President Dallin H. Oaks was set apart as the 18th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Oct. 14, 2025, succeeding President Russell M. Nelson after the latter’s death. This calling continues the Lord’s established pattern, confirming the longest-serving living apostle as the new Prophet through revelation and priesthood authority.
On this episode of the Church News podcast, Church News editor Ryan Jensen explores the life of President Oaks with excerpts from interviews conducted in the days and weeks surrounding the prophetic calling.
Family members, general Church leaders and the counselors in the First Presidency share lessons from their experiences and observations of the Prophet of the restored Church. They testify of President Oaks’ preparation for this role as the Lord’s mouthpiece to the world (see Doctrine and Covenants 21:5), as he has proven himself a man of faith in Jesus Christ, family and law.
Listen to this episode of the Church News podcast on Apple Podcasts, Amazon, Spotify, bookshelf PLUS, YouTube or wherever you get podcasts.
Transcript:
President Dallin H. Oaks: I know beyond any certainty in my life that this is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, restored with the fullness of the gospel that God has chosen to reveal in this dispensation of the fullness of time and led by prophets to the present day. I accept with humility the responsibility that God has placed upon me and commit my whole heart and soul to the service to which I have been called. I testify in all humility the Lord still speaks through His servants. There is much to be done, for our ministry is a ministry of all the children of God on the face of the earth. We pray for all. We seek to serve all. I testify of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Head of this Church, and invoke His blessings upon all of us as we seek to serve Him.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: This is Jon Ryan Jensen, editor of the Church News. Welcome to the Church News podcast. Today, we are taking you on a journey of connection as we discuss news and events of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, when a prophet dies — as President Russell M. Nelson did on Saturday, Sept. 27, 2025 — the First Presidency of the Church is dissolved. In the time that follows, known as the apostolic interregnum, the Church is led by the remaining members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, with the longest-serving Apostle assuming leadership of the quorum until he is confirmed as the new prophet through revelation and priesthood authority.
On Tuesday, Oct. 14, 2025, President Dallin Harris Oaks was announced as the 18th President and Prophet of Christ’s restored Church on the earth, with President Henry B. Eyring and President D. Todd Christofferson called to serve with him as first and second counselors, respectively, in the First Presidency. President Jeffrey R. Holland subsequently began his service as president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
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Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles made the announcement.
Elder Gary E. Stevenson: We welcome you from the Conference Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, on this memorable occasion of the presentation of a new First Presidency. With the passing of our beloved Prophet, Russell M. Nelson, on Sept. 27, 2025, the First Presidency was dissolved. The men previously serving as counselors assumed their places in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and that quorum assumed leadership of the Church with the senior Apostle at its head.
Members of the Quorum of the Twelve met earlier today to consider reconstituting the First Presidency. This revelatory experience again confirmed to each of us in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles that Jesus Christ directs His Church. We are honored now to announce that President Dallin Harris Oaks was set apart as the 18th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints this morning.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: In this episode of the Church News podcast, we learn of and explore the life of President Oaks with excerpts from interviews conducted in the days and weeks surrounding President Oaks’ calling. Here are the experiences and observations of family members and general Church leaders he has worked with during his decades of Church service.
We start with second counselor in the First Presidency, President D. Todd Christofferson, who gives us insight into President Oaks’ skills and leadership, both in spiritual and public matters.
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President D. Todd Christofferson: I think the first thing people notice about President Oaks — at least that I did when first becoming acquainted with him — is his very keen intellect. He has an analytical mind and very bright, but at the same time the ability to express himself clearly. Those two do not always go together, but they do in him. And he has the ability to think clearly, to express himself clearly. But it does not stop there. He is very deep feeling, a person who feels things deeply.
One thing that strikes me is that he has been a good follower as well as a strong leader. In my observation, those who are really good leaders have also been very good followers. And I think one of the reasons that is true is because that means their ego is not really involved. They are focused on the merits of the matter and what is best for the Church, what is best for the project or the undertaking that is involved, and they are not wrapped up in thinking about “what is best for me.” They can be a very effective follower, just as much as they can be an effective leader.
In the First Presidency, I noticed in meetings we had with them, I was there from time to time in my role as head of the Church Educational System Executive Committee, and other times when I had responsibility in Church Correlation and Public Affairs, other assignments, he was very deferential to President Nelson. He certainly expressed his opinion as asked and was very clear but still quite deferential. And then other settings where he is a presiding officer, if you will, he has no trouble leading out and directing things and organizing and making sure that good things happen and that a good product comes out the other end of the pipeline, so to speak.
