April 2018 General Conference Predictions Alterations: Part Two--First Presidency Speaking Order

Hello again, everyone! Having set the background in my last post for the alterations to my predictions for the April 2018 General Conference, I now want to turn to an exploration of the order in which our new First Presidency might speak .

First of all, I wanted to examine when new Church presidents have given their first addresses in General Conference as such. Presidents Kimball, Benson, and Hunter all opted to do so at the beginning of the first session of their first General Conferences as Church president, while, more recently, Presidents Hinckley and Monson opted to give their first public addresses as Church president during the Priesthood Session on Saturday evening, with their first addresses to the Church at large in the Sunday Morning Session.

The one different thing about President Nelson is that he has already given his first public address to the Church as its' president, opting to do so after his call as such was announced. But aside from that, I would imagine his next opportunity to address Church members would mirror that of his two prophetic predecessors. It is possible he might opt to address the Church after the Solemn Assembly, but it seems more likely he will opt to wait until the priesthood session, and then publicly address the entire Church the following morning.

That brings me to the subject of the counselors in the First Presidency during the first General Conference of a new First Presidency. When President Kimball was sustained as Church president, his First Counselor, President N. Eldon Tanner, led the Solemn Assembly and was the concluding speaker at the Saturday Morning Session. Second Counselor President Marion G. Romney joined the other two in speaking during the Priesthood Session, and gave his first address to the Church-at-large on Sunday Morning.

Because President Benson opted to give his first address as Church president in the Saturday Morning Session, his counselors, Presidents Gordon B. Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson, gave their first addresses to the Church-at-large during the Sunday Morning Session. President Hinckley opened that session and President Monson closed it. The same occurred for the October 1994 General Conference under the direction of President Hunter.

For President Hinckley's first conference as Church president, he and his counselors all gave their first public addresses to the Church in their new roles during the Sunday Morning Session. President Monson opened the session, with President Faust speaking next, and President Hinckley was the concluding speaker (with that session including one member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and a member of the Presidency of the Seventy).

Most recently, for President Monson's first General Conference as Church president, since President Uchtdorf led the Solemn Assembly, President Eyring was asked to be the final speaker during the Saturday Morning Session. President Monson requested that President Uchtdorf be the first speaker during the Sunday Morning Session.

So, if, as I theorized in my last post, President Oaks leads the Solemn Assembly at the top of the Saturday Morning Session, it makes sense to me that President Eyring would be asked to speak at the conclusion of that session, while President Oaks would give his first address as President Nelson's First Counselor at the beginning of the Sunday Morning Session.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. 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.

April 2018 General Conference Predictions Alterations: Part One---Who Will Conduct Each Session, Timing of Solemn Assembly, and Who Will Lead That

Hello again, everyone! As some of you may recall, I put up my initial predictions for the April 2018 General Conference not long after the conclusion of the October 2017 General Conference. But as a result of President Monson's death, the reorganization of the First Presidency, the two apostolic vacancies, and Elder Uchtdorf's return to the membership of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, I had to rethink things a bit. This post will set the background reasoning behind the alterations I have made, and will be followed with another post detailing the altered predictions.

First, some preliminary observations about those alterations: It was customary during the administrations of Presidents Hinckley and Monson that, for at least the first several General Conferences of their presidencies, they would conduct three sessions, and their other two counselors would conduct one each. President Monson's first conference was only slightly different, since President Eyring's ankle injury prevented him from being able to conduct any of those five sessions, leaving President Monson to conduct three and President Uchtdorf to conduct the other two.

If that pattern holds true for President Nelson's first conference, I would anticipated President Nelson will opt to conduct the Saturday Morning, Priesthood, and Sunday Morning Sessions, leaving Presidents Oaks and Eyring to conduct one each, and it seems to make the most sense if President Oaks, being senior to President Eyring, conducts the first of those two (Saturday Afternoon), leaving President Eyring to conduct the final session.

Next, as I have previously noted in earlier posts, there are no hard and fast rules mandating that a Solemn Assembly for a new Church president needs to be held during the Saturday Morning Session of his first General Conference as such, nor is it absolutely necessary that the First Counselor lead out in that process. That said, there has only been one occasion recently (with the Solemn Assembly for President Monson) where the First Counselor did not led out. President Eyring's aforementioned ankle injury precluded him from being able to fill that role.

So I feel reasonably certain that President Nelson has asked (or will ask) his longtime apostolic seatmate and dear friend President Dallin H. Oaks to lead out in the Solemn Assembly, and that that will occur for President Nelson during its' somewhat traditional time at the top of the Saturday Morning Session, at which time President Oaks will likely also be asked to announce the new apostles and other Church leadership changes. More on the specifics of those likely changes will follow later tonight.

But that does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. 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.

CORRECTION: Temple Dedications Announced in 2017

Hello again, everyone! I am posting very briefly tonight to note a self-correction of a previous assertion made on this blog. Earlier today, I had noted that tomorrow (January 30) would mark one year since the final three temple dedications of 2017 were announced. A double-check of the facts on my part verified that the announcement of those three events (for Tucson Arizona, Meridian Idaho, and Cedar City Utah) were actually announced on January 26, so it has been over a year since that time.

It could very well be that it was easier for the First Presidency to determine last year that all three US temples most recently dedicated were making sufficient enough progress to allow the announcement of the final two over three-quarters of a year prior to their actual occurrence than it would be to gauge how soon temples outside the US might be ready. We also saw the Jordan River Utah Temple rededication announced in early August last year, even though that will not occur until mid-May.

With all of that in mind, I would hope that we will be seeing a few future temple events for this year officially announced in the near future, but there are no hard and fast set rules about when that could occur. I will do my best to bring you the latest developments in that regard and will be sure to pass along any updates as I become aware of them.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. 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.