Young Adult members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from across the world who watched or attended last night’s CES Devotional learned of some big changes. At the beginning of the devotional, which was broadcasted from Ogden, Utah, Commissioner for the Church Education System, Elder Paul V. Johnson, announced a new name and schedule for CES devotionals.
Johnson announced:
Beginning in January 2015, CES devotionals like this will be called ‘Worldwide Devotionals for Young Adults.’
In addition to the announcement of the new name, “Worldwide Devotionals for Young Adults,” Johnson revealed that the devotionals will only be held three times a year taking place in January, May and September.
These changes come with the hope that members will recognize the importance of each devotional and that all young adults—regardless of location or circumstance—feel invited and welcome to attend. Johnson invited the young adults to participate in the three devotionals:
We hope you will make every effort to attend each devotional and encourage others to attend with you so that you and they might have a chance to associate together, listen to council from our leaders and receive personal revelation and direction.
After announcing the title and schedule change, Johnson also informed the young adults that religion courses at LDS colleges and Institute classes will receive a curriculum change starting Fall 2015. This change will include a new cornerstone approach. With this approach, the four core classes will no longer follow the standard works. Instead, the classes will be as follows:
- Jesus Christ and the Everlasting Gospel
- Teachings and Doctrine of the Book of Mormon
- Foundations of the Restoration
- The Eternal Family
After Johnson’s announcements, Elder Donald L. Hallstrom of the Presidency of the Seventy spoke to the young adults, advising them to build their foundation of faith on a firm foundation. Some of our favorite quotes from Hallstrom’s talk last night include:
- “Unlike building a structure, which by any definition is temporary, in building our everlasting — and hopefully — eternal lives, we sometimes pay woefully little attention to the engineering and construction of our foundations. Consequently, we are left highly exposed and are easily buffeted by dangerous forces.”
- “Jesus Christ is the rock upon which we must build our foundation.”
- “The Lord referred to Himself as the ‘stone of Israel’ and emphatically stated, ‘He that buildeth upon this rock shall never fall.'”
- “It needs to be more than what we sometimes think or even what we sometimes feel — it must become who we are. Our connection with God, our Father, and His eternal plan, and with Jesus Christ, His Son and our Rock, needs to be so firmly established that it truly becomes the cornerstone of our foundation. Our identity then becomes first that of an eternal being — a son or daughter of God — and of a grateful receiver of the blessings of Jesus Christ’s Atonement.”
For more summary of Hallstrom’s talk, read Deseret News’ article.
