Major Changes Made in Church Board of Education

Hello, all! Faithful members of the Church all over the world are no doubt familiar with the Church Educational System (which manages seminary and institute classes worldwide and also has the responsibility of administering the Church-owned universities that provide higher education opportunities) know that it has been a busy year for higher education changes. Let me just mention the presidents of those institutions and share when the last transitions for each took place.

Kevin J. Worthen became the first Area Seventy to be asked to take the reins of BYU-Provo as its 13th president, and he was inaugurated in 2014.  John S. Tanner became the 10th president of BYU-Hawaii just over 2 years ago. As announced earlier this year by the Church (which I focused a blog post on), Henry J. Eyring (President Eyring's son) was inaugurated in April as BYU-Idaho's 17th president.

As also noted on this blog, the reason BYU-Idaho needed a new president in April was as a result of its incumbent president (Clark S. Gilbert) being asked to spearhead the new BYU-Pathway Worldwide as its first president. Also in April of this year, Bruce C. Kusch was inaugurated as the 13th president of LDS Business College. So the Church has been quite busy of late ensuring that these presidential transitionary periods happened smoothly.

My point in mentioning these things is that the Church's higher educational institutions are doing remarkably well under the leadership of these great men, who oversee staffs and faculties of equally diligent and faithful men and women in the Church that enable higher education to be both enjoyable and inspirational.

But that is not my main reason for posting. The Church Board of Education has the oversight of all Church-owned higher educational institutions, and I discovered earlier today that there have been some major additions to that board.

In order to help you appreciate the changes I will be reporting in this post, I wanted to first set the nature of the changes in the board in context for you all. Because I spent many happy hours in my growing up years perusing old editions of the General Conference Ensigns, one of the things I learned as a direct result of that study is that it was very common during most if not all of President Spencer W. Kimball's prophetic tenure and perhaps into that of his successor President Ezra Taft Benson for the members of the Church Board of Education to be featured prominently in the midst of what was then a very extensive Sustaining of Church officers.

From my study, I remember well that the Church Board of Education was comprised during that time of all members of the First Presidency, roughly half of the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, a couple of members of the Presidency of the Seventy, the Presiding Bishop, and the Relief Society General President.

Fast forward several years to when I was in Junior High and High School. Thanks to the fact that I have 3 siblings, I attended many seminary graduations during those years. And on each Seminary Graduation program would be an updated list of the members of the Church Board of Education, which at that time were the First Presidency, 3 apostles, one member of the Presidency of the Seventy, and the general presidents of the Relief Society and Young Women. When Elder Scott, who had been on the Board of Education until he became too unwell to function in that capacity, passed away in September 2015, the Church decided to just have two members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on the Board.

Fast forward to May of this year. The Board membership had not changed at all by then. When the Church announced area leadership changes, which included the release of two members of the Presidency of the Seventy, one of those men. Elder Hallstrom, had been representing the Presidency of the Seventy on the Board of Education. I anticipated that Elder Hallstrom would be released from his assignment on the Board, but I didn't know what, if any, other changes to expect.

When I took time to update the Wikipedia page for our General Authorities on the first of this month, I waited for a time to find out who would be representing the Presidency of the Seventy on the Board. I found out shortly thereafter that Elder Gerrit W. Gong had received that assignment. I was happy about that because I had had the opportunity to interact with Elder Gong when he was assigned to visit my parents' Stake Conference, and I had been impressed with his testimony, knowledge, warmth, and sincerity.

Fast forward again to earlier today. I wondered in passing, since there hadn't been any other changes on the Board for a while if there was anything new in that regard today. So I ran an internet search on the subject. And that search led me to this link which lists the current members of the Church Board of Education. I was absolutely blown away by the changes. I was not, of course, surprised at all that there was no change in the chairmanship and vice chairmanships of the board.

Nor was I surprised to learn that Elders Dallin H. Oaks and Jeffrey R. Holland were still on the Board, with Elder Oaks still serving as the Chairman of the Executive Committee of the Boards. In case I haven't mentioned this, it is customary for the most senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on any general Church committee to serve as the Chairman.

