Full summary of Saturday’s LDS General Conference: Oaks lauds Nelson; Gong says to welcome migrant members

No matter what happens during General Conference this weekend, it will be memorable for members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Though it will have the look and feel of earlier global gatherings livestreamed from the Conference Center in downtown Salt Lake City, it began without a called and sustained church president or governing First Presidency. A conference hasn’t been held without an officially named church president in at least a century. Still, there is no question who is in charge.

Dallin H. Oaks, the faith’s most senior apostle, is the presumed successor to 101-year-old Russell M. Nelson, who died Sept. 27. But Nelson’s funeral is scheduled for Tuesday, Oct. 7, and the tradition has been not to name a new president until the previous one has been buried.

Either way, the 93-year-old Oaks, who served as Nelson’s first counselor, presides over the 17.5 million-member church as the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which is the second highest body in the Utah-based faith after the First Presidency. And every apostle is viewed as a “prophet, seer and revelator.”

The apostles and other high-level church leaders were presented to the membership Saturday for a sustaining vote during General Conferences.

As the longest-tenured apostle, Oaks’ name was presented first as the president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Awaiting his expected installation at some point as the faith’s 18th prophet-present, the former Utah Supreme Court justice has gained a reputation for his defense of religious liberty and his views on LGBTQ+ issues.

On Saturday morning, with attendees standing, cameras focused on Oaks as he entered the auditorium.

At the conclusion of the opening session, a sllghtly bent-over Oaks was assisted as he exited, waving to the crowd. Meanwhile, apostles Henry Eyring, 92, and Jeffrey Holland, 84, left in wheelchairs — as has been the case in other recent conferences.

Oaks was again highlighted on the broadcast as he entered for the day’s other two sessions.

This weekend, Latter-day Saints around the world will hear sermons from their top leaders — dozens of men and, usually, a handful of women — during the five sessions of the two-day meeting. There will be music by The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, possibly some naming of newly appointed authorities and, if recent precedent holds, the announcement of new temples to be built.

Here are the latest announcements and speeches:

Evening session

Apostle Neil Andersen: Healing and forgiveness

Apostle Neil L. Andersen assured those who have committed “serious sins and are in the process of or have the desire to fully repent and feel the unspeakable joy of forgiveness…[the] miracle is awaiting you.”

The desire to truly return to God must be “accompanied by the determination to be completely honest with your Heavenly Father, with yourself, with those who were harmed,” Andersen said. “Your Heavenly Father rejoices in your resolve to come unto him with a broken heart and contrite spirit… a deep longing of the soul to return to him whatever the cost.”

Andersen also addressed those who had been harmed by others.

“For you who have been so unfairly injured by the serious sins of another, I long to share the Savior’s love and compassion, his comfort and peace,” the apostle said. “...The sadness you have felt, the heartbreak, the loss, the suffocating feeling of betrayal, the upending of your life as you imagined it to be, I give you my absolute assurance, the Savior knows you and loves you.…He will send his angels to bear you up.”

As we Latter-day Saints “believe in him, follow him, and trust him,” Andersen said, God “will lift us from our sorrows and our sins.”

Seventy William Jackson: ‘We can do better’

Latter-day Saints should take account of every individual in a ward, or congregation, and look after each appropriately, counseled general authority Seventy William K. Jackson.

“Like the shepherd [of Bible verse] who left the 99 (safe and secure, I am certain) and went after the one that was lost,” Jackson said, “we have been asked to be just as aware of our flocks, to notice and remember, and go and do likewise.

The church’s organization has been set up so that it should be difficult to forget a single soul, he explained. Regardless of age or gender, all members and attendees should be counted and accounted for.

“How can we be better shepherds?” Jackson asked. “We can learn to count and account.”

He recounted the story of a friend who moved to a new city and was promptly called as the congregation’s elders quorum president. Preparing to answer difficult questions in an interview with the stake (regional) president, Jackson said, his friend was surprised when the leader seemed more concerned with reactivating less-active quorum members.

“He went into the interview with programs, lessons and activities,” Jackson said. “He walked out with names.”

The general authority concluded that Latter-day Saints should not only take names but also minister to those individuals. In doing so, Jackson said, they “will never run out of agenda items in their council meetings.”

Seventy Steven Barlow: Recognizing God’s love

Often the focus of church members is on themselves, said general authority Seventy Steven C. Barlow. “We are so consumed with seeking evidence of God’s love for us and become frustrated when we do not see it.”

But the “beautiful paradox is that the more we are focused on showing our love for God,” Barlow said, “the more easily we recognize his love for us.”

Believers “demonstrate” their “discipleship and love for God when we make him our top priority,” he said. They do this when they “serve, listen to, love, lift or minister to his children.”

It is also important to have “a grateful heart” and to “obey Christ’s commandments.”

