Stokes Sounds Off: POSSIBLE BREAKING NEWS: Potential Arrangements Detailed for the October 2020 General Conference?

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Monday, July 20, 2020

POSSIBLE BREAKING NEWS: Potential Arrangements Detailed for the October 2020 General Conference?

Hello again, everyone! As some of you might recall, roughly 6.5 weeks ago, the First Presidency had  officially announced that the October 2020 General Conference will be virtual only, and would "follow the same pattern" as the April 2020 General Conference. In sharing that report on this blog, I had  conjectured that that meant that the Saturday Evening Session for October would perhaps also be a general session for all members and friends of the Churrch, with the conference utilizing prerecorded music, and perhaps with only all ordained apostles attending the entire conference, with the individual sessions being otherwise attended only by those who are speaking or praying in each session.

That was a theory I could not directly corroborate at the time. Later on, the event listing for that conference had shown that it would follow a similar pattern to April, but the page in question had listed the April dates in reference to the October 2020 General Conference. So I wasn't sure and wanted to wait for anything more official. Today, when I happened to again be checking  that particular entry, the dates in question were updated to be correct for October, and included the detail that the Saturday evening session would be "for all members and friends of the Church".

I want to be very clear here that unless and until this information is confirmed, denied, corrected, or clarified through an official announcement on the Newsroom website from the Brethren, anything that has not been officially announced should be taken with the proverbial grain of salt. That being said, a couple of principles may be worth mentioning here. In  Doctrine and Covenants 68:4-5, the Lord provides Hris definition of what constitutes scripture. In an earlier revelation, the Lord also  explained the link between His voice and the voice of His servants.
With those scriptures in mind, I'd also like to cite a statement made by prolific apostle Elder Bruce R. Mcconkie, who noted the following in his scholarly work entitled Doctrines of the Restoration: "The proper course for all of us is to stay in the mainstream of the Church. This is the Lord’s Church, and it is led by the spirit of inspiration, and the practice of the Church constitutes the interpretation of the scripture."

So, what I'm trying to convey here is that, if prophets speak for the Lord, as a result of which anything they say when moved upon by the Holy Ghost is scripture, and if the practice of the Church constitutes the interpretation of the scripture, then it follows that, in most cases, updates to announcements or entries on the official Church website, when done with the approval of the Brethren, constitutes confirmation of the same, perhaps even of information not yet officially confirmed.
As a result, subject to any First Presidency correction or clarification, my assumption is that only the First Presidency (and some or all of the apostles) will attend each session, that only those other leaders who are speaking or praying will attend, that those leaders serving outside North America will be excused from attending, that the leadership sessions will again be postponed, that the music will again be pre-recorded, that the Saturday evening session will be for all members and friends of the Church, and that the conference itself will originate from the small auditorium in the Church Office building.

It will be interesting to see what happens in that respect.. And I will cover all new developments as I learn about it. That does it for now. 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.

7 comments:

  1. Hello again, everyone! Apparently, I am late in reporting that the Church has confirmed the curriculum materials that will be used next year, when the Doctrine and Covenants and Church History will be the course of study:

    https://www.churchofjesuschrist.org/study/manual/instructions-for-curriculum-2021/instructions-for-curriculum-2021?lang=eng

    Unique this year is the directive for congregational leaders to ensure that each household gets a printed copy of the manual, which has merely been optional in the past. The lesson schedule will follow what has occurred in 2019 and 2020. My thanks once again to all of you for your continued interest and ongoing support,

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Church News has today reported on a new feature now available on the FamilySearch website. In coordination with the Church History Department, content from their online Church History Catalog can be added to FamilySearch:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2020-07-21/attach-source-to-familysearch-church-history-catalog-188970

    Even in the midst of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, I have been inspired by the many ways the work of the Church continues unhindered. Thanks again, everyone!

    ReplyDelete
  3. The next edition of the ongoing series "Women of Covenant" has been made available today. It was written by Sister Lori Draper, who serves as a member of the Relief Society General Board:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-07-21/women-priesthood-covenant-truths-plain-sight-lori-draper-188559

    Thanks again, all!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hello again, everyone! The following additional updates have been provided by the Church News and Newsroom websites:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-07-22/pioneer-day-elder-soares-international-pioneers-brazil-philippines-189292

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-07-22/pioneer-day-video-president-ballard-elder-soares-sister-jones-189442

    https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/latter-day-saint-leaders-honor-pioneers-of-past-and-present

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2020-07-22/byu-committee-race-equality-belonging-connecting-community-189483

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-07-22/gospel-voice-amazon-google-smart-speakers-189471

    https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/gospel-voice-alexa-google

    My thanks once again to you all.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Hello again, everyone! This afternoon, there are a few new Church news developments to report. As some of you might recall, when the changes in area leadership that will be effective on August 1 were announced through the Church News, among the notes I shared was that Elder L. Whitney Clayton would be released as Senior President of the Seventy. I had thought, given COVID-19, that his address during the April 2020 General Conference would be one of his last official ones in that capacity, if not the absolute final one. But yesterday, Elder Clayton gave a remote address to the graduates of BYU-Idaho:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2020-07-22/byu-idaho-commencement-elder-clayton-promised-land-189490

    Meanwhile, the Church News also provided a look at additional resources which the Church has provided for the Children and Youth program:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2020-07-23/children-and-youth-program-resources-for-parents-189380

    And on this day before Pioneer Day here in Utah, the Church News has provided a look at 10 international Church members whose pioneer stories are inspirational:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/history-revisited/2020-07-23/international-pioneers-jonathan-napela-helvecio-martins-martha-hughes-cannon-189306

    Additionally, although I am still hoping for some temple news this week, given the fact that the Church News has focused on pioneers so solidly this week, and with Pioneer Day set to be observed here in Utah tomorrow, it could be that no other major temple or other announcements will be made until early next week. Time will tell.

    In thel meantime, I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates, and I am hoping to have updated research on temples to publish on my blog here either later today, sometime tomorrow after my personal commemoration of Pioneer Day, or by Saturday at the latest. In the meantime, I again offer my thanks to you all for your continued interest and ongoing support.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Additionally, although the biographical article for new Young Men General President Steven J. Lund was published on July 2, when the article about his First Counselor, Brother Ahmad Corbitt was published one week ago today, I thought it would not be until next week (July 30) that an article would be published for the new Second Counselor, Brother Bradley (Brad) R. Wilcox.

    Contrary to what I had supposed, that biographical article for Brother Wilcox was actually published today:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-07-23/brad-wilcox-young-men-general-presidency-youth-efy-speaker-185725

    My thanks once again to you all.

    ReplyDelete
  7. A new development relative to the Church's Perpetual Education Fund has been reported. Due to the ongoing financial strain caused by COVID-19 and the inability of some PEF beneficiaries to find gainful employment during the ongoing pandemic, the Church today noted that loan repayment requirements would be deferred for a three-month period:

    https://newsroom.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/perpetual-education-fund-loan-payments-paused-covid-19

    The release notes that the Church will reevalutate the situation sometime in November 2020. This is the second development for which November is the window for reevalutation (with the other being the resumption of stake conferences). I am grateful for this additional witness to how well-prepared our current group of apostles are to adjust and adapt regular Church functions, practices, programs, and policies during this ongoing global pandemic. My thanks once again to you all for your continued interest and ongoing support.

    ReplyDelete

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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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.