Here's what did surprise me: Elders David A. Bednar and Dale G. Renlund, also of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, have joined the board membership. With Elder Gong continuing to represent the Presidency of the Seventy on the Board, Church leaders have also asked Elder Donald L. Hallstrom to retain his seat on the Board, now as the only General Authority Seventy on the Board who is not in the Presidency.

Additionally, Church leaders have also invited our current Presiding Bishop, Gerald Causse, to serve on the Board as some of his predecessors in that office had previously done/ And finally, while Sisters Jean B. Bingham and Bonnie L. Oscarson continue to represent the Relief Society and Young Women auxiliary leaders, the Brethren have also invited Young Men General President Stephen W. Owen to be on the Board.

I was so very grateful to have heard of these changes. I know that with these additional leaders on the Board, the work of the Church Educational System will continue to roll forward. I was so excited to hear about this earlier today. I would have reported on this much sooner, but I spent a lot of time on Wikipedia helping to update the necessary pages as a result of these changes.

That does it for this blog post. Comments are always welcome and appreciated. As always, thank you so much for the privilege of your time. Hope you all are well. Until my next post, I wish you all the best.

Church News Not Previously Reported

Hello again, everyone! In doing my last check of the Church websites I follow today, I noted a couple of Church News articles that I had read and by which I had been touched, but I had forgotten to focus on them in a blog post. This report has to do with general Church leaders that have shared important information with diverse groups.

First, Sister Neill F. Marriott (who, as the Second Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency is also the oldest currently-serving female auxiliary leader and the second oldest auxiliary leader overall (at 69 she is just younger than Sunday School General President Tad R. Callister, who is currently 71)) wrote a Church News article that was published yesterday on the subject of how all of us, regardless of age, can strike up conversations about the gospel with our peers (or coworkers). You can find what she wrote on the subject here.

Also, Elder Quentin L. Cook, of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who was an attorney by profession (and who, as previously mentioned, will mark his 77th birthday exactly two weeks from today) spoke to members of the J. Reuben Clark Law Society, community leaders and guests, on August 12 (which coincided with the 85th birthday of his apostolic colleague, Elder Dallin H. Oaks, who himself is a former attorney). Elder Cook covered the topics of faith, family, and religious freedom. To read a great summary of what he said in this setting, click here.

That does it for this blog post. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Comments continue to be welcome and appreciated. Until my next post, I wish you all the best.

Additional Church News

Hello, all! I found some additional news on Mormon Newsroom that I couldn't wait to share. The Church has published this commentary about how faith contributes to life-long learning. I can attest to that. My membership in the Church and devotion to the gospel has helped me learn many things I did not know, and has contributed to my desire to share the good news from the Church with each of you, my readers. The Church also issued this report about how Saints and friends of other faiths in Texas are bracing for the impact of Hurricane Harvey. I hope each of us will keep the Saints of Texas in our prayers, and also that those of us who can will volunteer in Church-related efforts that will provide relief in the aftermath of it. Efforts in that regard have already begun, with the Church getting ready to send any aid that might be needed. Let us get involved in such efforts and pray with all our faith that members and nonmembers alike in this area will be able to weather and triumph over this anticipated disaster. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. In the meantime, thank you for the privilege of your time, and may the Lord bless you all!

700th Blog Post: Dates for 2018 Church Events Announced

It snuck up on me, but this is my 700th blog post. I could not think of a better subject for this milestone than this: In keeping with the annual custom, Church leaders today announced the dates of important events and church-wide broadcasts for 2018. Here is an overview of that schedule:

In January, a Worldwide Devotional will be held for Young Adults on the 14th, while CES personnel will get to enjoy the Annual Evening with a General Authority on the 26th. On Saturday February 3 (when, if President Monson is still living at that time, will mark his 10th anniversary as Church President) President and Sister Nelson will be the featured speakers at a Face-to-Face Event for Youth (by which time President Nelson will have marked his 93rd birthday).

March will get a little busier, with the 3rd marking RootsTech Family Discovery Day (which typically features a keynote address by an apostle), and on the 23rd (my sweetheart Amy's birthday), the Mormon Tabernacle Choir will present Handel's Messiah. The next night will mark the General Women's Session of General Conference, with the other 5 sessions following on Saturday March 31 and Sunday April 8.

