BYU just hosted an international conference
 

The theme of the conference was the growing international nature of the church and how it can and should interact with the changing international environment.

It was facinating, but ironic. Of the approximately 10 speakers, 8 were males, 2 were females, and all ten were white and from the Utah region.

The audience was almost 100% white and about 80% male.

The discussion was very interesting, though. One person commented that he thought the church would be holding general conference in foreign nations within the next 30 years. I have long been a proponent of having speakers in GC speak in their native language and inviting many non-Americans to speak. Why shouldn't we hear from a Latino GA in Spanish? Wouldn't that advertise the international nature of the church more than just about anything the church could do (aside from calling more minorities to serve as GA's- there are currently ZERO African Americans serving as full time GA's).

Anyone else go?

It's going to be a rough transition, given the lack of transition to date. Utahns will have to give up the idea that they are the center of everything.

But such is the nature of institutions when your leadership hearkens back to a different era.

Remember the Indian GA who was ex'ed? I wonder if they took a chance on a promising guy they didn't know well, and felt burned afterwards.

The nature of these things is you select someone that you 100% trust. And it is hard to trust people you don't know. You pray about those people you already know. And when you don't know a lot of people outside Utah and the mountain west, it is simply out of sight, out of mind.

I heard a GA talk about a time that another GA came down to reorganize a stake. He interviewed about every man that had a reasonable chance of holding such a position. And then people for whomm it was a big stretch. He said that he had not found the right man yet. So when he asked if there were any others, someone mentioned that someone had just moved in a week ago and was living in a motel. He interviewed this man and called him to be the Stake President.

Now I am not saying that the people who choose 70s know the candidate. But they trust the recommendation.

Yeah, I think (with no basis for knowing) that there are lots of people who could be called to be a GA and the Lord would be perfectly fine with the choice. He leaves it in the hands of the church authorities and confirms those whose names are suggested if they could work.

My guess would be that most GAs are called because the GAs currently in office know them and are comfortable recommending them. As a result, most who are called tend to come from the same racial and ethnic cultures as those who are serving because they tend to fraternize with those people more than those from other cultures and ethnicities. If I am right, they need to start thinking outside of the box a bit more to give the church's leadership more of a reflection of its actual international presence.

You're thinking of George P. Lee.

I can agree that it's much easier to have trust for someone you don't know, which is exactly why I'll let the Brethren make the decision as to who should preside over you out-of-state ne'er-do-well members.

Living in Utah does have it's drawbacks - like knowing that I have to drive through Provo to visit family in central Utah.

Didn't you guys pay attention to where several of the new General Authorities this session were from? It wasn't Utah...

http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,660208411,00.html

Cali, I agree with you. I've never had a stake president who didn't seem like an amazing leader. In fact, most of them I could imagine as a general authority.

But of course, most of them will never be called to that position. And most of them thank God for that.

Indy, yes I had seen that, and it is encouraging to those of us that would like to see the church expand out of the mountain west. I noted previously that 3 of the 5 are church employees, which fits with the model of calling whom you know well.

This is unfortunate but typical. My company will frequently hold "global" meetings and then look around the room and realize we have similar representation as you describe, though half our employees and a majority of our sales are outside the U.S. This is a multi-billion dollar company and not a Utah/Mormon company.

P.S. my company CEO makes right around $1M with a bonus that could potentially double it, not $15M like Bud Selig. Indy was bullying some people on CB for being ignorant about finances for not knowing all CEO's make $15M a year.

Yes, I did notice, and I was very excited about it. Still not a single African American full time GA, but it is progress. I did wonder if the German GA knew Uchtdorf.

I've worked for several multi-billion dollar companies and the CEOs all made 8 figure or nearly 8 figure salaries, when you include stock options, etc.

I wouldn't expect many priesthood holders than have been members for less than 25 to 30 years to be General Authorities. I think you will start seeing African-American General Authorities in the next 10 to 15 years, but probably not before then.