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Some things to watch for this GC: – I am in no way advocating for protest, but it will be interesting to observe if this GC will have any form of protest (outside or in) due to “The Policy”. Personally, I think it is not constructive to do anything in the meetings themselves, but wouldn’t be surprised to see ‘no’ votes being voiced during the sustaining of GAs.
– It will be interesting to hear talks that reference “The Policy”, either by iron-rod black & white commitment to what God has revealed or by trying to soften the tone and remind that we still love all people and care about our LGBT friends, family, and fellow-members.
– Each of the three new Apostles will speak for the first time for real. Last GC, they each spoke for almost exactly seven minutes, which is half the length of a normal GA talk. While I really appreciated Elder Renlund’s talk “Through the Eyes of God”, for example, it will be good to hear something more thought out and fully prepared. I suspect that this first full talk will be a precursor of what we can expect from each of them for years to come. They may branch out later to interesting ‘other’ topics, but this first talk will likely represent their core belief and approach.
– It will be interesting if we hear from President Monson. In October, he spoke in Priesthood Session and Sunday Morning, the latter a beautiful talk which he struggled to conclude.
– Increasingly all eyes are on RMN. Last April, he was fourth in seniority, with President Monson showing no signs of significant slowdown. Now, RMN is next in line with TSM increasingly frail. Somewhat non-descript a year ago, he seems to be emerging as a bit of a hardliner after his “Mind of the Lord, Will of the Lord” comments in January regarding “The Policy”.
– There will be a lot of releases from the 2nd Q70. These people serve for six or seven years (unofficial) and not after age 70. The Church has recently taken to calling the 1Q70 and the 2Q70 “General Authority Seventies”, and not even listing them separately on lds.org. 1Q70 is a calling until age 70, 2Q70 is for a temporary term. There are five members of the 2Q70 who will reach their seventh anniversary of being called this GC. Most notable are Kent F. Richards, who will be released because he is now 70, and Gregory A. Schwitzer, who are the Executive Director and Assistant Executive Director of the Temple Department. It will be interesting to see if they are both released, or if Schwitzer stays on.
– Presidencies of RS and Primary have been in slightly longer than normal. Linda K Burton has been the RS President for six years now. The previous three Presidents were all in for exactly five years. Rosemary M. Wixom has also been in for six years; her predecessor was in for five. They have been serving on general Church Councils since last fall, so it might be too early for a change, but we’ll see.
– Presiding Bishop Gerald Causse will have his first GC ad PB and will be sustained by the Church in that role for the first time, having been appointed just after GC in October. He did speak in GC last April, but it seems likely that he would speak again soon.
They aren’t much in the habit of talking about controversial issues in GC these days, and they’re not much in the habit of talking about LGBT issues either. I give that one a miss with the possible exception of RMN doubling down on the “will of the Lord” thing (which I hope and think he will avoid honestly – and I hope none of the others follow his lead in declaring the policy revelation). The policy is part of GHI1, and those things are not generally addressed in GC. There may be protesters and/or no votes, which I think will be handled as they have been. I do agree that RMN seems to have been a bit more assertive and a bit more “out front” since his move up. I was frankly quite surprised he wasn’t the one dedicating the new Provo temple – but see why it was Oaks (it’s his hometown). I don’t necessarily care for the new RMN.
I also look forward to hearing from the three new guys and agree that we will know much more about them and their tone after this conference. They are currently ranked Redlund, Rasband, Stevenson in my book.
I think we will hear from Pres. Monson because he’s not ready to give up. I’m not sure we will hear from him more than once and expect that he will sit. If he does only speak once it will likely be Sunday morning.
I agree that we’ll see some changes in the 2Q70. Those guys are generally inconsequential as far as I’m concerned, although some of them can annoy me from time to time (but they’re also easy to ignore). The same can be said for the auxiliary presidencies (no offense intended).
I like Bishop Causse and look forward to hearing more from him. As a member of the PB, he will speak every third conference. It’s hard to tell if that will start with this one since he did just speak as a Seventy.
I think most people know that I’ve convinced myself that April is the good cop conference and October is the bad cop conference. During the April conference someone dusts off a nice padded folding chair and invites you to take a seat. During October conference someone yanks the seat away right as you go to sit down and you end up plopping on the floor. 
