Conference reflects Church's rapid growth
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With two major matters of business transacted, the 159th Annual General Conference is assured a distinctive place in the annals of Church history.
During the conference, which convened April 1-2 in the Tabernacle on Temple Square in Salt Lake City, a new quorum - the Second Quorum of the Seventy - was organized, and 12 new General Authorities were sustained.President Ezra Taft Benson presided over the conference and attended each session. He requested that the addresses he had prepared be read to the congregation by his counselors.
President Gordon B. Hinckley, first counselor in the First Presidency, read President Benson's opening address, in which members were cautioned that pride is the universal sin and the main stumbling block to the redemption of Zion. President Thomas S. Monson, second counselor in the First Presidency, read President Benson's concluding address, which was directed to children.
The creation of the Seventies Quorum and the calling of the new General Authorities, announced Saturday afternoon, reflect the rapid growth of the Church. (See pages 4-5.)
The calling of 12 new General Authorities marked another milestone in Church history. Not since the early days of the Church - when the Quorum of the Twelve was first organized in this dispensation - have so many new General Authorities been sustained at a single conference.
The general statistical information report was also read during the Saturday afternoon session and showed there were 6.72 million Church members in 1,707 stakes and 222 missions at the close of 1988. The statistical report also showed a record number of convert baptisms during the year. (See chart on this page.)
For each conference session, the Tabernacle was filled, and overflow seating was provided in the Assembly Hall.
Conference-goers enjoyed pleasant, yet slightly cool spring weather during most of the Saturday sessions. On Sunday, overcast skies and light rain showers put a chill in the air, cutting down the number of people who waited in lines for entrance into the Tabernacle or who listened to the conference proceedings outside on Temple Square.
