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References
1With very few exceptions, General Conferences during the last two decades have conformed to similar general patterns. Because President Nelson has surprised us with 4 atypical General Conferences thus far, and because he said that this General Conference will be different from any previous ones the Church has had, I used a combination of past traditions and patterns with variations for a Nelsonian General Conference, and made further alterations based on the prophet’s statement. Since it is difficult to know what exactly to expect, I will be allowing myself another margin of error, which will, in this particular case, be slightly higher than it was for the 4 previous General Conferences. I will detail my reasoning in some respects in subsequent notes.
2In prior General Conferences, we have seen the entire First Presidency speak together in one of the four General Sessions (aside from the Priesthood Session) only a handful of times. That was true in the following cases: April and October 1995 and October 2000 (Sunday Morning Session); April 1997 (short video presentation in the Sunday Morning Session), April 2007 (Saturday Afternoon Session for the rededication of the Salt Lake Tabernacle) and April 2018 (Easter Sunday Morning). In April of next year, General Conference weekend will again coincide with Easter Sunday, making it likely that the entire First Presidency will again speak in the Sunday Morning Session. Since this conference is anticipated to be unique, I am predicting that the entire First Presidency may speak during this session, and that, consequently, no members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will do so.
3Given that the Presiding Bishopric is the Global Presidency of the Aaronic Priesthood, and given that the restoration of the Aaronic and Melchizedek Priesthoods will be among the events that are commemorated during this General Conference, I have felt impressed to predict that each member of the current Presiding Bishopric will speak during this General Conference, and that each will do so in a different session.
4Major steps in the Restoration included the reinstatement of priesthood offices that existed in Christ’s original Church. One of those priesthood offices was that of the apostleship. And since this Priesthood Session will likely pay tribute to both, and will be unique, I could not think of a more effective way that could happen than to have 3 members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles speaking in this session, along with the entire First Presidency. Never before has the Church had 3 members of that Quorum speak in this session: it has just been 1 (or in rare cases, 2). So having 3 do so in this bicentennial conference makes a lot of sense to me.
5Given what has been said repeatedly by President Nelson, his wife, and his apostolic Brethren, new temple announcements will be an essential and significant part of every General Conference for the time being. In October 2018 and April 2019, I had been hopeful President Nelson would both be detailing the extent and timing pertaining to his plans to increase the number of temples ten-fold and also announce a mass number of temples. But that has not happened yet. And further research on my part has indicated that such a mass announcement, if it ever occurs, will not be as imminent as some (myself included) have previously believed. That said, I fully believe that the timing could be right during this bicentennial conference for President Nelson to detail the preliminary elements of those plans with some indication of the extent and timing thereof, and making the announcements regarding any new temples. And if he does so, then I could see him making a general announcement at the beginning of this session, then having Elder David A. Bednar, who chairs the Temple and Family History Executive Council, explain those in greater detail on that, and, following the other speakers in the session, President Nelson could then give another address as has been customary.
6Brother Newman is the new Second Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency. Given that the new Sunday School General President spoke last October, normal logic would suggest that the First Counselor may do so this go-round. But in the case of Brother Newman, he is a direct descendent of Hyrum Smith, brother of the Prophet Joseph, so it would make more sense during a General Conference commemorating important events of the restoration that someone with ties to that family might be given priority over someone else who is not so familially connected, even if such action defies normal traditions.
7Although I had felt that two or more members of the Presidency of the Seventy could possibly speak during this General Conference (since only one has done so in each General Conference for the last several years), given the many others I wound up trying to fit into the speaking order for this General Conference, I couldn’t make that work. If there is only one, it will likely be Elder Godoy, who, of all the current members of that Presidency, has had the longest period of time pass without speaking in General Conference (having last spoken during the October 2014 General Conference), and in the event there are two, I anticipate Elder Jose Teixeira (who last spoke during the April 2015 General Conference) will be the other.
