HOW WAS THE APRIL 2020 GENERAL CONFERENCE BOTH UNPRECEDENTED AND UNFORGETTABLE?
At the end of the October 2019 general conference, President Russell M. Nelson promised, “General conference next April will be different from any previous conference.” If members immersed themselves “in the glorious light of the Restoration,” he assured them, the following general conference would be not only “memorable” but “unforgettable.”
Speculation ran rampant for the ensuing six months. What spectacular new doctrine or changes in policies and procedures were to be announced? Among the possibilities I saw proposed in print were the following:
- The conference would originate from Palmyra, New York.
- President Nelson would reveal previously undisclosed information from Joseph Smith’s First Vision.
- The Church had located the lost 116 manuscript pages of the Book of Mormon and would soon publish them.
- Sisters would be able to serve missions at age 18.
- Leaders would announce an official stand against plastic surgery.
- The Church would soon build the long-anticipated temple in Missouri.
- They would ask members to sell all they had and head to Jackson County.
- China is now opening its doors to missionary work.
- The sisters would now get the priesthood and be eligible to be bishops and stake presidents.
- Fireworks and a light show would accompany the conference.
Other more cynical Saints groused that it would likely just be the same as every other conference. One wrote, “I predict that many people will be disappointed, and then will call themselves to repentance for being disappointed, at which point they will convince themselves that something from conference that was actually rather mundane is somehow miraculous and prophetic.”
Now that the conference has come and gone, we now know the answer. Predictions of the sensational were as mistaken as were predictions that conference would be quite ordinary. But it is likely that those expecting grand and newsworthy developments were the most disappointed. Those anticipating the mundane may well think they found what they were expecting.
Both groups were looking for the wrong thing. Those expecting the indisputably extraordinary were much like most Jews of 2000 years ago. Since He didn’t come as a conquering hero and overthrow the Romans, they couldn’t accept Him as the Messiah. Jacob spoke of them as suffering from spiritual blindness, “which blindness came by looking beyond the mark.” (Jacob 4:14.)
Elijah learned a similar lesson when he felt so alone and rejected that he became almost suicidal. As he sat moping in a cave at Mt. Horeb, the Lord made Himself known to him. First, He sent a wind so strong it broke the surrounding rocks. Then He sent a violent earthquake, then a consuming fire. “But,” the scriptures tell us, “the Lord was not in the wind,” and “the Lord was not in the earthquake.” Furthermore, “the Lord was not in the fire.” But after the fire, the Lord came to Elijah in “a still small voice.” Elijah learned that the Lord does not communicate in ways that could be captured by a video camera. But he found He indeed speaks in ways less obvious but much more joyful and satisfying. (1 Kings 19:11 – 12.)
So it is with the recently completed April 2020 general conference. Some will have viewed it much as Laman and Lemuel would have, “past feeling” to the point that they could not feel the Lord’s words as spoken by His servants. (1 Nephi 17:45.) But others will rejoice in the magnificent spiritual feast to which they were invited.
Let’s review some of the elements that made the recent conference truly extraordinary:
Talks focused almost exclusively on the 200th anniversary of the First Vision and the beginning of the Restoration.
In past conferences, speakers typically selected their own topics. This time there was some obvious organization according to subject matter. The Saturday morning session focused on the First Vision. The afternoon session dealt with the Book of Mormon. The Saturday evening session highlighted the restoration of the priesthood and the blessings thereof.
Someone not convinced that the Restoration of the gospel is the most important event of the past 2000 years might complain there was “nothing new.” But one enjoying a $100 per plate dinner at an elegant restaurant seldom complains about the food just because he ate prime beef and lobster somewhere once before! It was wonderful to delight once again in the familiar and feel the Spirit’s witness that it was all true and that we continue to be led by living prophets.
The quality of the talks was unusually and uniformly outstanding.
Conference is always good. But most would admit that usually some of the talks are more memorable than others. This time it would be virtually impossible to select any that didn’t merit an A+.
For the first time, men and women and youth 11 and older all met together in the Saturday evening session.
It is entirely possible that Saturday evening sessions of conference will revert in the future to having a women’s session in October and a priesthood session in April. But for this special 200th anniversary celebration, it was wonderful to have both groups together to consider the blessings of the priesthood that are equally available to both men and women. And the outstanding talks given by teenagers Laudy Ruth Kaouk Alvarez and Enzo Serge Petelo highlighted both the Church’s emphasis on youth and its multi-national and multi-racial dimensions.
