Hello again, everyone! While I fully intend to follow through on my promise to bring you all a look at temple progress which has occurred between New Year's Day 2019 and today (which I will probably get done around 10-11 hours from now), I wanted to post some additional thoughts I have been having about the upcoming General Conference. First, as many of you might have realized, today marks one year exactly since the Solemn Assembly was held for President Nelson, and since Elders Gerrit W. Gong and Ulisses Soares were appointed as the first Asian-American and Latin American apostles of the Church.
Within this last year's time, the Church has seen unprecedented changes, and this has been brought on primarily due to President Nelson's willingness to formally acknowledge how much of what he has done since he became Church President has been inspired by the Lord. As I mentioned in the comment threads of another post, I reference this opinion article written by a product manager for the Church, which focuses on what needs to happen for us as individuals, families, and congregations in order to be prepared for the Church's unprecedented future.
But above and beyond that, one of the major highlights I have treasured the most in terms of what has happened during President Nelson's prophetic administration is the announcement of so many new temples, which was significant due to the specific locations being announced for 17 of the 19 temples. And that got me thinking about some aspects of what we have seen in terms of the temple construction program of the Church. More specifically, in August of last year, this article highlighted days in Church history on which more than one temple had a groundbreaking.
And for the first time since March 4, 2017, that will be occurring again this year, when the Yigo Guam, Praia Cabo Verde, and San Juan Puerto Rico Temples all have their groundbreaking ceremonies on May 4. I am anticipating and hoping that that will mark the first of many occasions during President Nelson's prophetic administration when the Church will see that occurring.
With that in mind, I want to take this a step further. As part of the Church News coverage leading up to, during, and directly following General Conference weekend, this article was published earlier today, which provided an overview of the most significant circumstances which resulted in one or more temples being announced outside of General Conference. That history is well worthy of review.
Given that the Church published an article about multiple temples having a groundbreaking on the same day roughly 9 months before 3 more temples would have that occur, I wanted to offer a theory that perhaps, once President Nelson outlines and details the extent, timing, and other specifics of his temple expansion plans and intentions, the Church could very well see the announcement of several additional temples outside of General Conference.
That said, I still believe and strongly feel that President Nelson will continue to announce temples over the General Conference pulpit every six months for the foreseeable future, but I would anticipate several temples being announced at other times going forward, given the precedent for which I have provided an overview here.
Either way, it will surely be exciting to see what comes of General Conference in a general sense, and what happens going forward with the temple-building program of the Church in both the near and more distant future. And I fully believe that temple construction developments and milestones will be playing a major part in the "unprecedented future" President Nelson described for the Church.
We are blessed to have a prophet who makes it clear how much the Lord is inspiring his decisions, and that will continue to be the case. I look forward to seeing that occur. In the meantime, I will do my level best to continue to keep all of you informed on any major Church news or temple developments leading up to General Conference throughout this week, and will be providing full and complete coverage of all major developments as they occur next weekend.
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.
Sunday, March 31, 2019
A One-Year Anniversary and Some Additional Thoughts About Temple Construction
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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Hello again everyone! Yet another Church news story, which was penned, oddly enough by the same author who wrote the article I referenced above, published another article to provide more perspective on temple announcements
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2019-03-31/a-sacred-spirit-remembering-what-temple-announcements-are-really-about-49359
Given the increased coverage of temple-related articles, I am more convinced than ever before that something big is coming down the pike for temple construction. It will be interesting to see that occur. My thanks again to you all.
Heard it twice in several days, seems to fill out in a way what Elder Cook said about the number, but in both cases it was President Nelson saying this between last October and the dedication of Concepcion: 'There are 159 operating temples today, put a zero after that'.
ReplyDeleteBut that may be the overall plan, not all of that or even close may happen this weekend, but at least some temples and some groundwork laid out for many more. There are only 3300 stakes and about 600 districts, and some areas have large numbers of members and large temples to match. So a number like ten times the current number appears to be more longer term.
Also watch this Rootstech class that was not streamed live but recorded and posted just four days ago. Talks about some of the other changes that I believe are laying the groundwork for some of what will have to happen once these temples, or even some of them, start to come online.
https://www.rootstech.org/video/nurturing-the-new-and-tender-in-the-gospel
Hello, James Anderson, and thank you for taking time to share this. I mentioned earlier the new information I have received within the couple of weeks. I have proposed the idea of a dozen new temples announced next week, but from what I hear, there may be as many as 2-3 times more than that, at minimum. I fully believe that the Guam, Cabo Verde, and Puerto Rico Temples may have been test cases to see how a new smaller design would work. If that is true, that design may be the "new normal" in many cases.
ReplyDeleteI also have more or less confirmed that President Nelson will likely detail his plans, regardless of the number of temples announced. But I do agree that not all the temples towards the end goal will be announced in one go. Until the Church's Temple Department is staffed enough to fulfill the end goal, the Church will likely pace itself in that respect. President Nelson is committed to doing things more efficiently and effectively. So it makes sense that he would take a smart approach in the implementation of everything he has planned, and that won't just be true for temples.
I mentioned in passing the report of someone having overheard Presidents Oaks and Eyring marveling about President Nelson setting out the plans for the extent and timing of changes in the Church for the next 2-3 years. If that report is true, much more is ahead, and an increase in temple-related developments may only be the tip of the iceberg. I am not sure about the specifics of what all might be ahead, but streamlining Church policies, procedures, practices, and other things would certainly be an expected part of that.
I wish there was more time in a day. I never did finish watching the RootsTech leadership session, and I am intrigued by what you mentioned above. I may have to see if I can grab some time later this week to watch both videos.
It is also worth mentioning that I heard through the grape-vine that perhaps one other development relating to current temples may be announced within the remaining week prior to General Conference. If that does occur, it may likely be a groundbreaking that could perhaps be scheduled to take place before the end of June.
But overall, I think that the Church is going to be seeing a high number of significant developments for the foreseeable future, primarily because we have a Church President with the energy, health, and mental clarity of which many men 20-30 years younger cannot boast, so I feel sure President Nelson's legacy will be a long-lasting one in all sorts of ways.
Sorry about all of the sidetracks, and thank you, James Anderson, as always, for taking time to comment.
With 2 hour church, we can probably fit at least one more Wards in each building and then dedicate more of the sacred funds to temple building. I hope for more remote area temples around the world. I am excited for things to come.
ReplyDeleteHey, do you think there's a goal of like 500 or even a 100 temples by the year 2030 in honor of the church's 200th birthday????
ReplyDeleteJames, we are all very interested in your thoughts about yesterday's announcement!!! Details!! :)
ReplyDeleteHello, Chris & Unknown. I have not been able to respond before now due to health issues & computer problems that are ongoing. I fully anticipate that the latter will have sufficient resolution before General Conference begins in around 10.5 hours, and will have full analysis of all things related thereunto throughout the next few days (including after-the-fact analysis of the developments reported within the last 48 hours. In the meantime, thank you both for stopping by to comment.
ReplyDelete