A lot has happened since October, frankly I don’t know what to expect. I see more and more people openly voicing dissatisfaction with some aspect or other related to the church. I have the smallest of windows through which I view the world but it feels like just about every member these days knows at least one person that has become disaffected. Then you’ve got the whole Full Nelson policy snafu that was quietly introduced, clarified, reworded, and revealed to be a revelation. There have been a few “what Bednar said” moments but I think only the smallest of demographics noticed/cared about that. A part of me thinks there will be a few talks that feel like the brethren responding directly to critics like Ballard’s ‘Stay in the Boat and Hold On!’ (and a few other talks during the Oct ’14 conference). Another part of me feels like it won’t be a big topic of discussion; it’s April conference, it’s supposed to be the one that gives me hope in big tent Mormonism.
You might want to turn your cynicism detectors off for the rest of the post lest the needle on it break…
Protests – I expect there will be a few “any opposed” people, especially in light of the policy. I don’t expect it to cause any waves. I think most people recognize the futility in it. If you think about it November was the perfect time to “release” the Full Nelson. It gives plenty of time for people to calm down before the next general conference. Could you imagine what it would be like if the Full Nelson dropped a few weeks ago?
On Own Now wrote:– It will be interesting to hear talks that reference “The Policy”, either by iron-rod black & white commitment to what God has revealed or by trying to soften the tone and remind that we still love all people and care about our LGBT friends, family, and fellow-members.
I’m going to call on the ¿por qué no los dos? girl to answer this question. If they address the issue they’ll likely bust out the rod, include a call to “love all people,”and then show the rod one more time to make sure that’s the lasting impression people are left with.
The three amigos – Yeah, I look forward to what they’ll say as well. Outside the music that’s the most compelling reason for me to watch conference this go round. I’m not going to assume that their first real talks will reflect what to expect from them. I don’t remember but I think Bednar had a larger fan club than Uchtdorf after their first few GC talks.
On Own Now wrote:– It will be interesting if we hear from President Monson. In October, he spoke in Priesthood Session and Sunday Morning, the latter a beautiful talk which he struggled to conclude.
I’ll go ahead and say it. I don’t want to hear from Monson. I want the guy to have a break, watch the conference from his home. It’s his call though. If he feels well enough to attend who am I to argue? If he talks I hope he decides to talk from his chair, it might be easier for him.
DarkJedi wrote:They aren’t much in the habit of talking about controversial issues in GC these days, and they’re not much in the habit of talking about LGBT issues either. I give that one a miss with the possible exception of RMN doubling down on the “will of the Lord” thing (which I hope and think he will avoid honestly – and I hope none of the others follow his lead in declaring the policy revelation). The policy is part of GHI1, and those things are not generally addressed in GC. There may be protesters and/or no votes, which I think will be handled as they have been.
They may not address it head on but they may talk about it indirectly. Talks that focus on following the prophet probably have the goal of reminding people that they should be on board with the policy.
nibbler wrote:I’m not going to assume that their first real talks will reflect what to expect from them. I don’t remember but I think Bednar had a larger fan club than Uchtdorf after their first few GC talks.
I agree that we will learn about them over time. But, I went back to look at DAB and DFU first full talks after they were made Apostles. It was interesting to see that the people that we know them to be today shone through clearly in their first addresses.
DAB gave a talk on the blessings God has in store for us, but spread on a heavy portion of obedience being the key that would unleash the blessings.
Quote:the Father’s work is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of His children.
Our work is to keep His commandments with all of our might, mind, and strength—and we therebybecome chosen and, through the Holy Ghost, receive and recognize the tender mercies of the Lord in our daily lives. –DAB April 2005 Quote:We have been blessed to receive inspired counsel from the leaders of the Savior’s Church—timely counsel for our day and for our circumstances and for our challenges. We have been instructed, lifted, edified, called to repentance, and strengthened. The spirit of this conference has fortified our faith and fueled our desire to repent, to obey, to improve, and to serve. Like you, I am eager to now act upon the reminders, counsel, and personal inspiration with which we have been blessed during this conference. –DAB April 2005
It disturbs me a bit to think that the purpose of our lives is to keep commandments… and that those commandments are best articulated by our Church leaders… and that we approach God through a cycle of obeying, repenting, obeying more. But, there it is… and the talk from eleven years ago is as DAB as any that he has given.
