SALT LAKE CITY – Three new apostles were called to fill vacancies left in the wake of the recent passing of members of the LDS Church’s second-highest ranking body, the Quorum of Twelve Apostles, earlier this year.
In the afternoon session of the biannual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Elders Ronald A. Rasband, Gary E. Stevenson and Dale G. Renlund were each called to fill the gaps in the quorum left by the deaths of Elder L. Tom Perry, President Boyd K, Packer and Elder Richard G. Scott.
Each new member of the Quorum hails from Utah.
According to a church press release, Renlund’s call to the office makes him the 100th apostle called in the church since it’s organization in 1830.
Prior to their callings, Rasband, 64, of Utah, was serving as the senior president in the Presidency of the Seventy, and body of general authorities of the church that serves under the Quorum of Twelve. He became a general authority of the Church in April 2000. Professionally, he has been the president and CEO of Huntsman Chemical Corporation.
Stevenson, 60, of Utah, was serving as the presiding bishop of the church since March 2012 and previously served in the First Quorum of the Seventy, to which he was called in 2008. He will continue in his position as presiding bishop for what is expected to be a short period until his replacement is named. Professionally, he co-founded and served as president and chief operating officer of Icon Health & Fitness Inc.
Renlund, 62, of Utah, had served in the First Quorum of the Seventy since April 2009 prior to being named to the Quorum of the Twelve. He was a professor of medicine at the University of Utah and the medical director of the Utah Transplantation Affiliated Hospitals Cardiac Transplant Program.
The three men join the second-highest ranking body of leaders in the LDS Church who oversee its governance and direction worldwide. They are directed by the First Presidency, which is composed of the church’s president and his two counselors.
Like the apostles in ancient times, the men who hold that title today come from a variety of fields, including law, business, medicine, academia and the judiciary, and they too put aside their respective professions to serve full-time as witnesses of Jesus Christ.
Calls to the Quorum of Twelve are lifelong assignments.
A replacement in the Quorum of the Twelve is called by the president of the church, who seeks and receives inspiration in extending the call, according to a church news release. New members of the quorum are generally called from the general authorities and senior leadership of the church.
Rasband, Stevenson and Renlund will address the general membership of the church during a conference session to be held Sunday morning, which can be viewed at LDS.org.
Resources – additional information provided by MormonNewsroom.org
- Elder Ronald A. Rasband: Prepared for a Lifetime of Service
- Elder Gary E. Stevenson: A Life of Constancy and Service
- Elder Dale G. Renlund: An Understanding Heart
Related posts
- LDS Church announces death of 3rd apostle this year, Elder Richard G. Scott
- Mormon apostle Boyd K. Packer dies at 90
- Mormon apostle L. Tom Perry dies at 92
- 3 Mormon women appointed to historically all-male LDS church leadership councils
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Copyright St. George News, SaintGeorgeUtah.com LLC, 2015, all rights reserved.
Oh good! More white men from Utah!
Wow, talk about a church ran like a corporation from the 50s (before civil rights were appreciated and diversity was an American goal).
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Really?! No Asian or European or African or Hispanic apostles??? There are more LDS members OUTSIDE the USA, the majority speak Spanish, and as a global institution, the Mormon church leadership still seems determined to not see the world God does.
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Oh well…
3 old white business men from Utah (aka “Mormonland”) were appointed to more prominent positions within Mormon “Church” (aka Mormon, Inc). Why doesn’t that shock me?
Thanks St George news for your fair reporting. You do a great service for those of us who are the majority voice in the community. I am sure the small unhappy minority will make some crude remarks and insults but they are only an unhappy minority. I know if the Catholics or the Baptists had some big news for you to report you would be equally fair with them and I would find their news interesting since i like and respect them and have many good friends who are part of those churches. Bias and hatred are such ugly things and I so appreciate that you don’t engage in that sort of thing.
I have no hatred in my heart for any of my neighbors. I do have hatred for lies, and Mormons have had lies fed to them about their founder, Joseph Smith, historical events, and racist doctrine (from 1840s to 1970s – that’s over a hundred years!), and lies about the Book of Abraham (Egyptologists have found it to be a fraud!), ugliness of Joseph Smith’s polygamy with teenage girls (as young as 14!) and with women already married – most religions call that pedophelia and adultery, and other lies any one can easily see in the history of the church itself.
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I invite you to look into it! Look at the Journal of Discourses (especially Brigham Young’s teachings as prophet!), the Joseph Smith papers on the church website…etc.
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This is sincere concern for my neighbors! I have love, not hatred for my neighbors. I HATE to see people blinded by lies! God doesn’t want His children blinded by lies. I invite you to research your own church from your own church history and teachings. Think about how it all measures up to God’s laws and morality.
What a blessed moment in time to see these three men called to serve. I pray for their Divine guidance in all they do to further the name of the Lord and the LDS Church. God bless them.
Beautifully written. I thank you for your considerate sensibility.
Mesa, bite me, I was only kidding.
BITE ME.!
Wow, 3 men in their early 60’s. They might not even need a private nurse like the other 9. I’m going to toast them with my first shot of Tequila tonight.
Tommy Monson will have to be replaced soon. he’ll be too senile to function.. The “Lard” will have to choose a new “prophet”
The corporation already has the next hundred years planned out. It won’t matter who the talking heads are. Secrets are safe in the vaults, money keeps coming in, and the Mormon machine keeps chugging as long as people are too lazy to look into the truth behind the history and doctrines… Kinda crazy, huh.