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| Wilford W. Andersen | |
|---|---|
| Second Quorum of the Seventy | |
| April 4, 2009 | |
| Called by | Thomas S. Monson |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Wilford Wayne Andersen August 22, 1949 Mesa, Arizona, United States |
Wilford Wayne Andersen (born August 22, 1949) has been a general authority of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church) since 2009.
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.
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Andersen received a bachelor's degree in business management from Brigham Young University in 1973, and a juris doctorate from the J. Reuben Clark Law School in 1976. As young man, he served as a missionary for the church in the Argentina South Mission.
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.
The J. Reuben Clark Law School is a professional school for the study of law in the western United States, located at Brigham Young University (BYU) in Provo, Utah. Founded 46 years ago in 1973, the school is named after J. Reuben Clark, a former U.S. Ambassador, Undersecretary of State, and general authority of the institution's sponsoring organization, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Professionally, Andersen has practiced law and has been involved in real estate development since 1979. [1] . In the 1990s he was the LDS spokesman in the Phoenix area. [2] . He was President of the Mesa-Maricopa Stake in 2001. [3]
A stake is an administrative unit composed of multiple congregations in certain denominations of the Latter Day Saint movement. The name "stake" derives from the Book of Isaiah: "enlarge the place of thy tent; stretch forth the curtains of thine habitation; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes". A stake is sometimes referred to as a stake of Zion.
Andersen has served in a variety of assignments in the LDS Church, including Institute of Religion instructor, temple ordinance worker, bishop, stake high councilor, counselor in a stake presidency, and stake president. He was president of the Mexico Guadalajara Mission from 2002 to 2005 and an area seventy from 2007 to 2009. He was called as a general authority and member of the Second Quorum of the Seventy in April 2009. From August 2009 to August 2012, he served as a counselor in the presidency of the church's Caribbean Area. [4] [5] [6] [7] From August 2012 to August 2014 he served as the area's president. [8] [9] [10] Since August 2015, he has helped supervise the church's work in the Middle East/North Africa. This assignment is administered from the church's headquarters. [11]
Institutes of Religion are local organizations that provide religious education for young adults who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Local institutes may function in church meetinghouses, but may also have a stand-alone building situated adjacent to colleges or universities. The LDS Church describes the purpose of the Institute program as "weekday religious instruction for single and married postsecondary students." Institutes of Religion are professionally directed as part of the Church Educational System, with responsibility for the seminary program and the church's higher education institutions, including Brigham Young University (BYU).
In the Latter Day Saint movement, a temple is a building dedicated to be a house of God and is reserved for special forms of worship. A temple differs from a church meetinghouse, which is used for weekly worship services. Temples have been a significant part of the Latter Day Saint movement since early in its inception. Today, temples are operated by several Latter Day Saint denominations. The most prolific builder of temples of the Latter Day Saint movement is The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. There are 163 dedicated temples, 11 under construction, and 35 announced. Several other variations of the church have built or attempted to build temples. The Community of Christ operates two temples in the United States, which are open to the public and are used for worship services, performances, and religious education. Other denominations with temples are the Apostolic United Brethren, the Church of Christ, the Fundamentalist 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 term ordinance is used to refer to sacred rites and ceremonies that have spiritual and symbolic meanings and act as a means of conveying divine grace. Ordinances are physical acts which signify or symbolize an underlying spiritual act; for some ordinances, the spiritual act is the finalization of a covenant between the ordinance recipient and God.
Andersen married Kathleen Bennion in 1975, in the Provo Utah Temple, and they are the parents of nine children.
The Provo Utah Temple is the 17th constructed and 15th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Located in the city of Provo, Utah, it was built with a modern single-spire design, similar to the original design of the Ogden Utah Temple.
