Stephen Mark Veazey is the Prophet-President of Community of Christ, headquartered in Independence, Missouri. Veazey's name was presented to the church in March 2005 by a joint council of church leaders led by the Council of Twelve Apostles, as the next Prophet-President. Delegates elected to a special World Conference of the church approved Veazey and he was ordained as the eighth President of the High Priesthood, Prophet, and President of the Church on June 3, 2005.[2]
Born in Tennessee, Veazey has been a full-time minister in the church since 1983. He was ordained a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles in 1992. In April 2002, he was set apart as president of the Council of Twelve and assigned by the First Presidency as director of Field Ministries. He has also brought support and leadership to Church Planting Ministries and Young Adult and Campus Ministries. His areas of ministry have included missionary and administrative work in the Southern USA Mission Field, the Africa-East Central Field; the South Central and the East Central States Regions; the Division of Program Services, Outreach Ministries; the North Central Region; the Advanced Leadership Studies at World Church headquarters; and the African-American Ministries.[2]
Before 1983, Veazey was an executive minister to the Fremont, California, congregation and was in charge of a missionary development project funded by the World Church for San Francisco Bay Stake. Veazey also served the church as a young adult two-year contractual minister to Pacific Northwest Region, in the Portland Metropole; director of youth camps and seminars; field associate for the Young Adult and Campus Ministries Office; presiding elder in McKenzie, Tennessee; and counselor to the pastor in Paris, Tennessee. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Tennessee and a Master of Arts in religion from Park College.[2]
Veazey presented Doctrine and Covenants Section 163 to the 2007 World Conference of the Community of Christ. He cited the Hymns of the Saints as a source for this document, which clarifies the theology of scripture, the mission of the church, and other ecclesiastical matters in Community of Christ.[3]
On January 17, 2010, Veazey presented another document which became part of the Doctrine and Covenants. A very short message of inspired counsel was included in the President's April 5, 2009 address to the church. On April 14, 2010, Community of Christ voted to affirm the counsel as scripture, and it was added to the Doctrine and Covenants as section 164.[4] Doctrine and Covenants Section 165, from an inspired document of Veazey's, was canonized in 2016.
On March 6, 2023 Veazey announced that he would be retiring in 2025 and would initiate a process for the Council of Twelve to discern the next prophet-president. On January 18, 2024, following several meetings to consider two to three candidates each from a list shared anonymously by the church,[5] the Council of Twelve designated Stassi D. Cramm, a member of the First Presidency, as the next prophet-president-designate. Cramm is set for confirmation at the 2025 World Conference, which will be the first time that a woman has headed an RLDS denomination as a prophet-president.[6][7]
Notes
↑ Stephen M. Veazey, "Stepping into the River of Revelation in the Restoration Tradition," Restoration Studies Vol. XI (2010), 2.
The Doctrine and Covenants is a part of the open scriptural canon of several denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. Originally published in 1835 as Doctrine and Covenants of the Church of the Latter Day Saints: Carefully Selected from the Revelations of God, editions of the book continue to be printed mainly by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the Community of Christ.
Community of Christ, known from 1872 to 2001 as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (RLDS), is an American-based international church, and is the second-largest denomination in the Latter Day Saint movement. The church reports approximately 250,000 members in 1,100 congregations in 59 countries. The church traces its origins to Joseph Smith's establishment of the Church of Christ on April 6, 1830. His eldest son Joseph Smith III formally accepted leadership of the church on April 6, 1860 in the aftermath of the 1844 death of Joseph Smith.
Among many churches in the Latter Day Saint movement, the First Presidency is the highest presiding or governing body. Present-day denominations of the movement led by a First Presidency include the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the Community of Christ, Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and the Righteous Branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints.
In the Latter Day Saint movement, the President of the Church is generally considered to be the highest office of the church. It was the office held by Joseph Smith, founder of the movement, and the office assumed by many of Smith's claimed successors, such as Brigham Young, Joseph Smith III, Sidney Rigdon, and James Strang. Several other titles have been associated with this office, including First Elder of the church, Presiding High Priest, President of the High Priesthood, Trustee-in-Trust for the church, Prophet, Seer, Revelator, and Translator. Joseph Smith was known by all of these titles in his lifetime.
