Hello again, everyone! The window for discussion of my General Conference predictions closed 24 hours ago, so I wanted to provide a look at the final version of those. First up, as always, we have the projected speaker lineup. Given the fact that the Saturday Evening Session will be the Women's Session, in order to allow more general leaders to speak, I am predicting that 3 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will speak in each of the 4 general sessions.
I have also discovered that, aside from doing so once as a member of the Primary General Presidency, outgoing Relief Society General President Jean B. Bingham has not yet spoken in the Women's Session, so she could do so this go-round. What I don't know is whether this session will be different than its' predecessors as it will be held to honor the 180th anniversary of the formation of the Relief Society.
I also think that, in view of this anniversary, the Church might opt to have the full First Presidency speak in that session. If that happens, then I assume neither of the counselors will speak in any other sessions. And I think that such an arrangement will allow more GA Seventies to speak during the other four sessions. Other than that, hopefully, the document detailing these predictions is self-explanatory. Feel free to post any questions you might have.
For my projected changes in general Church leadership, as noted in my post from earlier today, the Church presented releases for a few area seventies during the General Conference Leadership Session and presented a list of new area seventies who will begin serving. So that part of the predictions has already been resolved.
But we don't know how many new GA Seventies will be sustained, whether any changes will be made in the Presidency of the Seventy, or what changes are coming to the Relief Society General Presidency and any other groups of general officers. Similarly, although I use a complex method to calculate the figures I've offered for the statistical report, there is no real way to tell how accurate those calculations might turn out to be.
And although I do think it's safe to anticipate new temples as a sure thing, I have no idea how many (if any) new temples are on my general location list or the more specific list of the most likely locations. But I would in fact only be surprised if a hiatus on temple announcements occurs. It will be interesting to see just how accurate or inaccurate any part of these predictions could be. Hopefully all of you, my readers, will enjoy following along with these.
You can count on my full report of the major announcements throughout this weekend. Stay tuned for all of that. In the meantime, 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 feedback offered is consistent with the established guidelines.
I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. 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.
On this day before General Conference begins, the Church News has shared the following reports:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-04-01/president-ballard-apostle-testimony-grandfather-what-he-wants-his-grandchildren-to-know-248227
The next crop of new stake presidencies has been shared by the Church News:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/callings/2022-04-01/17-new-stake-presidencies-venezuela-vancouver-chicago-farmington-provo-ysa-georgia-248160
For those keeping track, the latest listings feature one presidency each called in October and November of last year, with the remainder being called in January and February of this year. So there is at least a 2-4 monnth lag between the reorganization of a stake presidency and when those leaders are featured in the Church News.
The Church News also shared two additional reports that speak for themselves:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2022-04-01/lds-general-conference-send-photos-experience-april-2022-248220
https://www.thechurchnews.com/members/2022-04-01/lds-general-conference-april-2022-talks-photos-summaries-248216
No new reports have been shared by the Newsroom today, which surprises me a little. Last April, on the same Thursday that changes in area seventies were presented in the Leadership Session, a summary of counsel provided by Church leadership in that session was available, with subsequent coverage conntinuing on that subject on Friday. I assume there's a reason that hasn't been done this time around. In any case, you can count on my reporting and analysis of all major developments of this General Conference weekend ASAP following their announcement. My thanks once again to you all.
I don't comment on here but I want you to all know how much fun and enjoyment I get out of reading this. We all know who is in charge but this makes conference exciting as well as I learn a lot. So I just wanted to say thanks.
DeleteMarc, thanks for being a regular reader, and for taking the time to share your thoughts here. I hope everyone who reads or comments here knows that I have no inside sourcing or advanced information of what might happen every six months at General Conference. What I do have is the ability to analyze patterns of the past to try and predict the future.
DeleteFor most of the time that Presidents Hinckley and Monson served as Church Presidents, there were common rotational trends that made projecting things about future conferences much easier. But each of the 8 General Conferences held under President Nelson has been unique in various ways. This weekend should be interesting. We saw a new format last October wherein the counselors in the First Presidency only speak once, with President Nelson doing so 3 times rather than his customary 4.
We also know this conference will coincide with the recent 180th anniversary of the establishment of the Relief Society organization, and that a new RS presidency is likely to be called. So for this time around, I had to ponder the question of what might happen during that session. It is not unreasonable to believe that at least 3 female General Officers could speak, since we've seen that in past Women's Sessions. But will they and the First Presidency be the only speakers? Could more than 3 female leaders speak during that session? Could other General Authorities be called upon to speak with a message focused on the female audience for that session? How will the layout of the Women's Session this time around differ from Women's Sessions in the past? And how will holding the Women's Session in the evening slot affect the rest of the conference? I have tried my best to consider those questions with my predictions this time around. I wouldn't be shocked by anything at this point. It's amazing to think that conference will be underway in just 15 hours. Anyways, Marc, thanks for stopping by to comment. I appreciate your readership. Anytime you'd like to weigh in here in the future, I hope you will feel free to comment again.
I happen to believe there will be two Utah Area temples announced. One in Herriman/Lehi and another in Price/Evanston, Wyoming. President Nelson doesn't seem like one to slow down.
ReplyDeleteAndrew, thanks for sharing your thoughts here. 2 or more temples announced at the same time in a single Church area is not unheard of. That happened for the Pacific Area in April 2019 and again in October 2020; for the Utah Area in October 2019; for the Africa South, Europe, Mexico, North America Central, North America Southwest, and North America West Areas in April 2021; and for the North America Central Area in October 2021. So there is clear precedent for multiple announcements in the same area. I wouldn't be shocked to see that happen again. I personally am not convinced that will be the case this weekend, but I've been wrong before. Thanks again for stopping by to comment, andrew. I appreciate hearing from you.
DeleteHello again, everyone! On the threads of the previous post, I shared the following comment with new significant temple updates:
Deletehttps://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com/2022/03/update-temple-construction-progress.html?showComment=1648839765416#c5928941954764484656
And here's another report from the Church News:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022-04-01/missionary-work-look-back-digital-and-online-developments-in-church-246909
My thanks once again to you all.
Here are two more reports from the Church News, which speak for themselves:
Deletehttps://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-04-01/primary-presidency-preparing-chi,ldren-for-lifetime-of-covenant-keeping-247676
https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2022-04-01/elder-rasband-asia-india-singapore-cambodia-stand-in-holy-places-temple-248405
And on this day before General Conference, the Church News has published a pre-conference edition of “This Week on Social”:
https://www.thechurchnews.com/living-faith/2022-04-01/social-media-church-leaders-general-conference-elder-uchtdorf-conflict-violence-europe-refugees-248389
The latest edition featured the following members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles: Elders Dieter F. Uchtdorf, David A. Bednar, Neil L. Andersen, and Ronald A. Rasband.
It also included posts from the following General Officers: Relief Society General President Sister Jean B. Bingham and her respective First and Second Counselors, Sisters Sharon Eubank and Reyna I. Aburto; Young Women General President Sister Bonnie H. Cordon and her respective First and Second Counselors, Sisters Michelle D. Craig (from whom 3 posts were shared); and Becky L. Craven; and Primary General President Sister Camille N. Johnson and her respective First and Second Counselors, Sisters Susan H. Porter and Amy A. Wright; and Young Men General President Brother Steven J. Lund.
My thanks once again to you all.
The Newsroom has shared another social media post from Elder Bednar, in which he discussed the mutual respect Latter-day Saints have cultivated with our Muslim brothers and sisters:
Deletehttps://news-middleeast.churchofjesuschrist.org/article/latter-day-saints-wish-muslim-friends-ramadan-mubarek
My thanks once again to you all.