Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post again now with some thoughts and musings about new leadership. I am particularly going to be addressing some additional observations about the new members of the Quorum of the Twelve (Elders Gong and Soares) and those five new members of the Presidency of the Seventy (Elders Carl B. Cook, Robert C. Gay, Terence M. Vinson, Jose A. Teixeira, and Carlos A. Godoy) who have been called between the end of March and now. Let's get right into it.
First of all, I wanted to note that, with these changes, the Brethren of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles may be looking to expand their understanding of international issues. Elders Gong and Soares represent not only the first Asian-American and Latin American apostles called, but with Elder Gong having Asian ancestry and Elder Soares having been born in Brazil, these are the first apostles to have direct ties to nations outside the US, Canada, Mexico, and Europe.
Additionally, since Elder Soares was called as a General Authority Seventy in April 2005, he has served in area presidencies in Brazil (from 2005-2011) and in the Africa Southeast Area (from 2011-2013, at which point he was called to the Presidency of the Seventy), while Elder Gong has served in Asia (from 2011-2016). And in recognition of their familiarity with those areas, Elder Gong has a supervisory role over the entire Asian continent, while Elder Soares oversees the Central America and Africa West Areas.
But that is only the tip of the iceberg. Elders Carl B. Cook (who has served as a General Authority Seventy since April 2011) and Robert C. Gay (who was called as a GA Seventy one year later), who were both called to serve in the Presidency of the Seventy effective March 31 of this year have also had experiences serving outside the United States. Elder Cook served in the Africa Southeast Area from 2011-2016), while Elder Gay served in the Central America Area from 2012-2013, and was president of the Asia Area from August of last year until his call to the Presidency of the Seventy in March.
Of the three new members of the Presidency of the Seventy whose service became effective almost a week ago (on August 1), Elder Vinson was born in Australia (which currently falls under the Pacific Area of the Church) and has served as a General Authority Seventy since 2013, while Elder Teixeira and Elder Godoy have both served as General Authority Seventies since 2008, with the former born in Portugal and the latter born in Brazil.
Since Elders Godoy and Teixeira have served longer, let's start with them. Elder Godoy served in South America from 2008-2009, in Brazil from 2009-2012, and in the South America Northwest Area from 2015-2018 while Elder Teixeira served in the Europe Area from 2009-2015 and the South America South Area from 2015-2018. In the meantime, following his call as a General Authority, Elder Vinson has exclusively served in the presidency of the Africa West Area.
These changes suggest a few things to me. First, the Church has called as the two new apostles and five newest members of the Presidency of the Seventy men who have extensively experienced life outside of the United States, and it appears that the only international areas in which these new leaders have not had experience are the Caribbean, Europe East, Mexico, Middle East/Africa North, and Philippines Areas.
Therefore, the international ministry of these Brethren surely uniquely qualifies them for their new positions. But more than that, the First Presidency appears to be recognizing that with the Church being as global as it is, and with decisions being made in the top Church councils which will affect the Saints worldwide, there is a great need to call these leaders that have extensive international experience and would be able to weigh in on how such discussions and determinations may affect the members in the areas with which they are familiar.
It may be some time before we fully know specifics regarding the assignments for most of the members of the Presidency of the Seventy (who, as previously noted, have been released from the responsibility of overseeing the 10 North America Areas in order to more fully assist the apostles and fill other assignments as needed). That said, the LDS Church Growth Blog recently shared this message, which Elder Vinson wrote as he concluded his service in the Africa West Area Presidency and prepared to return to Church headquarters for his new assignment in the Presidency of the Seventy.
Among the things he mentions is that he has been asked to assist a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in overseeing the North America Southeast Area, along with the two main areas of the Church in Africa (Southeast and West). With that in mind, I wanted to note as well that, right now, what we know as of now is, as I mentioned above, that Elder Soares has oversight of the Africa West Area, but I do not have any indication right now which of the apostles oversees the Africa Southeast Area, or how oversight of the 10 North America Areas are divided among the apostles.
As of currently, the information about the Presidency of the Seventy to which I have access via the Church's official website has not yet been updated to exclude Elders Christensen, Robbins, and Uceda, who were released, and to add Elders Vinson, Teixeira, and Godoy, and the information available about Elders Clayton, Kearon, Cook, and Gay may not be current. But hopefully such changes will come in the weeks ahead.
Once I track down such updates, I will pass along anything I find out regarding the new assignments for the other members of the Presidency of the Seventy, including (if available) the apostle(s) which they are assisting in those roles. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time.
