Why First Presidency Involvement in 3 Recent Temple Events Is Noteworthy

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By Scott Taylor, Church News

In the past 35 days, each of the three members of the First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have in succession either dedicated a new temple or rededicated a renovated house of the Lord.

• On March 24, President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, dedicated the Red Cliffs Utah Temple in St. George, Utah.
• On April 21, President Russell M. Nelson, President of the Church, rededicated the recently renovated and historic Manti Utah Temple in a surprise, unannounced appearance in Utah’s Sanpete County.
• And on Sunday, April 28, President Dallin H. Oaks, First Counselor in the First Presidency, dedicated the Urdaneta Philippines Temple in the namesake city.

Three First Presidency members. Three temple dedications or rededications in succession. And all in three-dozen days.

While such a three-for-three occurrence of First Presidency members doing these temple milestones might have been commonplace in decades past, it merits some special mention in 2024, given that:

1. President Nelson, President Oaks and President Eyring are all in their 90s, and yet they each were traveling and participating in the temple events, including offering the dedicatory and rededicatory prayers at the three houses of the Lord.
2. It has been five years since three temples were dedicated or rededicated in succession by three different members of the First Presidency.
3. More than 70% of the 48 houses of the Lord dedicated or rededicated during President Nelson’s time as Church president have been done not by members of the First Presidency but by members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

Here is a look at each of the three points — plus a bonus list of previous times when three temples were dedicated in succession by a different member of the First Presidency.

1. An Active Nonagenarian First Presidency — Teaching of and Involved With Temples

President Nelson rededicated the Manti temple five months shy of his 100th birthday, President Oaks dedicated the Urdaneta temple three-plus months before turning 92, and President Eyring dedicated the Red Cliffs temple two months before his 91st birthday.

Together they are nearly a full year into being the Church’s first nonagenarian First Presidency, and the three continue to lead, direct, minister and testify of the importance of ordinances performed and covenants made in the house of the Lord. They are not only teaching of temples and directing the expansion of temples — they are onsite and actively involved in that work, as evidenced by the recent dedications and rededication.

And sandwiched in between presiding at the three temple-milestone events, the three members of the First Presidency not only attended in-person sessions of the April 2024 general conference but shared messages on the importance of temples and on covenants made in the house of the Lord.

“The temple is the gateway to the greatest blessings God has in store for each of us. The temple is the only place on earth where we may receive all of the blessings promised to Abraham,” President Nelson said at the conclusion of the Sunday afternoon session on April 7, just before announcing the locations of 15 new temples.

“This is why we are doing all within our power, under the direction of the Lord, to make temple blessings more accessible to members of the Church. Thus, we are pleased to announce that we plan to build a new temple in each of the following 15 locations.”

In his Sunday morning session address, President Oaks taught: “The Church of Jesus Christ is constructing temples all over the world. Their purpose is to bless the covenant children of God with temple worship and with the sacred responsibilities and powers and unique blessings of being bound to Christ they receive by covenant.

“The Church of Jesus Christ is known as a Church that emphasizes making covenants with God. Covenants are inherent in each of the ordinances of salvation and exaltation this restored Church administers.”

And in his Saturday morning session message on April 6, President Eyring also underscored temples and covenants, saying that as Latter-day Saints attend the temple, they can be reminded of their eternal nature, relationship with the Father and His Son and desire to return to Their presence.

“My dear brothers and sisters, I bear witness that there is nothing more important than honoring the covenants you make, or may make, in the temple. No matter where you are on the covenant path, I urge you to qualify and become eligible to attend the temple. Visit as frequently as circumstances will allow. Make and keep sacred covenants with God.”

2. First Time in Six Years — and Each’s Past Presidings at Such Events

The last time the three members of the First Presidency dedicated or rededicated temples in succession came in 2018, in the first year of the current presidency’s tenure, which started with President Nelson being set apart as Prophet and President of the Church in January 2018.

Within the first month, the late President M. Russell Ballard, then Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles was assigned to rededicate the Houston Texas Temple on April 22, 2018, with flooding damage from Hurricane Harvey in August 2017 requiring renovations of the house of the Lord.

