Hello again, everyone! I am posting again now to share some major Church news stories which have crossed my radar within the last week. I will be covering new content from the Church News, then the News & Events page on the Church's website, then the official Newsroom. If there is any overlap in that coverage, I will try to note that as I go. With that said, let's dive right in to all of that.
First, the Church has provided preliminary reports on the 2019 Mission Leadership Seminar, which kicked off today with the traditional Sacrament Meeting. Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf, who chairs the Missionary Executive Council, and Church President Russell M. Nelson offered remarks today. More will be reported on that seminar in the week ahead, which I will be sure to pass along as I receive word of them.
Several other recent reports on the ministry of our Church leaders can be found in the special section devoted to Leaders & Ministry. Among them are the newest edition of "This Week on Social", which featured social media posts from the following leaders: Church President Russell M. Nelson and his First and Second Counselors,
Presidents Dallin H. Oaks and Henry B. Eyring, respectively; Elders David A.
Bednar, D. Todd Christofferson, and Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the
Twelve Apostles; and Sisters Reyna I. Aburto, Second Counselor in the Relief
Society General Presidency, and Michelle D. Craig, First Counselor in the Young
Women General Presidency.
I will let you all catch up on other highlights in that section that may interest any of you on your own time. In the meantime, there has been additional coverage provided of temple highlights, which can be found here. Similarly, there may be other stories of interest to some of you which I have not mentioned here, and those can be found here. Turning now to the stories on the News & Events page on the Church's website, it appears that most of those have been covered elsewhere, but if I missed anything, you can read about additional news here and also catch up on additional details that have been announced about scheduled events.
And finally, I cannot quite recall how much coverage I have recently provided on the latest news releases from the official Newsroom, but share the link to a list of those for anyone that wants to catch up on anything I might have missed. I should also probably note that, insofar as I have been able to ascertain, there has still not been an artist's rendering released or a construction time-frame offered for the Belem Brazil Temple, which, as previously noted, has been scheduled to occur on Saturday August 17 of this year. If and when such information becomes available, I will be sure to pass that along to you all here.
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, June 23, 2019
Preliminary Reports Provided on the 2019 Mission Leadership Seminar; Other Church News Reported
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.
11 comments:
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.
At the same time, however, I recognize that we live in a time when incivility, discourtesy, unkindness, and even cyber-bullying has regrettably become part of online interactions. With that in mind, while anyone who wishes can comment on anything if they choose to do so, I hereby reserve the right to immediately delete any comments which are critical, unkind, lack civility, or promote prodcuts, services, and values contrary to either the Church, or to the rules of online etiquette.
I'd also like to remind all who comment here that I try to respond personally to each individual comment as I feel is appropriate. Such replies are not meant to end the conversation, but to acknowledge earnest feedback as it is submitted.
And in order to better preserve the spirit and pure intentions for which this blog was established, I also hereby request that anyone not commenting with a regular user name (particularly those whose comments appear under the "Unknown" or "Anonymous" monikers, give the rest of us a name to work with in addressing any replies. If such individuals do not wish to disclose their actual given names, a pseudonym or nickname would suffice.
Any comments made by individuals who opt to not give a name by which they can ber identified may, depending on the substance and tone of such comments, be subject to deletion as well. I would respectfully ask that all of us do all we can to keep the dialogue positive, polite, and without malice or ill-will. May the Lord bless us all in our discussion of these important matters.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Hello again, everyone! An evening devotional was held this evening at the Provo MTC, at which President Oaks presided, Elder Holland spoke, and the other members of the Twelve were in attendance.
ReplyDeleteDuring Elder Holland's remarks, he noted that today marked the 25th anniversary of his call to the apostleship, which took place the same weekend as the 1994 Mission President's Seminar during the only such seminar over which President Howard W. Hunter presided as Church President.
You can read a summary of his remarks (including his powerful apostolic testimony) in the following article:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-06-23/elder-holland-links-saviors-atonement-with-missionary-work-missionary-purpose-and-doctrine-of-christ-at-mtc-devotional-50195
My thanks once again to you all for your ongoing interest and support.
Additional reports have been provided on both the ministry of our apostles and the 2019 Mission Leadership Seminar. Within the last couple of weeks, Elder Ronald A. Rasband has visited Saints in the Europe East Area of the Church, which led him to report on their faith and the promise he gave them that the temple announced last April for Russia will be coming down the line. For more on his ministry visit, see the following article:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-06-24/russia-temple-elder-rasband-eastern-europe-50177
Meanwhile, at the 2019 Seminar for New Mission Leadership, Elder Christofferson focused his remarks on the power of the Book of Mormon to convert investigators to the gospel. You can read a summary of his remarks in the following article:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-06-24/elder-christofferson-2019-mission-leadership-seminar-50196
And the Newsroom has provided an overview of coverage on the same seminar, which I assume will be expanded as the seminar continues:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/mission-leadership-seminar-held-latter-day-saint-leaders
I also have some temple updates to share, but will pass those along in another comment. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all.
