Hello again, everyone! During the traditional Saturday Sustaining of Church Officers, which just concluded, some changes were noted in general Church leadership I thought that the changes were sufficient enough to provide a breaking news update, as some of the changes were not expected. Firstly, the changes in the Presidency of the Seventy that took effect on August 1 (with Elder L. Whitney Clayton released as Senior President, Elder Patrick Kearon becoming the new Senior President, and Elder Brent H. Nielson joining that Presidency) were not presented for stastaining vote. So apparently, an official announcement from the Church as took place for those has negated the need for a subsequent sustaining vote, at least this go-round.
It was next no great surprise when Elders L. Whitney Clayton, Enrique R. Falabella, and Richard J. Maynews were released as General Authority Seventies and granted emeritus status. Nor was it surprising that no release was presented for Elder David S. Baxter, who is still on leave from his assignments for medical reasons. The surprising thing was that Elder L. Todd Budge, who was sustained as a General Authority Seventy in April of 2019, was released from that assignment.
I was further surprised when Bishops Dean M. Davies and W. Christopher Waddell were released as First and Second Counselors in the Presiding Bishopric. But then President Eyring presented the name of Bishop Davies to be a General Authority Seventy.
Although I wasn't aware of this at the time, the reason the Church amde that change, as noted in the news release, is that he has been dealing with health issues for the last year, so it was thought that an assignment change at this time would allow him to take care of those issues and still serve as a General Authority of the Church while he does so. I do not know if that means that he will still be granted emeritus status this time next year, when he will have passed the age of 70.
As a result of the change to Bishop Davies' assignment, Bishop W. Chistopher Waddell hss been released as Second Counselor and called as First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric. With the Second Counselor spot vacant, Elder Budge will now serve in that assignment in the Presiding Bishopric, now becoming Bishop Budge. He is presently serving as First Counselor in the Asia North Area Presidency outside the United States, so a subseuqnt change in that presidency will soon be necessary, assuming it is not already in progress.
Meanwhile, President Eyring also announced the release of 47 area seventies (if I have correctly counted) and 4 new area seventies were called to serve from Tanzania, Nevada, Ecuador, and Russia. Given the other announced changes and my need to report on them here, I have not taken a look at how many area seventy releases I correctly predicted. More to come on that as I can analyze it.
I should also note here another major item: President Oaks, in announcing the first speakers for this session, noted that Elder Gong had recorded his remarks from home and was not in attandance after having been exposed to someone who later tested positive for COVID-19. He reassured the Church that Elder Gong and his family are not exhibiting symptoms of COVID-19; but the Brethren felt it wise to be safe rather than sorry. This is the first confirmation of the direct impact that COVID-19 has had on the leAding Quorums of the Church. That being said, I am glad that it does not appear that there is a need to be unduly concerned about Elder Gong in light of this news. I'm sure there is also much more ahead in terms of this General Conference weekend, and I will be sure to bring word of all such developments here as I leanr of them.
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.
Hello again, everyone! The church News has provided coverage on both the changes in general Church leadership, and on Elder Gong's potential exposure to COVID-19:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-10-03/leadership-changes-bishopric-general-authority-seventies-released-area-seventies-called-194322
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-10-03/general-conference-october-2020-elder-gong-covid-19-194439
My thanks once again to you all.
The Church News has also shared a summary of highlights from the first two sessions of General Conference:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2020-10-03/october-general-conference-saturday-morning-afternoon-recap-194445
My thanks once again to you all.
Although new temples will likely only be announced at the conclusion of General Conference around 13 hours from now, the Church Temples site has provided updates on the following temples:
Deletehttps://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/auckland-new-zealand-temple/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/lima-peru-los-olivos-temple/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/puebla-mexico-temple/
https://churchofjesuschristtemples.org/alabang-philippines-temple/
Just a word about these updates. It appears that the Auckland Temple (for which full-scale construction recently began) is anticipated to be completed in the same late 2022-early 2023 time-frame at which the Richmond Virginia, Feather River California, and Orem Utah Temples are estimated for completion.
And with full-scale construction also now underway on the Lima Peru Los Olivos, Puebla Mexico, and Alabang Philippines Temples, they are now in that order in the queue after the Bangkok Thailand Temple, which means my estimates will need reworking based on all of that. With full-scale construction still pending on the Brasilia Brazil and San Pedro Sula Honduras Temples, I'll be interested to see how the queue looks after the scheduled groundbreakings.
Also, I don't know if President Nelson misspoke in opening General Conference, because he stated that the total number of temple groundbreakings this year will be 20. Unless I miscounted or he knows something we don't, I thought that total was now 21. My thanks once again to you all.
As I noted above, yesterday, the changes in the Presidency of the Seventy that became effective August 1 were not presented for sustaining vote. However, before introducing the first speakers this morning, President Eyring, who conducted the sustaining vote yesterday and was conducting the session this morning, led a sustaining vote on those changes. So apparently, that was an oversight yesterday. My thanks once again to you all.
Delete