The Prophet read a new proclamation to the world from the Sacred Grove.
For only the sixth time, the Church, through President Russell M. Nelson, his counselors, and the Quorum of the Twelve has issued a formal proclamation to the world. In this newest proclamation, entitled “The Restoration of the Fulness of the Gospel of Jesus Christ: A Bicentennial Proclamation to the World,” today’s leaders testify with bold humility of of the Restoration message. They invite all men and women throughout the world to learn for themselves of its truthfulness. President Nelson indicated that rather than erect another physical monument to commemorate the Restoration, the Brethren felt inspired to create a “monument of words—words of solemn and sacred proclamation—written not to be carved in ‘tables of stone,’ but in words that could be etched in the ‘fleshy tables’ of all human hearts’ (2 Corinthians 3:3).”
Click below to hear President Nelson read the new proclamation from the Sacred Grove:
Read the text of the proclamation below:
A solemn assembly featuring the Hosanna Shout and the Hosanna Anthem, or The Spirit of God, followed the reading of the proclamation.
President Nelson then led the world-wide congregation in the Hosanna Shout. This is a special ritual most commonly observed during temple dedications. The congregation stands and in unison shouts the words “Hosanna, Hosanna, Hosanna to God and the Lamb. Amen, Amen, and Amen,” repeating them three times. This is accompanied by the waving of white handkerchiefs. The Prophet explained that the Hosanna Shout is “a sacred tribute to the Father and the Son.”
The ceremony brings to mind the pre-mortal council in heaven when “all the sons of God shouted for joy.” (Job 38:7.) It also is reminiscent of Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on the first Palm Sunday, when his followers waved palm branches and shouted hosannas. Fittingly, the April 5, 2020 Hosanna Shout occurred on this year’s Palm Sunday. President Lorenzo Snow taught that the shout will also herald the Savior at His Second Coming.
President Nelson introduced a new Church symbol.
As part of his ongoing emphasis on the correct name of the Church, President Nelson introduced a new Church symbol, or logo. It features Bertel Thorvaldsen’s statue of the Christus. In it he stands with open arms atop a cornerstone which encloses the full name of the Church. The logo will be an appealing reminder to all that we focus on the living Christ rather than on His death, as important as that was. Almost immediately the icon of the Gospel Library app changed from an image of Moroni with his trumpet to the new logo featuring the Savior.
Click below to hear President Nelson explain the rationale for the new logo:
President Nelson called for a Good Friday day of fasting and prayer.
The Church had previously had a day of fasting and prayer for relief from the coronavirus pandemic less than a week earlier, on its regular March 29th monthly fast day. But on Saturday evening President Nelson invited Church members and friends throughout the world to set aside the following Friday, April 10th, to fast and petition the Lord once again. He said:
As part of our April 2020 general conference, I am calling for another worldwide fast. For all whose health may permit, let us fast, pray, and unite our faith once again. Let us prayerfully plead for relief from this global pandemic.
I invite all, including those not of our faith, to fast and pray on Good Friday, April 10, that the present pandemic may be controlled, caregivers protected, the economy strengthened, and life normalized.”
Good Friday would be the perfect day to have our Heavenly Father and His Son hear us!
President Dallin H. Oaks announced the calls of nine new General Authority Seventies and 58 Area Seventies
The nine new General Authority Seventies will bring the total up to 101, compared to the 81 who were serving just seven years ago. Among those newly called were Elder Thierry K. Mutombo from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Elder Adeyinka A. Ojediran. They were the first to be called from their respective countries and the third and fourth called from Africa.
The 58 new Area Seventies, after the release of six, brings the total serving in that capacity up to 318. Their number has increased rapidly in recent years, from 137 in 1997 to 195 in 2005 and 224 in 2012. The numerical increase in Church leadership signals the continuing rapid progress of the Church, particularly outside of the United States.
President Nelson announced temples for eight new locations, including Dubai and Shanghai.
Latter-day Saints have become used to hearing new temples announced at virtually every conference session in recent years. April 2020 was no exception. At the very end of his Sunday afternoon remarks, President Nelson revealed that temples would be built in
- Bahía Blanca, Argentina
- Tallahassee, Florida
- Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
- Benin City, Nigeria
- Syracuse, Utah
- Dubai, United Arab Emirates
- Shanghai, People’s Republic of China
The Syracuse Utah Temple will be Utah’s 24th. Bahia Blanca will be Argentina’s fifth announced temple. Tallahassee will be Florida’s third, and Pittsburgh will be Pennsylvania’s second.
