Hello again, everyone! While no major new announcements have been made since yesterday morning, President Nelson focused his remarks in the Sunday Morning Session of General Conference on providing more information about the statement he released a couple of months ago, in which he reemphasized proper usage of the name of the Church.
The Newsroom section on the Church's official website shared this article which highlighted some of the things he said. The article speaks for itself, so I won't add anything personally. But I did want to note that President Henry B. Eyring has not yet given an address to the Church during the general sessions of this General Conference. He did speak during the Women's Session, and was asked to present changes in Church leadership during the session before that, but has not spoken otherwise. With one session left, I imagine he will speak at some point during the final session.
In the meantime, while it is still unknown whether or not we will learn more about President Nelson's temple-building plans, it appears that at least a few temples may be announced. And at least one will be, as I confirmed through the Church of Jesus Christ Temples Site. Another unknown is if anything else will be announced, which is possible. We earlier heard rumors of something changing in terms of the Church's missionary efforts. But if such a change were in the works, then I imagine at least one member of the Missionary Executive Council would have been held in reserve to detail those changes. And all four apostles serving on that council (Elders Uchtdorf, Christofferson, Andersen, and Soares) have already spoken to us.
Either way, it will be interesting to see what unfolds over the course of the last session. If any breaking news occurs, I will be sure to pass word of it along to you all as I hear of it. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time. 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.
Sunday, October 7, 2018
General Conference Update: President Nelson Reemphasizes Accurate Usage of Church's Name
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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Where on the temples site did you see that at least one will be announced
ReplyDeleteIn the section for announced temples, below the 7 announced last April, 1 more listing (called "Temple Temple Temple") had been on the page when I checked it earlier. It appears that that has since been removed, and I imagine that the earlier entry was to test how well adding temples would wind up working before any are actually announced next session. Once that test was completed, there was no need to keep it there as a placeholder anymore. At least, that is what I am surmising is the case. Either way, I feel more confident than ever that we are going to hear of more temple announcements. Given that Elder Renlund serves on the Temple and Family History Executive Council, he could have been designated to talk about any changes coming to the family history programs of the Church, and to perhaps provide preliminary details on President Nelson's plans before any temples are announced.
ReplyDeleteBy the way, if my estimates are correct, we will hear from President Eyring, Elder Stevenson, Elder Renlund, and President Nelson in this final session, regardless of who else might speak. It will be interesting to see. And if any temples are announced, I will be sure to provide breaking coverage of that here ASAP after that occurs. Thanks, Scott, for taking time to comment.
“If we will do our best to restore the correct name of the Lord’s Church, He whose Church this is will pour down His power and blessings upon the heads of the Latter-day Saints, the likes of which we have never seen,” President Nelson said. “We will have the knowledge and power of God to help us take the blessings of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people and to prepare the world for the Second Coming of the Lord.”
ReplyDeleteThat is a very powerful blessing and promise given by the Savior through His prophet. It shows just how serious He is when it comes to this matter.
I found it surprising that only one new 70 and none of the Presidents of the 70 have spoken.
ReplyDeleteEric and Scott, thanks for your comments. We have previously seen improvement in our local congregations since the April announcement of one Elder's Quorum and the ministering program. So it is not surprising, Eric, that President Nelson's inspiration to reemphasize the full name of the Church comes as a promise.
ReplyDeleteScott, Elder Robert C. Gay, who was sustained a member of the Presidency of the Seventy in April, spoke in this session. And once this session concludes in around 50 minutes, we will have heard from 3 of the 8 new General Authorities sustained last April (the total rises to 9 if we consider that Brook P. Hales' call to the Seventy in May was ratified by vote this General Conference). As one who has observed General Conference and the patterns that have occurred within those sessions, I can tell you it is not at all uncommon for a minority number of new leaders called the previous April to speak the following October. That will now be especially true with the Women's Session occurring each October, wherein no male leaders outside the First Presidency will be speaking.
But next April, I fully anticipate a number of General Authority Seventies will speak to us, including most of the 6 remaining ones sustained during 2019. I say "most" because periodically, it can take 3 or 4 General Conferences after a new General Authority is sustained before they speak. The most recent example of this was the situation of Elder Massimo De Feo, who was sustained back in April 2016, but did not give his first talk in General Conference as a General Authority until last April.
As to the Presidency of the Seventy, last April, only one member of that Presidency spoke, and that occurred in the Saturday Morning Session. The previous October, no speakers from the current Presidency of the Seventy addressed us, but Elders Donald L. Hallstrom and Richard J. Maynes, who had served in that Presidency until August last year, did so.
April 2017 marked the most recent time when two current members of the Presidency of the Seventy spoke to us (when future apostle Elder Ulisses Soares did so during the Saturday Morning Session, and Senior President Elder L. Whitney Clayton addressed us the following morning).
It may be another General Conference or two before we know for certain whether this is true, but I am theorizing that the Church is moving towards allowing more participation from the auxiliary presidency members and doing so through only having 1 speaker from the Presidency of the Seventy address us each General Conference. We will have to see in six months' time whether or not that proves to be the case.
Sorry. I submitted the comment before I finished it. I am making an assumption here, which may or may not be proven to be correct going forward. I continue to predict 2 members of that Presidency will speak in each General Conference, but I will not be shocked to learn that only one will do so from now on. Thanks again, Scott, for taking time to comment.
ReplyDelete