Some Thoughts on the Presidency of the Seventy

Hello again, everyone! I am posting again now because I have, as I may have previously mentioned, been going over many of my files that contain different data about those in leadership positions on either a general or area level. And in that regard, a couple of thoughts hit me about some unprecedented things that are happening with the current and future membership of that presidency. So let's talk about all of that right now.

First, as I noted, I found it significant that the Church not only called replacements for Elders Gong and Soares following their calls to the Twelve, but that the First Presidency presented three other changes in the Presidency of the Seventy that will be effective on August 1 for sustaining vote as well. This is the first time that I can recall the First Presidency asking for an advanced sustaining vote for changes that would not be effective for another 4 months following that vote.

Connected to that are three other thoughts. One of the three that will be released in August is Elder Juan A. Uceda, who, as some of you may be aware, was only called to serve in the Presidency of the Seventy last August, which means his release is effective after only year in that assignment. It would appear that the Church is releasing him so he can then take an assignment as the new president of the Central America Area. So it occurred to me to wonder whether that new assignment might enable him to convince the Nicaraguan government to let the Church get a quick start on the temple that has been announced for the capital city of Managua.

The second of those three thoughts is that, once the August 1 changes are effective, 4 of the 7 members will have been born outside the United States. Elder Kearon was born in England, Elder Vinson in Australia, Elder Teixeira in Portugal, and Elder Godoy in Brazil.

And the final of the three thoughts I had is that, with Senior President Elder L. Whitney Clayton now being 67 years old, if there are no other changes in the Presidency by 2020, then his being released and granted emeritus status will leave Elder Patrick Kearon as the Senior President.

I looked back as far as I could into the history of the Senior Presidents of the Seventy, and, as far as I can tell, if Elder Kearon is called as Senior President at that time, he would become the first Senior President of the Seventy born outside the US. If there has been another foreign-born Senior President of which any of you might be aware, please let me know.

It is also significant to me that, with the exception of Elder Clayton, all other members of the Presidency of the Seventy will have served for a year or less as of August 1. That is a pretty significant turnover.

I have also been wondering a lot lately about the specific assignments that will be given to the Presidency of the Seventy in August after they are relieved of the responsibility to oversee the Church's North American Areas. I know that prior to the 2004 decision to give the Presidency oversight of those North American Areas, they were executive directors of various Church departments.When they were given the area assignments, the responsibility to serve as executive directors of the Church departments, which had rested with the Presidency of the Seventy, was given to General Authority Seventies. I look forward to seeing what will happen there.

And to round out these thoughts about the Presidency of the Seventy, I wanted to share some data on the Presidency of the Seventy as it will be constituted in August of this year. The data relates to the number of talks each of those 7 men have given in General Conference, and how recently they have spoken. So let's go into all of that.

Elders Robert C. Gay and Terence M. Vinson are the two members of the Presidency that have only given one address in General Conference, in response to their calls as General Authorities. Elder Gay spoke in the Saturday Afternoon Session of the October 2012 General Conference, and Elder Vinson first spoke in the Sunday Afternoon Session of General Conference one year later. For that reason, I believe that the two will be asked to speak during the next General Conference.

Elders Carlos A. Godoy and Jose A. Teixeira were among the first group of General Authorities called during President Monson's presidency, and they have each spoken twice in General Conference. Elder Godoy last spoke in General Conference during the Sunday Afternoon Session of the October 2014 General Conference, and six months later, Elder Teixeira had his second opportunity to speak during the Sunday Morning Session of that conference.

Elder Patrick Kearon was called as a General Authority in April 2010, and Elder Carl B. Cook's call as a General Authority came one year later. Both have spoken twice in General Conference as well, with Elder Kearon last doing so in the Sunday Afternoon Session of the April 2016 General Conference, and Elder Cook having done so in the same session six months later.

The final member of the Presidency of the Seventy is, of course, Elder L. Whitney Clayton, who was called as a General Authority during the April 2001 General Conference, and who became a member of the Presidency of the Seventy 7 years later, filling the vacancy in that Presidency that was caused by Elder Christofferson's call to the apostleship.

Elder Clayton has given 7 addresses in his 17 years as a General Authority. 5 of those 7 have been given since his call to the Presidency of the Seventy. And of the 5 addresses, only 1 has been given since his call as Senior President of the Seventy, although he had given an address in the April 2017 General Conference, which occurred six months prior to his call as Senior President.

As I have noted in other posts, it will be interesting to find out if the Church will now only have one member of the Presidency of the Seventy speak in each General Conference. But if I had to make a guess, I would venture my opinion that two members will speak during General Conference next October, and that those two will likely, as noted above, be Elders Gay and Vinson.

This concludes the thoughts I wanted to share about the Presidency of the Seventy, so that does it for this post. Any and all 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 all in everything you do.