Perhaps even more indicative of the expansion of the Church and its increasingly international character is the fact that the Benin City Temple will be the third announced for Nigeria, where 175,000 Latter-day Saints reside, and Lubumbashi’s will be the second to serve the 63,000 members in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The temple to be built in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, will be the Church’s first in the Middle East. President Nelson indicated the United Arab Emirates extended a special invitation to the Church to build such a temple, and the Church gratefully accepted. It will serve several thousand Latter-day Saints living in the Arab Gulf States and elsewhere in the Middle East, northern Africa, eastern Europe, and western Asia.
It was obvious that the announcement of the temple for Shanghai, People’s Republic of China, was an especially emotional moment for President Russell M. Nelson. He speaks Mandarin and has had a special relationship through the years with the Chinese people. As a cardiac surgeon he first introduced open heart surgery to China 35 years ago. He was once a visiting professor at the Shandong University School of Medicine. Following his call as an apostle he accepted an invitation to perform a life-saving coronary artery bypass graft operation on the late Chinese opera star Fang Rongxiang.
President Nelson explained that the recent closure for renovation of the Hong Kong Temple makes the announcement of a temple for mainland China a special blessing for Chinese members, many of whom joined the Church outside of China but have since returned to their homeland. He further explained:
In every country, this Church teaches its members to honor, obey and sustain the law. We teach the importance of the family, of being good parents, and exemplary citizens. Because we respect the laws and regulations of the People’s Republic of China, the Church does not send proselyting missionaries there; nor will we do so now.
Expatriate and Chinese congregations will continue to meet separately. The Church’s legal status there remains unchanged. In an initial phase of facility use, entry will be by appointment only. The Shanghai Temple will not be a temple for tourists from other countries.
The Church is scrupulous about complying with local laws in every nation where they operate, and currently has no missionaries in either the United Arab Emirates nor the People’s Republic of China. But in the Lord’s due time hearts will change and the leaders in both countries, and in others in which the Church is not currently operating, will welcome the Church and its representatives with open arms. Someday there may be dozens and even hundreds of temples in those lands. But when that occurs, we will look back on the announcement of temples for Dubai and Shanghai as milestones of the Restoration.
Technology permitted members throughout the world to gather together in the best-attended general conference ever
President Nelson insisted that when he promised an unprecedented and unforgettable April 2020 general conference, he had no idea the conference center would be empty and that members would be watching from their own homes. But I suspect none of us will ever forget how it felt to be part of such a marvelous virtual “gathering” while so many around us were feeling loneliness and isolation due to the current coronavirus pandemic. A highlight to me was the seamless blending of choirs from six other nations with the prerecorded Tabernacle Choir in the closing number of the conference.
President Nelson invited us to make Easter Sunday special by looking for new ways to “hear Him.”
In his closing message on Sunday afternoon, President Nelson summarized what he felt was most significant about all the conference’s messages:
The many inspiring complements of this April 2020 general conference and the sacred week that we now begin can be summarized by two divinely decreed words: “Hear Him.” We pray that your focus on Heavenly Father, who spoke those words, and on His Beloved Son, Jesus Christ, will loom largest in your memories of all that has transpired. We pray that you will begin anew truly to hear, hearken to, and heed the words of the Savior.
He then offered a prophetic promise, particularly comforting during this time of pandemic: “I promise that decreased fear and increased faith will follow.”
Conclusion
Will what most of us will consider highlights of the April 2020 general conference make the national news headlines? Quite probably not. Was the conference, then really unprecedented and unforgettable? It depends on whom you ask.
To those looking to criticize, it is never hard to find some imagined omission or deficiency. Those who hoped to find entertainment or something spectacular by worldly standards may well have been disappointed. Those may be the same people who, if they were allowed to hold the very plates of the Book of Mormon in their hands, would complain about their weight and illegibility. Or if Moroni called on them in the night, they may quite plausibly be more interested in his clothing and hair style than in his message.
But to those more interested in the “still, small voice” than in the wind, earthquake, or fire, the conference will forever stand as a fitting monument to the 200th anniversary of the Restoration. There has never been anything quite like it before in a general conference. And we will never forget it.
Amen