Hello again, everyone! As longtime readers of my blog may recall, last year, at the beginning of August, I noted that 5 apostles would be celebrating their birthdays during that month. Since that time, two of those apostles with August birthdays (President Thomas S. Monson and Elder Robert D. Hales) have passed away. As neither of the two new apostles have August birthdays, that lowers the number of August apostolic birthdays to 3. So I wanted to post today to provide an overview of which 3 apostles will have a birthday later this month, and when that will happen.
Interestingly, the August apostolic birthdays are each 3 days apart, taking place over a period of six days (from August 6-12). Next Monday, the youngest of those 3, Elder Gary E. Stevenson, will mark his 63rd birthday. 3 days later (Thursday August 9), Elder Neil L. Andersen will celebrate his 67th birthday. And 3 days after that (Sunday August 12), President Dallin H. Oaks, the oldest of the 3, will be observing his 86th birthday. It will be my privilege to post tributes to these Brethren on each of those days. Stay tuned for that.
On an unrelated note, the changes in area leadership, which were announced a few days after the April General Conference, have now gone into effect. This means that the Presidency of the Seventy has now been relieved from their service overseeing the Church's 10 North America areas, which are now under the supervision of 3-man presidencies, two of which are overseeing 2 areas each, and 1 of which will oversee the 3 Utah Areas.
The changes also mean that, for the first time in Church history, the Presidency of the Seventy is comprised of 4 members born outside the United States: Elder Patrick Kearon (who was born in England), Elder Terence M. Vinson (who was born in Australia), Elder Jose A. Teixeira (who was born in Portugal), and Elder Carlos A. Godoy (who was born in Brazil).
As I previously mentioned, Elder L. Whitney Clayton, who serves as the Senior President of the Seventy, will mark his 70th birthday in 2020, which means that, unless Elder Kearon has been released from the Presidency by that time (which does not seem likely), he could become the first foreign-born Senior President of the Seventy at that time.
It is also interesting to note that, with the exception of Elder Clayton, the other 6 members of that Presidency have all come into that assignment within the last year. To have a majority of that Presidency so new to the assignment is significant anyway it's considered.
It will be interesting to see how soon the Church identifies the "other assignments" which the Presidency of the Seventy will be taking on now that they no longer are responsible for the oversight of the North American Areas. Whatever might occur in that regard, you can find more information on that through this blog as I learn of it.
That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.
Wednesday, August 1, 2018
Three Apostles to Mark Their Birthdays This Month/Some Thoughts About Changes in Area Leadership and the Presidency of the Seventy
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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In addition to my life-long love for the subjects which I cover in the posts of this blog, I have long held the belief that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural, while being disagreeable in expressing those differences is not. And in that sense, I have no desire to close the door on anyone who earnestly desires to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on subjects covered in the posts on this blog.
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Found an item that contains some Church news, albeit from an unofficial site, it has to do with the promised updates to Leader and Clerk Resources for the Ministeering program as outlined in April conference, includes how LDS Tools and Leader and Clerk Resources were upated, including the fact that all the Home Teaching stats for 2018 were washed away
ReplyDeletehttps://lds365.com/2018/08/02/updates-to-lcr-lds-tools-to-support-changes-in-reporting-for-ministering/
The author works at Church headquarters and one of his jobs is member awareness of Church products, services, and some events
Thank you, James Anderson, for taking the time to comment, and sorry it took me so long to respond. It makes sense that all home teaching stats for 2018 were expunged as a result of the change When the ministering announcement was made, and when materials were released afterwards to clarify things, the fact that all reports collected for the year up to that point would be removed from the records as a result of the Church implementing the new program.
ReplyDeleteWhat is interesting is how much the program seems to still be misunderstood, even after thorough explanation in conference and through subsequent material which have been put out. The new program does not excuse us from contacting those people on our list. Rather, it is supposed to focus on ministering to them in the ways they need, however those needs are established, and to whatever extent that needs to be done. Some prefer a quick check-in during the Church block. Others may find it easier to be checked on via text, phone call, or e-mail. And some may still be better served by regular visits. At times, a combination of these techniques may best serve those on our lists. But that is something that should be determined through asking the families what they need in that regard, and in response to the promptings of the Spirit.
I may have mentioned this already, but the December Ensign will feature an article from Jean B. Bingham in which she directly addresses the question: "Where did my home and visiting teachers go?" She mentions that the point was to provide more flexibility, not to make us feel as though we have an "out" or valid excuse not to do our duty.
As I have also observed, though this is a new Church practice, the spirit of it is not unfamiliar. A review of Elder Holland's October 2016 talk in which he addressed the right way home teaching should be done, and what he shared during that address sounds an awful lot to me to being similar to the now-officially-implemented ministering program.
With so many things having changed during President Nelson's administration already, it will be interesting to see all that unfolds. To the best of my ability, I am committed to continuing to bring word of those developments to you all as I become aware of them. Thanks, James Anderson, for taking time to comment. I always appreciate hearing from you.
Mormon Newsroom posted an article about this about mid-afternoon but did not give a link. Here is the entire video of the presentation that Elder Pearson gave
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/fairmormon/videos/2107767335901306/
Thank you, James Anderson. It is very interesting and significant to me that Elder Pearson was the first General Authority to speak at the FairMormon Conference. We are certainly living in a day and time when more information is being released about the day-to-day ministry of our leaders than we have seen previously. Thanks again.
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