Hello again, everyone! I am posting right now with a breaking news development. In an earlier post, I had referenced a visit made by members of the Sunday School and Young Men General Presidency to African nations, during which time, they referenced new curriculum that would be coming in 2019. Today, we got a look at what that will involve.
The Church announced today that it was replacing the typical Primary, adult Sunday School, and home curriculum resources with another "Come Follow Me" set of curriculum, which will place emphasis more on individual preparation and responsibility for learning than on sticking to a manual. You can read more about these developments here,
I also previously referenced that President Nelson, by virtue of his previous experience as a heart surgeon, has kept very much in touch with modern technology advances. We saw evidence of that when the August 2018 Area Leadership Assignments were announced several weeks in advance of when they typically had been, when we have seen the Church magazine content approved and published on the website much more quickly than they have been, and again today, when the Church released this document, which shows the 2019 Instructions for Curriculum. Those had typically not been released until mid-August or so each year.
This is an outstanding and welcome development. I continue to monitor all Church and temple updates and will do my best to bring those to you as I receive word of them. I should note that I became aware late last night of several new updates on temples, which I am anxious to pass along to you all, but because I have a doctor's appointment later today that will take most of the afternoon, the earliest I may be able to pass those along will be later this evening. Stay tuned for that.
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.
Friday, July 6, 2018
BREAKING NEWS: Church To Release Come Follow Me Curriculum for Adults, Children, and Home Study
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
Thursday, July 5, 2018
Report on Additional Addresses From the Seminar for New Mission Leadership
Hello again, everyone! After trying and failing to make the alterations I had in mind for this blog, we are back to the previous design. And I am back to report on two other addresses from the recent Seminar for New Mission Leadership. The addresses were given by two more members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, both of whom also serve on the Missionary Executive Council.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson gave an address with his wife, and they highlighted the importance of missionaries owning their personal and companionship gospel study. The Christoffersons also said that, in addition to applying to missionary companionships, married couples of the Church can benefit from studying the scriptures together. So mission presidents and their wives were urged on a personal level to set the example for their missionaries. You can read more of what the Christoffersons said here.
In the meantime, our Brazilian junior apostle, Elder Ulisses Soares, drew on the example of Brazil's winding Amazon river as an analogy for the membership of the Church. He explained that that river is created at the point where the Solimoes River, which starts in Peru, and the Negro River from the Amazon Basin, converge into a single body of water.
In similitude to the river, the membership of the Church is comprised of those who have been lifelong or multi-generational members who combine and converge in various ways and settings with those who may be newer to the Church. Just as the converged river could not succeed without its' two distinct bodies of water, so too do converts need the support of their lifelong member counterparts.
He also reemphasized what the Church has taught about what all converts need: A friend, a responsibility, and nourishing by the good word of God. As members work together to make converts feel welcome (which is an effort that, by extension, includes the vital role of missionaries), and as all members draw from the strengths of their fellow Saints, the Church will be strengthened as a complete body of our Heavenly Father's worldwide family. You can read more about what Elder Soares said in this article.
The reports of this year's seminar continue to come in, so I will be sure to keep passing those on to you as I receive word of them, and I also will be posting any other important Church and temple news as I become aware of those developments 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.
Elder D. Todd Christofferson gave an address with his wife, and they highlighted the importance of missionaries owning their personal and companionship gospel study. The Christoffersons also said that, in addition to applying to missionary companionships, married couples of the Church can benefit from studying the scriptures together. So mission presidents and their wives were urged on a personal level to set the example for their missionaries. You can read more of what the Christoffersons said here.
In the meantime, our Brazilian junior apostle, Elder Ulisses Soares, drew on the example of Brazil's winding Amazon river as an analogy for the membership of the Church. He explained that that river is created at the point where the Solimoes River, which starts in Peru, and the Negro River from the Amazon Basin, converge into a single body of water.
In similitude to the river, the membership of the Church is comprised of those who have been lifelong or multi-generational members who combine and converge in various ways and settings with those who may be newer to the Church. Just as the converged river could not succeed without its' two distinct bodies of water, so too do converts need the support of their lifelong member counterparts.
