GENERAL CONFERENCE NOTES.

At first session of the recently concluded April 2009 general conference, The First presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced the call of a new apostle.

The statistical report claims well over 13,500,000 members of the church. Therefore, one would think the First Presidency would have a wide variety of possible men from which to make their long and short lists.

However, the modern quorum of apostles contains rather too few men for the work load it has to do. The work that needs to be done in a 13-million-member church and the missionary work that needs to be done in a world with a population over 7 billion people probably requires an apostolic quorum with 24 or even 30 members. I suspect the First Presidency has to deal with the reality of just how few men in the Church would really willingly take an apostolic position in an undermanned quorum with way too little pay, way too big a work load – and commit to the job for life. Day in day out, year after year to the bitter end. Not many I suspect will willingly sign up for that without flinching.

This year the Second Quorum of the Seventy marks its 20th anniversary. Next year the reconstituted First Quorum of the Seventy observed its 35th anniversary. Some scripture scholars claim the number “70" really represent some sort of ancient Hebrew power symbol. Nevertheless, neither quorum have come close to a membership of 70 apiece.

In some basic way, the Second Quorum of the Seventy was the late President Hinckley’s biggest failure. Put another way, the Second Quorum of the Seventy was the preisthood’s greatest failure to fill adequately. He should have called 10-12 men to the Second Quorum every year for terms of 5 to 7 years. Only once in his ministry did he even come close to that ideal.

30 years after the 1978 priesthood and race revelation, the First Quorum of Seventy
now has a real black African member. This development definitely points the Church in general and the First Quorum of Seventy in particular in the right direction. Someday, we hope, we will all be sophisticated enough that the race of quorum members will no longer be an issue anywhere. Right now, though, it stands as a landmark in a church and in a time and place when the First Presidency managed in 2001 to call a white man (!) as the first African member of the First Quorum of Seventy.

The First Presidency called Neil L Andersen as the newest apostle of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. This means the quorum of the Twelve now has three members born in Logan, Utah and has two members with connections to Pocatello, Idaho (!) of all places.

Of the 21st century’s apostles, only one has ancestors who served as past general authorities. Two have connections to California and three to places in the South of the United States. Only one has a direct connection to Provo, Utah . Well, two if you count Jeffrey Holland’s time at BYU. Provo for him was a stepping stone.

MORAL TO THE STORY
The Men of Provo have little chance of becoming general authorities.