In preparation for being baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at age 8, Elder Matthew J. Eyring’s father asked him, “Do you have faith in Jesus Christ?”

Young Matthew began to cry, replying, “I don’t know.”

At the tender invitation of his father, the two knelt on his bedroom floor — near the rocking chair where his mother would read to him every night before bed — and prayed. “That was probably the first time I felt the Spirit that strongly in my life,” Elder Eyring recalled. “I knew my Savior lived.”

That experience was formative, he said, but also illustrative of the many faith-filled influences that have guided him throughout his life.

“I think the Lord has been very kind to me to put righteous mentors in my way,” Elder Eyring noted soon after being sustained as a General Authority Seventy during April 2026 general conference.

At the top of his list of mentors is his wife. “Amy Froerer Eyring has been one of the biggest influences in my life — of light and love and devotion to the Savior,” he said.

Sister Amy Eyring is quickly followed by his parents — President Henry B. Eyring, first counselor in the First Presidency, and the late Sister Kathleen Johnson Eyring.

The influence of these and other righteous mentors for Elder Eyring has resulted in an abiding testimony of the Savior, Jesus Christ, and a desire to serve in His Church.

“We’re happy to serve, wherever we’re needed,” said Elder Eyring of this new call. “We’re very grateful to be part of the work of the Lord in any capacity.”

Early influences

Matthew Johnson Eyring was born in Palo Alto, California, on July 19, 1969.

Elder Eyring described his childhood as “wonderful and loving and faith-filled.”

Individuals will sometimes ask him what it was like to grow up with a general authority as a parent. “I wouldn’t describe our growing up as unusual in any sense, but it was spiritually very consistent,” he said.

Like many Latter-day Saint families around the world, they read scriptures together daily and held home evening weekly.

As the third of four sons — the family would eventually grow to also include two daughters — Elder Eyring has a distinct memory of being part of a row of sleepy boys lined up on the couch for morning scripture study. His dad, an artist, would sometimes draw little cartoons to illustrate the scripture stories they were learning.

His mom, he said, was focused on serving her Heavenly Father and showing her love for the Savior, Jesus Christ, “and that really permeated everything we did.”

When he was about 3 years old, the family exchanged their more urban living situation in the Bay Area of California for small-town Rexburg in southeast Idaho, when President Eyring was asked to be president of Ricks College.

“It was a special time, in a special place,” said Elder Eyring of the six years the family spent in Rexburg.

College students were often at their home for home evening, and the boys loved going to their father’s administrative office for lunch.

The sometimes-heavy demands of serving in the Church and the school never seemed like a burden, but a blessing, Elder Eyring noted. “Both my parents, it was clear, loved Ricks College and loved Rexburg, Idaho,” Elder Eyring said. They “set a pattern of joyfully serving, even in their young, busy years.”

When President Eyring’s tenure as Ricks president was over, the family moved to Bountiful, Utah. At age 10, Elder Eyring received his patriarchal blessing. “As a young boy, I wanted my patriarchal blessing because I knew that that would contain true guidance for my life,” especially for his teen years, he said. “It was also, I think, representative of the feeling I had, the longing I had, to try to be close to my Heavenly Father and the Savior the best I could.”

Through middle school and high school, “I played every sport until I got cut,” he said with a smile, except for swimming and tennis, which he did competitively until graduating from high school. Tennis, he noted, was the family sport.

“I have hundreds of hours of memories with my mom, hitting a tennis ball,” he recalled.

Besides his parents, Elder Eyring said, he benefited during his teen years from the influence of amazing seminary teachers and priesthood leaders and, eventually, his mission presidents in the Chile Santiago South Mission — President Jared Taylor and President W. Craig Zwick, both of whom would later be called as general authorities.

Marriage and education

Elder Eyring attended one year at Ricks College prior to his mission, then earned a bachelor’s degree in economics at the University of Utah following his mission.

