Stokes Sounds Off

Search This Blog

Leaderboard

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Current Composition and Demographics of Area Seventies Quorums (Third-Eighth)

Hello again, everyone! Although it took around 10 hours for me to complete the process, I finished making all of the necessary updates to my personal list of current area seventies. As of August 1 of last year, each of the six Area Seventies Quorums (Third-Eighth) were comprised of those living in the following areas of the Church:

Third Quorum: Africa Southeast, Africa West, Europe, Europe East, and Middle East/Africa North
Fourth Quorum: Caribbean, Central America, Mexico, and South America Northwest
Fifth Quorum: Idaho, North America Northwest, North America West, and Utah (which either had a single area or was divided between the Utah North, Utah Salt Lake City and Utah South Areas)
Sixth Quorum: North America Central, Noth America Northeast, North America Southeast, and North America Southwest
Seventh Quorum: Brazil and South America South
Eighth Quorum: Asia, Asia North, Pacific, and Philippines

With the changes that took place last April (7 current area seventies released, and 55 others sustained), the Church now has a grand total of 306 men who currently serve in areas of the Church throughout the world. This may be the first instance since area seventies were first called in the late 1990s where the total number of those serving as such has exceeded 300.

I have kept a running total of of the currently-serving area seventies for a while now. I do so first by adding the individual totals for each area within a quorum to get a subtotal, then have kept a running grand total. Based on the current composition of each Quorum, I arrived at the following totals:

Quorum
Totals within each Area
Quorum Total
Running Total
Third
15+15+16+5+1
52
52
Fourth
6+15+22+21
64
116
Fifth
10+5+11+29
55
171
Sixth
7+13+7+18
45
216
Seventh
23+21
44
260
Eighth
9+12+12+13
46
306

Note that while the last 3 Quorums still have less than 50 members each, the Third, Fourth, and Fifth Quorums are 18, 6, and 15 members away respectively from the doctrinally-defined maximum total of 70. While any releases which may be presented in October will lower these numbers, based on the high number of members in the first three quorums vs. the last three, I could see the Church moving to perhaps redistribute the geographical makeup of these areas.

It is also worth noting that, if, as conjectured in my previous post, the number of North American areas goes down to 6, depending on how those 6 areas are redistributed between the Fifth and Sixth Quorums, the two could potentially be evened out somehow. And if the composition of the other 4 Quorums was also adjusted (whether or not a Ninth Quorum is established), that could even out the distribution of those numbers as well.

Either way, it will be interesting to see what happens in that respect. I am assuming that any change to the number of areas in the Church and the way the membership of these six Area Seventies Quorums is distributed will be announced with the changes in area leadership, which, as I have previously noted, should be occurring within the next week or two, if not sooner than that. Whenever it does occur, you can count on my covering those developments here.

In the meantime, that does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.


Monday, April 22, 2019

List of the Most Likely Changes Which May Be Made in Area Leadership for 2019

Hello again, everyone! Within the last 7 hours or so, I have taken time to look at the 2018 Area Leadership assignments and the members of each of the current area presidencies. Based on what my research on that subject showed, I have, as promised previously, compiled a list of the most likely changes which may be made to area leadership when the 2019 assignments in that respect are announced.

As I previously mentioned, until last year, it had been customary for the Church to release a list of those changes either in late April or at any point during May. Last year, those new assignments were released on the Newsroom website the Thursday after General Conference concluded. Since that did not happen this year, I am thinking that was a one-time thing, and that we will likely hear about the 2019 Area Leadership assignments within the next 1-4 weeks, but perhaps earlier than that if all goes well.

Having taken time to analyze what I know about the current area presidency members serving in various parts of the world, I have compiled a list of changes which, based on that research and analysis, seem likely to be announced whenever that information is released. I include a copy of that research below. In order to not disturb the flow of that data and the results of my research on that subject, I will end here and now as I always do:

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post5 at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, pleaxe feel free to subscribe. 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.


