Stokes Sounds Off: President Nelson Will Preside at the Inauguration of BYU-Pathway Worldwide President Clark G. Gilbert

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Monday, November 6, 2017

President Nelson Will Preside at the Inauguration of BYU-Pathway Worldwide President Clark G. Gilbert

Hello, everyone! As one who has done extensive study on what happens when the Church President is dealing with age- or health-related issues that prevent him from actively presiding over Church matters, the remaining First Presidency members (in this case, Presidents Eyring and Uchtdorf) from time to time have the option of delegating responsibilities to the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, whether or not those assignments and responsibilities relate to assignments in which he is taking an active part. That happened just recently. So what is it that Presidents Eyring and Uchtdorf have asked President Nelson to do? Read on for more on that.

As I mentioned in another blog post earlier this year, the Church Educational System membership expanded earlier this year to include four members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (Elders Oaks and Holland, who serve on the Executive Committee, and were on the Board prior to the changes), and Elders Bednar and Renlund, who were added when membership expanded), Presiding Bishop Gerald Causse, Elder Hallstrom (who continued his role on the Board after his release from the Presidency of the Seventy, while Elder Gong represents the Presidency of the Seventy on the Board), and the Young Women, Young Men, and Relief Society General Presidents (the RS and YW Presidents were part of the board prior to the changes, but the YM President was added when board membership was expanded).

With all of that in mind, it was significant to me that Presidents Eyring and Uchtdorf, who serve as First and Second Vice Chairmen on the Board, have given President Nelson, who has no direct role on the Board, the assignment to represent them in presiding at the inauguration ceremony for BYU-Pathway Worldwide President Clark G. Gilbert. The new organization, announced earlier this year, allows groups of students in the BYU program to gather together at various locations worldwide for their study and certification, rather than having to negotiate being on the BYU campus. The new organization, administered from Salt Lake City, is an official secondary educational organization that had started at BYU-Idaho. While the appointment of President Gilbert had been announced earlier this year (as he was serving as President of BYU-Idaho), he has not yet been inaugurated. That is set to happen 10 days from now, on November 16.

The inauguration of President Gilbert is set to include a charge he will be given during the event that will give him guidelines to use as he officially assumes this new assignment, though it is unclear whether President Nelson will administer that charge himself, or if he will call on one of the four members of the Quorum of the Twelve serving on the Board to do so. For more on what is known about this event, the official article from the Church News on that subject can be found here.

I will be back later on today to post the birthday tribute to President Uchtdorf, who is celebrating his 77th birthday today. That does it for this post. Any comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you in all that you do.

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