.

Again, sorry for all the tangents. That does it for this post. As always, I welcome any comments you might have. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best. May the Lord be with you all until then.