UPDATED: This story has been updated to correct Dallin H. Oaks’ age.
By Cody Wendt | FāVS News Reporter
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints completed a leadership transition last month following one leader’s death, a change Mt. Spokane Stake President Robert Sanders described as orderly and peaceful.
An orderly and peaceful process
At 101 years old, Russell M. Nelson was the longest-lived president in LDS history before his passing on Sept. 27. His successor Dallin H. Oaks takes the office at the age of 93, having served as first counselor throughout Nelson’s seven-year tenure.
While Oaks’ ascension was not formally announced immediately after Nelson’s death, Sanders explained that it was a widely expected application of the Church’s administrative system, rather than a dramatic affair such as the one the Catholic Church underwent earlier this year to seek a replacement in the aftermath of Pope Francis’ death.
“There is no mystery,” Sanders said. “We know that the most senior Apostle will become the next Prophet — and so, there’s no turmoil, there’s no conflict, confusion, anything like that. It’s just a very orderly and peaceful process.
“No one’s doing any electioneering or anything like that; it’s very nice.”
Different men, different approaches
Sanders, who works as head pro at Esmeralda Golf Course, has lived in Spokane for nine years. After serving five years as a local bishop, the 54-year-old became stake president earlier this year — a position overseeing “about 4,000 members in the northern Spokane area that I help and assist with,” as he explained it.
Having grown up in the church, Sanders has spent 41 years listening to both Nelson and Oaks speak in LDS worldwide general conferences since each of them joined the church’s leadership. Asked to compare and contrast Nelson and Oaks’ ministerial styles, Sanders mused that each man’s secular profession was reflected in his presentation and emphases.
“Each of these men are extremely accomplished in their fields before they became apostles, but they just approach things differently, and the message comes across different,” he said.
As an open-heart surgeon, Nelson “expressed himself much more compassionately and caring in the way a doctor would,” according to Sanders. Oaks has historically taken the more formal approach one might expect of a man hailing from the legal profession.
“He was a Utah U.S. Supreme Court judge, and so he comes from that type of a background,” Sanders said. “He also was president of BYU for a period of time before he became a Supreme Court judge. When you listen to him, a lot of the way he approaches the gospel topics is very much from that kind of a mindset and viewpoint, and so he’s very, I would say, kind of structured in his comments. They’re very administrative-oriented a lot of times.”
Personal and institutional change
Sanders also feels that the presidency can change men and bring out sides of them that were not visible before.
“I’ve already seen a change in Oaks in the brief time since he’s become a Prophet in the last couple weeks,” Sanders said. “He’s become more open. He talked about his father passing away when he was 7-years-old and what it was like, and it was very touching to hear him talk about that and kind of be vulnerable about that, which isn’t normally his style.”
What will the Oaks presidency look like moving forward?
“Time will tell,” Sanders said, though he does not anticipate any seismic changes in the church.
“…(Oaks has) always talked a great deal about families, and so I have a feeling that will be a big tenet of his: discussing how important the family is, and family relationships with one another. I think that will be a big part of it,” he said.
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