He also reemphasized what the Church has taught about what all converts need: A friend, a responsibility, and nourishing by the good word of God. As members work together to make converts feel welcome (which is an effort that, by extension, includes the vital role of missionaries), and as all members draw from the strengths of their fellow Saints, the Church will be strengthened as a complete body of our Heavenly Father's worldwide family. You can read more about what Elder Soares said in this article.
The reports of this year's seminar continue to come in, so I will be sure to keep passing those on to you as I receive word of them, and I also will be posting any other important Church and temple news as I become aware of those developments 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.
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
Wednesday, July 4, 2018
Altered Blog Layout
Hello again, everyone! While I have no desire to detract from the focus of my readers in the United States (as today is the anniversary of our nation's independence from England), I wanted to just quickly post to note that I am testing another new blog layout. I have been working periodically on finding ways to make this blog more user-friendly, so I'd like to know if that is working better.
And in the interests of being fully transparent, part of the reason for these changes is because I have also been looking into ways to improve my earnings from this blog. This new layout was one of a few suggestions I have looked into that I am hoping will help in that process.
As always, I continue to monitor all news and developments relating to the Church, General Conference, and temples worldwide, and I do my best to continue to bring those to you as I receive word 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.
And in the interests of being fully transparent, part of the reason for these changes is because I have also been looking into ways to improve my earnings from this blog. This new layout was one of a few suggestions I have looked into that I am hoping will help in that process.
As always, I continue to monitor all news and developments relating to the Church, General Conference, and temples worldwide, and I do my best to continue to bring those to you as I receive word 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.
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
Tuesday, July 3, 2018
Apostolic Ministry Updates
Hello again, everyone! I learned of some updates that have been provided on the ministry of our apostles a short while ago, and wanted to pass those along to you all now. We begin with a discussion of the Seminar for New Mission Leadership, for which the Church News shared this article highlighting remarks made by President Oaks on 10 of the many ways that Joseph Smith inspired Christian doctrine.
In the meantime, on the Church's official website (lds,org), remarks made by Elder Andersen during that seminar were summarized. As some of you may recall my mentioning a few days ago, we recently got a complete list of names of our Church leaders who serve on the Missionary Executive Council, and Elder Andersen is one of four members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who is serving on that committee.
He focused his remarks on how repentance, rather than being a backup plan that is provided in case it is needed, actually is the plan which our Heavenly Father put into place because He knew that, aside from His Only Begotten Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, "all [would sin] and fall short of the glory of God." That is a sobering and yet very inspiring thought.
Since our Father knew that we, without memory of our Heavenly home, or recollection of what the plan was, and being flawed and imperfect as a consequence of living in an imperfect world, He not only provided a Savior to redeem us from what has been termed as "our lost and fallen state", but He and His Son also patiently give us every opportunity to recognize our shortcomings and failings, show genuine remorse and regret for those mistakes, make amends for them, and try again.
So I appreciated reading about Elder Andersen's comments on that subject. You can find those remarks summarized here. Additionally, on the Church News section of lds.org, there have been a number of other articles well worthy of your review, which I may summarize more fully in another post within the next couple of days.
But just within the last 18 hours or so, a number of very interesting stories fitting that description have been published. You can find that news page here, and it is worth noting that the number of stories posted there just today take up most of the first page of that link, and part of the second.
That said, I have one more article to report on that is directly related to the ministry of our apostles. Elder Holland is currently in England, where he spoke at Chatham House during a meeting of the Royal Institute of International Affairs at the invitation of Baroness Emma Nicholson of Winterbourne, who chairs the AMAR International Charitable Foundation. Elder Holland's ties to England in view of his missionary service there as a young man has resulted in his frequently being invited by Baroness Nicholson to address various topics with various groups.
Elder Holland highlighted the important role faith- and non-faith based groups should have in the current ongoing refugee crisis around the world. In his remarks, he drew parallels between the persecution of the Saints in the early days of the Church to the persecution currently being levied towards that Yazidi people of Iraq.