Relief Society counselor J. Anette Dennis: ‘We need each other’

No one wants to feel unwelcome at church, so Latter-day Saints should treat one another with kindness, said J. Anette Dennis, first counselor in the presidency of the worldwide women’s Relief Society.

“We need each other,” she said. “Divine strength comes from unity.”

Dennis shared a past experience when she was going through a period of deep depression.

When struggling going to church, Dennis recalled, she attended solely because she was afraid of being labeled “less faithful” or “inactive.”

“What I really needed during that time,” Dennis said. “was to feel genuine love, understanding and support from those around me, not judgment.”

She exhorted members to show genuine love, support and encouragement to others.

Apostle Patrick Kearon: The church of new beginnings

Jesus Christ “painted vast new horizons of forgiveness, healing, restoration, peace and eternal life,” said apostle Patrick Kearon. “And the glorious news is, he offers the same new beginning to you and to me. ...Jesus gives us as many new beginnings as we need.”

With every covenant Latter-day Saints make and every effort they give to keep it, the British apostle said, “we can receive a new heart and a fuller measure of a new spirit. Little by little, the more we invite his goodness into our hearts and cast out the self-defeating voices in our heads, we become his people because we truly make him our God.”

Are these new starts just for those who are devout?

“Was Christ selecting people to heal and forgive from a particular economic class or background?” Kearon asked. “Was he distinguishing between the righteous and the sinful? Was he singling people out because they were more deserving or more loved? No.”

Some came to him “with great faith, believing in his power to heal,” the apostle said. “... But Jesus also blessed those who had wavering faith.”

New beginnings are “at the heart of the [God’s] plan,” Kearon said. “...New dawns, new chapters, and new chances are the simple core of the gospel’s good news.”

Afternoon session

Apostle Quentin Cook: The Lord hastens his work

Latter-day Saints should welcome new converts with open arms, apostle Quentin L. Cook taught, speaking about the recent growth spurt in the worldwide church.

He recounted various periods of growth in Latter-day Saint history, explaining that nearly 900,000 converts have joined the church in the past 36 months. This figure is larger than the faith’s total membership in 1940, the year Cook was born.

The apostle also spoke directly to new converts, assuring them that despite their challenges, they were needed.

“Let me … assure all new converts,” Cook said. “and those returning to the Lord’s church; we love you; we need you; the Lord needs you.”

Cook concluded by speaking about the faith’s future and continuing the late President Nelson’s legacy. He even singled out the faith’s presumed 18th president by name.

“Fortunately, living prophets provide the guidance we specifically need for our day,” the 85-year-old said. “President Dallin H. Oaks will continue that spiritually powerful legacy.”

Seventy Michael Cziesla: Discipleship is possible everywhere

The “joy that comes from being a disciple of Christ has very little to do with the size of church meetings or the scale of programs,” said German general authority Seventy Michael Cziesla. “...When the focus of our life is on Christ and his gospel message, we can experience the full blessings of discipleship wherever we live.”

Members who live in small congregations sometimes “underestimate the strength we receive from simple acts like prayer, fasting, scripture study, daily repentance, partaking of the sacrament weekly and regular temple attendance,” he said. “...Applying the simplicity that is in Christ, makes us prioritize people over processes and eternal relationships over short-term behaviors.”

It is “as true for you,” Cziesla said, “as it is true for me.”

Apostle Gerrit Gong: ‘Let us not simply accommodate or tolerate’

In a sermon that celebrated the global faith’s increasing diversity, apostle Gerrit W. Gong stressed that all were responsible for extending the hand of fellowship, including — and especially — to the foreigner and stranger.

“Everywhere people are moving,” he said. “The United Nations reports 281 million international migrants” — a much higher number than in recent decades.

At the same time, Gong added, “everywhere, record numbers of converts are finding” the church.

All told, nearly 200 countries and territories and 125 languages are represented in Latter-day Saint pews each week.

Such variety, Gong taught, requires an all-hands-on-deck approach to ensuring that all feel welcome.

“Covenant belonging deepens as we come to the Lord and each other in his inn,” Gong said. “The Lord blesses us all when no one sits alone.”

The church’s first Asian American apostle explained that such outreach goes beyond the perfunctory.

“Let us not simply accommodate or tolerate,” he said. “Let us genuinely welcome, acknowledge, minister to, love.”

Adding to the urgency is the isolating effects of the digital age.

“Social media and artificial intelligence can leave us thirsting for human closeness and human touch,” Gong observed. “We want to hear each other’s voices. We want authentic belonging and kindness.”

Meanwhile, comparing how different languages and cultures approach the gospel can bring new understanding to them. To explain, Gong used the example of the fortune cookie, explaining that the snack is more American than Chinese.