But I would say also that in all of this — his intellectual prowess and all these other things, qualities and talents, gifts that he has — the primary thing for me is that he is open to the impressions of the Spirit. He knows how to pause, how to be quiet, how to listen, if you will, to the Spirit’s voice. And he responds. He is attentive. He knows how to receive those impressions. He knows how to act on them, and because he does act on them, I think the Lord gives him a constant flow of that kind of direction and impression — even just little nudges, I guess you could say, at times. He perceives spiritual things and acts on spiritual matters and spiritual direction.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: To family members, it was no surprise that his general conference message in October 2025 focused on the family. President Oaks’ oldest daughter, Sharmon Ward, shared some examples of how family was important to her and her family growing up.
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Sharmon Ward: Family was very important to Dad and Mom, and some of the lessons, I think, that he taught us were that family is important and that you need to have love within your family. And as we always had family home evening in our home and family dinners together every night that was possible, our family dinners had no other distractions. Not only in family home evening but at the dinner table, because Dad would share his experiences, and sometimes those experiences included how the Lord had blessed him that day.
He taught all of us that you can always do more with the Lord’s help than you can without it, and that we needed to rely on the Lord, and that we could go to Him for any kind of a problem we were having, whether it was not being able to find your house key or your homework or whatever, that we could always go to the Lord for help, because He loved us. And as hard as it was for us to comprehend, God loved us even more than our daddy loved us. And I think that was one of the greatest blessings that he gave to me as a child, to know that my Heavenly Father loved me and my earthly parents loved me. That gives so much security.
And I know that he knows that God lives and that Jesus is the Christ, because he’s borne that testimony to me individually and in the things that he has taught me to rely on the Lord and to all of our family and his testimony. He deliberately taught the gospel to us. He would see us struggling, and he would ask when we were sick if we would like a priesthood blessing. And when we went on a hike with our dad, we’d follow a rabbit’s tracks to their hole. And he would explain that God made this whole beautiful earth for us. He taught us the plan of salvation in everyday life, in everyday situations.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: Similarly, TruAnn Boulter, President Oaks’ fifth child, talked about the way her father helped everyone in the family feel they had a voice as they counseled together. She spoke about specific examples from the family’s time living in Chicago, Illinois, and how President Oaks always ensured the family was focused on doing the Lord’s will.
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TruAnn Boulter: Dad was always so entertaining and so fun and always projected so much love, and family togetherness was key. I’ve learned through the years by Dad’s example as well that No. 1, we need to be kind and respectful of other people and their views, but please be willing to stand up for yourself and share your own views.
And that is one thing that I actually wanted to touch on, is that Dad taught us — and it was a lesson from Chicago; so I moved to Utah when I was 9, so if it was Chicago, it was prior to 9 — and I remember him using a term that is probably not the exact term now, but “don’t be a silent agreer” or “don’t agree silently with whatever is going on around you.”
And so if one finds him or herself in a situation where maybe a friend is being talked about and you don’t agree or don’t want your friend to be talked about in that way, you need to speak up. And he also made it clear that if you’re in a situation where something that’s being said is not true, to speak up and not just to allow things that are not true to be said or to be part of a conversation where you are assumed to be agreeing with it. And I was quite young, but that was a very strong lesson to me that I have maintained throughout my life. And he was always one to make sure that we did it with kindness and love, but that our view or the truth was made known.
Dad was always so good about acknowledging the Lord in all things. And if there was ever anything that we considered in our family, we called them tithing blessings, and that’s just when we get a blessing and he could attribute it to, or he would attribute it to, paying our tithing, or any other type of blessing. He was the first to acknowledge that it came from the Lord and always encouraged us to then pray and be grateful and always acknowledge the Lord’s hand in all things. And that was a phrase that we used in our home a lot. And he and Mom both would always attribute the blessings in our lives to the Lord. And that’s something that hopefully we’ve all passed on to our families, and that was an important principle for us and our family.
Everything he did, everything he said, just points to the fact that he knows we have a divine Savior and a Heavenly Father who loves us and we’re loved and that he wanted everyone in our family, as well as the world, to know that they’re children of God and a loving Heavenly Father. And the “Grandchild of the Month” letters that he would write — they would rotate through the different grandchildren — and especially when the children got a little older, they became very meaningful.
