BREAKING NEWS: April 2021 General Conference Will Again Be Virtual Only

Hello again, everyone! Breaking news has been reported by both the Newsroom and the Church News within the last few minutes. The First Presidency has announced this morning that, as COVID-19 conditons continue to have a worldwide impact, the April 2021 General Conference will again be virtual only, with the music being prerecorded, the sessions being broadcast from a small auditorium on Temple Square, and only the First Presidency (and possibly the entire Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) will attend all sessions. 

There is one slight difference between the April 2021 General Conference and the two held last year. While session attendance had been restricted last year to top leadership and those speaking at or praying during each session, today's announcement indicates that the spouses of each person speaking or praying during a session will be able to attend thereat. 

Aside from that change, the conference will follow the same procedures as the two from last year. While not explictly stated, it appears that means that all general leaders serving outhiside the United States will again be excused from attending the April 2021 General Conference, and that all pre-conference leadership sessions will again be deferred. 

With vaccines being gradually rolled out for COVID-19, perhaps by October things will return to normal as far as General Conference is concerned. Aside from that, it is also worth noting that, after the Saturday Evening General Session for all members was held in place of the Priesthood Session last April, this April General Conference will see the return of the Priesthood Session as usual on Saturday evening. 

Although I'm sure all of us are looking forward to the day when COVID-19 conditions will not impact normal Church functions anymore, I am grateful for the Brethren's once again well-measured approach to ensure the health and safety of all Church members and leaders. Given the special spirit that attended the last two General Conferences, I have no doubt that the April 2021 General Conference will similarly be absolutely wonderful, even though it is the "new normal" for the Church while COVID-19 lasts. 

Parenthetically, it may also be worth noting that, if the Church is continuing to defer or alter large gatherings, including today's changes to the April 2021 General Conference and the changes announced earlier this week by President Ballard on FSY conferences being postponed, it's my theory that it could be mid-2021 before the Church is able to resume temnple open houses and dedications or rededications. But I do not believe that any temple groundbreakings for this year would be delayed or deferred, unless COVID-19 conditions specifically necessitate that. I am working as quickly as I can on putting together my predictions for the April General Conference, and hope to have those posted before the end of this month. In the meantime, I continue to monitor all major Church news updates and reported temple developments and will be sure to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of those developments.

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.

2000th Blog Post: BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Location and Rendering Released for Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temple; Tooele Valley Utah Temple Relocated and Renamed

Hello again, everyone! For my 2000th post on this blog, I am pleased to bring you word of two breaking temple developments which have been shared by the Newsroom this morning. The Church has released the location and rendering for the Pittsburgh Pennsylvania Temple, and has announced a relocation and renaming for the Tooele Valley Utah Temple. Let's get right into the breakdown of these announcements. 

We start with Pittsburgh Pennsylvania. That temple will be located at the site that was widely speculated as the spot for the temple, at 2093 Powell Road in Cranberry Township Pennsylvania. The single-story temple of 32,000 square feet is currently in the approvals process, where project leaders are working with local governmental leaders through the approvals process. This is another temple announced in the United States less than a year ago (in April 2020) by Church President Russell M. Nelson. No groundbreaking has been announced for this temple, but given its' smaller size, I anticipate we could see that occur within the next 6-8 months, if not sooner.

Next, we turn our attention to the changes announced for the Tooele Valley Utah Temple. First, the big news is a change to the name of it. Although it has been known by that generic name, it has been renamed the Deseret Peak Utah Temple. And given the residential objections to the original temple plans for the Erda Utah location, the temple has now been relocated and will rise just west of the intersection of 2400 North and 400 West in Tooele City. 

Although no mention is made of any accompanying residential development, it has been noted that the temple's exterior and interior renderings, in addition to the estimated size (70,000 square feet) and plans for an adjacent meetinghouse (of 20,000 square feet) remain unchanged. The Church also notes the following in the newest release on the Deseret Peak Utah Temple: "The First Presidency expresses gratitude for the faith and prayers of Church members in this area, and continues to encourage all people to treat one another with kindness and Christlike love."

I am grateful that the Church has made these announcements. With regard to the Deseret Peak Utah Temple, I also personally want to put out an apology to longtime reader Kenny, who had commented on another post 4 days ago on a rumor he had heard that the location might be changed as a result of that opposition to the residential development. At the time, based on the evidence and sources I had on my end, I shared my personal opinion that the Church would try to make the originally-announced lcoation work, and I included some sources available to me at the time that led me to assert that opinion.

Today, however, the Lord has once again confirmed that my personal research is imperfect even at the best of times, and that His ways and thoughts did not align with my personally-offered analysis. So I take this opportunity to publicly apologize to Kenny, and to also make a new commitment as we get further into this new year. Over the last little while, I have felt sufficiently confident enough in some of my personal research and reasoning to discount some earnestly-offered feedback from my regular readers.

