Mervyn B. Arnold

Mervyn B. Arnold
Mervyn B. Arnold
Second Quorum of the Seventy
	April 5, 2003 – April 4, 2009
Called by	Gordon B. Hinckley
End reason	Transferred to First Quorum of the Seventy
First Quorum of the Seventy
	April 4, 2009 – October 6, 2018
Called by	Thomas S. Monson
End reason	Designated emeritus General Authority
Emeritus General Authority
	October 6, 2018
Called by	Russell M. Nelson
Personal details
Born	Mervyn Bennion Arnold; July 19, 1948 (age 70); Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
	Biographyportal LDS Churchportal
	Biographyportal LDS Churchportal

Last updated April 24, 2019

Mervyn Bennion Arnold (born July 19, 1948) has been a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) since 2003.

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, a general authority is a member of the highest levels of leadership in the church who has administrative and ecclesiastical authority over the church. A general authority's jurisdiction is church-wide, in contrast to the responsibilities of a local authority or an area authority, which relate to a particular area, unit, or department of the church. As a group, the general authorities are often referred to as "the Brethren". As of October 2017, there are 109 general authorities.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, often informally known as the LDS Church or Mormon Church, is a nontrinitarian, Christian restorationist church that is considered by its members to be the restoration of the original church founded by Jesus Christ. The church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah in the United States, and has established congregations and built temples worldwide. According to the church, it has over 16 million members and 67,000 full-time volunteer missionaries. In 2012, the National Council of Churches ranked the church as the fourth-largest Christian denomination in the United States, with over 6.5 million members reported by the church, as of January 2018. It is the largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement founded by Joseph Smith during the period of religious revival known as the Second Great Awakening.

Background

Arnold was born in Salt Lake City, Utah, to Jasmine Bennion and John Everett Sorensen Arnold. In 1971, he married Devonna Kress in the Idaho Falls Temple; they have six children.

The Idaho Falls Idaho Temple is the tenth constructed and eighth operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Located in the city of Idaho Falls, Idaho it was the first LDS temple built in Idaho, and the first temple built with a modern single-spire design.

Arnold earned a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1972, and a master's degree in Public Administration from BYU in 1984.

A bachelor's degree or baccalaureate is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to seven years. In some institutions and educational systems, some bachelor's degrees can only be taken as graduate or postgraduate degrees after a first degree has been completed. In countries with qualifications frameworks, bachelor's degrees are normally one of the major levels in the framework, although some qualifications titled bachelor's degrees may be at other levels and some qualifications with non-bachelor's titles may be classified as bachelor's degrees.

Brigham Young University is a private, non-profit research university in Provo, Utah, United States owned by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and run under the auspices of its Church Educational System. The university is classified among "Doctoral Universities: High Research Activity" with "more selective, lower transfer-in" admissions. The university's primary emphasis is on undergraduate education in 179 majors, but it also has 62 master's and 26 doctoral degree programs. The university also administers two satellite campuses, one in Jerusalem and one in Salt Lake City, while its parent organization, the Church Educational System (CES), sponsors sister schools in Hawaii and Idaho.

Professionally, Arnold worked in real estate, building and development, and later expanded into banking.^[1]

Church service

Arnold has served in many LDS Church positions, including as a missionary in the Northern Mexico Mission (1967–69), elders quorum president, stake Young Men president, bishop, stake high councilor, counselor in a stake presidency, and as president of the Costa Rica San José Mission (1985–88). From 1990 to 2003, Arnold was Director of Training and Field Services in the church's Missionary Department.^[1] In 2003, he became a member of the Second Quorum of Seventy and in 2009, he was transferred to the First Quorum of the Seventy. In 2010, he began his service as president of the church's South America South Area. On January 6, 2013, he was released from that assignment and reassigned to church headquarters.

The Young Men is a youth organization and an official auxiliary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The purpose of the organization is to assist the Aaronic priesthood organization in promoting the growth and development of male Latter-day Saints ages 12 to 18.

Mission president is a priesthood leadership position in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. A mission president presides over a mission and the missionaries serving in the mission. Depending on the particular mission, a mission president may also be the presiding priesthood leader of some or all Latter-day Saints within the geographic boundaries of the mission. Mission presidents are ordained high priests of the church.

Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, and Ecuador to the south of Cocos Island. It has a population of around 5 million in a land area of 51,060 square kilometers. An estimated 333,980 people live in the capital and largest city, San José with around 2 million people in the surrounding metropolitan area.

Notes

1 2 "Mervyn B. Arnold biography". Church News . Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News. April 19, 2003. Retrieved 2009-04-13.

References

"Elder Mervyn B. Arnold Of the Seventy," Ensign , May 2003, p. 125

The Ensign of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly shortened to Ensign, is an official periodical of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The magazine was first issued in January 1971, along with the correlated New Era and the Friend. Each of these magazines replaced the older church publications Improvement Era, Relief Society Magazine, The Instructor, and the Millennial Star. Unlike some of its predecessors, the Ensign contains no advertisements.

External links

Book: Seventy (LDS Church)

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[CN2003-1] 1 2 "Mervyn B. Arnold biography". Church News . Salt Lake City, Utah: Deseret News. April 19, 2003. Retrieved 2009-04-13.