And he would personalize those letters, and they knew that their pictures were on display in his office. And that is something that I have tried to follow. So I have a grandchild on my piano, and I write them birthday cards, of course, so they’re on my piano, about every two weeks it changes so that my grandkids are on the piano. And I teach violin, so my students and people are in my living room seeing that all the time as I teach. And so we have adopted that practice, and I think that’s meaningful to them.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: President Oaks and his late wife, Sister June Oaks, incorporated a “Grandchild of the Month” feature that enabled them to spend dedicated time with an individual grandchild and show their love for that grandchild. Trent Boulter, one of the Oaks’ grandsons, talked about building a personal relationship with his grandfather.
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Trent Boulter: Especially growing up, we knew that Grandpa wasn’t necessarily just our grandpa. He belonged to the Church. I feel like the relationship that Grandpa has with his grandchildren and great-grandchildren, it’s an individual relationship. It’s not consistent. It’s not the same for anyone, because he takes the time to actually ask questions and get to know each member of the family. And I feel as though, as we’ve all kind of had our own moment, knowing that we have to share him with the rest of the world.
And so to have a knowledge that as I was staying up late to watch the BYU-Colorado football game — I was at a family reunion down in St. George, and so everybody else was dead asleep; I’m up by myself — and that right after the game, during the postgame, is when the notification was sent out about President Nelson’s passing. And I wasn’t sure if it was real. And then I looked at my phone and saw the notification from The Church News and Deseret News and KSL, and all those started to come in.
And I was by myself. It’s completely dark. I’ve turned off the TV. The only light in the room is on my little handheld phone device. And I remember turning it off, and I sat there, and I had a really neat, personal spiritual experience where I realized what his passing meant and the weight my grandfather now carries as the presiding high priest of the Church and the prophets of the world. And it was such a sweet experience to have a confirmation that he had been put in a position by design, to lead God’s children at this time.
My grandpa has never done anything that he didn’t feel prompted to do by the Lord, especially in his calling. And so to know that even in these moments of monumental family change, his response is still the same: “If the Lord asks me to do it, I will do it.” He’s not going to do anything for recognition, for popularity, for notoriety. He is here to serve the Lord, and that’s it. That’s all that matters.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: And a granddaughter, Tiffany Bratt, agreed that President Oaks has always taught about the importance of family as part of Heavenly Father’s plan of happiness.
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Tiffany Bratt: Well, he’s always helped our family focus on the Lord, and he brings every conversation back to improving our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And it’s just so special to be around him, and so uplifting.
Some of my favorite memories from my childhood are sitting around my grandfather’s dining room table and just listening to him tell funny stories, and just the whole family laughing together. My grandfather has a deep, joyful laugh, and it just makes the whole family start laughing whenever he tells a funny story. And in all of those times when we had those special family dinners and listened to Grandpa tell stories, he also shared a lot of wise counsel with us as well.
He did inspire me to go to law school. I’ve always loved language and loved writing, but I saw through my grandfather’s work that when you put words to actions, that you can accomplish a lot of things and help a lot of people. And so he’s a large reason why I decided to go to law school. I went to law school, and he attended my law school graduation, and I was the only one who got a big bear hug when I walked across the stage. But he just always took the time out of his extremely busy schedule to make us feel so loved and so supported by him. And even when I was applying for law school, he was just so supportive and encouraging and made sure to tell me he was proud of me. And just anytime you’re with him, he just emanates the love of the Savior.
Grandpa has always taught us to work first and play later. That’s one of his mottos in our family. And he has exemplified that, both through his legal career as well as in his Church service. He’s always working tirelessly to help not just our family members but all of God’s children around the world. He has burned the midnight oil and spent long hours serving everyone around him.
At family dinners, he was one of the ones to help clean up and do the dishes and put chairs away. So he was always serving in the way that the Savior did, and he kind of set the tone of being a true disciple of Christ in every context. Really, it’s just a blessing and a privilege to be his granddaughter. He’s taught us so much that has helped us come together as a family and follow in the footsteps of Jesus Christ.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: Bratt continued by sharing an example of love shown by the simple gift of a small pocketknife.
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Tiffany Bratt: My grandfather lost his father, Lloyd Oaks, when he was just 7 years old. And sometime before that, when he was a very young boy, he was standing, and he saw a little boy looking longingly through a store window at a pocketknife. And my grandfather, my great-grandfather, walked into that shop and bought the little boy the pocketknife. And then my grandfather, who was also a little boy who would have loved a pocketknife, he said, “Dad, why didn’t you buy me a pocketknife?” And he said, “Because that little boy doesn’t have a father, and I want him to have a pocketknife because he doesn’t have a father to buy one for him.”