I am back with the temple updates I promised. At the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple site. the exterior walls of the temple are being installed, the steeple has been added to the adjacent meetinghouse, and tress have been delivered for later planting. I should also interject here that while I had adjusted my general completion estimates for the Rio de Janeiro Brazil and Winnipeg Manitoba Temples, most sources which provide temple information that is available to me have switched Rio's estimate back to early 2020 and Winnipeg's back to mid-2020. So hopefully that means no delays are anticipated.
ReplyDeleteI should also note that, due to the way I have chosen to track temple information, I have renumbered those temples which have a completion anticipated after that of the Abidjan Temple. Given that work is underway on the temples in Quito, Pocatello, Urdaneta, and Bangkok, I have put them ahead in numerical order (for now) in comparison to the Yigo Guam, Praia Cabo Verde, San Juan Puerto Rico, and Lima Peru Los Olivos Temples, for each of which full-scale efforts are still pending. I have also eliminated my general completion estimates for each of those temples until more information is available on their progress. That being said, for the moment, I stand by the more specific estimates I have offered for the dedications of each of those temples until I find out for sure that they will need to be adjusted.
In the meantime, at the Raleigh North Carolina Temple, while the elements of the last update I provided for that temple still apply, it has also been reported that the construction barrier has been removed. And across the globe in Frankfurt Germany, furniture is being delivered, and sod is being laid. As previously mentioned, those two temples will be rededicated in mid-October. And finally, at the temple named for the United States national capital, demolition of the east parking lot is underway, while progress continues to be made on the interior and exterior renovation efforts for that temple.
I do continue to monitor all such developments and will do my level best to pass word of those along to you all as I receive it. Thanks again, everyone!
Hello again, everyone! I have found a few more articles via the Church News website which I wanted to mention here now. First of all, Sister Bonnie H. Cordon, the Young Women General President who serves on the Missionary Executive Council, offered remarks at the Seminar for New Mission Leadership, during which she discussed 3 new ways to think about God's love in our lives and how remembering those 3 ways will enable success to occur in missionary labors:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-06-25/sister-cordon-2019-mission-leadership-seminar-50202
With the 175th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum coming up this Thursday, President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who is also Hyrum's great-great grandson, offered some insight into what he hopes Church members will keep in mind as this anniversary is marked:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-06-25/joseph-smith-russell-ballard-175th-martyrdom-anniversary-50201
And an NFL football coach who is also a member of the Church has recently shared how losing his right arm as a child has molded his capacity to achieve his goals and his testimony of the gospel:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2019-06-24/nfl-kansas-city-chiefs-byu-porter-ellett-50199
I will be sure to keep passing along other Church news and temple updates as they cross my radar. Again, my thanks goes out to you all for your ongoing interest and support.
Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post again now with some Church news storiex and temple developments which have been reported. First, from the Newsroom, the Church has announced the official musical guests that will perform during the September 6 celebration honoring President Nelson's 95th birthday (which he will officially observe the Monday following the celebration.
ReplyDeleteMusical guests will include the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, Jenny Oaks Baker (President Oaks' daughter), and her four children, who are known by the group name "The Family Four", GENTRI, the Bonner Family, Nathan Pacheco, and Donny Osmond. Former broadcast journalist Ruth Todd and Elder S. Gifford Nielsen, a former NFL star and sportscaster, have been asked to emcee the event. Although it has not been explicitly stated, I imagine that President Nelson's children, one or both of his counselors, and perhaps a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles may be asked to share tributes for the occasion. You can read more, including brief biographies for the special guests, in the following Newsroom article:
https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/acclaimed-guest-artists-perform-president-nelson-95th-birthday-celebration
Next, I wanted to note that the Church News has shared another article in conjunction with the 175th anniversary oif the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum. The latest article shares insights into how the death masks made of the faces of the Smith brothers have been preserved throughout history:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/history-revisited/2019-06-26/joseph-smith-martyrdom-death-masks-hyrum-50204
And two additional reports have been shared regarding the Seminar for New Mission Leadership. President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency, and President M. Russell Ballard, Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, focused their remarks during the seminar on the importance that should rightly be placed on true conversion to the gospel rather than aiming for a hasty commitment to baptism on the part of investigators. They noted investigators need time to sufficiently cultivate a testimony of the gospel before they should be asked to commit to baptism. It is a powerful and well-taken observation.
If missionaries are more focused on filling a quota for baptisms rather than ensuring that true conversion can occur in the lives of those they teach, then there is a higher degree of likelihood that individuals brought into the Church too hastily may struggle more with developing, maiantaining, and strengthening their testimonies of the gospel.
But above and beyond that, I wanted to mention that there has been another change in terminology that the Church will use in terms of missionary work. After we saw the Mission President's Seminar renamed last year to the New Mission Leadership Seminar, this year, the Brethren have changed the terminology used to refer to a mission president's wife. The prior terminology used was "companion". As of this year, the wives of mission presidents are being referred to as "partners" to their mission president husbands, underscoring the idea that the mission president and his wife should have a more equal role in serving the missionaries, investigators, and congregations over which they have stewarship.