What happened regarding my response to Kenny a few days ago is similar to what has recently happened with the announcement of Utah temples, where feedback received on suggestions for future Utah locations has turned out to trump and be more accurate than my own personally-offered estimates. Those comments, recently offered by Jim Anderson, another longtime reader, should have been given more earnest consideration and corresponding changes that I have not yet made to my personal list.

And so, recognizing these recent repeated personal follies, where my ego, pride, and attitude have led to clear evidence of how much I've missed the mark, I want to make a new commitment. When I say "any and all comments are welcome and appreciated", I will hereafter make an extra effort to be more earnest in my consideration of all such feedback, and attempt to not be so dismissive or appear so unappreciative of the feedback that is offered.

I could not possibly have gotten to this 2000th blog post milestone today without the kindness of so many of you who read, follow, and regularly comment on reports and information I share here, and it's become more obvious in recent months that some of that feedback has more merit and validity than I may have tried to suggest. I hope, going forward, to be more inclined to listen to those suggestions, and to request more information when I am uncertain on anything relating to that feedback. 

In the meantime, I sincerely request forgiveness from any who have offered those comments and any who may have been put off by my short-sighted response to those suggestions. It's plain that I need to spend more time listening and less time advancing my own ideas. I also hope you all will continue to be patient with me as I try to change these elements in my life. As I begin working on the next 2000 posts and beyond, I also hope to show more profoundly the gratitutde I feel for all of you who are always so willing to read, follow, comment, and share.

I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates and will be sure to pass those along to you all as I become aware of those developments. 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.

President Nelson Marks Three-Year Anniversary as Prophet; Looking Ahead to Temple Developments in 2021

 Hello again, everyone! Roughly 7-8 hours or so from now, it will have officially been 3 years exactly since President Russell M. Nelson was ordained and set apart as the new President of the Church. On this monumental anniversary day, albeit in unusual circumstances, we remember the rintroduction of him and his counselors to the world in a meeting broadcast from the annex of the Salt Lake Temple. We likewise remember that in a press conference held an hour or so after that meeting, the new leaders skillfully handled inquiries offered during a press conference. 

In the week or so leading up to today's anniversary, the Church News provided extensive coverage of the major milestones of the inspired leadership of these Brethren in general and the prophet in particular. Over the course of the last three years, there have been many highlights of the current prophet's inspired leadership. The ones that come to mind foremost are: the calling of two Brethren from ethnic minorities as apostles, efforts to help the Church achieve more complete compliance with doctrinal directives as found in the scriptures, and creating Churchwide unity in numerous other ways. 

Also worth mentioning is the emphasis on practices that require the wise use of agency, and that emphasize individual and familial responsibility, along with the reduction and simplification of the work of the Church. And yet, I'd also argue that all of this pales in comparison to the sheer volume of temple developments that have occurred under the current Church President. President Nelson has announced more temples in 3 years than many of his predecessors did in thrice or fourfold that amount of time. And with the announcement that came down the piike yesterday afternoon, a remaining total of 19 Nelsonian temples have not yet had any official information confirmed.

So President Nelson remains committed to keeping "the end in mind"as he himself put it when speaking from the annexx of the Salt Lake Temple for the first time as Church President. And there will be much more to come this year and for the foreseeable future. Having noted that, I wanted to pay tribute to this milestone for these Brethren by sharing the links to three files that demonstrate some of the temple highlights I anticipate we may see this year.  

It has been a yearly custom for the Church to announce new temple presidents every year, and if this year is no different, there will be between 8-13 first presidents for the Church's newest completed temples. And I've identified 58 existing temples which could also see new presidents called, though it is possible that other temples not on my list could see a new president called this year as well, depending on a wide range of unknown variables.

Additionally, there are many currently-operating temples which may, according to indicated parameters, soon be renovated. But factoring into the timing of any such plans is at least one key element, Temple renovations have been and can continue to be deferred at times when extended closure periods have allowed routine maintenance and upgrades that would usually occur during a full-scale renovation to take place at that time instead. 

For temples that have had extended closures occur in 2019 and last year, and for those that will have an extended closure this year, and particularly those which have seen closures in any 2 or all 3 of those years, a renovation could potentially be dleayed. It's also possible that the Church could hold off on renovating any of the temples listed until there are sufficient temples around similar areas that could compensate for and deal with the high activity in locations of temples currently on the potential renovation list. Hope that made sense.

I am grateful to have been able to share these thoughts, links, and files with you all here in honor of the milestone that is being observed by our current First Presidency today. I continue to minitor all Church news reports and temple updates and will be sure to bring you all word of the major highlights here in either new posts or the comments of existing posts as I become aware of all of that.

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