But my grandfather lost his father before he got a pocketknife. And then he remembered that, and he loved his sons and his grandsons so much that later, he bought pocketknives for all of his grandsons when they were little boys, because he remembered the loving act that his father did when he bought a pocketknife for that little boy. And I guess just the love and attention he’s given us and the priority that he’s made each of us as his family members has just inspired me and helped me throughout my life to feel the love of the Savior.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: President Eyring, first counselor in the new First Presidency, testified of President Oaks as President of the Church and expressed his gratitude to be at the new Prophet’s side. President Eyring shared these feelings as the new First Presidency was introduced to the world.
21:18
President Henry B. Eyring: I cannot express the gratitude that I feel for the trust — the trust from the Lord and the trust that President Oaks has shown to me. I love him and know him and can testify that I know that he is the head of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, by inspiration. I have seen the power of God come upon him. And it has been a reassuring thing to me to know that just as in the days of old, when Peter and others would lead the church, that the people would be able to recognize that that was the Lord’s servant to lead His church.
I have had that blessing, and I have had that assurance come to me, and I am so grateful for that and grateful for the trust and grateful for the people whose faith I know will sustain us in this great work of the Restoration and the final preparation of the Lord’s Church for His coming. I bear you my testimony that preparation is occurring and that President Oaks is the perfect one to do the things that I know the Lord will want, and I am grateful to be at his side.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: President Holland spoke about how President Oaks’ legal background and personal experiences prepared him to carry the prophetic mantle as he leads the Church under the Savior’s direction.
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President Jeffrey R. Holland: I think legal training is a very disciplined kind of study. Well, you just have to know a lot of that case law or statutory documentation. There is just — you see those pictures of a lawyer’s library, they are just those endless, endless books of the tax code or something really thrilling like that. But I think that kind of study and that kind of discipline, combined with his hard work, has made him wonderfully well prepared for anything. He is perfectly prepared for that with these habits, these virtues and the style that he has lived with all of his life.
I think his courtesy, his being calm, his being — he is not one to reprimand easily or almost at all. He is a wonderful, wonderful parent and husband. It is very hard to think of anything that Dallin Oaks is not good at. So he is prepared. You look back, I look back, at his life, and it has not been easy. That touching, moving testimony in conference where he described his reaction to his father’s death and running into his grandfather’s room and throwing himself down on his knees and realizing that at 7 he was the man of the house, with his wonderful, wonderful mother and his brother and sister.
So, some hard, other parts of it, I would not say easy, but fluid and smooth. So very, very good at what he did that he has been considered more than once for the United States Supreme Court. And I do not know the factors that went into his not being appointed, but they were not anything to do with Dallin Oaks’ flaw. It was not that; whatever politics can come into such an appointment. But he was prepared in every way to be a United States Supreme Court justice. And of course, he did that in Utah, as a Utah State justice; briefly, but he did it. He could do anything.
He could do anything, and he was good at it. So for the rest of us, we just sort of get depressed about that. See how good he is, and applaud it. We absolutely love being around him, being with him, and I have been able to do that for half a century, and I am grateful for the privilege that it has been all these years.
I wish him well. I have got limited health. I do not know how many months, or whatever measurement you want to use, I do not know how much of that I have got left. Seems like maybe a little, because I am doing so well, I feel so good. But whenever we go, I will be anxious to have a future opportunity, if I can, with Dallin Oaks in another realm. I hope I get to do something for him and with him on the other side of the veil, because I have sure loved doing it here.
I have loved his love for me on this side of the veil, and mine for him, and I just wish him well and pray for him and sustain him. And I would like to have any small portion of his virtues, his faith and his love for God and His identity with the Savior of the world. He is the complete man of God, and I love him.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: Relief Society General President Camille N. Johnson shared how her testimony of prophets, seers and revelators has come from following prophetic invitations and said she’s excited to learn more about the gospel of Jesus Christ from President Oaks.
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President Camille N. Johnson: My testimony of prophets, seers and revelators, I think people think, “Well, you have that testimony because you’ve had the opportunity to be with them.” And that is true. I feel like the luckiest girl on the planet because I’ve had the opportunity to associate with them. And yet, the testimony that I have about their being apostles, representatives of the Savior, and prophets, seers and revelators can be acquired by anyone, if they’ll just listen, accept those invitations and then see if the promised blessings come to fruition. And I know they do; not necessarily on the timing that we want, but I do know that those blessings, those promised blessings, are ours.
