UPDATED: Current Apostolic Statistics

Hello again, everyone! I last posted an apostolic statistical update the Sunday evening following the final session of the April 2020 General Conference. So it's time to do so again now. As per my new tradition, I have assembled the updated data in shareable documents. The updated data is in two parts, the first and the second. The information largely speaks for itself. I will, of course, pass along any additional Church news or temple developments, as I become aware of such things. 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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Small-Scale Private Groundbreaking Held Today For the Layton Utah Temple

Hello again, everyone! As some of you may be aware, the Church had previously announced that the groundbreaking for the Layton Utah Temple was set to be held on Saturday May 30, one week from today. I was absolutely blown away, therefore, when I just heard a report from KSL, which was soon verified by the Church's official Newsroom that, due to ongoing COVID-19 concerns, the First Presidency instead instructed the Utah Area to conduct a small-scale private event earlier today. The official word from the Newsroom is that images and video from those proceedings will be published on the Newsroom in the coming week. I am hopeful that means that similar surprise announcements are in store about scheduled and unscheduled groundbreakings taking place on a small-scale might be possible. This means that the next scheduled groundbreaking is now two weeks away, assuming the groundbreaking for the Alabang Philippines Temple is able to take place on its' newly-scheduled date. For my part, I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will bring word of those to you all as I become aware 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.

UPDATED: Two Different Speaking Order Scenarios for the October 2020 General Conference

Hello again, everyone!  Yesterday, the First Presidency made their announcement about the phased return to worship services and other meetings. Subsequently, I provided some insight in the threads of another post into what that process will look like in my neck of the woods, as a result of guidance given by the Utah Area Presidency. In the day or so since that time, I have been led to revisit some of my previously-offered thoughts regarding if, how, and in what manner COVID-19 may impact business as usual for the October 2020 General Conference. The initial draft of those predictions was assembled with the assumption that that General Conference would be similar or identical to what we saw with the April 2020 General Confernce. I subsequently began to reason through how I might arrange those predictions if the October 2020 General Conference were able to be more towards a normal status quo situation. After doing additional research, I set up an alternate projection for the potential speaker layout based on what I believe conference might look like should we be able to have a more normalized one. If anything more official is noted about that conference, that information will need to be factored in to any predictions I provide here. But for now, with what is and is not known, I wanted to provide a look at both projections and see if input from any of you can provide some perspective on which of those two scenarios may be more likely.

I'd just note here that for either predicted scenario, I will be using the exact same set of predictions for the changes in general Church leadership and the potential future locations for which I feel a temple could be announced this go-round, so I did not duplicate that information in both. Whichever speaking order is used will be attached to the other assembled predictions as detailed in the first document. And again, an open commenting period on these predictions remains effective anytime from now through 10:00 PM MDT on Thursday October 1. I look forward to your input.

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.

BREAKING NEWS: First Presidency Announces Changes to Area Seventies Quorums; Creation of Four New Quorums

Hello again, everyone! I almost missed another breaking development. The First Presidency today also announced the creation of four additional Area Seventies Quorums to provide an ease of meeting as a Quorum, and as a result of the expanding presence of the Church in many areas. The distribution and assignment of Area Seventies Quorums will also be changing. The changes will go into effect on June 1, in less than 2 weeks time.As of June 1, the Quorums will break down as follows: The Third Quorum will consist of those area seventies living in the Africa Central, Africa South, and Africa West Areas. The Fourth Quorum will be comprised of those Area Seventies serving in the Asia and Asia North Areas. The Fifth Quorum will consist of those area seventies living in the Brazil Area. The Sixth Quorum will include those area seventies serving in the Caribbean, Central America, and Mexico Areas. Those in the Seventh Quorum will include all who serve in the Europe, Europe East, and Middle East/Africa North Areas.

Those serving in the Pacific and Philippines Areas will be assigned to the Eighth Quorum.The area seventies living within the South America Northwest and South America South Areas will constitute the Ninth Quorum. The final three Quorums will include those serving in the six North American Areas. Those serving in the North America Central, North America Northeast, and North America Southeast Areas will constitute the Tenth Quorum. Those area seventies in the North America Southwest and North America West Areas will constitute the Eleventh Quorum. And those serving in the boundaries of the Utah Area will now fall under the Twelfth Quorum.

When I originally suggested that new Quorums could be created to break up some of the larger Quorums, I never envisioned anything like this. But taking the approach of dividing the area seventies by goegraphical area will enable the Church to subsequently call as many area seventies as may be needed for each Quorum, which may involve a higher number thereof in each Quorum at some point in the very near future. As a result of this announcement, I have many updates to make to my list of Area Seventies over the next little while. With two major announcements in one day (even coming within 2-3 hours of each other), I hope that means that other major announcements will be coming down the pike in the days ahead, especially relating to temple construction efforts. I will monitor all such news and bring you all word of those developments as I become aware 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. 

BREAKING NEWS: First Presidency Announces Phased Return to Church Services

Hello again, everyone! At some point yesterrday, I had commented on the Church Growth Blog that I didn't see the Church returning to any degree of normalcy in some areas before the third or fourth quarter of this year. But in a clear signal that the Lord's thoughts and ways are higher than mine (not that I needed one, but I got it nonetheless), the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles today announced a cautiously-coordinated and phased return to some regular Church functions. Note the wording I used above: cautiously coordinated and phased. Here's the way that approach will work. In consultation with their ecclesiastical contacts in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Presidency of the Seventy (whose assignments still do not appear to be known in their entirety), area presidencies can authorize the Church in their areas to ressume Church services Under Phase 1, shortened meetings with appropriate precautions to protect health and safety of Church members, shortened meetings (primarily Sacrament Meeting) may be held with tappropriate social distancing between each family. Other meetings, if needed, may be held by technology. And bishops may, depending on needs, continue to authrize home worship, including the administration of the Sacrament, in homes where one or more members are among the vunerable population. Any other meetings (interviews, Quorum or group meetings (Young Women and Relief Society) will continue remotely for the time being. The phase 2 approach would involve a return to a more normal degree of weekly worship, as long as local regulations are adhered to and Church seervices to a more normal degree can be resumed safely. The letter notes that in some areas where normalcy is returning may jump directly to phase 2, if that is approved through the proper channels.

Again, this will not be an instant change from home worship back to normalcy. This will be a carefully-coordinated effort that will cautiously progress as approvals are granted per area through the Area Presidency in consultation with their contacts in the Presidency of the Seventy and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. And the determinations will look different in each area, based on whatever regulations or restrictions are in place. I am not able to determine by this announcement how, if at all, the October 2020 General Conference may or may not be impacted from a normal scenario, but I will be researching that question in the days ahead. If the conference resumes as has been normal, theere may be a need to adjust my predictions for that. But I will be watching for information in that respect and will adjust those accordingly. In the meantime, I'm grateful that Church leaders are taking a smart approach in relation to this particular matter. I continue to monitor all such developments and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all 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.