BREAKING NEWS: Social Media Sites Will No Longer Be Accessible In Church Meetinghouses Starting This Month

Hello again, everyone! Breaking news from the Church today. In an effort to encourage members to place appropriate focus on Sabbath Day observance and to encourage greater attention to what is said in Church meetings, the Church has announced that, beginning in this month, many social media sites will be blocked on the Church's internet networks.

In my humble opinion, this is a move that is long overdue. I was brought up on the notion that, even as technology evolved, it was not right to use social media at Church, as that would distract both myself and those around me from the appropriate focus that should be placed on learning of the Savior, worshiping Him, and renewing the covenants made at baptism.

This is yet another example of how the Church continues to simplify things, in the hopes of allowing all members to focus on what is most important about the gospel. And I welcome and embrace this news with all my heart.

At the same time, however, it grieves me to realize that the Church would not have needed to take this step if more of the Church members had had common sense enough to put aside their participation on such social media sites.

If we really stop and think about it, the Lord requires relatively little of us. 3 hours a day for most of the 52 or 53 Sundays that are in a year is not a lot of time for which the Lord and the leaders of His Church are asking us to focus on Him and the principles of the gospel. That some people have failed to allow themselves to focus on that for such a short period of time during any given week makes me wonder if social media use and addiction thereunto may be more detrimental to the efforts the people of this Church should be making in their worship of the Savior than any other aspect.

At some point in the last few years, I made the determination that I was spending far too much time on social media. So I determined to gradually decrease the time I spent there. At this time, I am only really on social media once or twice every month or two, and I have not felt as though that is any great loss.

If anything, reducing that time, in my personal opinion, has allowed me to focus on more important things, not the least of which has been the ongoing Church and temple developments that I have read about and passed along to you all.

That is not to say that social media is not an important way to keep in touch with people. But in the "age of information", any one of us, myself included, may be in danger of over-utilizing any one of the many technological advances of this modern age.

So on that level, this is a development that, in my mind, truly is long overdue, and I welcome the opportunity we all, especially those who have been focused more on social media than on the spirit of worship that should attend what has traditionally been called "the most important three hours of the week".

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.

Update Noted for the Kinshasa DR Congo Temple; Church Provides Additional Details Regarding Planned Celebration of Priesthood Revelation

Hello again, everyone! I became aware earlier today of an update on the construction process that is currently ongoing for the Kinshasa DR Comgo Temple. Additionally, the Church has provided more information on the celebration planned for June 1 of this year, which will, as previously mentioned, mark the 40-year anniversary of the revelation which extended the priesthood to all worthy males, regardless of race or skin color. So let's get into all of that.

First, the temple update. I received word a short while ago that building efforts continue for the temple's perimeter wall, while the final roof shingles are being laid, staircases are being poured from the chapel to the temple, and that interior work is continuing to progress. This is wonderful news. In looking back into the history, the last time this temple's status was updated was exactly one week ago today.

So what can we infer from that? It may be a while before I can make a determination, but there is a possibility that I may have to rethink my estimates for future temple events yet again. If this temple continues to progress as anticipated, it may indeed be the second new one dedicated next year, rather than the Fortaleza Brazil Temple, as I have suggested. It will be interesting to see what happens in that regard.

That said, we shift our focus to the details that have been provided for the priesthood celebration event. Mormon Newsroom's official release on that subject indicates that it will be an evening of music and spoken word (which will come in the form of a message from the First Presidency; what is not so clear is if all three members will be speaking, or if just one of the three will represent the others).

As I mentioned, it is fitting and proper that the anniversary of this remarkable revelation should be celebrated. In covering our recent General Conference, I commented on the fact that it took the right group of apostles at the right time to bring about the changes we saw in the structure of Melchizedek Priesthood quorums and the retirement of home and visiting teaching in favor of ministering. And if you think about it, that applies as much if not more to the fact that our two new apostles are the first Asian American and Latin American brethren to be called, and also to the fact that temples in India and Russia will now likely be a reality so much sooner than many, myself included, believe.

In a similar manner, the records we have available for perusal talk about how the prospect of extending the priesthood to all worthy males was under consideration for years before the June 1978  announcement, and I am convinced that it took the group of apostles that we had at that time being ready to humbly ascertain and accept the will of the Lord on the subject.

All of these changes fall under the principles of common consent. The revelation on the priesthood would never have been announced, nor would any of the events that occurred during the April 2018 General Conference been possible if the current group of apostles had not been willing to study such things and determine the Lord's will.

If all of these occurrences are not sufficient evidence to the world that modern revelation has been received, is being received, and will continue to be sought and received, I have no idea what might be needed to further convince anyone on that point.

As always, I continue to monitor all developments and updates related to Church news in general, and temple developments in particular, and I will continue to do so to the best of my ability going forward. Stay tuned for more as I become aware of it.

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.