He said that in drawing those parallels, he had no desire to minimize what was occurring for the Yazidi people, but was instead hoping to underscore the fact that persecution based on religion, especially when that is tied to and results in political oppression, is wrong, and he also touched on the current crisis many nations, including the US, is seeing regarding the treatment of those currently fleeing either religious persecution or political oppression. His remarks are well worthy of review, which you can read more about here.
I have been somewhat intrigued by one thing, however. As many of you may be aware, July marks the typical one-month annual recess for General Authorities. While I am confident that some of the news I have reported in the last two or three days has been for developments that occurred prior to the end of June, the story of Elder Holland being in England was posted today and referred to events that are occurring right now.
So at least for the moment this year, we may be hearing of Church news relating to our apostles well into July. And I am not ruling out the prospect that the Church could continue to make any major announcements even during the traditional break, which we have seen occur at least a few times previously.
Whether on the subjects of the ministry of our apostles, general Church news, or temple developments, you can depend on my bringing word of those developments to you as I receive 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.
In the meantime, on the Church's official website (lds,org), remarks made by Elder Andersen during that seminar were summarized. As some of you may recall my mentioning a few days ago, we recently got a complete list of names of our Church leaders who serve on the Missionary Executive Council, and Elder Andersen is one of four members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who is serving on that committee.
He focused his remarks on how repentance, rather than being a backup plan that is provided in case it is needed, actually is the plan which our Heavenly Father put into place because He knew that, aside from His Only Begotten Son, our Savior Jesus Christ, "all [would sin] and fall short of the glory of God." That is a sobering and yet very inspiring thought.
Since our Father knew that we, without memory of our Heavenly home, or recollection of what the plan was, and being flawed and imperfect as a consequence of living in an imperfect world, He not only provided a Savior to redeem us from what has been termed as "our lost and fallen state", but He and His Son also patiently give us every opportunity to recognize our shortcomings and failings, show genuine remorse and regret for those mistakes, make amends for them, and try again.
So I appreciated reading about Elder Andersen's comments on that subject. You can find those remarks summarized here. Additionally, on the Church News section of lds.org, there have been a number of other articles well worthy of your review, which I may summarize more fully in another post within the next couple of days.
But just within the last 18 hours or so, a number of very interesting stories fitting that description have been published. You can find that news page here, and it is worth noting that the number of stories posted there just today take up most of the first page of that link, and part of the second.
That said, I have one more article to report on that is directly related to the ministry of our apostles. Elder Holland is currently in England, where he spoke at Chatham House during a meeting of the Royal Institute of International Affairs at the invitation of Baroness Emma Nicholson of Winterbourne, who chairs the AMAR International Charitable Foundation. Elder Holland's ties to England in view of his missionary service there as a young man has resulted in his frequently being invited by Baroness Nicholson to address various topics with various groups.
Elder Holland highlighted the important role faith- and non-faith based groups should have in the current ongoing refugee crisis around the world. In his remarks, he drew parallels between the persecution of the Saints in the early days of the Church to the persecution currently being levied towards that Yazidi people of Iraq.
He said that in drawing those parallels, he had no desire to minimize what was occurring for the Yazidi people, but was instead hoping to underscore the fact that persecution based on religion, especially when that is tied to and results in political oppression, is wrong, and he also touched on the current crisis many nations, including the US, is seeing regarding the treatment of those currently fleeing either religious persecution or political oppression. His remarks are well worthy of review, which you can read more about here.
I have been somewhat intrigued by one thing, however. As many of you may be aware, July marks the typical one-month annual recess for General Authorities. While I am confident that some of the news I have reported in the last two or three days has been for developments that occurred prior to the end of June, the story of Elder Holland being in England was posted today and referred to events that are occurring right now.
So at least for the moment this year, we may be hearing of Church news relating to our apostles well into July. And I am not ruling out the prospect that the Church could continue to make any major announcements even during the traditional break, which we have seen occur at least a few times previously.
Whether on the subjects of the ministry of our apostles, general Church news, or temple developments, you can depend on my bringing word of those developments to you as I receive 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.
