New Supervisory Program for Missions and Regions

In a move designed to better serve the rapidly growing worldwide Church membership, the First Presidency recently announced a major new supervisory program. The program increases the number of Regional Representatives of the Council of the Twelve and creates a new position known as Mission Representative of the Council of the Twelve and of the First Council of the Seventy.

Speaking at the mission presidents seminar just three days prior to his passing, President Joseph Fielding Smith announced that “hereafter, Regional Representatives of the Twelve will go into the mission districts as they have been going into the stakes” to help “increase the activity and strengthen the faith of those who are members of the Church.

“Mission Representatives of the Twelve and Seventy will be sent to assist you in training and otherwise increasing the effectiveness of the missionaries,” he said.

This is the basic outline of the new program:

1. Supervisory responsibilities for teaching and training members have been assigned to Regional Representatives. Supervisory responsibilities for training how to proselyte nonmembers has been assigned to Mission Representatives.

2. The First Council of the Seventy has been assigned additional administrative responsibility for giving proselyting leadership throughout the Church.

3. Regional Representatives will work not only with all of the stakes, as they have heretofore done, but also with organized districts in the missions in order to bring to all members the complete Church program. This new arrangement now provides an opportunity for training and leadership opportunities to be given to members everywhere in the world. To accomplish these ends, 36 new Regional Representatives have been called, bringing the total number to 108. A new division of stakes and missions into 240 regions has also been made.

4. The creation of Mission Representatives means that proselyting training in stakes and missions will be supervised by experienced leaders in order to bring to all missionaries, both stake and mission, the best in proselyting counsel. Twenty-nine Mission Representatives were called, four of whom also serve as Regional Representatives.

Thus, missions of the Church and regions where full-time missionary efforts are conducted will be supervised by both a Mission Representative, who will work with proselyting activities, and a Regional Representative, who will work with and train the leadership of the organized branches and districts.

President Smith also announced that the new program calls for discontinuance of the supervision of specific areas of the world by members of the Twelve and other General Authorities. “You mission presidents,” he said, “may expect the brethren of the Twelve to visit you periodically, but not in the capacity of area directors as has been the case in the past.”

The Council of the Twelve as a whole will continue to serve as the missionary committee of the Church, under the direction of the First Presidency. President Spencer W. Kimball and Elders Gordon B. Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson of the Council of the Twelve serve as the executive committee. Under the direction of this executive committee, members of the First Council of the Seventy now give leadership and assistance to proselyting throughout the world.

In discussing the need for the new supervisory organization, the First Presidency pointed out that in the past twelve years (1960–72) the membership of the Church has increased 94 percent, to the present total of nearly 3.1 million.

The increases for various parts of the world include 1100 percent in South America, 948 percent in Central America, 751 percent in Asia, and 50 percent in the United States. Growth outside the United States has increased an average of 250 percent for the twelve-year period.

President N. Eldon Tanner of the First Presidency stated, “And we have no doubt that our membership total will double in the next ten years.”

Thus, with the Church’s population expected to double every ten years, the need for supervising and training leaders, members, and missionaries becomes paramount.

In announcing the names of the new Regional Representatives and Mission Representatives, many changes in assignment were made for Regional Representatives who are already serving. Of special interest, in light of the growing international membership of the Church, three new Regional Representatives are from Mexico, two are from England, and one each is from Samoa, Brazil, Tahiti, and the Netherlands. In addition, eight of the Mission Representatives live in the areas of their assignments: one each in Germany, Belgium, Uruguay, Guatemala, and Canada and three in areas of the Pacific.

New Regional Representatives and their assignments are:

Rulon Craven, Orem, Utah—Calgary and Lethbridge regions.

Arthur S. Anderson, Salt Lake City—St. Louis and Winter Quarters regions.

Dale T. Tingey, Provo, Utah—regions in the Northern and Southwest Indian missions.

Roy W. Doxey, Provo—Bear Lake and Wyoming regions.

James D. Pratt, North Hollywood, California—St. Johns and Flagstaff regions.

Richard G. Scott, Bethesda, Maryland—Montevideo Region and Uruguay-Paraguay Mission.

Joseph Hamstead, Purley, Surrey, England—Sunderland and Scotland regions and Ireland Mission.

O. Leslie Stone, Salt Lake City—Hawaii and Oahu regions.

Percy J. Rivers, Apia, Samoa—Samoa Region.

George R. Hill, Washington, D.C.—New Jersey, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh regions.

Peter J. Morley, Heaton Moor, Stockport, England—London and Transvaal regions and England Southwest and South Africa missions.

Spencer J. Palmer, Provo—Southeast Asia and Philippines missions.

W. Brent Hardy, Las Vegas, Nevada—Hong Kong and Taiwan missions.

Robert H. Slover, Provo—Korea Mission and Sandy Region.

Smith B. Griffin, Paris, France—France, France-Belgium, and France-Switzerland missions.

A. Kenyon Wagner, Mexico City—Monterrey and Tampico regions and Mexico North Mission.

Antonio D. Camargo, Sao Paulo, Brazil—Curitiba Region and Brazil South Mission.

Mark B. Weed, Wilmington, Delaware—Cumorah and New York regions.

Richard B. Sonne, Palo Alto, California—Sacramento and Sacramento North regions.

Leavitt Christensen, San Pedro, California—Italy North and Italy South missions.