“Scriptures studied in multiple languages and cultural perspectives deepen gospel understanding,” he said. “Different expressions of Christ-like attributes deepen my love and understanding of my Savior.”

Gong taught that Christ’s followers must “put off the natural man and worldly culture.”

“As President Dallin H. Oaks teaches,” Gong said, “we are to give up any tradition and cultural practice that is contrary to the commandments of God and to become Latter-day Saints.”

Seventy Kevin Brown: Take charge of your testimony

Receiving a spiritual witness of Jesus Christ is crucial and requires action and a choice, according to general authority Seventy Kevin G. Brown.

Echoing the words of the late President Nelson, Brown pleaded with Latter-day Saints to strive to receive their own testimony, cultivate it and choose for themselves whether they believe.

“The gift and witness of the Holy Ghost,” the Jamaican native said, “are available to everyone.”

He taught that testimonies should not have an expiration date and should continually be strengthened.

“No one can choose for you. No one can take this gift away,” Brown said. “You can choose to believe.”

Seventy Jeremy Jaggi on the symbolism and importance of altars

Altars serve as a place of sacrifice, healing and rest for those who humble themselves, general authority Seventy Jeremy R. Jaggi said. Most of all, whether they are the altars found in temples or those used to prepare the bread and water in chapels, they serve as a site where individuals can enter into a relationship with God.

This relationship, Jaggi taught, is the antidote to life’s great challenges.

The faith leader quoted the late Patricia Holland, wife of apostle Jeffrey R. Holland, as saying: “My deepest prayer for you and for myself today is that we will give over completely, lay ourselves at the altar of God’s promises and peace no matter where we are and no matter what we have done.”

“...How can we overcome stares of judgment, anxiety, depression, cancer, diabetes, online bullying, stolen identity, lost pregnancies, and the loss of a child, a brother and a father?” Jaggi asked. “Because Jesus took of the bitter cup of trembling, the cup of fury — for me, for my family, for all of us.”

Sunday school counselor Chad Webb on the importance of diligent learning

Members should place a larger focus on their gospel studies, Sunday school first counselor Chad H. Webb taught.

“I invite you to consider the role of the Holy Ghost,” Webb said, “specifically related to gospel learning and teaching in the home and at church.”

Webb referenced the church manual “Teaching in the Savior’s Way” as another resource members can use to amplify their learning and become diligent students and teachers.

No matter whom the protagonist is in each scripture story, the focus of learning should be on Jesus, Webb expressed. Members should better utilize the “perfect tutor,” the Holy Ghost, to come closer to Christ and deepen their spiritual education.

“We don’t sensationalize or speculate on what the Lord has not revealed,” he added. “Instead, we focus on essential and eternal gospel principles, which allows the Spirit to testify of truth.”

Apostle Ronald Rasband: Family proclamation is doctrine

In 1994, Latter-day Saint apostles became worried about “how society and governments were pulling away from God’s laws for family, marriage and gender,” said apostle Ronald A. Rasband, quoting President Russell M. Nelson, as saying, “We could see the efforts of various communities to do away with all standards and limitations on sexual activity. We saw the confusion of genders. We could see it all coming.”

When President Gordon B. Hinckley announced the family proclamation in 1995, Rasband said, it “did not align with the views of many in the world. Not then. Not now. There are those who take issue with the declaration on family, marriage and gender.”

These days, he said, some suggest the church “pull back, revise, or even set the proclamation aside.”

That’s not going to happen, the apostle said. It is “doctrine.”

The principles “are not out of step but perfectly in step with the ways of the Lord and his covenant path,” Rasband said. “The teachings of the proclamation were revealed by our Lord Jesus Christ to his apostles then and now.”

Though the document says that fathers are “to preside” and mothers “are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children,” Rasband said “preside does not mean dominate and nurture does not mean a secondary role.”

God has given men and women “different but equal and essential roles that complement each other,” he said. “Equal is a word that matters.”

To those who don’t see themselves in the proclamation, who don’t think they or their families “fit” in the document, that it “seems insensitive,” the apostle said, “know that you are a child of Heavenly Parents, part of Father in Heaven’s family.”

No one “knows you better or cares more deeply about you than [God] does,” Rasband said. “Pour out your heart to him, trust him and his promises.”

Morning session

Apostle Dieter Uchtdorf: Discipleship takes self-discipline

Being a follower of Jesus Christ “is not a casual endeavor, and it doesn’t happen by accident,” apostle Dieter F. Uchtdorf said as the concluding speaker Saturday morning. “Faith in Jesus Christ is a gift, but receiving it is a conscious choice that requires a commitment of all our ‘might, mind and strength.’”

It takes “practice.. every day… every hour,” the charismatic German said. “It takes constant learning and determined commitment.”