Church Releases Official Statement Regarding Volunteers in Turkey

Hello again, everyone! Earlier today, Mormon Newsroom posted this official statement regarding volunteers in Turkey (where, due to governmental regulations, they cannot be called missionaries). This statement also goes into specifics in terms of how one of the 19 mission consolidations the Church announced will go into effect. There will most likely be a more thorough analysis on this news in the coming days on the LDS Church Growth Blog.

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.

Miscellaneous Church News Items

Hello again, everyone! I had started my previous post with the intention of including a summary of recent Church news stories that have crossed my radar recently, but because I felt a need to share extensive thoughts on temple developments, it became necessary to defer my discussion of those Church news items for this post. There is a lot to get to, so let's get going.

First, as I may have mentioned earlier, the Church announced prior to President Nelson's world tour that his apostolic traveling companion (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland), would be the featured speaker at the April 26 graduation ceremony for BYU-Provo. As I observed when sharing that announcement, this is the first time a former president of BYU returned to speak at commencement exercises. The Church News published this summary of that event, which I found to be very inspiring.

Continuing their series of articles about newly-called Church leaders, the Church News provided this introduction to Elder Matthew L. Carpenter. Former LDS Church News editor Gerry Avant also continued her article series sharing highlights of her long and distinguished career covering Church news with this article about Sister Belle S. Spafford, who had one of the longest (if not the very longest) service tenures as Relief Society General President.

For any of my readers who are parents of young children or who teach Primary-aged individuals, the Primary General Presidency and Board offered these suggestions about how to help the children of the Church gain a testimony of the Book of Mormon.

Shifting our focus from the LDS Church News website to Mormon Newsroom, a number of new articles have been published there. I have previously remarked on the fact that the Church has sometimes published more than one article in a short period of time highlighting the ministry of one or two apostles.

This proved to be the case again recently with Elder Rasband. In this article from the United Kingdom's Mormon Newsroom, his recent visit to Germany, Cape Verde, and the Netherlands was highlighted. The second story about Elder Rasband's ministry relates to his participation on the task force established by Utah Governor Gary Herbert for the purpose of discussing measures to prevent teen suicide. In addition to his participation on the panel, Elder Rasband also represented the Church in passing along a donation from the Church to aid those efforts. You can find the Mormon Newsroom summary of that article here.

Continuing the summary of the ministry of Church leaders, recently one member from each of the three female-led auxiliaries of the Church traveled to Alaska to minister to and train leaders there. This article summarizes those efforts. In light of Earth Day having been observed last Sunday, Mormon Newsroom provided this commentary article that provides a gospel-centered perspective on the importance of honoring creation, and how, by doing so, we honor the Creator.

And finally, the blog section of Mormon Newsroom again passed along these summaries of some wonderful articles that have been published on the various versions of Mormon Newsroom for several nations around the world. It was wonderful to read that report of those articles.

All of these news items are well worthy of your attention, and I can endorse their content wholeheartedly. I hope many of you will enjoy them as well. 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.

Jordan River Utah Temple Open House Will Conclude Today; Some Observations Regarding Temple Developments

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post right now to pass along one temple development and also to share some observations regarding temples. There is a lot to discuss, so let's get right into all of that.

I would like to start first with the temple news. While no major new developments have been reported on temples around the world since my last report on that subject, I did want to note that the Jordan River Utah Temple open house will be concluding today. Therefore, at the end of the day, the temple will begin a three-week preparation process for its' rededication, which, as noted earlier, will occur on May 20, following a cultural celebration that will be held the night before.

As I have also noted, I would anticipate that President Nelson will preside over at least the first one or two of the three dedicatory sessions. For this temple in the Salt Lake Valley, I am also certain that several General Authorities will likely be in attendance.

Next, if I may, I wanted to post some general observations about the progress of temples. As some of you might recall, by this time last year, we were just under a month away from the time when the first new temple of 2017 would be dedicated (the Paris France Temple, which was dedicated in mid-May). As you may also be aware, by this time last year, we had seen groundbreakings occur for two additional new temples.

We also know that the first new temple which will be dedicated this year (the Concepcion Chile Temple) will occur exactly six months from today. By that time, I would certainly hope that we will have seen at least a few temple groundbreakings.

But it is interesting to consider how the number and timing of temple events in one year differ from that of similar events in another. There are, of course, no set traditions in terms of how many such events are held per year. And we have seen the Lord's hand at work in all of those aspects.

By way of review, in 2016, 4 new temples were announced, 4 announced temples had a groundbreaking, 2 were rededicated, and 6 new temples were also dedicated. Last year, 5 new temples were announced, while the Church dedicated 4 others and rededicated 1.

This year so far, the Church has set 2 temple rededications (1 of which has already occurred) and the dedication of 2 new temples. We have also had 1 other dedication announced, which is set to occur next year. We have also seen 7 new temples announced as well.

With the Lord in control of the timing of such events (although some factors are dependent upon the agency and diligence of others), I stand by my previously-offered opinion that we will likely see at least a few temple groundbreakings at some point this year. I have noted the most likely prospects I see in that regard.

I continue to monitor all such developments and will bring you updates on all of that 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.