The events get more spread out over the next months, with Sunday May 6 marking another Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults, the annual Mormon Tabernacle Choir Pioneer Day Concert on Saturday July 21, and the final Worldwide Devotional for Young Adults on Sunday September 9 (which will coincide with President Nelson's 94th birthday, if he is still alive at that time).

The October General Conference will be next, with the Women's Session on Saturday September 29, and the other sessions following on Saturday and Sunday October 6 & 7. At some point in October, a Face-to-Face event for Youth will be held, with the date and speaker to be announced at a later date. Rounding out Church events in 2018 will be the First Presidency's Annual Christmas Devotional on Sunday December 2.

Sounds like the Church will be busy in 2018, and that is before considering any potential temple-related developments during the year. I am excited to have been able to learn and now post about these developments.

That does it for now. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Comments are welcome and appreciated. Until my next post, I wish you all the best.

Dates Released For the Beginning of Open House Reservations for Two Temples

Hello again, everyone! I am back with more Church news. After no significant progress has been reported on temples of late, I found out today that the Church has released information about when open house tickets will be available for the Meridian Idaho and Cedar City Utah Temples. For Meridian, reservations will be available on Monday September 25 (one month from today), and, as already announced, the open house will go from October 21 to November 11), and reservations will continue to be offered up through the last day of the open house. One week after reservations are available for Meridian (Monday October 2, the day after General Conference concludes), reservations will start to be accepted for the Cedar City Utah Temple Open House, which, as previously noted, will run between October 27 and November 18), and reservations will continue to be offered through the last day of the Cedar City Utah Temple Open House.

Aside from these developments, things have been quiet on both the temple news and unit growth front. But I guarantee it will not remain that way for too much longer. I for one hope very soon that the Church will announce the dates for the open house, dedication (and rededication) of the Rome Italy and Frankfurt Germany Temples. In the meantime, once I hear anything new on this front, you can count on my passing that along. For now, thank you for the privilege of your time. Comments are welcome.  Stay tuned this weekend, when I hope to provide another update on apostolic statistics, and when I will be keeping my eye open for any addition Church or temple-related news.  I pray the Lord's blessings upon you all, and wish you all the best for a wonderful weekend.

Church News Includes Details on New Curriculum for Adults, Summary of Education Week

Hello, all! For a variety of reasons, I have not been able to do my initial check of the Church websites until just now. In checking the Church News, I found this article summarizing BYU's Campus Education Week, and this one which details the new curriculum that will be in place next year for adults to study during Priesthood and Relief Society, and which includes FAQs on the reasons for this curriculum change and what it will involve and entail. Among the tidbits I picked up is that the Church now has a Priesthood and Family Department (maybe they always did and I just didn't know about it), and that Elder LeGrand R. Curtis Jr., whose father was a GA Seventy during the tenure of either Presidents Benson or Kimball, serves as one of the assistant executive directors. I know that there have been mixed feelings about the new curriculum, but I for one am excited and overjoyed about it. I hope we will all be able to testify of the importance of these changes at some point, even if we cannot do so now. That does it for this blog post. Thank you for the privilege of your time, and may the Lord bless all of us to enjoy these inspired changes. Until my next post, I wish you all the best.

Elder Robert D. Hales Celebrates His 85th birthday

Hello, all! I am back, as promised three days ago, with a post written in tribute to Elder Robert D. Hales, who is celebrating his 85th birthday today. What has brought this man to this milestone? Let's explore that.