DFU, in his first Apostolic address (same conference) gave a very interesting talk about JS and the FV, but in a different sense. Still all party-line, but emphasizing that the founding visions of the Church gave him (DFU) the ability to find his own testimony of Christ. The narrative of the Church provided a way for him to find God. There was some mention of keeping the commandments, but much watered down from DAB. I’d say it’s more like the lifestyle of a disciple, rather than the factor that determines God’s willingness to bless us. Where DAB associated obedience with the words of Church leaders, DFU talked about “living the commandments of God”. A couple of very DFU quotes from that first talk:
Quote:As we experiment upon the words given to us by the scriptures and the living prophets—even if we only have a desire to believe—and do not resist the Spirit of the Lord, our souls will be enlarged and our understanding will be enlightened. –DFU April 2005
Quote:Faith in Jesus Christ and a testimony of Him and His universal Atonement is not just a doctrine with great theological value. Such faith is a universal gift, glorious for all cultural regions of this earth, irrespective of language, race, color, nationality, or socioeconomic circumstance. The powers of reason may be used to try to understand this gift, but those who feel its effects most deeply are those who are willing to accept its blessings, which come from a pure and clean life of following the path of true repentance and living the commandments of God. –DFU April 2005
How about that. Bednar’s fan club must have either been responding to his suave, Ken doll-like looks or there’s a niche that really enjoys focusing on obedience. Thanks for the citations.
nibbler, I think a major factor in the excitement over DAB was that he was so young when he was added to the quorum that he was perceived as a shoe-in for future prophet. He was relatively unknown, but young and vibrant and represented the future (at that time). He was 12 years younger than the two guys ahead of him in the Q12 and at least 19 years younger than everyone else. Even today he is the third youngest member of the FP/Q12. I remember loving Bednar’s “Tender Mercies” talk. If my memory is correct it wasn’t so much about the commandments that I and others liked, it was the warm gentle feeling that Tender Mercies ignited. Almost a step away from the rule rhetoric and a chance to be embraced in balm of charity. As I see it, his mentoring tapped those hard line feelings and now we don’t get anymore Tender Mercies. It breaks my heart. As for Uchtdorf on that same weekend I couldn’t remember a thing he said, but I did love his accent and tan. My crush began that day. He could just read the announcements and I would be happy. Lucky me, I got my wish, he conducts the meeting and my heart is filled.
FWIW, I appreciate DAB for the work he does. I think he is very sincere and makes major sacrifices for the cause. I disagree with his ‘theology’, but I understand it. I don’t really think of him so much as a hardliner, but rather as an extreme B&W thinker. To him, it appears, the gospel is “simple” and “straightforward” to use terms familiar in his talks. I believe that to DAB, the gospel can be reduced to two simple and straightforward equations: God’s love = commandments to us
Our obedience = blessings from God
Quote:OON: It will be interesting to hear talks that reference “The Policy”, either by iron-rod black & white commitment to what God has revealed or by trying to soften the tone and remind that we still love all people and care about our LGBT friends, family, and fellow-members.
I think, or maybe it’s just a hope, that it’ll be more soft. Elder Cook was recently interviewed by Sherri Dew and talked about his time in leadership in the Bay Area – a lot about the members of this stake dying of AIDS, how they were supported and taken care of by others and each other. The reaction to the interview that I saw was mixed, for sure, but I at least appreciated the act of someone talking about real gay people, not hypotheticals, not doctrine.
You just said much more positive things about Elder Bednar than I can.
OON, thank you for that description of Elder Bednar. I think it is accurate, charitable, and important to understand. This may be a little off base but for GC I would like to hear the Brethren reach out to have better relations with other churches as I believe that is possible and it should happen . President Hinckley said and this is not exact to: Bring with you what you have and let us add unto it . This is such a great statement it really reaches out to other churches . I want to see the LDS church work more with other Christian churches and even other faiths as I believe this is what the savoir would want us to do. God speaks to all of us in many different ways and we as members of the church should not minimize or look down upon other churches but as I said reach out to them become friends I.E. brothers and sisters. Fwiw, the top leadership has been focusing since Hinckley’s presidency on interfaith cooperation for many things. I love that new, expanded outreach.
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