And by my observation, and as I’ve had an opportunity to listen over the many years to President Oaks’ talks — particularly those that he’s given in general conference, and now with my renewed interest in listening to them every day — I can see a pattern that is really established there. And he presents his talks in a very organized fashion. I appreciate that as a lawyer myself. I can see the structure with which his talks have been organized, where he lays out a question, identifies the facts, the scriptural precedent to support the invitations that he’s extending to us.
And I look forward to him continuing to extend prophetic invitations to us. I know that when we accept and act upon those prophetic invitations, the blessings that are promised will be realized by us. And it’s a way that we’ll know and confirm that the Holy Ghost will confirm in our hearts that he is, in fact, the Lord’s mouthpiece on the earth today.
And what I have seen as President Oaks has had the opportunity to lead out in meetings is he’s anxious to hear the viewpoints of everyone who sits around the table with him. He’s always treated me with gentleness and kindness, always looked me right in the eye and been very sincere in his concern for me, and very personal in the way he’s approached me; calling me by name, mentioning something specific that I’ve recently participated in. He seems keenly aware of what the sisters are doing in the Church. As we have the opportunity to see President Oaks serving as the President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I know he’ll lead out. I know he’ll do so with strength of character and with direction directly from the Lord.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: Primary General President Susan H. Porter talked about the different principles she has learned from President Oaks, beginning with his time serving as president of Brigham Young University, and later through his various messages and interactions with her and her late husband, Elder Bruce D. Porter.
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President Susan H. Porter: My first even knowledge of President Oaks was when I was at BYU, and he was the president of BYU. And so he started out for me as President Oaks. So I’d never met him personally, but I really felt — I think we all felt — his desire when he came to just lift BYU academically and spiritually. We really respected him as students.
One of my earliest memories with him was at the funeral of his wife, June Dixon Oaks, in 1998, and he spoke at her funeral. And I’ll never forget that loving tribute. And near the end, he referred to the Savior’s invitation that we not light our candle and then put it under a bushel basket, but that we let that light shine (see Matthew 5:15-16). And then he said, “There is no bushel basket that is big enough to cover the light that is June Dixon Oaks.” I’ll never forget that. So that’s a clear memory from that time.
And then how Elder Oaks and his then-wife, Kristen, were always so warm and so inviting to all of us. And of course, I went to those luncheons for general authority wives every month for many years and just got to know her. What a joyful, joyful daughter of God.
President Dallin H. Oaks has several quotes that are very helpful looking for how we can access the power of God, and that was a joyful interaction with his word. As were, I think, foundational general conference talks we just all will never forget — the invitation to become, which is now just part of our gospel vocabulary of not making lists, but what is the sum total of our acts on what we’ve become. The “Good, Better, Best,” I think of my decisions and say, “Well, that’s a good decision, but is there a better or best?”
And then finally, for me personally, when he gave a talk on scripture study, and he said scripture study is a gateway to revelation, and in two ways; one is the Lord can open our minds to the words that we’re actually reading, to how that might apply in our lives. And then second of all, he said, when you are in the scriptures, your mind and heart are in such a way that the Lord can reveal to you anything He needs you to know when you’re in the scriptures. And that changed me.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: President D. Todd Christofferson, new second counselor in the First Presidency, also shared his witness of President Oaks’ prophetic call and the characteristics he has seen in the new Church President.
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President D. Todd Christofferson: Well, my conviction is that the Lord does prepare those He calls to serve, and none of us can take great credit for any good that has come. I guess the bottom line is: It is the Lord’s work, and He is doing His work. He is hastening His work. But He is the one who is really the Lord of the vineyard. He is the one who is making things happen and accomplishing His work, and He allows us to help around the edges — I guess you could say, in a way — for our benefit, for our blessing. And I think that is true for all of us and true for President Oaks.
I believe that the Lord has prepared him. He has the native talents and gifts that the Lord has refined and expanded and has experiences and all that is really required to preside in a time when we have a lot of commotion — as the scripture says (see Doctrine and Covenants 45:26) — in the world, where there are a lot of needs for a clear and steady hand on the tiller, when you have someone who can express clearly the doctrine, the positions, the direction that the Lord gives, who can lead and has led in many settings, and has the capacity to feel, I think, as the Savior feels, to love as the Savior loves, to bring people along as disciples of Jesus Christ, as a disciple himself, as an exemplary disciple himself.