List of the Most Likely Changes Which May Be Made in Area Leadership for 2019

New area—Africa Central: In mid-January, in a post on the Church Growth Blog which analyzed the announcement that 4 new missions would be created, with 12 current ones to be consolidated in July, Matthew Martinich noted that, given the growth trends of the Church throughout theI African continent, the Church could organize an Africa Central Area, which would likely be headquartered in Kinshasa and would include the following 9 nations: Angola, Cameroon, Central African Republic, Chad, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Gabon, Republic of the Congo, and Sao Tome and Pricipe, although other nations could likely be included in that area if the Church deems it necessary.. If such an area is created, it may be based in Kinshasa DR Congo, and a 3-man area presidency would be needed to preside over it. That would also likely result in a realignment of the Africa Southeast and Africa West Areas.

Other potential new areas in Africa: If the Church wanted to ease the administrative burden on the area presidency members serving the African continent, in addition to the Africa Central Area, the Africa Southeast Area could be split further into the Africa East and Africa South
Areas.

New areas elsewhere: In 1995, the Church had several separate areas that have since been merged. A few examples: at that time, Idaho was not its’ own separate area, Mexico had two (North and South), the South American continent was divided between 3 areas (Brazil, South America North, and South America South), Europe had 3 areas (Europe East, Europe North, and Europe West), and there was a Philippines/Micronesia Area. Over the years, some areas have been consolidated (with the Chile Area being consolidated into the South America South Area). So in some areas where more significant growth is occurring, it may make sense to create or recreate new or previously-consolidated areas.

Potential Area Consolidations: Elsewhere in prior posts on the Church Growth Blog, Matt mentioned that the Europe East Area could potentially be consolidated into the Europe Area, and that the Asia North Area could potentially be consolidated into the Asia Area due to some issues the Europe East and Asia North Areas are having in terms of stagnating growth, If the Asia and Asia North and Europe and Europe East Areas were to be consolidated, the location of the area offices for what would then be one Asia Area and one Europe Area might be changed.

Elder Marcos A. Aidukaitis released as President of the Brazil Area.
Note: Elder Aidukaitis has served in this assignment since 2017, but has served in this area presidency since 2014. As he has been away from headquarters for 5 years straight, it would make sense if he was released from area service and reassigned to Church headquarters. If he is released, it seems likely that one of his two current counselors (Elders W. Mark Bassett or Adilson de Paula Parrella) would succeed him in that assignment.

Elder Jose L. Alonso released as First Counselor in the Caribbean Area Presidency.
Note: Elder Alonso has been away from Church headquarters since 2014, serving in the Central America Area Presidency for 3 years, and having served in the Caribbean Area Presidency since 2017. It would not surprise me if he and the current area president, Elder Gonzalez (as I will explain more fully below) were released and reassigned to Church headquarters, with Elder Eduardo Gavarret perhaps called as the new area president.

Elder Wilford W. Andersen released as President of the Idaho/North America Central Area and as Junior Administrator of the Middle East/Africa North Area.
Note: Elder Andersen will turn 70 in mid-August, and will thus likely be granted emeritus status. He could be replaced in the former assignment by either of his counselors (Elders S. Gifford Nielsen or Brian K. Taylor), and either of those two could also remain in the newly-reorganized area presidency. In the second assignment, he could potentially be replaced by Elder Paul B. Pieper, the current First Counselor in the North America Southeast Area, who has previously had oversight for that area.

Elder Claudio R. M. Costa released as President of the North America Southeast Area.
Note: Elder Costa, who is the longest-serving current General Authority Seventy, marked his 70th birthday one month ago (in late March). His release will make Elder Lynn G. Robbins the new longest-serving current General Authority Seventy, and the most-senior General Authority Seventies will be those originally called during the prophetic administration of President Gordon B. Hinckley. Elder Costa could be replaced as President of the North America Southeast Area by either of his counselors (Elders Shayne M. Bowen or Vern P. Stanfill), and either of those two could also remain in the newly-reorganized area presidency.