Robert Dean Hales was born on August 24, 1932 to John Rulon (an artist who worked in advertising) and Vera Marie Holbrook Hales in New York City, New York. He married Mary Crandall on June 10, 1953 in the Salt Lake Temple. They have two sons. He earned a bachelor’s degree from the University of Utah and a master’s degree in business administration from Harvard. In between earning his two degrees, he served as a jet fighter pilot for the United States. He served several companies in many executive positions, both in and out of the United States.
His extensive Church service has included being a high councilor, a branch president’s counselor in Seville, Spain, a branch president in Albany Georgia; Weston Massachusetts; and Frankfurt Germany; bishop in Weston Massachusetts, Stake President’s counselor, president of the England London mission, and regional representative. He was sustained an Assistant to the Twelve on April 4, 1975 and to the First Quorum of the Seventy on October 1, 1976. While a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy, he served as First Counselor in the Sunday School General Presidency from July 1981-July 1985. He was called as Presiding Bishop of the Church on April 6, 1985. He was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on April 2, 1994, and was ordained an apostle five days later. He has served faithfully despite numerous health problems.
In fact, it would be very fair to say that the health problems Elder Hales has had over the years, and especially in recent years, have served to mold him into the wonderful servant of our Heavenly Father that he has become. Over the course of his ministry in general Church leadership, he has, if I have counted correctly, spoken 58 times in General Conference (with 15 of those given as a seventy and Presiding Bishop, and 43 given since his call to the apostleship). It should be noted that he has missed several General Conferences in view of his health issues: if it weren't for that, he would have a few more talks. Looking back at his speaking record, it appears that he last missed General Conference in April 2011. To review any of these 58 General Conference addresses by Elder Hales, click here.

Primarily because of his ill health in recent years, he has been the first apostolic speaker in whichever conference session he has spoken. The last time he was not the first apostolic speaker in a conference session was almost three years ago, in October 2014, when he spoke in the Sunday Morning session.

Because of his ongoing health issues, it is anyone's guess how much longer Elder Hales will be with us. That said, he has carried on much longer than many have expected. And because I have been in his shoes somewhat (in terms of having quite a few health challenges myself), I know that Elder Hales is one whose life has been extended by the grace of the Lord. It is obvious that Elder Hales still has things to teach us, through both his example and his conference talks. As with the words spoken by any of the Brethren, I hope that we will give heed to the wise counsel of Elder Hales. In the meantime, I hope he had a good day today.
That does it for this post. Though I fully expect to have additional things to post about before the end of this month, and that I will be doing several more posts in the first week of September, you can be sure that, if nothing else, I will be back on September 8 (15 days from now) and the day after that with birthday tributes to Elder Cook (who will mark his 77th on the 8th) and President Nelson (who turns 93 the following day).
In the meantime, thank you for the privilege of your time. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. Until my next post, I wish you all the best.

Church News Update: BYU Education Week and More

Hello, all! I am back again today, this time to share a Church news update on items relating to the events of BYU-Provo Education Week and a couple of other developments. There is a lot to talk about, so let's get started.

Prior to talking about BYU-Provo Education week articles, I wanted to mention two articles that came to my attention that I have not focused on in prior blog posts. First, the Church News shared an article about how the Chickasaw Indian nation gave a medallion to M. Franklin Keel of Oklahoma, and inducted him into their Hall of Fame, in honor of his service and multiple contributions to that nation. You can read more on this here.

Then, earlier today, the main Mormon Newsroom website shared an article from the Pacific Mormon Newsroom, which described how Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles met and discussed the subject of religious freedom with the president and prime minister of the island of Vanuatu. During the individual visits he had with these leaders, Elder Stevenson paid tribute to their efforts to encourage religious freedom and to enact laws in their nation that will continue to allow that to happen. You can find more on that visit here.

Aside from those articles, the rest of this blog post will be focused on summaries of articles relating to BYU-Provo's Campus Education Week. Ron L. Anderson, who is an LDS author and historian, focused his remarks at one session of Education Week on the fact that the restoration of the gospel 30-some-odd years prior to the Civil War kept the nation together and preserved the Constitution while the nation was divided over the subject of slavery. To read the Church news article summarizing his remarks, click here.

BYU Psychology Professor Scott R. Braithwaite spoke about how the gospel can help us when we have situations and circumstances in life that would otherwise test our faith, and how a testimony of the gospel can help us through any faith crises we may experience during such times. You can read more on what he said here.

This article describes the opportunity Education Week participants have to tour the newly renovated MTC. And an article highlighting the keynote devotional address given by Elder Lynn G. Robbins of the Presidency of the Seventy, who  focused his remarks on how taking responsibility for one's own life brings power, can be found here.

Hope you enjoyed this summary of these articles. Happy reading! In the meantime, thank you for the privilege of your time. Any comments are welcome and appreciated. Until my next post, I wish you all the best.

