Elder Gary E. Stevenson, recently called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, plans “to focus not on what I can’t do but rather on what I can do. I can testify of the plain and precious truths of the gospel.”
Elder Gary E. Stevenson was called to serve as the 99th Apostle of this dispensation on October 3, 2015. Elder David A. Bednar, closely followed by Elder Neil L. Andersen, will no longer be the youngest members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Elder Stevenson is 60 years old, which is quite young considering that the average age of the Brethren in the Quorum was 80 prior to the new additions this October.
But it isn’t the first time a young man has been called of God. President Thomas S. Monson was ordained an Apostle at age 36.
Elder Stevenson has been serving in the Church almost his entire life. As a young man, he served a mission in Japan and later returned to preside over a mission in Japan from 2004 to 2007. He was called to be a member of the First Quorum of the Seventy in 2008. Then in 2012, he was called as Presiding Bishop.
Elder Stevenson and his wife have four sons, the youngest of whom is currently serving a full-time mission in Taiwan.
His most recent conference address prior to his call, “Your Four Minutes,” focuses on having an eternal perspective and what we can do with our time here on earth.
In his first address as a new Apostle, “Plain and Precious Truths,” he witnessed that the Atonement of the Savior Jesus Christ can compensate for our imperfections.
Read more about the life of Elder Stevenson.
Source: Mormon Newsroom
—Nicole Day, Mormon Insights
Featured image courtesy of LDS General Conference YouTube.
Find more insights
Watch Elder Stevenson teach us about how the Olympic games can be a symbol of our time on earth.
Read about the humanitarian work in the Philippines that Elder Stevenson supervised while serving as the Presiding Bishop of the Church.
Share this quote by Elder Stevenson on social media.
Read Elder Stevenson’s talk “Be Valiant in Courage, Strength, and Activity” from the priesthood session in 2012.