Elder LeGrand R. Curtis released as First Counselor in the Utah Area Presidency.
Note: On April 10, 2019, the First Presidency announced that Elder Curtis will be serving as the new Church Historian and Recorder, effective August 1, 2019. Because that assignment is established by revelation, sustained by the Church membership, and involves full-time focus, that in turn will necessitate his release from that area assignment. As a result of this change, it is likely that Elder Randy D. Funk, currently Second Counselor in that area presidency, may be called to succeed him, with a new Second Counselor then called.

Elder Walter F. Gonzalez released as President of the Caribbean Area.
Note: Elder Gonzalez has served as president of this area since 2016, and prior to that was president of the South America South Area from early January 2013-2016. Since he has spent more than 6 years away from Church headquarters, it would make sense if he returned back to Church headquarters to fill other assignments. Given what I noted above about his current First Counselor, Elder Jose L. Alonso, Elder Eduardo Gavarret, the current Second Counselor in this area presidency, could be called as the new president with two new counselors.

Elder O. Vincent Haleck released as Pacific Area President
Note: Elder Haleck turned 70 in mid-January of this year, and will thus likely be released and granted emeritus status in October. He could be succeeded as president of this area by either of his counselors (Elders Ian S. Ardern or K. Brett Nattress). Of the two, it would make sense if Elder Ardern became the new president, since his niece is the Prime Minister of New Zealand and Elder Ardern would thus be in a prime position to effect quick action on the Auckland New Zealand Temple. If Elder Ardern is assigned as the new area president, I could see Elder Nattress being called as the new First Counselor in the area presidency.

Elder Paul V. Johnson released as Europe Area President
Note: On April 10, 2019, the First Presidency announced that Elder Johnson would be succeeding Elder Kim B. Clark as Commissioner of Church Education. Since that is a full-time assignment at Church headquarters, he will be released from this assignment. I could see either of his counselors (Elders Gary B. Sabin or Massimo De Feo) being called as the new area president.)

Elder Arnulfo Valenzuela released as Mexico Area President
Note: Elder Valenzuela was called as a General Authority Seventy in April 2013, and has served in the Mexico Area Presidency since August of that same year, and was called as area president last year. While the Church could have him serve another year or two as the area president, if he is called back to Church headquarters, one of his two counselors (Elders Rafael E. Pino and John C. Pingree Jr.) could then be called as the new president of this area.

Elder Kazuhiko Yamashita released as First Counselor in the Asia North Area Presidency.
Note: Elder Yamashita has served in this area presidency since 2015. Since that was 4 years ago, I could see the First Presidency reassigning him to Church headquarters. If that happens, Elder Takashi Wada, the current Second Counselor in that area presidency, could succeed him as First Counselor, with a new Second Counselor called.

Elder Alexey V. Samaykin (Area Seventy) released as Second Counselor in the Europe East Area Presidency.
Note: Elder Samaykin has served as an area seventy since April 2014, and may thus be released during the October 2019 General Conference. Since he has served as a counselor in this area presidency for the last 3 years at minimum (which is also rare for an area seventy), it would make sense if a change was made here.


Sunday, April 21, 2019

Easter Post 2019

Hello again, everyone! On this Easter Sunday, I wanted to post an Easter message to all who read this blog. First, I wanted to note that this weekend, the Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square performed Easter-themed selections for a concert. More information about that concert (including details on how to watch it after the fact) are available here. The First Presidency also released a copy of their annual Easter message on the Newsroom's official website. 

Meanwhile, Boyd Matheson, the opinion editor for the Deseret News, shared insights on how knowing, remembering, and serving Jesus Christ can make us better in our efforts to become his true disciples. And on this Easter Sunday, in the aftermath of bombings in Sri Lanka, the Asia Area Presidency (Elders David F. Evans, Peter F. Meurs, and David P. Home) offered a nessage of solidarity and comfort to those affected thereby.

With those messages in mind, I wanted to share some thoughts I have had in conjunction with this holy day. As those of us who are adherents to various Christian faiths today mark the milestone of Christ taking away the sting of death and the victory of the grave, Latter-day Saints know, as detailed in the scriptures, that the Savior's mission neither began in Be4thlehem not concluded on Calvary's cross.