Two Church News Items Reported

Hello, all! I am back sooner than even I anticipated, to report on news which I had heard earlier today, but have not yet passed along. In two blog posts on the Church Newsroom site, the Church shared this story (about how President Nelson shared with the governor of Nebraska information about his (the governor's) family history. It is always nice to hear how active President Nelson (who is just short of being 3 years older than our prophet) has been able to be. Not since President Monson himself was President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (which, as previously noted, happened during President Hinckley's presidency while President Monson also served as President Hinckley's First Counselor) have we had such an active Quorum President.

Wanted to add a sidenote here: President Nelson's predecessor, President Packer, had been confined to a wheelchair off and on from sometime in 2009 until his death in July 2015, and both the reemergence of his childhood polio and his need to be in a wheelchair had at times limited his ability to function actively as Quorum President. So the fact that the Quorum has had active leadership from President Nelson for over two years now is indeed significant, as is the fact that, by comparison, President Nelson has always been much better health-wise than President Packer was, even though President Packer was actually born the day after President Nelson. Given that President Nelson will mark his 93rd birthday next month (on the 9th), I am sure he will continue to actively provide good leadership to the Quorum (and also provide vital support for Presidents Eyring and Uchtdorf as they carry the Church forward for President Monson, who, as also previously noted, announced on May 23 that he would be stepping back from an active role in Church leadership).

That said, the second story was to share different articles from the Mormon Newsroom of various foreign countries (in this case the Dominican Republic, the islands of Tonga and Kiribati in the Pacific area, Nicaragua (which several have said is a strong candidate for a temple sometime in the near future), Guatemala (which some have said may get a 3rd temple soon),and Thailand (which has a temple in the planning phase). You can find links to all of these stories here.

That does it for this blog post. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Comments are welcome and appreciated. Until I find something else to post about (which may be tomorrow at earliest), I wish you all the best.

Two months until the beginning of the open house for the Meridian Idaho Temple

Hello, all! As noted by this blog post title, today not only marks the 90th birthday of our Church president, but it also means that the open house for the Meridian Idaho Temple will begin in just two months. And by the time that happens, 3 operating temples will have closed for renovation (in Memphis Tennessee, Tokyo Japan, and Oklahoma City Oklahoma). And depending on what happens during the October General Conference, there may be more temples announced by that time as well.

For my part, I will continue to try and keep abreast of it all. In the meantime, I wanted to note one more thing: In order for the Church to have 200 operating temples by or before the 200th anniversary of the gospel's restoration (Saturday April 6, 2030), which is 12.62 years away as of today, the Church would just need to announce 18 more temples and complete the other 25 currently in any phase (for a total of 43), which works out to roughly 3 or 4 per year.

And, as noted, the Church will add 2 more prior to the end of this year (for a total of 4 new temples this year), and there are plans underway to have 4 or 5 new temples by the end of next year, with between 4-6 in 2019, and 1 or 2 that will be completed the year after that.

Any other temple completions and dedications will depend entirely on what happens between now and then. If, for example, the Church does not hold groundbreakings for any other temples this year, then the odds of any other temples being dedicated during 2020 go down substantially. At best, the smallest temples have taken an average of 2 years and 4 months for construction. So any temples that could be completed by the end of 2020 would have to have a groundbreaking by no later than the end of August of next year.

Having done extensive study on the average time-frames within which temples have generally risen in certain world areas, I can say that none of the temples that are anticipated to have a groundbreaking between now and a year or so from now fall within that average construction time-frame.

That said, even though 2020 may not be a big year for newly dedicated temples, between now and then, I could see many new temples announced, and there are at least three currently operating temples that are anticipated to have a rededication during that time.

And in between now and then, there is plenty of time for the Lord to surprise us with what might happen with temples. The one thing on which any of us can always count is that the Lord controls how, when, and at what rate temples are announced, groundbreakings and construction occur, and subsequent dedications take place. He will surely have surprises ahead in that regard in the next three years, and indeed, for the foreseeable future. For my part, I will continue to try and keep track of it all, and will be sure to pass along updates as I get word of them.

In the meantime, thank you for the privilege of your time. Comments are welcome and appreciated. I have not heard any new temple news in the last little while, but will continue to look for it and pass it along. Until my next post (which, if not sooner, will be in three days to mark the 85th birthday of Elder Robert D. Hales of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles), I wish you all the best.