After that, the three First Presidency members each presided at the subsequent temple dedications and rededications in 2018:

• President Eyring rededicated the Jordan River Utah Temple on May 20.
• President Nelson dedicated the Concepción Chile Temple on October 28, as part of his first ministry as Church president to South America.
• And President Oaks dedicated the Barranquilla Colombia Temple on December 9.

As a sidenote, all three members of the First Presidency attended and participated at the next temple dedication — that of the Rome Italy Temple, which was held over three days, March 10-12, 2019. President Nelson dedicated the house of the Lord in the first dedicatory session, all members of the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles were present for history photographs on the temple grounds and in the visitors’ center, and President Oaks presided at later sessions.

While the aforementioned dedications and rededications may have been the first for Presidents Nelson, Oaks and Eyring as a new First Presidency, it wasn’t the first time any of the three had dedicated or rededicated temples.

Previously as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, President Nelson had been assigned to rededicate the Nuku’alofa Tonga Temple in 2007 and to dedicate the Sapporo Japan Temple in 2016.

He was also one of the first members of the Twelve to be assigned to do a rededication of a special temple-expansion project when in 1991 he rededicated an addition to the Sydney Australia Temple seven years after its original dedication. (Note: For the purpose of this report, only full rededications are counted in tabulations, not the handful of such rededications of temple additions or baptistries.)

As President of the Church and in addition to the dedications of the Concepción and Rome temples and the recent rededication of the Manti temple, President Nelson rededicated the Washington D.C. Temple in 2022, He also presided at the groundbreakings and site dedications for both the Ephraim Utah and Heber Valley Utah temples in 2022, and he has personally announced 168 new houses of the Lord since becoming President of the Church.

As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, President Oaks dedicated the Provo City Center Temple in March 2016. Since his call to the First Presidency and in addition to his dedication of the Barranquilla and Urdaneta temples, he has also dedicated the Richmond Virginia Temple (2023) and rededicated the Oakland California (2019) and Mesa Arizona (2021) temples.

During his previous service as a First Presidency counselor to the late President Thomas S. Monson during the latter’s 10-year tenure leading the Church, President Eyring dedicated seven temples and rededicated five others, the first being the 2011 dedication of the San Salvador El Salvador Temple.

And as a member of the current First Presidency and in addition to the rededication of the Jordan River temple and the recent dedication of the Red Cliffs temple, President Eyring has also dedicated the Saratoga Springs Utah Temple (2023) and rededicated the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple (2019) and the Tokyo Japan Temple (2022).

3. Involving Apostles in Temple Dedications and Rededications

From the 1877 dedication of the St. George Utah Temple — the Church’s oldest operating temple — to Sunday’s dedication of the Urdaneta temple, the Church’s president or presiding leader or a member of the First Presidency has dedicated 161 of the 190 houses of the Lord, with members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostle dedicating 29.

That 161 total includes President Daniel H. Wells, the second counselor in the First Presidency, dedicating the St. George temple in 1877 while President Brigham Young presided at the event. And it includes President Wilford Woodruff — the senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles who led the Church for the 20-month apostolic interregnum following the 1887 death of President John Taylor — dedicating the Manti Utah Temple in a private ceremony in 1888.

As for the 44 temple rededications since President Spencer W. Kimball’s 1975 rededication of the Mesa Arizona Temple, Church presidents have rededicated 17, with 15 by First Presidency counselors and 12 by members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

President Nelson’s tenure in leading the Church will not only be known as a time for rapid temple expansion worldwide but also for his extensive involvement of members of the Quorum of the Twelve in temple dedications and rededications.

Of sharing the workload of a global Church, including the temple dedications and rededications with his counselors and the members of the Twelve, he asked several questions during a 2019 interview in São Paulo, Brazil: “Have you ever been a father and taken children on a fishing trip? Are you happy catching a fish? Are you happier watching your children catch a fish?’ "

In all, the current First Presidency has dedicated seven temples and rededicated another seven for a total of 14 dedications and rededications since January 2018. That’s 29.2% of all the dedications and rededications of temples so far during their six-year tenure — 48 total through the Urdaneta dedication. The remaining 70.8% of dedications and rededications over that time — 24 temple dedications and 10 temple rededications — have been assigned to members of the Quorum of the Twelve.

And of the eight upcoming temple dedications scheduled from May through October, all eight have been assigned to be done by Apostles.