His was an infinite mission. In the premortal realm, when Lucifer sought to destroy the agency of man and frustrate the Father's plan by compelling all of us to adhere to God;s laws (in return for which he wanted the honor, glory, and power of our Heavenly Father), Jesus Christ stepped forward and promised to redeem all those who would believe on His name, and make the difference for what we would lack at times when, in the natural course of mortality, we would fall short.

From the beginning of time (which was initiated by and through the fall of Adam), the prophets of the Old Testament and Book of Mormon testified of the coming of the Messiah, who would not redeem people in their sins, but would save them from the effects of their transgressions of the law. Those prophets liooked forward to the time of His coming in the flesh, and prophesied of the impact His mortal mission and ministry would have on the whole human race.

As the only one to be born of a mortal mother and an immortal father, His birth took place in a lowly stable, as he was cradled in a manger. From the very beginning of His life, some sought him to worship Him, while others, due to their misunderstanding of prophecies relating to His life and mission, sought to take away his life. All that we know about his childhood is summed up in a single sentence: "And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man."

When he was 12 years of age, as His mortal parents headed home from Jerusalem after the commemoration of the Passover, Joseph and Mary realized He was missing, and when they looked for Him, they found Him in the temple speaking with learned men who were hearing Him, asking Him questions, ad were amazed at his wisdom and understanding of holy writ. Jesus said to Joseph and Mary, "Wist [know] ye not that I must be about my Father's business?"

At the age of  around 30 or so, Jesus began His formal ministry, calling disciples and working miracles, including turning water into wine, healing the sick, raising the dead, and teaching the doctrine of His Father to all who would hear Him. When He spoke to His disciples about His atonement, death, and resurrection, few uinderstood what He said.

The persecution against Him continued. The time came for Him to take the burden of our sins, transgressions, pains, sicknesses, and sorrows. The level of intensity associated with His atonement caused Him to bleed from every pore. As He thus suffered, His three chief disciples, Peter, James and John, fell asleep. He asked: "Could ye not watch with me one hour?" He said to His Father: "If thou be willing, let this cup pass from me. Not my will, but thine be done." Returning to Peter, James and John, He told themL "Sleep on now, and take your rest", knowing that there would be no rest for Him.

One of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, approached Him, and having made arrangements with governmental leaders to do so, kissed Him as a way of pointing out who He was. Jesus said to him: "Betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?" As the Roman soldiers stepped forward to apprenehend Him, Peeter cut off the ear of Malchus, the servant of Caiaphas, who was one of two High Priests of Jesus' day before whom He would be brought (the other being Annas). In an act of compassion, the Savior instructed Peter to let the process play out, and healed the ear of Malchus. He would also be brought before Pontius Pilate twice.

In the midst of this course of events, many of His disciples fled. One who remained was Peter. Being confronted by 3 individuals at 3 separate times, Peter thrice denied knowing the Savior. Upon the third denial, the cock crowed, fulfilling a prophecy of the Savior that Peter would thrice deny knowing Him. As a result, Peter went out and wept bitterly.

Upon the second time Jesus was brought before Pilate, the prefect of Judea, Pilate said to an obsersving crowd: "I find no fault in this man." In accordance with tradition, Pilate presented the people with a choice: they could either release Jesus or Barabbas. The people chose Barabbas, and clamored in relation to Jesus: "Crucify him!" Pilate washed his hands before the people in an attempt to absolve himself of responsibility for what happened. But in allowing that to occur, Pontius Pilate had ignored a dream his wife said she had, as a result of which she had urged him not to take action on such matters.

Jesus was then sourged (a process that involved being whipped with strands to which shards of glass, rock, and other sharply-pointed objects were threaded). Roman soldiers cast lots for His clothes, and He was given a crimson robe, while his head was crowned with plaited thorns. Forced to carry his own cross, when He stumbled under the weight thereof, a man from the crowd was selected to carry it for Him. Upon reaching Calvary's hill, He was nailed to that corss. He was lifted up thereon, being placed between two thieves. A marker above His corss identified Him as "the king of the Jews".

