Further Developments Noted in Assignments for General Authority Seventies and General Officers of the Church

Hello again, everyone! As I have previously mentioned, I have been monitoring the Church website for any updates in the membership of the Presidency of the Seventy and the assignments listed for those 7 men. I have also monitored the Church magazines section of the Church website. Those double-checks paid off just now as I found updated information on a few different fronts. So let's dive right into a discussion of those changes.

First of all, although the September 2018 PDF version of the Liahona magazine shows no change in the editor or advisers of the Church magazines, and although it appears that the Church has not yet made available the PDF version of the Ensign, in the Friend and New Era magazines, I found the following lists:

September 2018 New Era & Friend

Editor: Hugo E. Martinez

Advisers: Brian K. Ashton, Randall K. Bennett, Becky Craven, Sharon Eubank, Cristina B. Franco, Randy D. Funk, Donald L. Hallstrom, Erich W. Kopischke, Lynn G. Robbins

As some of you may recall, a couple of months ago, I had mentioned that Randall K. Bennett and Becky Craven had been listed as Assistant Editors of the Church magazines. The list above indicates a few things: First, that there will no longer be anyone designated as assistant editor(s), and second, that the following changes have occurred in the advisers of the magazines:

Released as advisers: LeGrand R. Curtis, Edward Dube, Douglas D. Holmes
Called as advisers: Randy D. Funk, Erich W. Kopischke, Lynn G. Robbins.

Elders Curtis and Dube, as mentioned previously, are now serving in area presidencies outside the US. I am not sure at present why Brother Holmes was released from his position as an adviser, but I assume there is a good reason. In addition to Elder Bennett and Sister Craven being added as advisers, it appears that Elder Kopischke returns to his assignment as an adviser following the conclusion of his temporary assignment to help plan the June 1 Priesthood Revelation Commemoration Broadcast. And Elders Funk and Robbins, who are now serving in area presidencies at Church headquarters, will fill assignments as advisers as well.

Having noted those changes, I wanted to talk for a few minutes about the Presidency of the Seventy. It appears that the Church has finally begun the process of updating the information about the seven who have served together since August 1.

It appears that the main assignments for which President Ballard mentioned that the members of that Presidency were freed up for were to provide greater assistance to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as they minister to members of the Church around the world and as they administer the business of the Church in each of the 21 geographical areas of the Church.

Elder Clayton continues to assist Elder Holland with the Middle East/Africa North Area and Elder Cook with the Mexico Area. And Elder Kearon will also continue his present assignment to assist Elder Uchtdorf in supervising the Europe and Europe East Area, and will also have a role in the North America Northwest/West Area (which his biography still lists as two separate areas).

While I have not been able to find any assignments for Elder Carl B. Cook, Elder Gay's biography shows he is assisting Elder Stevenson in supervising the Asia and Asia North Areas (which may contradict the earlier information that Elder Gong has responsibility for those areas) and he also will apparently help oversee the North America Northeast Area.

Elder Vinson, as noted in his farewell message to the Saints in the Africa West Area, is assisting 3 different apostles in their roles of supervising the North America Southeast, Africa Southeast, and Africa West Areas. Elder Teixeira (whose name was recently updated to exclude the middle initial of "A.") is only listed as assisting with the Idaho/North America Central Area. And an update on Elder Godoy's biography is apparently pending. I will keep an eye on those developments

In the meantime, two other developments have been reported in the Church News. President Dallin H. Oaks has recently addressed young married couples from 11 stakes in the Los Angeles California area. In addition to covering important topics such as Church history, LGBT issues and mental illness, he shared insight demonstrating how the leaders of the Church inform themselves (and by extension, the discussions at Church headquarters) on important issues that affect members of the Church worldwide.

Then he said something very interesting: "We have spent many hours talking about how we can simplify our Church programs to perform their essential function for a wide variety of family circumstances. Now, I am pleased to tell you that some help is on the way and more is under discussion.” I am intrigued to find out what that means, which I assume we may hear more about in the upcoming General Conference.

The other noteworthy development is that RootsTech, which holds a Family History-centered gathering each year in Salt Lake, has announced that they will hold an international RootsTech gathering in London England between October 24-26 of next year, which is big news as well. More details can be found here.

I continue to monitor all of these developments, and any other general Church news or specifc temple updates, and will do my level best to pass word of those along as I become aware of such things. 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.