But we have an uncertain world, and yet a lot of opportunity. And to me, he is a perfect individual to take advantage of opportunity in a difficult and uncertain time. That is a word I should have used earlier: humility. It is my idea that he may be the smartest, but he is really open to other ideas, other impressions and opinions. He really reflects a lot of humility. Again, that is not always a trait and a characteristic that one finds in brilliant people, but he has that. It is interesting to me that for someone who, on any given occasion, is one of the smartest if not the smartest person in the room, as we say, that he really cares to know about what others think and to find common ground and mutually beneficial solutions.
This came through as he led out in our effort to achieve in the Utah Legislature, for example, Fairness for All legislation that really was able to bring an understanding of what really mattered, what are the core needs or feelings or positions of any side, and how to accommodate those, making compromises on things that are not core, adjustments that are really just kindness, really, where you can, and to find a way that the most essential things are are maintained and respected, and things that matter less can be adjusted or accommodated.
President Oaks has been teaching those same principles, but implementing them as well. He has been a man of action, if you can say it that way, in regard to peacemaking and finding a way forward. Not everyone agrees. Some feel like it has to be all of a certain position and there is no way to give, nothing to give. And in some ways, in some positions, in some matters, there is not; that is true. For example, the family is the family, as he has often taught, and as has been a very clear proponent, what the gospel plan is as regard to families.
So there are some things you cannot yield on or compromise, so you protect those, and he is very good at that. But where you can accommodate, he knows how to make that happen. I noticed a very skillful hand on his part in doing that, and he has talked about that since. In a very important message at the University of Virginia some years ago, and on other occasions, he says and demonstrates that the way forward is this kind of mutual regard, respect, concern and care for one another that preserves the core things — the truth, the doctrine, if you will — but accommodates as possible to respect the needs of everybody else. To me, that is a very Christlike approach.
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Jon Ryan Jensen: We give the final word to President Oaks himself as we include the testimony he shared at the announcement of the new First Presidency on Oct. 14, 2025. This was his first public testimony as 18th President and Prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
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President Dallin H. Oaks: My dear brothers and sisters, in this small announcement meeting and throughout the world, I know beyond any certainty in my life that this is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, restored with the fullness of the gospel that God has chosen to reveal in this dispensation of the fullness of time and led by prophets to the present day. I accept with humility the responsibility that God has placed upon me and commit my whole heart and soul to the service to which I have been called.
I am grateful to President Eyring and to President Christofferson for accepting their responsibilities, and I am grateful to the Quorum of the Twelve, whom I esteem and love also as Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, for their commitment to follow the Lord’s will through his duly appointed servants. I testify that the Lord speaks to the Apostles of His Church and through the Apostles of His Church, according to the organization that has been revealed to serve us in these latter days.
I am grateful for the prayers offered by so many members of the Church for a new First Presidency. I have felt the effect of those prayers, and with my counselors, we will strive, in all respects, to press forward this great work. Most recently, we have been led by a magnificent Prophet of the Lord, President Russell M. Nelson. We have much work to do to fulfill the challenges he has given us, and there is more yet to come, of which I testify in all humility. The Lord still speaks through His servants. There is much to be done, for our ministry is a ministry of all the children of God on the face of the earth. We pray for all, we seek to serve all, and we invoke the blessings of the Lord Jesus Christ upon all who seek to serve Him, to do so in worthiness and commitment and optimism.
We do not have the answers to all of the world’s problems. They have not been revealed. But what we do know is that we are all children of heavenly parents and that we are called to serve all of the children of God in this wonderful, restored Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I testify of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the Head of this Church, and invoke His blessings upon all of us as we seek to serve Him. In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.
43:00
Jon Ryan Jensen: Thank you for listening to the Church News podcast. I’m your host, Church News editor Jon Ryan Jensen. I hope you learned something today about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and had your faith in the Savior increase by looking through the Church News window as a living record of the Restoration. Please subscribe, rate and review this podcast so it can be accessible to more people. And if you enjoyed the messages we shared today, please share the podcast with others. Thanks to our guests; to my producer, KellieAnn Halvorsen; and to others who make this podcast possible. Join us every week for a new episode. Find us on your favorite podcasting channels or with other news and updates about the Church on TheChurchNews.com or on the Church News app.