As He hung in agony from that cross, in order to fulfill the full measure of His Son's divinely-appointed mission, our Father temporarily withdrew the comfort of His presence. Faced with that challenge, the Savior said: "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" When He understood that He had accomplished all that needed to be done, He said, "Father, into thy hands I commit my Spirit. It is finished." Having said this, He died.

His mortal remains were then entombed, while His spirit ascended to His Father. As modern scripture informs us, He spent the 3 days of that mortal entombment spiritualy miinistering to the souls of the dead. He was then resurrected, and those who sought to know where He was were informed: "He is not here, for He is risen." Following His resurrection, after He ministered to His disciples in Jeusalem, He appeared to His Nephite followers in the new world, and subsequently to members of the lost ten tribes of Israel (the account of which ministry is yet to be revealed as part of this dispensation).

After again ascending to His Father, the two Heavenly Beings appeared to the prophet Joseph Smith in the spring of 1820 to open the last dispensation, which has since become known as "the dispensation of the fulness of times." That appearance ended a multi-century period of aposatacy which took hold worldwide. In this dispensation, we have been reminded that Jesus Christ still stands at the head of His Church, and has entrusted the keys thereof to His special witnesses in whom is vested the power and authority of the apostleship.

Throughout this dispensation, those so called to the office and authority of the apostleship have born a united and unified testimony of His life, ministry, and mission. The Prophet Joseph Smith and Sidney Rigdon testified:  "And now, after the many testimonies which have been given of him, this is the testimony, last of all, which we give of him: That he lives!

"For we saw him, even on the right hand of God; and we heard the voice bearing record that he is the Only Begotten of the Father—

"That by him, and through him, and of him, the worlds are and were created, and the inhabitants thereof are begotten sons and daughters unto God."

And two additional testimonies of the Savior, given by two of His apostles in this dispensation, have always had a [owerful impact on me: Elder Bruce R. McConkie's final apostolic testimony, entitled "The Purifying Power of Gethsemane", and Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's Easter 2009 testimony, "None Were with Him". Both of those addresses are well worthy of your review.

In the meantime, in addition to testifying of His life, ministry, and mission, apostles of this dispensation have been clear that He will come again, and will reign on the earth for 1,000 years. They have also counseled all of us repeatedly to prepare ourselves for that great day. My patriarchal blessing acknowledges that we are currently in the Saturday evening of time (which puts us at sometime between 5 PM and 9 PM), and it is my hope and prayer that we will be ready when Sunday arrives.

We are blessed each year to have the opportunity to pause and rflect on the life, mission, and ministry of our Savior. The hope given to each of us by and through the atonement, death, and resurrection of the Savior provides reassurance that we will all overcome death, and that all who believe in Him and follow His counsel will also be redeemed from the impact of spiritual death. Because of Him, we have hope for peace in this world and eternal life in the world to come. His is the invitation: "I stand at the door and knock. If any man shall hear my voice and open the door, I will come into him and will sup with him, and he with me."

While He wants very much to be part of our lives, He never forces His presence on anyone. All of us have the daily choice as to whether or not we will open the door to Him. It is my hope and prayer that, on this Easter Sunday and always, as we remember His great atoning sacrifice, and acknowledge that He died that we might live, we may take this opportunity to open that door, and let Him and the divine influence and serenity His presence provides into our lives. As we do so, may we also mold our behavior, actions, thoughts, words, and deeds to enable His influenece to shape us into what He needs us to be. If we can do so, we will be all the better for it. That this may be our blessing and privilege of this day and always is my humble prayer as I close this Easter message in the name of Him whom we celebrate each Easter Sunday, even Jesus Christ, Amen.

My Projections for the May 2019 Enisign Table of Contets

Hello again, everyone, and Happy Easter Sunday. While I have no desire to detract from what should rightfully be our focus on this sacred and significant day, at the same time, I anticipate that the Church will make the PDF version of the May 2019 Enisign available within the next several days. And with that in mind, I have once again put together my projections for the likely layout of that magazine.

