Hello again, everyone! Following President Ballard's death, I have once again updated my predictions for the April 2024 General Conference. The updates have been made to the projected speaker lineup and my projections for changes in general Church leadership. I will provide a brief overview of what I've changed. First, I think that President Nelson will personally present the new apostle.
There is precedent for that. President Hinckley presented three of his four apostolic picks at the top of the Saturday Morning Session. President Monson similarly presented Elder Andersen in the same way. So that presentation and any other opening message from the prophet will likely open the next General Conference. I also took into consideration the fact that the first two new apostles called by President Nelson were the first two speakers in the final session, so I think that the new apostle will give brief remarks to open that same session this time around.
If President Nelson does present the new apostle personally in the first session, it seems probable that his main address will be delivered to close the conference (at which point he will announce new temples), and that he thus won't also speak to conclude the Sunday Morning Session. So I have put President Oaks as the concluding speaker for that session. That in turn will allow two other members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles to speak during the final session.
With 3 apostles each speaking during the Saturday Afternoon, Sunday Morning, and Sunday Afternoon Sessions, and with my projection that President Holland will speak in the Saturday Evening Session, that means that the remaining two members of the Quorum of the Twelve will speak in the opening session. As far as the changes to general Church leadership are concerned, if the Church does call someone from within the ranks of the current general Church leadership, that in turn will affect whatever other changes may need to be made.
If the Church does stick to tradition and appoint a direct descendent of Hyrum Smith, as I noted previously, the top candidate in my view would be Brother Jan E. Newman, currently the Second Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency. That wouldn't impact anything else but the Sunday School General Presidency, who will be released in August anyway, no other organizations will be impacted. But if President Nelson sticks to the current General Authorities to select the new apostle, then any impacted group would be subject to additional changes.
We know that, starting last year, the Church sustained in advance changes that would be effective on August 1. So if the new apostle is a current member of the Presidency of the Seventy, 1 GA Seventy will be called effective immediately to replace him, and 2 others will be named to begin their service on August 1 (replacing Elders Brent H. Nielson and Paul V. Johnson, who will be granted emeritus status on that date).
Likewise, if the new apostle is a GA Seventy, that GA Seventy will be released effective immediately, with the advanced presentation of the 8 GA Seventies who will be released and granted emeritus status on August 1. Similarly, if a current member of the Presiding Bishopric is called to the apostleship, there will be a change there. The other changes I anticipate in general Church leadership speak for themselves. And there are no changes noted in my estimates for the statistical report data.
Anyways, just wanted to provide that context to my documents. I also continue to monitor any and all Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples updates and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as they cross my radar. 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.
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