During the 190th Annual General Conference, a new Young Men general presidency was called and sustained. The outgoing Young Men general presidency — Brother Stephen W. Owen, Brother Douglas D. Holmes and Brother M. Joseph Brough — were released after serving together as a presidency for five years.
Here’s a look at the newly called Young Men general presidency:
Brother Steven J. Lund
When Brother Steven J. Lund was sustained as Young Men general president during the April 2020 general conference, he accepted a sacred charge to help guide hundreds of thousands of Aaronic Priesthood-age males in a global Church.
But if it were possible to meet one-on-one with every deacon, teacher and priest in the world, he knows exactly what he would say:
“Being a successful member of the Kingdom of God isn’t complicated — Heavenly Father loves you. You just need to love Him back. And if we do that, we’re going to be safe and happy … Our lives are going to mean something.”
Taking the Church seriously doesn’t simply happen on Sunday. It’s an everyday opportunity, according to the attorney-turned-business-executive. “Reading the scriptures. Going to Church. Repenting as soon as we are off track. Opening our mouths and being an example of the gospel. That’s our Heavenly Father’s plan. This is the doctrine of Christ: to repent and continue and grow.
“And if we do those things, the joys of life have no bounds.”
Brother Lund was born on October 30, 1953, to Jay and Toy Ellen Lund and grew up in both Northern California (Santa Rosa) and Southern California (Long Beach). His service in the U.S. Army took him back to Europe, a continent he had come to love during his missionary service to the Netherlands.
Following his enlistment, he enrolled in Brigham Young University, where he re-connected with a young woman he had become acquainted with while stationed in Germany. Steven and Kalleen Kirk were soon a couple and eventually married in the Salt Lake Temple on Aug. 8, 1980. They are the parents of four children.
After claiming a law degree at BYU, he worked as a lawyer before eventually becoming president and CEO of Nu Skin Enterprises. He is currently the company’s executive chairman of the board of directors and is a regent of the Utah System of Higher Education.
Brother Ahmad Corbitt
Ahmad S. Corbitt, 57, was born in August 1962 to James Earl Corbitt and Amelia Corbitt. The family was poor and lived in the housing projects of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, surrounded by crime and gang violence. It was not safe to travel from neighborhood to neighborhood.
But his mother’s spiritual impressions guided her 10 children and kept them safe. She knew intuitively when her children should play outside and when they should stay inside.
It was that spiritual sensitivity that later led her to invite missionaries from The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints into her home. During much of his boyhood and youth, Ahmad and his family worshipped with the Nation of Islam, and he was later baptized Protestant. But now he felt loved and embraced by the local Latter-day Saint congregation.
His mother and a few of siblings were baptized the next month. On Aug. 16, 1980, Ahmad also entered the waters of baptism on his 18th birthday. His stepfather, Henry Brandford Campbell, joined the Church the next year.
“It wasn’t really about us,” he said. “It was about God and what He wanted us to do. We were willing to be humble and open. He led us along.”
Brother Corbitt — sustained April 4 as the first counselor in the Young Men general presidency — has relied on the Lord to guide and direct his life.
After attending Ricks College and serving in the Puerto Rico San Juan Mission from 1982 to 1984, he met Jayne Joslin on a young single adult temple trip. The couple married on August 24, 1985 in the Washington D.C. Temple and are the parents of six children. For the next nine years, he worked to support his family by day and attended school at night, earning degrees from Richard Stockton College of New Jersey and Rutgers University School of Law.
He is a former stake president and counselor, high councilor and president of the Dominican Republic Santo Domingo East Mission from 2014 to 2017.
Brother Corbitt worked as a trial lawyer, in public relations and as director of the Church’s New York Office of Public and International Affairs. He is currently employed by the Church’s Missionary Department.
Brother Bradley R. Wilcox
While once participating in a youth conference in California, Brother Bradley R. Wilcox met a young man who didn’t want to be there. He joined the teenager under a shady tree and soon they were discussing the youth’s favorite topic — skateboarding.
Brother Wilcox asked the teen to show him some skateboarding moves and was impressed. He invited the youth to do a skateboarding demonstration at Especially For Youth that summer. The young man initially resisted, but warmed up to the idea and agreed.
In the process, the young man had a life-changing experience and found his testimony of the gospel, Brother Wilcox said.
“He got to EFY on a skateboard, but he left as a missionary.”
The short account is one of many such experiences in Brother Wilcox’s life that demonstrate his deep love for the young people of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
“I’ve spent my life with children and teenagers,” Brother Wilcox said, “and I love the youth.”
Bradley Ray Wilcox was born in Provo, Utah, on Dec. 25, 1959, to Ray T. Wilcox and Val C. Wilcox. He grew up in Provo except for a few childhood years spent in Ethiopia.
After serving a full-time mission in Vina del Mar, Chile, Brother Wilcox married Deborah Gunnell in the Provo Utah Temple on Oct. 7, 1982. They are the parents of four children and live in Provo, Utah.
Brother Wilcox received his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brigham Young University and his doctorate in education from the University of Wyoming. Over the years, he has been honored with several awards for his excellent work in education. He has devoted more than three decades of his life to BYU’s Especially for Youth program, and has relished being an instructor at Campus Education Week.
His family has lived in New Zealand and Spain while he directed study abroad programs there for BYU. Brother Wilcox is the author of several books and is currently a professor in the Department of Ancient Scripture at BYU.
His past Church service includes as the bishop of a young single adult ward, as a counselor in YSA stake presidency, president of the Chile Santiago East Mission, member of the Sunday School general board and, most recently, a high councilor and stake young men president.