With that noted, the summary of the addresses given by Presidents Oaks and Ballard are found in the following articles:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-06-26/president-oaks-2019-mission-leadership-seminar-50217
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-06-26/president-ballard-baptize-2019-mission-leadership-seminar-50222
Having shared those articles, I will be passing along the temple updates in a separate comment, which I will post in just a few minutes here. For now, my thanks again to you all.
Here are the temple updates I promised, for two new temples under construction. First, with its' dedication now less than 3 months away, the construction phase is wrapping up for the Lisbon Portugal Temple, and furnishings are being added to the temple's interior. In the meantime, another update on the Pocatello Idaho Temple notes that footings and foundation walls continue to be poured. It may be a little premature to assert this, but there seems to be an increasing likelihood that the dedication of this temple will occur before the end of 2021, and that will be even more certain if work on it continues to progress at the rate it has thus far.
ReplyDeleteAs always, I am monitoring all Church news and temple developments and will share those highlights with you all as I receive word of them. I'd like to again express my continued appreciation to you all for your ongoing interest and support.
Hello again, everyone! I wanted to note some additional reports which have been provided in conjunctiuon with the 2019 Mission Leadership Seminar. A senior couple who have served repeatedly as medical missionaries for the Church have shared their experiences doing so in the hopes that those with medical expertise who are considering a senior mission may elect to use their talents to bless missionaries throughout the world. Additional context on that subject was further provided in the same article by Elder Weatherford T. Clayton, who serves as both an Assistant Executive Director of the Missionary Department and as the chairman of Missionary Health Services. Read more in the following article:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2019-06-26/medical-missionaries-latter-day-saint-50211
The Church News also featured a summary of remarks made during the Seminar for New Mission Leadership by Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who serves on the Missionary Executive Council:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-06-26/elder-andersen-2019-mission-leadership-seminar-christ-50218
And, just a reminder here: All articles featured via the CHurch News website which highlight the Seminar for New Mission Leadership can be found in the following special section:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/category/2019-mission-leadership-seminar
Hopefully, there is much more coverage ahead in terms of Church news and temple developments. And for my part, I will continue to try and stay on top of it all. Once again, thanks to all of you for your continuing interest and support.
Hello again, everyone! On this day when the 175th anniversary of the martyrdom of the Prophet Joseph Smith and his brother Hyrum Smith the Patriarch is being officially marked, the Church News has shared a couple of additional articles about that subject. In the first, an interative timeline allows viewers to see complete details on the 96 hours that both preceded, followed, and transpired during the martyrdom:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/history-revisited/2019-06-27/joseph-smith-hyrum-smith-martyrdom-timeline-50215
The Church News also provided first-hand recollections of many early Church leaders regarding where they were, how they heard about, and in what manner they reacted to the martyrdom:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/history-revisited/2019-06-27/saints-nauvoo-quotes-martyrdom-joseph-smith-50237
Additional reports have likewise been provided on the 2019 Mission Leadership Seminar. In a letter dated today, the First Presidency announced an increase in the monthly living allowance alloted to missionaries around the world, to be effective next year:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/global/2019-06-27/first-presidency-lds-missionary-contribution-50229
And in direct relation to the Seminar itself, new reports shared remarks made by President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, and Elder Ronald A. Rasband of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who spoke in tandem with his wife, Melanie:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-06-27/president-eyring-2019-mission-leadership-seminar-50214
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-06-27/elder-ronald-a-rasband-2019-mission-leadership-seminar-50209
And the Church News has shared the information provided in the Newsroom's official release on the guests who will be featured at President Nelson's 95th Birthday Celebration on Friday September 6, which also directly links to the Newsroom story:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-06-27/donny-osmond-nathan-pacheco-president-nelson-birthday-50242
I hope these additional articles are helpful to all who may read them after my mentioning them here. My thanks once again to you all for your ongoing interest and support.
Upon further review on my part, it appears that I might have misunderstood or misrepresented the change detailed in the First Presidency letter on the resources for missionaries in the Church. The sources I cited may have a more correct interpretation of this change than I originally portrayed in my last comment. My apologies for unintentionally misleading any of you.
ReplyDeleteHi James. Just saw this article on Newsroom (shared from South Africa Newsroom). Africa Southeast Area to split next year to create new Africa Central Area and Africa South Area.
ReplyDeletehttps://www.mormonnewsroom.co.za/article/africa-southeast-area-to-be-divided-into-two-areas
Eric, thank you for stopping by to comment. I apologize for my delay in getting back to you. Things have been kind of crazy for me personally today. I saw the release in question pretty much around the same time your comment was published. I had just enough time to cover that and other reported Church news in a new post before I had to take care of other commitments and issues this afternoon. I appreciate you posting about this here. I will have some additional thoughts and analysis on this change in the comment threads of my newest post within the next half hour or less. I will just note here that I saw the sense in this development when Matt first mentioned it on his blog, and I had anticipated the change occurring effective August of this year. But if more time is needed to prepare for this transition from 2 areas (3 if the Middle East/Africa North Area is considered) to 3 (or 4), then I consider it wise that the change will be implemented next year. Thanks again, Eric, for taking time to comment.
ReplyDelete