Seventy is a priesthood office in the Melchizedek priesthood of several denominations within the Latter Day Saint movement, including the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Traditionally, a Latter Day Saint holding this priesthood office is a "traveling minister" and an "especial witness" of Jesus Christ, charged with the mission of preaching the gospel to the entire world under the direction of the Twelve Apostles. Latter Day Saints teach that the office of seventy was anciently conferred upon the seventy disciples mentioned in the Gospel of Luke 10:1-2. Multiple individuals holding the office of seventy are referred to collectively as "seventies".
William Marks was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and was a member of the First Presidency in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Marks is mentioned in the Doctrine and Covenants in sections 117 and 124 of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints edition and in section 115 of the Community of Christ edition.
Lineal succession was a doctrine of the Latter Day Saint movement, whereby certain key church positions were held by right of lineal inheritance. Though lineal succession is now largely abandoned, the offices connected with the practice were the President of the Church and the Presiding Patriarch.
The First Presidency of Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is the church's highest-ranking priesthood quorum. It is composed of the Prophet-President and two counselors, and they preside over the whole church under the principles of "theocratic democracy" observed in the governance of the church. This includes responsibility for the World Conference, field ministries, priesthood quorums and orders, and headquarters functions. The president of the Church holds the priesthood office of Prophet and is also a High Priest.
In the Community of Christ, the Council of Twelve Apostles is one of the governing bodies in the church hierarchy. They are disciples who hold the priesthood office of apostle, and are responsible for the evangelistic witness of the church. Apostles are also high priests in the Melchizedek priesthood of the church.
W. Grant McMurray was Prophet-President of Community of Christ from 1996 until 2004. He was the first non-descendant of Joseph Smith to head the church, and under his administration, the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints changed its name to Community of Christ.
William Wallace Smith was a grandson of Joseph Smith Jr. and Prophet-President of the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, from October 6, 1958, to April 5, 1978, when he retired to "emeritus" status.
In Community of Christ, formerly the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, priesthood is God's power and authority to minister in the church and to conduct God's business on Earth. Although the church believes that all Christians are called by their gifts and talents to the ministry, priesthood is seen as a particular expression of universal ministry to which all are called. In Community of Christ, both women and men can be ordained to the priesthood. All offices are deemed equal in importance, but the duties and responsibilities of each differ.
The history of Community of Christ, formerly known as the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, covers a period of approximately 200 years. The church's early history traces to the "grove experience" of Joseph Smith, who prayed in the woods near his home in Palmyra, New York, in the early-19th century. Several accounts of this experience have surfaced over the years. Most of the accounts share a common narrative indicating that when he went to the woods to pray, he experienced a period of encountering evil or despair, but then experienced an epiphany or vision in which he came to know and understand God's goodness. Later, as an adult, Smith founded the Church of Christ on April 6, 1830.
Community of Christ and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are two denominations that share a common heritage in the Church of Christ founded by Joseph Smith on April 6, 1830. Since Smith's death in 1844, they have evolved separately in belief and practices. The LDS Church is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, and claims more than 17 million members worldwide; Community of Christ is headquartered in Independence, Missouri, and reports a worldwide membership of approximately 250,000.
Kenneth N. Robinson was a member of the First Presidency of the Community of Christ from 1996 to 2007. Robinson was also an apostle and a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles of the church from 1980 to 1996.
Peter A. Judd was a member of the First Presidency of the Community of Christ from 2000 to 2005. Judd was also an apostle and a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles of the church from 1996 to 2000.
Francis Henry Edwards was a British leader in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Edwards was an apostle and a member of the church's Council of Twelve Apostles from 1922 to 1946 and was a member of the First Presidency from 1946 to 1966.
Duane Emerson Couey was an American leader in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. He was a member of the church's Council of Twelve Apostles and First Presidency and also served a term as the church's Presiding Patriarch.
Linda L. Booth is a former apostle in the Council of Twelve Apostles of Community of Christ beginning March 31, 1998. Along with Gail E. Mengel, Booth was one of the first two women apostles in the Reorganized Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. In 2013, Booth became the first woman to be the church's president of the Council of Twelve. The RLDS Church was renamed Community of Christ in 2001.
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