From this month's
Ensign:
Elder Quentin L. Cook explained that over a four-year period, every
single stake and ward, district and branch, in the Church has a member
of the Twelve coming and meeting with its leaders—and training them on
prophetic priorities.
Furthermore:
“As we go different places, we feel the goodness of the members,” said
Elder Gerrit W. Gong. “We hear the experiences and we learn things that
help us to understand as we counsel together as a quorum about what is
happening in the different parts of the world and in different groups
within the Church.”
Six years ago, I
argued that
A stake president, therefore, is better informed about what is going on
in the Church than a typical scholar of Mormonism, albeit often for a
more restricted geographical area.
and
while someone who does Mormon Studies may be an expert in his or her
particular niche, he or she will be in less of a position to say what is
generally happening Church-wide than a typical General Authority.
From what is reported in the
Ensign, the apostles are far more in touch with what is going on in the Church than I had even argued. I have always been impressed with how in touch the apostles are with what is going on in the Church. I am now even more so.