For those who are not familiar with what I do in that respect, one tradition I have always followed after each General Conference is to put together some preliminary estimated page numbers for each talk given or news item shared during General Conference. I base those estimates on past precedent, and also on the lengths of various talks. It has been traditional for most talks given by the First Presidency to fill roughly 4 pages (with the exception of the Sustaining of CHurch Officers and the opening and closing addresses given by the Church President), while the talks given by the apostles take up 3-4 pages, and all other General Authorities or General Officers of the Church usually give remarks that fill 2-3 pages.

Also, given that the Church has, for the most part, stopped including a regular "News of the Church" section at the end of each month's issue, the May and November issues feature promiment mentions of any Church news leading up to, during, and directly after General Conference. Since President Nelson has done each of the 3 General Conferences over which he has presided thus far slightly differently than what has typically been the pattern for most of the General Conferences since the mid-2000s or so, that has made putting this together that much more challenging.

But I welcomed the opportunity to put this together, and hope that many of you will find it interesting. I anticipate that within the next week or less, the full version of the actual May 2019 General Conference Ensign will be made available. Whenever that occurs, I will be posting about how the actual table of contents compared to what I put together. In order to not disturb the flow of that information, I will end here and now as I always do:

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. Until my next post (which should, barring anything unexpected, be an Easter Sunday message that I anticipate publishing within the next 12-16 hours), I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Possible Table of Contents for the May 2019 Ensign
Session
Page
Title
Speaker

2
Conference Summary for the 188th Annual General Conference


4
Highlights from the 188th Annual General Conference

SAM
6
How Can I Understand?
Elder Ulisses Soares

10
Careful vs. Casual
Becky Craven

13
Answers to Prayer
Elder Brook P. Hales

16
Missionary Work: Sharing What Is in Your Heart
Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf

21
Just as He Did
Bishop W. Christopher Waddell

24
A Home Where the Spirit of the Lord Dwells
President Henry B. Eyring
SAA
28
The Sustaining of Church Officers
President Dallin H. Oaks

29
Church Auditing Department Report, 2017
Kevin R. Jergensen

30
The True, Pure, and Simple Gospel of Jesus Christ
President M. Russell Ballard

34
Seeking Knowledge by the Spirit
Elder Mathias Held

37
The Eye of Faith
Elder Neil L. Andersen

41
Feasting upon the Words of Christ
Elder Takashi Wada

43
Hearing His Voice
Elder David P. Homer

46
Behold the Lamb of God
Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
SPH
50
Your Priesthood Playbook
Elder Gary E. Stevenson

54
The Quorum: A Place of Belonging
Elder Carl B. Cook

57
Look unto Jesus Christ
Elder Kim B. Clark

60
The Power of Sustaining Faith
President Henry B. Eyring

64
Where Will This Lead?
President Dallin H. Oaks

68
Ministering with the Power and Authority of God
President Russell M. Nelson
SUM
75
Abound with Blessings
Elder Dale G. Renlund

79
Christ, The Light That Shines in Darkness
Sharon Eubank

82
Great Love for Our Father’s Children
Elder Quentin L. Cook          

86
Preparing for the Lord’s Return
Elder D. Todd Christofferson

90
The Atonement of Jesus Christ
Tad R. Callister

93
Come, Follow Me
President Russell M. Nelson
SUA
97
Cleansed by Repentance
President Dallin H. Oaks

101
Exercising Our Spiritual Muscles
Elder Juan Pablo Villar

104
Good Shepherd, Lamb of God
Elder Gerrit W. Gong

107
Prepared to Obtain Every Needful Thing
Elder David A. Bednar

111
The Immediate Goodness of God
Elder Kyle S. McKay

114
Build a Fortress of Spirituality and Protection
Elder Ronald A. Rasband

118
Closing Remarks
President Russell M. Nelson





72
General Authorities and General Officers of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints


119
Statistical Report


120
Conference Story Index


121
News of the Church, including new leader biographies, temple updates, scripture translations, etc.)


137
Come Follow Me—For Elders’ Quorum and Relief Society


144
Last Page of Conference Ensign