I very much enjoyed my tenth World Conference. Like the menorah, I have seven highlights.
The first was the ordination in the Auditorium on June 1 of Stassi Cramm as the Prophet-President of the church. Stassi is a remarkable leader. At another time I will relate her answer in a legislative session to a person who was questioning a statement that our organisation was no longer a church with a prophet, but rather was now a prophetic church. Her answer was, to my mind, prophetic!
The second was the book launch on June 2 of Matthew Breay Bolton’s From Militarized Mission to Global Solidarity: The Life and Work of Missionary and Humanitarian Charles D. Neff. I have known Matthew since he was a baby. He is a class act. His writing is superb.
The third was hearing from the leader of Churches for Middle East Peace (CMEP), a young woman with the delightful name, Destiny Magnett. Our church is a member of CMEP, and Destiny added her material to our Peace and Justice table in the Temple foyer. She then delivered a Lunch and Learn seminar on June 3, explaining the coalition of Catholic, Orthodox and Protestant traditions that promotes a just and comprehensive resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The fourth was the ordination in the Temple on June 3 of no fewer than six new members of the Council of Twelve (a record number), including Adam Wade, the first Australian apostle since Ken Robinson (if you don’t count Lachy McKay whose father, Tony, is Australian). Matt Frizzell chose to have his ordination prayer delivered in Spanish.
The fifth was the setting apart on June 5 of three new members of the Standing High Council, including our own Lisa Yen. The High Priest Quorum gathered in the Stone Church for the event, where each of the three was set apart virtually, as Lisa was in Australia online and the other two Ezekiel Eshiet Akpan (Nigeria) and Macrine Boisabi Mochama (Kenya) joined from the remote conference site in Cote D’Ivoire.
The sixth was the final Friday evening where most of the Antipodean delegates were hosted for dinner by Matt, Tere and Liam Naylor. We enjoyed a delightful meal in their lovely home in downtown Kansas City, along with former World Church secretary Bruce Lindgren and his wife Carole who were housing a number of us. Lindsay Sills (who had worked for the church in Australia years ago) was there also, as she lives very close to the Naylors.
Finally, the seventh highlight was what (collectively) emerged from the week’s legislative activities: no fewer than three resolutions on the subject of our essential stewardship of the natural environment, a statement that encouraged members to lobby governments to reduce the numbers of civilian owned firearms, and an affirmation of the Israeli, Palestinian, Arab, Jewish, Muslim, and Christian peacemakers working in the Middle East. In the midst of this legislative action was the formal approval of the Statement on Nonviolence that had emerged from six years of development.
It is always an exciting time to be in the Church!
Rick Sarre