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Tuesday, August 7, 2018
Some Additional Thoughts About New Leadership
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
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James, thank you for your updates. As a few points of clarification. Elder Gay never served in the Central America area presidency....he was called to do so, but was given a different assignment at church headquarters before beginning that assignment.
ReplyDeleteFor a number of years the Seven Presidents have all assisted the member of the Quorum of the Twelve with area assignments, so this is no a new change.
Thank you for those clarifications. Though I could not find a source to verify what you said, I believe I recall such a change being mentioned in Elder Gay's change of assignment from Central America to Church headquarters.
DeleteIt is likewise true that the members of the Presidency of the Seventy have always assisted the apostles to one degree or another. When the First Presidency announcement about the US and Canada areas being overseen by area presidencies was released on Mormon Newsroom, a quote from President M. Russell Ballard was included, in which he said: "The creation of area presidencies for the United States and Canada is an important step forward. It will allow these brethren to focus on the specific needs of each domestic area, providing counsel and direction to regional and local leaders in the U.S. and Canada. It also allows the Presidency of the Seventy greater capacity to assist the Quorum of the Twelve in their work and fulfill other assignments. We are grateful to these Brethren for their willingness to serve in these new important assignments."
If I was not clear enough about that in my post above, I apologize. What I meant was that, while the members of the Presidency of the Seventy have historically been called upon to assist the apostles, this change will enable them to do so to a more particular degree, and will free up their ability to do other things as assigned by the apostles.
As I may or may not have also noted above, I have been tracking the biographies of Church leaders for a while now. The bios for the Presidency of the Seventy as found on lds.org have noted for at least the last couple of years which apostles they were assisting in oversight of specific areas of the Church.
That said, currently that section still lists Elders Christensen, Robbins, and Uceda, and does not list Elders Vinson, Teixeira, and Godoy among that Presidency. Also, as of earlier today when I checked, although that section included the bios of Elders Cook and Gay, who began their service immediately as of March 31, no mention is made in their bios as of yet about them beginning that service, which means there is also no mention yet of which apostles they have been assigned to assist.
So it may be another short while before we see all the bios of the Presidency of the Seventy (with membership as of August 1) updated with these assignments, some of which are new, and some of which have not changed as a result of their increased ability to assist the apostles. It will be interesting to see how soon we know more particulars in that regard.
Thanks for stopping by to offer your feedback. I appreciate hearing from you.
Elder Carlos Godoy of the Presidency of the Seventy will assist Elder Ulisses Soares with the assignments to Central America and Africa West.
ReplyDeleteThanks for stopping by to comment. Are you sure about this information? The article I cited above (containing Elder Vinson's parting thoughts as he concluded his service in the Africa West Area) notes that he will be assisting an apostle with the Africa Southeast, Africa West, and North America Southeast Areas. So either Elder Vinson was incorrect, or the information you have may not be accurate. Do you have a source for that information? As I also noted above, the biographies I have found for the Presidency of the Seventy via the Church website have not yet been updated to include Elders Vinson, Teixeira, and Godoy, nor has there been any verified word via those biographies on the official assignments for all seven members of the Presidency of the Seventy. I would therefore be very interested to learn how you got that information, and where it can be verified. Thanks.
DeleteIt is 100% regarding Elder Godoy to Central America. I heard it from a member of the Central America area presidency. I live and serve in the area. As to Africa West it is assumed that the same member of the Presidency of the Seventy would assist Elder Soares in both areas...so that is not confirmed and I could be wrong.
ReplyDeleteIf that is what you heard from a member of the area presidency, I take that as the truth. Elder Vinson's assignments, as identified by himself, are to assist members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles with the North America Southeast Area, and the two areas of Africa. That can be confirmed by the closing paragraph of his farewell message to the Saints within that area, which you can find below:
ReplyDeletehttps://africawest.lds.org/august-area-presidency-message?lang=eng-afw
I do wish that the Church was doing better about updating the biographies of the General Authorities. It was not until yesterday that the preliminary efforts to update the Presidency of the Seventy from the August 1 changes were started. And while they list all the members in that presidency currently, the 5 newest members of that Presidency still have their former assignments listed as their current ones. I'm sure that will change, and hopefully we will find out more about the full list of assignments for each of the current seven members of the presidency.
That said, I apologize if I was a little too strong in my dismissal of the earlier information you shared. One of the advantages of modern technology also creates the disadvantage that it may be difficult at times to know how accurate information is, unless there is sufficient support provided for that information. Obviously, with you living and serving in the area, you would know about Elder Godoy's assignment to Central America. Hopefully, when the Church updates those biographies, we will be able to see these assignments fully sourced. Thanks for stopping by to comment.