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
Monday, July 2, 2018
Church News Highlights
Hello again, everyone! I mentioned a day or two ago that I was hoping to do another post devoted to the latest Church news that had been published on the LDS Church News website and on the Church's official website. There are a number of new articles that have been published, all of which are worthy of mention here on this blog, but due to the voluminous amount of articles involved, this post will merely share what, to me, are the most significant highlights, and readers of this blog are welcome to consult either of the two links above for any articles not listed here.
Before we dive into the articles I will be featuring here, I also wanted to mention that I am still very much committed to continuing my series of posts discussing the most likely prospective locations that may have a temple announced in the upcoming General Conference, and that I will be starting the earnest work on putting together posts in that series hopefully later this week.
But my wife and I have also been under the weather again (or, to put it in a better way, still) so I will be focusing on those posts (and any others covering topics of interest) as my current circumstances will allow.
That said, let's get this update started. Several of the women auxiliary leaders of the Church recently represented the Church in presenting a donation to Utah's Children's Justice Centers to aid in the work done by those centers to prevent child abuse (where possible) and to enable them to help previously-abused children have access to the tools they need to recover (where necessary).
The Church has been more proactively involved in such issues lately, and so the acknowledgement of all that those centers do in such situations was wonderful to hear about. You can find more information on that via this Church News article or from this official release from Mormon Newsroom.
On June 29, the Church News published another article covering summaries of content posted to social media by several Church leaders. In this most recent article, some of those posts covered thoughts on Joseph Smith in conjunction with June 27 having marked the 174th anniversary of the Prophet's martyrdom in Carthage Jail, while others spoke of how we as Church members can strengthen our relationship to and our testimony of the Savior.
The Church News and Mormon Newsroom also covered stories on how the filming of the Church's Book of Mormon video project has recently wrapped up. Bishop Dean M. Davies, who currently serves as First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric of the Church, was the featured speaker at the commencement exercises for BYU-Hawaii's recently-held graduation ceremony, and during his remarks, he talked about the process the Church goes through to get temples built, which at times includes a lot of patience and trust that the Lord knows what needs to happen and when. His remarks are well worthy of review.
Retired Church News editor Gerry Avant continued her retrospective articles examining the many experiences she had witnessed during her career, with this look back at President Monson's strong connection to Germany, and how many apostolic promises he made to the German Saints were fulfilled to the letter.
Continuing the tradition that has been observed for a while, another article written by general officers has been published. The Primary General Presidency shared these thoughts regarding how parents can and should help their children from a very early age to have a relationship with God.
Both Mormon Newsroom and the Church News continue to carry articles about the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's "Classic Coast Tour", and there are many articles covering highlights from their travels. The Church has become the first religious organization to ever receive the Good Neighbor Award from the United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce. More details on that are provided in this article.
The Church News shared this report, which noted the results of a recent survey taken by several Church members regarding the changes that will be coming to the hymnbook. For those not satisfied by those results, as previously noted, feedback will continue to be accepted for the next year, until the end of July 2019.
Those of you who follow the LDS Church Growth Blog in addition to this one are no doubt aware that this recent post highlighted a three-milestone record that was being observed within the Church's Africa West Area. The Church News published their own article providing additional context regarding that same subject. It is wonderful to read about what the Lord has done for that area of the Church.
It is also plain to see why Matthew Martinich, who publishes the LDS Church Growth Blog, has shared his opinion that the Africa West Area, which currently has two operating temples and one other announced, is likely to have 13 temples either in various stages or dedicated by 2030. If the ongoing growth is any indication, that is a very reachable prospect that we are sure to see.
And, to round out my coverage of the latest Church news, I want to note some updates on the recent ministry of our apostles. Elder D. Todd Christofferson just returned a short while ago from a visit to the Philippines Area of the Church, and this report shares his thoughts and observations on all that transpired during his time there.
Finishing my coverage of recent news, I have highlighted in previous posts the efforts and contributions the Church is making to prevent suicide. Articles from the Church News and Mormon Newsroom highlight new resources the Church has released on that subject, which includes video clips with thoughts from Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Sister Carol F. McConkie, who was released as First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency last April.
I should mention that the Church will continue to publish highlights from the recent Seminar for New Mission Leadership, but at the time I was putting this post together, no additional reports have been provided. I continue to monitor all Church and temple news and developments and will do my level best to bring word of those to you as I receive 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.
