Hello again, everyone! You may recall that in a new post published yesterday, I mentioned that the leadership session for General Conference included some changes for the area seventies of the Church. The link I shared in that post has since been taken down, which means it might only be during General Conference weekend itself that we hear anything about what was said during the leadership training sessions.
In the interim, the Newsroom has provided a new article about the changes in area seventies. Part of that article clarified that the previously-announced releases were ratified in that session. So those for whom a release was granted received a vote of gratitude for their service. As far as the new area seventies are concerned, in what I believe is a first for the Church, the new area seventies have beeen designated to replace a couple of those previously called.
Elder Charden Ndinga will replace Elder Gaëtan Kelounou. As near as I can figure out, Elder Kelounou, called as an area seventy just six months ago, was released from that assignment to assume oversight for the Republic of the Congo Brazaville Mission. Elder Pedro E. Hernández has been called to serve in the Seventh Quorum of the Seventy, replacing Elder Guillermo I. Guardia, who has served since April 2017. Not sure why Elder Guardia will be replaced by Elder Hernandez, as I wasn't able to find anything on that.
>With all of that in mind, I also continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments, and will do my best to bring word of those to you as I become aware thereof. 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 also covered the area seventy changes:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2021-10-01/new-area-seventies-called-leadership-meeting-of-october-2021-general-conference-227164
And the Church has confirmed that a multi-cultural choir will sing during the Saturday Afternoon Session, with a BYU Choir slated to perform during the Saturday Evening Session:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-10-01/multicultural-choir-october-2021-general-conference-227111
The multicultural choir had originally been slated to perform in General Conference last year, but COVID-19 changed that. The pandemic's effects around the world is still being felt and is a challenge in so many parts of the world, especially with the variants in play.
One thing I failed to realize is that this weekend, General Conference is actually returning to its usual venue, but with limited in-person attendance. Unless the Church's plans have changed, only the members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will personally attend all sessions of General Conference, with attendance otherwise limited to the choirs doing the live musical performances and those who are speaking or praying in each session (and likely their respective spouses). But the return to the usual venue is a good sign, which hopefully means that next General Conference could see limited in-person attendance, with normal numbers returning a year or two after that.
The Church News also published a report on 21 new stake presidencies who have recently been called to serve:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2021-10-01/21-new-stakes-recently-reorganized-worldwide-philippines-nigeria-venezuela-227033
I would just add here, as a general note, that I have the final version of my predictions for this General Conference ready to publish tonight around 12 hours before the Saturday Morning Session begins. Given the scheduling of General Conference sessions this October, the first day thereof will coincide with Elder Soares' 63rd birthday. I have previously theorized in earlier versions of those predictions that Elder Soares will likely speak during one of the Saturday sessions, which will mark the first time in a while (if not the first time ever) that an apostle's birthday has coincided with the day on which that apostle is assigned to speak in General Conference.
DeleteOne other thing I'd like to note relates to my predictions for the speaker lineup. If the new layout of the reinstated Saturday Evening Session is anything similar to what we saw in April of last year, then it doesn't seem unreasonable to me to assume that the session will feature a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, 2 others from among the general Church leadership (who will replace the 1 general leader and 2 youth speakers we saw in the last Saturday Evening Session), and the entire First Presidency in reverse seniority order.
If that is the case, some of you might be wondering how the rest of the conference might play out. I have surmised that the Church will have 4 General Officers speak (with the Sunday School General Presidency likely to be the group not represented in General Conference). That was easier to predict because in the last 4 General Conferences, the Church has called on 4 general officers within the 4 main sessions (with the October General Conferences also featuring 3 more female general officers in the Women's Session).
As I've mentioned, since the April 2021 General Conference did not see any members of the Presiding Bishopric speak, Bishop L. Todd Budge, who has not spoken since his assignment change was announced last October, seems to be the likely choice this go-round.
I've also mentioned that the Sunday Morning Session in April 2021 included a current member of the Presidency of the Seventy (El)der Jose A. Teixeira) and 1 GA Seventy who was sustained during that conference to begin serving in the Presidency of the Seventy on August 1. In view of that consideration, I am not predicting any members of that Presiency will speak this time around.
DeleteThe one element left after that was determining which GA Seventies might speak. I have mentioned in the past that if the final 4 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speak in the final 2 sessions (2 per session), that will allow the Church to have more GA Seventies speak.
So my theory is that Elders Anthony D. Perkins, Marcus B. Nash, and Christoffel Golden Jr. will be called upon to speak this go-round, since the first two last did so in October 2012, and the latter did so in April 2013. With my predictions allowing for more GA Seventies to speak, particularly in the final two sessions, if I am correct in my theory, the final 3 GA Seventies originally called in April of last year will give their first General Conference talks in the Saturday sessions, and that 4 of the 8 GA Seventies called in April of this year might do so during this conference as well.
It is possible that additional GA Seventies who have not spoken in General Conference recently might do so this time around. Elder Michael John U. Teh noted in April 2014 that the GA Seventies generally speak once every 7 years. Right now, Elder Baxter (who last spoke in April 2012 and is on medical leave) is at the top of that list. There are 2 others each who last spoke in October 2012 and April 2013, in addition to 4 others who last spoke in October 2013.
DeleteThat's why the GA Seventies have been hard to place in the correct session and timeslot. There does not seem to be any kind of pattern related thereunto. Anyways, those predictions will be published on this blog tonight at or around 10:00 PM. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all.
On this day before General Conference, the Church News has shared the following additional reports, which speak for themselves:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2021-10-01/pattern-for-studying-general-conference-messages-doctrine-invitations-blessings-227096
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2021-10-01/send-photos-october-2021-general-conference-179560
And the latest edition of "This Week on Social" was published a short time ago:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2021-10-01/president-ballard-social-media-service-general-conference-227203
The general leaders featured this week include Acting President M. Russell Ballard and Elders Dieter F. Uchtdorf, David A. Bednar, Neil L. Andersen, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles; Relief Society General President Sister Jean B. Bingham and her Second Counselor, Sister Reyna I. Aburto; Bonnie H. Cordon, Young Women General President and her First Counselor, Sister Michelle D. Craig (from whom two posts were shared); Sister Camille N. Johnson, Primary General President (from whom two posts were shared). My thanks once again to you all.