After graduation, he began working for a management consulting company in Boston, Massachusetts. Eventually, the company learned he spoke Spanish and offered him a project based in Bogota, Colombia, and then La Paz, Bolivia. Soon he was commuting among Massachusetts, South America and Salt Lake City.

On a winter vacation to Salt Lake to visit family, Elder Eyring was set up on a blind date by the daughter of his mission president with a friend of hers — Amy Rebecca Froerer.

Sister Amy Eyring recalled: “I had been on previous blind dates that didn’t go so well, and I did have other plans that weekend, and so I started to tell her no. And then I had a very strong impression that came to my mind that said, ‘Don’t say no.’”

The two met for pizza and ice skating and went on several dates before Elder Eyring had to fly back to Massachusetts and then Bolivia.

“Then we probably set a record for the amount of money spent on long-distance phone calls,” Elder Eyring said.

The two were married on Aug. 5, 1995, in the Salt Lake Temple. Sister Eyring then moved with Elder Eyring, first to Boston, then to Bolivia. While he was consulting business executives and heads of state, she served in an orphanage in the center of La Paz.

“It was really a sweet experience for me to be able to love these children and serve,” said Sister Eyring.

It was also a crash course in learning to speak Spanish.

“It really bonded us as a couple,” Elder Eyring observed.

The two returned to Boston when Elder Eyring was accepted to Harvard Business School. In his second year of business school, the two were delighted when Sister Eyring became pregnant with twin girls.

The pregnancy, however, was difficult. Sister Eyring went into labor at 31 weeks, and they lost one of the babies to twin-to-twin transfusion syndrome, a pregnancy condition that involves a disruption in blood flow between identical twins.

“It was a bittersweet time,” Sister Eyring recalled. “We mourned the loss of our one daughter and were so grateful for the healthy arrival of our other daughter.”

Although devastated, “we were so grateful for the comfort and strength of the Lord,” Elder Eyring said.

As a mother, Sister Eyring said, “that was a time for me to really turn everything over to the Lord and trust in Him with all my heart.”

Since then, the Eyrings have welcomed four more children — two sons and two more daughters.

“We’re really grateful for our family,” said Elder Eyring.

“We’re grateful to be here. We love this Church, and we love the Savior.”

—  Elder Matthew J. Eyring, General Authority Seventy

Serving in the kingdom

Amid career moves and raising their children, the Eyrings also always prioritized serving in the Church. “Those were wonderful, busy years,” Elder Eyring said.

Elder Eyring’s diverse career has included positions in management consulting, medical technology and business innovation. Much of his career kept them in the Boston area, which they loved. There they rubbed shoulders with many dynamic, faithful role models.

“I could tell you story after story after story how [Church members] were quietly being ambassadors and true Saints and ministering in that area and were big examples for us,” said Elder Eyring.

Since 2021, Elder Eyring has worked as the vice president of career development at BYU–Pathway Worldwide.

Elder Eyring said he could spend hours talking about the amazing blessings happening in BYU–Pathway and education. “The Lord loves His children and wants to give them opportunities in all areas to progress and become like Him, and that is happening. And it’s happening in an organized, global way. And that’s the miracle.”

There is “an extraordinary acceleration” of the Lord’s work right now that can only be seen “on the ground, all around the earth, and we’ve been lucky enough to see that in many, many places. So we’re really, really grateful. We’re grateful to be here. We love this Church, and we love the Savior,” said Elder Eyring.

About Elder Matthew J. Eyring

Family: Born in Palo Alto, California, on July 19, 1969, to Henry Bennion Eyring and Kathleen Johnson Eyring. Married Amy Rebecca Froerer on Aug. 5, 1995, in the Salt Lake Temple. They are the parents of five children.

Education: Earned a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Utah and a Master of Business Administration degree from Harvard Business School.

Employment: Has worked for a variety of companies in management consulting, medical technology and business innovation. Most recently, he has been vice president of career development at BYU–Pathway Worldwide.

Church service: Area Seventy, mission presidency counselor, stake presidency counselor, bishop and full-time missionary in the Chile Santiago South Mission.