BREAKING APOSTOLIC NEWS: Church President Russell M. Nelson Passes Away at Age 101

Hello again, everyone! As reported by the Newsroom and the Church News, Church President Russell M. Nelson passed away just after 10:00 PM on this Saturday September 28, 2025, at the age of 101. His biography speaks for itself. With the passing of the prophet, the First Presidency is now dissolved, and Presidents Oaks and Eyring return to their places in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which now becomes the leading Quorum of the thChurch, and President Oaks assumes a de facto role as the Acting President of the Church.

I am not sure how long it will take to arrange a funeral or reorganize the First Presidency, but we will see. The most likely scenario I see at this point is the apostles leading the Church through General Conference weekend, with the funeral potentially following the concluding session of General Conference on Sunday, and the reorganization of the First Presidency coming the week after that. I'm sure the apostles had a heads-up that President Nelson's death was imminent, so I have no doubt there is a plan in place. The other option I see would be to delay General Conference, but we will see what happens there as well.

I invite you all to stay tuned here for my coverage of the latest updates from the Church News and the Newsroom on this and all other subjects. I'll be sure to pass along such updates, including updates from the Church of Jesus Christ Temples site and the Church Growth Blog, as soon as I can after I learn of 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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Ground Broken for the Lone Mountain Nevada Temple

 Hello again, everyone! In the Newsroom today, it was reported that ground was broken for the Lone Mountain Nevada Temple this morning. This was a surprise, as this groundbreaking had not been announced in advance. The history of that temple is available via the links shared above.Elder Michael A. Dunn, First Counselor in the North America Southwest Area, presided over the ceremony, I gather it was not announced in advance because the approval of that temple had been fought at every governmental approval level and even litigated in the courts, although a recent court complaint about the approval for that temple was dismissed for what I understand was a lack of legal standing.

This groundbreaking marks the 16th such ceremony conducted this year. On Saturday (2 days from now) ground will be broken for the Fairbanks Alaska Temple. With those and the other two recently announced  groundbreakings for the Kumasi Ghana and Cape Town South Africa Temples, the 2025 groundbreaking total through late October now rises to 19 total before the end of October. I think it is highly likely that other temples will have groundbreakings confirmed soon, based on where some of them are in the current temple construction approval process.

The latest such updates will be available to view in my end-of-third-quarter 2025 temple construction overview which will be provided about 5 days from now. I am grateful to have learned about this latest temple update and for the opportunity to share that information with you all here. 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.

BREAKING NEWS: 12 New Hymns Released (Including One Penned by President Nelson)

Hello again, everyone! I am pleased to report this morning that 12 new hymns have been released. The new releases include African American, Geerman, Korean, Tagolag, and Tongan pieces, in addition to one penned by our beloved prophet, Church President Russell M. Nelson. What are these hymns? I'm glad you asked. They are as follows: 

“Thou Gracious God, Whose Mercy Lends”, “Help Us Remember”, “How Did the Savior Minister”, “Jesus Is the Way”, “Can You Count the Stars in Heaven?”, "He Cares for Me”, “Our Prayer to Thee”, “Joseph Prayed in Faith”, “Stand by Me”, “This Day Is a Good Day, Lord”, “Go Tell It on the Mountain”, and “Little Baby in a Manger”.

I am familiar with "Thou Gracious God, Whose Mercy Lends", "Our Prayer to Thee", and "Go Tell It on the Mountain", but not the others. The number of released new hymns for  “Hymns—For Home and Church”  now totals 60, 

We don't yet know what the ratio of new hymns vs. the core collection will be, but we do know that Primary General President Susan H. Porter, Young Men General President Timothy L. Farnes, and Elder Matthew L. Carpenter an Asssistant ExecutiveDirector of the Church's Priesthood and Family Department, are all quoted in relation to the newest release of the new hymns,

We also know that Church members are being encouraged to learn and share the new hymns. I pray that we will all do so. I am also looking forward to the next release of new hymns, which should occur sometime in December or so. And the entirety of the new hymnbook will be available to use and share at home and during Church services as well. I am grateful to have been able to learn of this update not long after it happened.

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.