Karl M. Richards, Papeete, Tahiti—French Polynesia Mission and Tahiti Stake.

Robert E. Wells, Salt Lake City—Mexico Southeast Mission.

Arturo R. Martinez, Sandy, Utah—Mexico West and Mexico North Central missions.

G. Carlos Smith, Salt Lake City—Moab and Uintah Basin regions.

Jacob de Jager, Mijmagen, Netherlands—Holland Region and Spain Mission.

E. Wilford Edman, Salt Lake City—Oakland and Walnut Creek regions.

E. LeRoy Hatch, Colonia Juarez, Mexico—Mexico City Region and Mexico, Mexico North Central, and Mexico West missions.

Samuel Boren, Mesa, Arizona—Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela missions.

Dean L. Larsen, Kaysville, Utah—Chile Mission.

Robert H. Burton, Salt Lake City—Lima Region and Andes-Peru and Bolivia missions.

Douglas H. Smith, Salt Lake City—Blackfoot and Fresno regions.

James M. Paramore, Orem, Utah—Jordan Region.

In addition to the new appointees, 35 other Regional Representatives received new or revised assignments.

The new Mission Representatives and their assignments are:

Paul C. Andrus, Honolulu, Hawaii—Japan, Japan East, and Korea missions.

Robert B. Arnold, Guatemala City—Central America, Colombia, Guatemala-El Salvador, and Venezuela missions.

James P. Christensen, Nuku‘alofa, Tonga—Fiji and Tonga missions.

David G. Clark, Northridge, California—Italy North, Italy South, and Spain missions.

Gene R. Cook, Bountiful, Utah—Mexico, Mexico Southeast, and Mexico West missions.

Stephen R. Covey, Provo, Utah—Cumorah, Delaware-Maryland, Ohio, and Pennsylvania missions.

Stewart A. Durrant, Salt Lake City—Alberta-Saskatchewan, Colorado-New Mexico, Montana-Wyoming, Northern Indian, Oklahoma, and Southwest Indian missions.

Keith E. Garner, Portola Valley, California—Hong Kong, Philippines, and Southeast Asia missions.

Orville C. Gunther, American Fork, Utah—Germany Central, Germany North, and Germany West missions.

Clifton I. Johnson, Walmley, England—England North, Ireland, Scotland, and South Africa missions.

William N. Jones, Salt Lake City—Andes-Peru, Bolivia, Chile, and Ecuador missions.

Walter H. Kindt, Dusseldorf, Germany—Austria, Germany South, and Switzerland missions.

Allen E. Litster, Salt Lake City—Argentina East, Argentina North, Argentina South, and Uruguay-Paraguay missions.

Edward Y. Okazaki, Denver, Colorado—Japan Central, Japan West, and Taiwan missions.

Hershel Noel Pedersen, American Fork, Utah—Arizona, California, California East, and California South missions.

Don H. Rasmussen, Salt Lake City—Alabama-Florida, Florida South, Georgia-South Carolina, Indiana-Michigan, Kentucky-Tennessee, and North Carolina-Virginia missions.

J. Murray Rawson, Ft. Lauderdale, Florida—England Central, England East, England South, and England Southwest missions.

Phillip G. Redd, Denver, Colorado—Gulf States, Kansas-Missouri, Manitoba-Minnesota, Nauvoo, and Northern States missions.

Sidney F. Sager, Angleur, Belgium—France, France-Belgium, France-Switzerland, and Netherlands missions.

Reginald Wayne Shute, Oahu, Hawaii—Hawaii, New Zealand North, New Zealand South, and Samoa missions.

Milton E. Smith, Salt Lake City—Mexico North, Mexico North Central, Texas North, and Texas South missions.

Asael T. Sorensen, Montevideo, Uruguay—Brazil North, Brazil North Central, Brazil South, and Brazil South Central missions.

Thomas R. Stone, Modesto, California—Australia East, Australia South, Australia West, and French Polynesia missions.

Gary Ursenbach, Calgary, Alberta, Canada—Eastern States, New England, Ontario, and Quebec missions.

Clark M. Wood, Tempe, Arizona—Alaska-British Columbia, California Central, California North, Oregon, and Washington missions.

The four Regional Representatives who will also serve as Mission Representatives are:

Don L. Christensen, Bountiful, Utah—Denmark Mission.

Reid Johnson, Salt Lake City—Sweden Mission.

Dean A. Peterson, Provo, Utah—Norway Mission.

Phileon B. Robinson, Jr., Provo, Utah—Finland Mission.

Canada

11	Stakes
33,350	Members
5	Missions
21,333	Members
54,683	Members

United States

492	Stakes
2,053,459	Members
34	Missions
80,299	Members
2,133,758	Members

Mexico

7	Stakes
19,617	Members
5	Missions
61,707	Members
81,324	Members

Central America

1	Stakes
4,894	Members
4	Missions
27,590	Members
32,484	Members

South America

9	Stakes
32,686	Members
12	Missions
85,688	Members
118,374	Members

Great Britain

9	Stakes
31,076	Members
8	Missions
40,339	Members
71,415	Members

Europe

6	Stakes
14,111	Members
17	Missions
53,909	Members
68,020	Members

Asia

1	Stakes
5,018	Members
9	Missions
39,036	Members
44,054	Members

South Pacific

31	Stakes
68,043	Members
10	Missions
32,307	Members
100,350	Members