Hello again, everyone! With exactly 36 hours left before the April 2026 General Conference begins, I wanted to post the final edition of my predictions for this weekend. Given the recent confirmation that the upcoming conference will include 4 daytime sessions and a Solemn Assembly to sustain President Oaks, his counselors, and the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, as I recently stated on this very blog, I feel that the sustaining of the general Church leadership will occur in two parts over two sessions.
I am also surmising that selected members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will only conduct two sessions (with the two First Presidency counselors conducting the other two sessions). As far as how it will work with one less session, I am assuming that all speakers who are not in the First Presidency or Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will speak for slightly reduced amounts of time. It is possible that theapostles may also have been asked to reduce the length of their respective talks, but that seems unlikely.
With that said, we begin with my projected speaker lineup. I believe that the October 2025 General Conference is a good model to base that lineup on. The only difference is that I am only projecting 13 speakers who are not apostles, as opposed to the 19 we saw in October. I'm hoping I low-balled that, but we'll have to see. Next up are my predictions for changes in general Church leadership, some of which may or may not actually be acknowledged.
That second document also has my projected figures for the statistical report, and the figures in question are either based on factual information I was able to ascertain or else estimates reached using a complex algorithm that is hard to explain. Unless I am mistaken, the actual data on the report will be released on the Newsroom at some point during the Saturday Morning Session.
Next, I wanted to note that in view of what President Oaks said in an interview on the day before he dedicated the Burley Idaho Temple, it seems probable that temples will no longer be announced in General Conference. But that being siad, I'm sure there may be an occasional exception to that, which is why I am also including my masterlist of what I have projected to be the most likely locations for a new temple.
No matter if my predictions are right or wrong, I am definitely looking forward to this General Conference weekend. I invite you all to stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest updates from the Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples sites. I’ll be sure to pass word of those along to you all as soon as I learn about them.
In the meantime, that does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as all such feedback is made per 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. If you liked what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly added posts and comments, please subscribe to receive the applicable updates.
Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.
On this Friday, the Church News has shared a few articles already: the biographies of 16 new mission leader couples (including the first leaders for 4 new missions). The Church News also provided an introduction to Elders Gérald Caussé and Clark G. Gilbert and an article highlighting the important role of prophets of God in these latter days, especially our current prophet, President Dallin H. Oaks.
ReplyDeleteIf I may, I'd like to get up on my soapbox for a minute or two here: It has been almost six months since President Oaks became the Lord's prophet, just under 5 months since Elder Caussé was called, and less than 2 months since Elder Gilbert was called. I have previously highlighted how important it is for each of us to seek for and obtain the witness that each prophet and apostle are called by God. I have done so, and as soon as President Nelson passed away, I received my witness that President Oaks was called by God to succeed him. Subsequently, within seconds of hearing the announcements of the apostolic calls of Elders Gérald Caussé and Clark G. Gilbert, I received my witness that they had both in turn been called of God. We are just over 25 hours before the Solemn Assembly will be held to sustain President Oaks as a worldwide Church, and in that same Solemn Assembly, we will have the privilege of sustaining Elders Caussé and Gilbert in their new roles as special witnesses of Jesus Christ. So if any of you have not yet received your own witness of the divinely-inspired calls of the Lord's prophet and apostles, including and especially the current ones, then it is vitally urgent to do the spiritual work for that witness. Those who engage in that process will receive it. And especially as we will have the first opportunities to hear from President Oaks as Church President and the first apostolic talks of Elders Caussé and Gilbert, now is the time to do that spiritual work to obtain that witness. Those who do so will come to know as I do that President Oaks is the Lord's chosen prophet for today, and that he has been inspired by the Lord in his choices of counselors and in filling the two apostolic vacancies before his first General Conference as the Lord's prophet.
My thanks once again to you all.
In advance of the upcoming General Conference, the Church News has shared a new chart of General Authorities and General Officers, reflecting changes in the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and Presiding Bishopric that have been noted since the October 2025 General Conference. As we know, Presidents Dallin H. Oaks, Henry B. Eyring, and D. Todd Christofferson are the new First Presidency, with President Eyring also serving as the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, while President Dieter F. Uchtdorf serves as the Acting Quorum President, and two new members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles have been called and ordained (Elders Gérald Caussé and Clark G. Gilbert). As aresult of Elder Caussé's call to the Quorum of the Twelve, there were also changes in the Presiding Bishopric (which now incudes Presiding Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, Bishop L. Todd Budge, and Bishop (formerly Elder) Sean Douglas. Those changes are reflected in the new chart.
DeleteThe Sunday School General Presidency were featured guests of the Church News podcast recently, where they talked about seeing Jesus Christ in the Old Testament. The latest edition of "This Week on Social" has not yet been published.
My thanks once again to you all.
The latest edition of "This Week on Social" has been published, featuring social media content from the following general Church leaders:
DeleteElders David A. Bednar, Quentin L. Cook, Neil L. Andersen, Ronald A. Rasband, Patrick Kearon, Gérald Caussé, and Clark G. Gilbert of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles,' Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson and her First Counselor, Sister J. Anette Dennis; Primary General President Susan H. Porter and her respective First and Second Counselors, Sisters Amy A. Wright and Tracy Y. Browning; and Brother Gabriel W. Reid, Second Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency (via the Gospel Learning and Teaching Page).
My thanks once again to you all.
The Spanish Translation Manager for the Church News, Nadia Gavarret, shares her observations on Easter reminders amid the heaviness of the world. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteFor those with young children who want to keep them engaged during General Conference, the Church News has provided 4 conference-themed games. The Church News has changed the layout of their website in preparation for this weekend. My thanks once again to you all.
DeleteOn this General Conference Saturday, the Church News has provided a few new reports: 6 maps show the locations of the Church's 383 temples. While the announcement of new temples probably won't take place during General Conference anymore, I'm glad we have these updated maps. 35 new stake presidencies have recently begun serving: 11 for newly-created stakes, and the remaining 24 for stakes that had their presidencies reorganized. And Church News editor Jon Ryan Jensen shared his thoughts on how Easter teaches us to act, not react. My thanks once again to you all.
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