2,300th Blog Post: Elder Neil L. Andersen Marks His 72nd Birthday

Hello again, everyone! With this being my 2,300th post on this blog, let's get right into the latest birthday tribute I'm posting in honor of Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Neil Linden Andersen was born on this day in 1951 to Lyle and Kathryn Andersen in Logan Utah. His family relocated to Pocatello when he was five to run a dairy farm. He served a full-time mission in France, then obtained a bachelor's degree in economics, eventually earning his MBA from Harvard, also in economics.

During his time at BYU, he met and married his wife, Kathy Sue Anderson, and together they raised four children. He spent his professional career working various jobs. At the pinnacle of his career, he was Vice President of the Morton Plant Health System. He has served in the Church as a stake president’s counselor, stake president and mission president (assigned to the France Bordeaux Mission) from 1989-1992. Less than a year after his return, he was called to be a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. Interestingly, his call as a General Authority occurred in the same conference as that of his future apostolic seatmate, Elder D. Todd Christofferson.

Through the next couple of decades as a Seventy, he served in a wide variety of Church assignments, including as executive director of the church's Audiovisual Department, assistant executive director of the Priesthood Department, and in the presidencies of the following areas: Europe West ,Utah North, Utah South, North America Southwest, North America Northeast, and the Brazil South Area (during which time he also served as the area president).

In 2005, Elder Andersen was called to the Presidency of the Seventy (alongside Elder Ronald A. Rasband, who would eventually become Elder Andersen's apostolic seatmate). While serving in that Presidency, he was assigned to preside over the Idaho Area (from 2005-2007). By the time his stewardship switched to the North America Southwest Area (2007-2009), he had gone from being the second-least senior member of that Presidency to being the third-most-senior member. In 2008, with Elder D. Todd Christofferson’s call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (in April) and the release of Senior President Elder Earl C. Tingey (in August, in preparation for his being granted emeritus status in the October General Conference), Elder Andersen then became the Senior President of the Seventy, a role in which he would only serve for around 8 months.

With the December 2008 death of Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin, Elder Andersen was subsequently called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles during the April 2009 General Conference. An interesting bit of trivia is the fact that Elders Christofferson, Andersen, and Rasband were all seatmates in the Presidency of the Seventy as of August 2007, and they would all go on to be apostolic seatmates, with their apostolic calls occurring in April 2008, April 2009, and October 2015 respectively.

Since Elder Andersen's original call as a General Authority Seventy in April 1993, he has given a total of 34 addresses in General Conference (3 of which he gave as a General Authority Seventy, with 2 others given while he was a member of the Presidency of the Seventy, and the remaining 29 since his call to the QuorIum of the Twelve Apostles).

Elder Andersen continues to be the seventh in both senirotiy and chronological birth order among the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and ranks tenth among the 15 total apostles in both seniority and birth chronology. I gladly sustain him and each of his 14 apostolic colleagues as prophets, seers, and revelators, and am grateful to have been able to publish this tribute in honor of his birthday today. That does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as the offered 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. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. 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.

In Honor of Elder Gary E. Stevenson's 68th Birthday

Hello again, everyone! With today being August 6, Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is celebrating his 68th birthday. Gary Evan Stevenson was born to Evan and Jean Stevenson on this day in 1955 in Ogden, Utah. He grew up in the Cache Valley. He served full-time in the Japan Fukuoka Mission, after which he continued his secondary education at Utah State University's Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. 

During the course of his studies there, he met Lesa Jean Higley, whom he later married in the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple, and with whom he would raise four sons. He spent his professional career working as the COO of ICON Health and Fitness, and served on both the Marriott School of Management Advisory Council and also the USU Foundation Board.

In the Church, he has served as a bishop and a stake president's counselor. From 2004-2007, he and his wife presided over the Japan Nagoya Mission. Less than a year after his return, he was among the first general authority seventies called during President Thomas S. Monson's prophetic administration in April 2008. In August of that same year, he was called to serve as First Counselor in the Asia North Area Presidency, marking his third return to Japan as a representative of the Church. 

The following year, he became the president of that same area, and he served in that assignment until April 2012, at which point, he was released as a General Authority Seventy and sustained as the Church's 14th Presiding Bishop. In October 2015, with three vacancies in the apostleship due to the deaths of President Boyd K. Packer and Elders L. Tom Perry and Richard G. Scott, Elder Stevenson was unexpectedly summoned to meet with the First Presidency. 

He related that he felt sure that he was being notified that one of his counselors (Bishops Gerald Causse or Dean M. Davies) were being called to the apostleship. He was stunned when the apostolic call was instead extended to him personally. He was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on October 3, 2015, and was ordained an apostle on October 8, then released as Presiding Bishop one day later. His call to the apostleship marked the second time a current General Authority Seventy who had subsequently been called as Presiding Bishop was also eventually called to the apostleship. Previously, that had been the case with Elder Robert D. Hales, who was called as a General Authority in 1975, and as Presiding Bishop of the Church in 1985 before being called to the apostleship in 1994. Those two former Presiding Bishops of the Church would serve together in the apostleship for approximately two years before Elder Hales' passing on October 1, 2017.