Loyalty to Jesus Christ “becomes stronger as it is tested against the opposition we face here in mortality,” Uchtdorf said. “It endures because we keep nourishing it, we keep actively applying it, and we never give up.”

Those who fail to “use faith and its convincing power,” he said, then “become less sure of things [they] once held sacred — less confident of things [they] once knew were true.”

Uchtdorf urged members “to trust the Savior enough to engage, patiently and diligently, in doing your part with all your heart — that your joy may be full and that, one day, you will receive all [God] has.”

Seventy Kelly Johnson on how to be reconciled with God

General authority Seventy Kelly Johnson, a former forensic accountant, dissected the word “reconcile” as it pertains to one’s relationship with God.

“To be reconciled to God means to be brought back into harmony with God,” Johnson said, “or to restore a relationship with God that has been strained or broken because of our sins or actions.”

Regular prayer and repentance are key to reconciliation with the Almighty, he taught, combined with a willingness to change. These are essential, Johnson added, to foster a close relationship with deity.

Seventy Brik Eyre: We are children of God, ‘the eternal father’

Latter-day Saints should know their relationship to deity, said general authority Seventy Brik V. Eyre, so that they can be confident in their identities.

“When we are confronted with the challenges of mortality, or when we feel like anyone is trying to label us by our weaknesses,” Eyre said, “we need to stand strong in the knowledge of who we truly are.”

Believers must seek validation “vertically, not horizontally,’ he said, “and as we do, we too can boldly proclaim, ‘I am a child of God.’”

Eyre urged his listeners to “experience the song of redeeming love that comes personally to each one of us through our redeemer as we repent.”

Seventy Ronald M. Barcellos: Caring for one’s spiritual heart

General authority Seventy Ronald M. Barcellos, a native of Brazil, invited listeners to maintain the health of their “hearts’ spiritual condition” the same as they would its physical state.

Doing so, he instructed, requires prioritizing Jesus, obeying God’s commandments, diligently reading the scriptures and seeking revelation and refraining from harsh judgment of others.

“I invite you to give your whole heart to the Savior today,” Barcellos said. “Let each act of worship and service be sincere and intentional.”

Primary counselor Tracy Browning: The ‘shared language of sacred music’

Children’s music “is one of God’s most tender tools for planting the seeds of testimony in the hearts of the Savior’s youngest disciples,” said Tracy Y. Browning, second counselor in the worldwide presidency of the children’s Primary organization. “...[T]heir simple, memorable melodies give voice to gospel truths. These songs hold the power to stay with children for a lifetime, becoming part of their discipleship and a natural way for them to testify of the Savior.”

Songs learned in childhood often stay with adult members, Browning said, and they sometimes return to those simple lyrics and melodies “in times of difficulty.”

At Jesus’ Last Supper, he instituted the sacrament, or Communion. She quoted the gospel writer Matthew that “when they had sung an hymn, they went out into the Mount of Olives.”

Efforts “to teach and sing these …songs to our children are not simply a nice part of our religious tradition,” said Browning, first Black woman in a churchwide presidency. “They are sermons for disciples of Jesus Christ.”

Apostle Gary Stevenson calls on listeners to be peacemakers after Michigan attack

Apostle Gary E. Stevenson began by acknowledging the deadly Sept. 28 attack on a Latter-day Saint meetinghouse in Grand Blanc, Michigan.

“We realize that our hearts are mourning loss, and some feel uncertainty caused by violence or tragedy throughout the world,” Stevenson said. “Even devout people gathered in sacred spaces — including our hallowed chapel in Michigan — have lost their lives or loved ones.”

The apostle then recalled Jesus’ command to be peacemakers willing to turn the other cheek.

Comparing the current day to the time of Jesus, he said: “Polarization, secularization, retaliation, road rage, outrage and social media pile-ons, both generations

face cultures of conflict and tension.”

Stevenson then spelled out a one-week peacemaking challenge to listeners to be kinder in the home and online, while seeking to mend a relationship in need of repair.

President Dallin Oaks: ‘I loved President Russell M. Nelson’

As the first speaker, Oaks explained to the faithful why there is no reconstituted First Presidency.

He explained that he was speaking as “the president of the Quorum of the Twelve, in which position I have been sustained each conference — ward, stake and General Conference — for more than seven years.

“This is the first time in about 75 years that a church president has died a few days before a General Conference. [That happened in 1951 with the death of George Albert Smith.]” “President Nelson understood the value of General Conference to provide direction to the Saints in the coming months. We honor him by following the conference schedule as planned.”

Oaks, who sat next to the previous church president for more than four decades in public and private meetings, became emotional as he told those watching that he “loved President Nelson.”

He added: “I have learned more about the gospel and gospel leadership from my long friendship and association with President Nelson than from any other person I have known personally. He is our model as a servant and follower of the Lord Jesus Christ.”