It wasn’t until a quarter-century ago that Church Presidents first started assigning Apostles to do temple dedications and rededications — and only sparingly at the start.

Of the 85 total temple dedications and rededications of President Hinckley’s tenure from 1995 to 2008 and the 46 similar events during President Monson’s time from 2008 to early 2018, members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles dedicated or rededicated houses of the Lord a total of seven times.

And the first came as the result of an airplane incident.

In November 1999, President Gordon B. Hinckley was scheduled to dedicate temples on back-to-back days — the Halifax Nova Scotia Temple on Saturday, November 13, and the Regina Saskatchewan Temple on Sunday, November 14.

However, mechanical issues with the airplane President Hinckley was to use resulted in a day’s delay. President Hinckley decided to dedicate the Halifax temple a day later and have President Boyd K. Packer, the Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve who was already in Saskatchewan, preside at the Regina dedication on its scheduled date.

The result: the Halifax and Regina temple dedications both occurred on Sunday, November 14, 1999 — the first time two houses of the Lord were dedicated on the same day.

In the final two years of President Hinckley’s tenure as Church president, two Apostles rededicated renovated temples in the South Pacific — Elder L. Tom Perry the Papeete Tahiti Temple in 2006; and then-Elder Nelson the Nuku’alofa temple in 2007 as previously noted.

The aforementioned dedications in 2016 of the Sapporo Japan and Provo City Center temples by President Nelson and President Oaks were two of the four done by Apostles during President Monson’s time as Church president. The other two were President Packer dedicating the Brigham City Utah Temple in 2012 and Elder David A. Bednar the Star Valley Wyoming Temple in 2016.

Other Times 3 Temples Were Dedicated in Succession by 3 First Presidency Members

When are the other times when three members of previous First Presidencies have dedicated or rededicated temples in succession? It has happened with four previous Church presidents — all with dedications and not rededications.

President Monson dedicated the Phoenix Arizona Temple on November 16, 2014, the last of the 14 temple dedications he did as Church president. His counselors dedicated the next two temples the following year — the Córdoba Argentina Temple on May 17 by then-President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, who was the second counselor; and the Payson Utah Temple on June 7 by President Eyring, then the first counselor.

During the year 2000, when 34 houses of the Lord were dedicated, there were four instances where President Hinckley and his counselors — President Monson and President James E. Faust — dedicated temples in succession. They include:

• In the spring of that year, President Faust dedicated the Tuxtla Gutiérrez Mexico Temple on March 11, President Monson dedicated the Louisville Kentucky Temple on March 19, and President Hinckley dedicated the Palmyra New York Temple on April 6.
• From late April through early June, the three First Presidency members dedicated six temples in back-to-back three-for-three sequences that included two instances of same-day dedications. The first three dedications by separate First Presidency members were President Hinckley dedicating the Cochabamba Bolivia Temple on April 30, President Monson dedicating the Tampico Mexico Temple on May 20 and President Faust dedicating the Nashville Tennessee Temple on May 21.
• About an hour later on May 21, President Monson dedicated the Villahermosa Mexico Temple, with President Hinckley dedicating the Montreal Quebec Temple on June 4 and President Faust dedicating the San Jose Costa Rica Temple also on June 4.
• And in July of that year, President Monson dedicated the Veracruz Mexico Temple on the 9th, President Hinckley the Baton Rouge Louisiana Temple on the 16th and President Faust the Oklahoma City Oklahoma Temple on the 30th.

During President Ezra Taft Benson’s tenure as Church president from November 1985 to May 1994, he and his First Presidency counselors — President Hinckley and President Monson — each dedicated temples in succession one time. In 1986, President Hinckley dedicated the Lima Peru Temple on January 10, followed by the Buenos Aires Argentina Temple on January 17 by President Monson and — much later — the Denver Colorado Temple by President Benson on October 24.

And during President Kimball’s tenure as Church President from December 1973 to November 1985, there were three temple dedications over a span of nearly three full years done by different members of the First Presidency.

On November 17, 1980, President Kimball dedicated the Seattle Washington Temple; on November 16, 1981, President Marion G. Romney — then second counselor — dedicated the Jordan River Utah Temple on November 16, 1981; and on June 1, 1983, President Hinckley — previously an additional First Presidency counselor but by then was the second counselor and President Romney the first — dedicated the Atlanta Georgia Temple.

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