2015 marked the first time since 1906 that the Church needed to fill more than two apostolic vacancies. 1906 that the Church had more than two apostolic vacancies to fill at the same time. In 1906, following the resignations of Matthias F. Cowley and John W. Taylor over the Church's repeal of the doctrine of plural marriage, and the death of another apostle, Marriner W. Merrill, the Church called George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney, and David O. McKay, Of the three, Then-Elder McKay was the youngest, with Elder Whitney being the oldest, and Elder Richards fell in age between the two. 

This was an exception to the general rule that when more than one apostle was called on the same day, they have typically been called and ordained from oldest to youngest. The three apostolic calls in 2015 saw a similar anomaly in that respect. Although Elders Ronald A. Rasband, Gary E. Stevenson, and Dale G. Renlund were all called to the apostleship on the same day of the week in the week prior to General Conference, Elder Rasband is the oldest, Elder Stevenson is the youngest, and Elder Renlund is in the middle of those three.

At the age of 60, Elder Stevenson was the youngest man called to the apostleship since Elder David A. Bednar (who was 52 at the time of his October 2004 apostolic call). He would retain his status as the youngest currently-serving apostle until the April 2018 call of Elder Ulisses Soares, who was 59 at the time of his call. With the apostolic calls of Elders Gerrit W. Gong (another apostle with strong connections to Asia) and Ulisses Soares in April 2018, Elder Stevenson is now the 9th in seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the 12th in seniority among all current apostles. In terms of his age, he is the second-youngest among both the Quorum of the Twelve and the apostles overall.

In his 14 years of service as a general authority, he has given 19 addresses in General Conference (1 as a General Authority Seventy, 2 as Presiding Bishop, and the remaining 15 since his call to the apostleship). All of these addresses, covering a wide variety of topics, are well worthy of your time, attention and review. I gratefully sustain Elder Stevenson as a prophet, seer, and revelator, and appreciate this opportunity to post this tribute to him for his birthday. 

I similarly greatly admire and sustain each and every one of the other apostles in their God-given roles and responsibilities, and I am grateful to them for giving their time and talents to build up the kingdom of God, and to go wherever they are sent, bearing witness of the Savior at all times and in all circumstances. I share my witness that these men are called of God, and that we will be blessed as we give heed to their words.

That does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as the offered 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. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. 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.

UPDATED: October 2023 General Conference Predictions (Second Edition)

Hello again, everyone! I have recently, for several reasons, updated my predictions for the upcoming October 2023 General Conference. My primary reasons for doing so were due to further analysis of the different speaker lineup patterns for the April 2023 General Conference vs. the October 2022 General Conference. Particularly, I noted that in April, a comparatively higher number of General Authority Seventies spoke, primarily because the Church changed the date when the three GA Seventies were granted emeritus status (that had previously been effective in General Conference weekend in October, and now, those releases are effective August 1).

By contrast, the October General Conference of last year saw 5 General Officers speak, 4 of whom were females. 4 General Officers of the Church also spoke last April, but only 2 were female. As a result of the change in the Young Women General Presidency that became effective on August 1, I believe we will see two members of the new Young Women General Presidency speak, joined by one member apiece of the Young Men, Primary, and Sunday School General Presidencies. 

Ordinarily, the Young Men and Sunday School General Presidencies alternate, with one presidency represented in April, and the other in October. But because the Church will likely release the Sunday School General Presidency in April, and because the current Second Counselor thereof has only spoken once, I think Brother Jan E. Newman will speak in October, alongside Brother Michael T. Nelson, the newest member of the Young Men General Presidency, the new Young Women General President and her First Counselor, and the Primary General President. Since all 3 of the Relief Society General Presidency members have spoken in the last two General Conferences, it seems unlikely that a Relief Society General Presidency member will be speaking at this conference.

So that was the biggest reason for me to adjust my projections for the speaker lineup. And because the Church has also had the Presiding Bishopric only speak in October for the last two years, since the predictions also include one member apiece of the Presiding Bishopric and the Presidency of the Seventy, I have reduced the number of GA Seventies I have projected will speak. 

Aside from the speaker lineup, there was also a reason to revisit my list of potential locations in which a temple could be announced. I have added a few new locations for the first time based on some additional research I have done. As I mentioned previously, with the Church having presented information about the GA Seventies who were released on August 1, and because they also presented a list of area seventy changes effective August 1, the only changes in general Church leadership that are likely are the potential release of any current area seventies or the sustaining of a few others. 

So my predictions will not include projections for the sustaining process this time around. Having shared the latest revisions to my predictions, by way of reminder, the commenting period on them is open until 10:00 PM on Thursday, September 28. And the Church has not yet confirmed that the Saturday Evening Session will be open to all members, but in the absence of such an announcement, my projection is that the session will not be geared to any particular group.

I welcome any inquiries about any aspect of these predictions. I also continue to monitor all Church News, Newsroom, and temple construction updates, and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all here as I receive it. Additionally, Sunday marks the 68th birthday of Elder Gary E. Stevenson, followed on Wednesday by the 72nd birthday of Elder Neil L. Andersen, with the 91st birthday of President Dallin H. Oaks following on Saturday. Then on Sunday, I will post my latest updated apostolic data update.

I will likewise look forward (hopefully) to additional breaking temple news next week, and perhaps to a hopeful update on Elder Holland's situation. Whatever might happen in that regard, I will be sure to pass that along to you all here as I become aware of it. 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 the offered 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. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly-added posts and comments. 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.