April 2019 General Conference Speaking Order Predictions

Hello again, everyone! Roughly 4 days ago, I did two new posts to explain my thought process in terms of the potential speaking order for next April's General Conference. This post will again share those predictions as they now stand, and I hope that reproducing those here will generate a more thorough dialogue on this subject, particularly those of you who may have knowledge about the patterns thereof.

As I mentioned in that earlier post, I did thorough research on which Church leaders (aside from the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) might speak during this next conference, including those among the current General Authority Seventies. Those predictions follow below, and will in turn be followed by other posts detailing more of my predictions for this upcoming General Conference. So as not to disturb the flow of that information, I will end here and now as I always do:

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. 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.

April 2019 General Conference Predictions[i]

Session	Conducting	Speaker
SAM	President Dallin H. Oaks[ii]	President Russell M. Nelson
		Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf
		Bishop W. Christopher Waddell
		Elder Terence M. Vinson
		Lisa L. Harkness
		Elder Gerrit W. Gong
		President Henry B. Eyring
SAA	President Henry B. Eyring[iii]	President Dallin H. Oaks (Sustaining of Church Officers)[iv]
	Church Auditing Department Report[v]	Kevin R. Jergensen
		President M. Russell Ballard
		Elder Scott D. Whiting
		Elder Neil L. Andersen
		Elder Quentin L. Cook
		Elder Mathias Held
		Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
SPH	President Dallin H. Oaks	Elder Gary E. Stevenson
		Stephen W. Owen
		Elder David P. Homer
		President Henry B. Eyring
		President Dallin H. Oaks
		President Russell M. Nelson
SUM[vi]	President Russell M. Nelson	Elder D. Todd Christofferson
		Sharon Eubank
		Elder Carlos A. Godoy
		Elder Ulisses Soares
		Elder Marcus B. Nash
		Elder Dale G. Renlund
		President Russell M. Nelson
SUA[vii]	President Henry B. Eyring	President Dallin H. Oaks
		Tad R. Callister
		Elder Anthony D. Perkins
		Elder David A. Bednar
		Elder Kyle S. McKay
		Elder David S. Baxter
		Elder Ronald A. Rasband
		President Russell M. Nelson

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[i]The speaking order for General Conferences of the recent past have generally, for the most part, conformed to general patterns, with only a few exceptions. That said, the two General Conferences held in 2018 saw several deviations from past patterns. With that in mind, the speaking order I am predicting for this General Conference is more traditional, with a few exceptions that make sense. As I did for the two General Conferences in 2018, I will be allowing myself a very small margin of error when calculating the accuracy of these predictions 

[ii]President Eyring conducted the Saturday Morning session for both General Conferences last year. It is more likely than not that the reason he was asked to do so last October was in view of President Oaks being the last speaker in that session. So if President Eyring is the final speaker in this session this go-round, then it seems logical that President Oaks will conduct the session.

[iii]If President Oaks does conduct the Saturday Morning Session, since he will likely also present the Sustaining of Church Officers in this session (for the reasons detailed more fully in note #4 below), it would make sense if President Eyring conducted this session.

[iv]Because President Eyring led the Sustaining of Church Officers last October, and because President Oaks did such a great job with the long list of new Area Seventies in April of 2018, I feel confident that President Oaks will continue to lead that process each April, and that President Eyring will do so each October.

[v]In sections 119 and 120 of the Doctrine and Covenants, the Lord set up the Council on the Disposition of the Tithes, which consists of the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Presiding Bishopric. That council meets each December to review expenses for the last year and discuss budgetary items for the following year. After the expenditures are verified, they are audited by an independent group of individuals. This report, presented each year by the managing director of the Church Auditing Department, notes whether or not tithes have been appropriately distributed and how the Church is doing financially. Having this report read publicly ensures that the membership of the Church can be certain their tithes and offerings are being properly disposed of.

[vi]Although it has typically been traditional for the counselors in the First Presidency to alternate being the final speaker during the Saturday Morning Session and the first speaker during the Sunday Morning Session (at times when the Church president was able to open the former session and close the latter one), the two Sunday Morning Sessions held in 2018 diverted from that pattern. In April of last year, all three First Presidency members spoke to conclude the Sunday Morning Session (because it was Easter Sunday). Then last October, President Oaks was the last speaker during the Saturday Morning Session, and President Eyring was the first speaker during the Sunday Afternoon Session. As a result, 3 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke during the Sunday Morning Session. As I will detail more fully in the note below, I am assuming President Oaks will be the first speaker in the final session this go-round, and if that turns out to be the case, then 3 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will likely speak during this session.

[vii]In April 2018, almost half (5 members) of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles spoke during this session. Then last October, 2 more Quorum members spoke, along with President Eyring. This means that in 2018 alone, over half the members of that Quorum (7 total) spoke during this session. So my theory for this General Conference is that President Oaks will be the first speaker during this session, and, as a consequence, the remaining two members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will speak during this session as well.