Before we dive into the articles I will be featuring here, I also wanted to mention that I am still very much committed to continuing my series of posts discussing the most likely prospective locations that may have a temple announced in the upcoming General Conference, and that I will be starting the earnest work on putting together posts in that series hopefully later this week.
But my wife and I have also been under the weather again (or, to put it in a better way, still) so I will be focusing on those posts (and any others covering topics of interest) as my current circumstances will allow.
That said, let's get this update started. Several of the women auxiliary leaders of the Church recently represented the Church in presenting a donation to Utah's Children's Justice Centers to aid in the work done by those centers to prevent child abuse (where possible) and to enable them to help previously-abused children have access to the tools they need to recover (where necessary).
The Church has been more proactively involved in such issues lately, and so the acknowledgement of all that those centers do in such situations was wonderful to hear about. You can find more information on that via this Church News article or from this official release from Mormon Newsroom.
On June 29, the Church News published another article covering summaries of content posted to social media by several Church leaders. In this most recent article, some of those posts covered thoughts on Joseph Smith in conjunction with June 27 having marked the 174th anniversary of the Prophet's martyrdom in Carthage Jail, while others spoke of how we as Church members can strengthen our relationship to and our testimony of the Savior.
The Church News and Mormon Newsroom also covered stories on how the filming of the Church's Book of Mormon video project has recently wrapped up. Bishop Dean M. Davies, who currently serves as First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric of the Church, was the featured speaker at the commencement exercises for BYU-Hawaii's recently-held graduation ceremony, and during his remarks, he talked about the process the Church goes through to get temples built, which at times includes a lot of patience and trust that the Lord knows what needs to happen and when. His remarks are well worthy of review.
Retired Church News editor Gerry Avant continued her retrospective articles examining the many experiences she had witnessed during her career, with this look back at President Monson's strong connection to Germany, and how many apostolic promises he made to the German Saints were fulfilled to the letter.
Continuing the tradition that has been observed for a while, another article written by general officers has been published. The Primary General Presidency shared these thoughts regarding how parents can and should help their children from a very early age to have a relationship with God.
Both Mormon Newsroom and the Church News continue to carry articles about the Mormon Tabernacle Choir's "Classic Coast Tour", and there are many articles covering highlights from their travels. The Church has become the first religious organization to ever receive the Good Neighbor Award from the United States-Mexico Chamber of Commerce. More details on that are provided in this article.
The Church News shared this report, which noted the results of a recent survey taken by several Church members regarding the changes that will be coming to the hymnbook. For those not satisfied by those results, as previously noted, feedback will continue to be accepted for the next year, until the end of July 2019.
Those of you who follow the LDS Church Growth Blog in addition to this one are no doubt aware that this recent post highlighted a three-milestone record that was being observed within the Church's Africa West Area. The Church News published their own article providing additional context regarding that same subject. It is wonderful to read about what the Lord has done for that area of the Church.
It is also plain to see why Matthew Martinich, who publishes the LDS Church Growth Blog, has shared his opinion that the Africa West Area, which currently has two operating temples and one other announced, is likely to have 13 temples either in various stages or dedicated by 2030. If the ongoing growth is any indication, that is a very reachable prospect that we are sure to see.
And, to round out my coverage of the latest Church news, I want to note some updates on the recent ministry of our apostles. Elder D. Todd Christofferson just returned a short while ago from a visit to the Philippines Area of the Church, and this report shares his thoughts and observations on all that transpired during his time there.
Finishing my coverage of recent news, I have highlighted in previous posts the efforts and contributions the Church is making to prevent suicide. Articles from the Church News and Mormon Newsroom highlight new resources the Church has released on that subject, which includes video clips with thoughts from Elder Dale G. Renlund of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Sister Carol F. McConkie, who was released as First Counselor in the Young Women General Presidency last April.
I should mention that the Church will continue to publish highlights from the recent Seminar for New Mission Leadership, but at the time I was putting this post together, no additional reports have been provided. I continue to monitor all Church and temple news and developments and will do my level best to bring word of those to you as I receive 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.
I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.
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