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| Paul B. Pieper | |
|---|---|
| First Quorum of the Seventy | |
| April 2, 2005 | |
| Called by | Gordon B. Hinckley |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Paul Bowen Pieper October 7, 1957 Pocatello, Idaho, United States |
Paul Bowen Pieper (born October 7, 1957) has been a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) since 2005. Pieper was the first leader of the LDS Church in Kazakhstan.
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 and incorrectly referred to 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.
Kazakhstan, officially the Republic of Kazakhstan, is the world's largest landlocked country, and the ninth largest in the world, with an area of 2,724,900 square kilometres (1,052,100 sq mi). It is a transcontinental country largely located in Asia; the most western parts are in Europe. Kazakhstan is the dominant nation of Central Asia economically, generating 60% of the region's GDP, primarily through its oil and gas industry. It also has vast mineral resources.
Pieper was born in Pocatello, Idaho. As a young man, he served as a missionary for the LDS Church in the Mexico Monterrey Mission, where he became fluent in Spanish. He studied at Brigham Young University and received a bachelor's degree and a Juris Doctor from the University of Utah. He is married to the former Melissa "Lisa" Tuttle of Salt Lake City. She is the daughter of general authority and educator A. Theodore Tuttle. They are the parents of six children.
Pocatello is the county seat and largest city of Bannock County, with a small portion on the Fort Hall Indian Reservation in neighboring Power County, in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Idaho. It is the principal city of the Pocatello metropolitan area, which encompasses all of Bannock county. As of the 2010 census the population of Pocatello was 54,255.
Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in the southern portion of North America. It is bordered to the north by the United States; to the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; to the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and to the east by the Gulf of Mexico. Covering almost 2,000,000 square kilometres (770,000 sq mi), the nation is the fifth largest country in the Americas by total area and the 13th largest independent state in the world. With an estimated population of over 120 million people, the country is the tenth most populous state and the most populous Spanish-speaking state in the world, while being the second most populous nation in Latin America after Brazil. Mexico is a federation comprising 31 states and Mexico City, a special federal entity that is also the capital city and its most populous city. Other metropolises in the state include Guadalajara, Monterrey, Puebla, Toluca, Tijuana and León.
Monterrey is the capital and largest city of the northeastern state of Nuevo León, Mexico. The city is anchor to the Monterrey metropolitan area, the second most productive in Mexico with a GDP (PPP) of US$ 123 billion and the third largest with an estimated population of 4,689,601 people as of 2015. Monterrey serves as a commercial center of northern Mexico and is the base of many significant international corporations, its purchasing power parity-adjusted GDP per capita is considerably higher than the rest of the country's at around US$35,500 to the country's US$18,800. It is considered a Beta World City, cosmopolitan and competitive. Rich in history and culture, it is one of the most developed cities in Mexico and is often regarded as its most "Americanized".
In the late 1990s, Pieper and his family moved to Kazakhstan, where he learned to speak Russian while working for a law firm in international trade law. Pieper became the branch president and the first-ever leader of the LDS Church in Kazakhstan. By the end of 2003, the Piepers had assisted approximately 50 Kazakhstani people to be baptized into the LDS Church.
Russian is an East Slavic language, which is official in the Russian Federation, Belarus, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan, as well as being widely used throughout Eastern Europe, the Baltic states, the Caucasus and Central Asia. It was the de facto language of the Soviet Union until its dissolution on 25 December 1991. Although nearly three decades have passed since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Russian is used in official capacity or in public life in all the post-Soviet nation-states, as well as in Israel and Mongolia.
A branch president is a leader of a "branch" congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Baptism is a Christian rite of admission and adoption, almost invariably with the use of water, into Christianity. The synoptic gospels recount that John the Baptist baptised Jesus. Baptism is considered a sacrament in most churches, and as an ordinance in others. Baptism is also called christening, although some reserve the word "christening" for the baptism of infants. It has also given its name to the Baptist churches and denominations.
In 2004, Pieper was called to be president of the church's Russia St. Petersburg Mission. In April 2005, he was called as a general authority and member of the church's First Quorum of the Seventy. From 2005 to 2009, he served in the presidency of the church's Europe East Area. In this capacity, on June 23, 2007, Pieper presided over the groundbreaking ceremony for the LDS Church's Kyiv Ukraine Temple.
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.
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. It comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia.
An area is an administrative unit of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which typically is composed of multiple stakes and missions. These areas are the primary church administrative unit between individual stakes and the church as a whole.
From 2009 to 2012, he assisted in coordinating the church's Middle East/Africa North Area, administered from the church's headquarters. From 2011 to 2014, he continued service at the church's headquarters, as an executive director, first of the church's Curriculum Department, followed by the Priesthood Department, which includes stewardship for the church's auxiliary organizations. From August 2014 to August 2016 he served as a counselor in the church's Mexico Area. [1] In June 2016, Pieper joined then-area president, Benjamín De Hoyos, and fellow counselor, Arnulfo Valenzuela, in signing and distributing a letter opposing a proposal to amend the Mexican constitution to allow same-sex marriage. [2] Pieper also participated as the church's representative to the National Christian Union for Families, a multi-faith organization opposing same-sex marriage. [3] He subsequently served as the Mexico Area's president from August 2016 to August 2018. [4]
An auxiliary organization is a secondary body of church government within The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints that is "established for moral, educational, and benevolent purposes." As their name suggests, LDS Church auxiliary organizations are ancillary to the governing power of the priesthood in the church. The five auxiliary organizations of the LDS Church are Primary, Relief Society, Sunday School, Young Men, and Young Women.
Same-sex marriage is the marriage of two persons of the same sex or gender, entered into in a civil or religious ceremony.
