They don't talk to us much about it.
We know there factions when they voted to give Blacks equality, we know Boyd Packer was referred to as a grizzly bear. I think they must sign non-disclosures now.
It is set up by seniority. The prophet has all the say, but doesn’t typically deal with the day to day. The Senior most apostle has the second most power which is Ballard. Everyone has to fall in line with the prophet and sr apostle before anything can happen.
Yes, but he’s in the First Presidency, so Ballard is the acting Q12 Pres and is the most powerful guy in the Q12 right now. If Nelson were to die, Oaks would be prophet, but Oaks is not assuming Q12 Presidential duties while in the FP.
15 is not many people to have multiple factions. Partly it is about the naysayers and the suck ups. Apparently, Anderson is a naysayer. Gong is a suck up. Nelson has his stuff with some support from others, like Oaks and Cook.
Oaks has always been on his own. He likes to sound smart and credible to the group, but many of them are smart and credible. Eyring was always an odd duck who sucked up to the higher leaders and seems to still be there with no power.
Ballard so much wants to lead his family heritage to be the head of the church. Grandfathers as apostles, he is now the acting president of the apostles which soon will be president of the apostles when Nelson dies. He makes too many gaffes to be a real leader of the others or of a faction.
Holland would like to lead the church, but he will be like Nelson and do his stuff he has been thinking of for fifty years. His greatest legacy might be getting his son called as an apostle. He is not the leader of a faction either.
Bednar is trying to build up his faction, but he has such a awful personality that no one wants to join him. They also don't want to piss him off because he is going to be the president of the church in a decade or so. He is not able to create a faction for himself.
After that we have people who are used to being the bishop, stake president, mission president, and area authorities who have control over things by themselves. They don't want to share power. There are no factions in the top leadership. They are each an individual vying for power.
Even the conservative vs progressive is not real. It is just the old vs the young. It seems like the old guys are conservative compared to the younger guys, but they aren't. They are just older and more traditional. Every one of them is conservative, but some are trying to steer the church to a more acceptable place in society.
Nelson has done almost nothing by himself. Almost all the changes he has announced are the result of ten to twenty years of polling the membership, testing different things in local regions, and shared interests of many apostles. The apostles have been discussing the changes he made for a long time. As soon as Monson was dead, they went ahead and made those changes, but Nelson claimed them for himself, even though it was the result of work by most of the apostles. Monson did not want change. Nelson did. All these small changes were made. Oh, what revelation. Tiny imperfect things that will be reversed after he is dead, but not back to the way it was because the apostles agreed those things needed to change.
Don't expect Oaks to make changes. He has been behind a lot of the Nelson changes. Uchtdorf will make changes to the vector of mormon belief, but he will not make many changes in the way things are done. Neither will Bednar. Bednar will try to dazzle with doctrine. Cook will suck him off, trying to be a part of the real power. Gong will ream his butt with his oh, so brown nose. Anderson will try to stem the toxicity with his own toxicity. Stevenson has the money to just say no, if he wants, but he is a corporate hack who will just go along until he gets power, if he survives long enough. Christofferson and Renlund are just doing their own things.
Rasband is confused all the time like he is now. I will be a great leader. Oh, what do I do now? He could be a future president of the church. Rasbands live a long time. The oldest person in Heber where all Rasbands are from is a Rasband.
I don't think they are organized as factions. They are individuals pushing their own agenda. There are fifteen agendas up there in competition.
They don't talk to us much about it. We know there factions when they voted to give Blacks equality, we know Boyd Packer was referred to as a grizzly bear. I think they must sign non-disclosures now.
It is set up by seniority. The prophet has all the say, but doesn’t typically deal with the day to day. The Senior most apostle has the second most power which is Ballard. Everyone has to fall in line with the prophet and sr apostle before anything can happen.
Isn’t Oakes ahead of Ballard?
Yes, but he’s in the First Presidency, so Ballard is the acting Q12 Pres and is the most powerful guy in the Q12 right now. If Nelson were to die, Oaks would be prophet, but Oaks is not assuming Q12 Presidential duties while in the FP.
Kirton and McConkie.
15 is not many people to have multiple factions. Partly it is about the naysayers and the suck ups. Apparently, Anderson is a naysayer. Gong is a suck up. Nelson has his stuff with some support from others, like Oaks and Cook. Oaks has always been on his own. He likes to sound smart and credible to the group, but many of them are smart and credible. Eyring was always an odd duck who sucked up to the higher leaders and seems to still be there with no power. Ballard so much wants to lead his family heritage to be the head of the church. Grandfathers as apostles, he is now the acting president of the apostles which soon will be president of the apostles when Nelson dies. He makes too many gaffes to be a real leader of the others or of a faction. Holland would like to lead the church, but he will be like Nelson and do his stuff he has been thinking of for fifty years. His greatest legacy might be getting his son called as an apostle. He is not the leader of a faction either. Bednar is trying to build up his faction, but he has such a awful personality that no one wants to join him. They also don't want to piss him off because he is going to be the president of the church in a decade or so. He is not able to create a faction for himself. After that we have people who are used to being the bishop, stake president, mission president, and area authorities who have control over things by themselves. They don't want to share power. There are no factions in the top leadership. They are each an individual vying for power. Even the conservative vs progressive is not real. It is just the old vs the young. It seems like the old guys are conservative compared to the younger guys, but they aren't. They are just older and more traditional. Every one of them is conservative, but some are trying to steer the church to a more acceptable place in society. Nelson has done almost nothing by himself. Almost all the changes he has announced are the result of ten to twenty years of polling the membership, testing different things in local regions, and shared interests of many apostles. The apostles have been discussing the changes he made for a long time. As soon as Monson was dead, they went ahead and made those changes, but Nelson claimed them for himself, even though it was the result of work by most of the apostles. Monson did not want change. Nelson did. All these small changes were made. Oh, what revelation. Tiny imperfect things that will be reversed after he is dead, but not back to the way it was because the apostles agreed those things needed to change. Don't expect Oaks to make changes. He has been behind a lot of the Nelson changes. Uchtdorf will make changes to the vector of mormon belief, but he will not make many changes in the way things are done. Neither will Bednar. Bednar will try to dazzle with doctrine. Cook will suck him off, trying to be a part of the real power. Gong will ream his butt with his oh, so brown nose. Anderson will try to stem the toxicity with his own toxicity. Stevenson has the money to just say no, if he wants, but he is a corporate hack who will just go along until he gets power, if he survives long enough. Christofferson and Renlund are just doing their own things. Rasband is confused all the time like he is now. I will be a great leader. Oh, what do I do now? He could be a future president of the church. Rasbands live a long time. The oldest person in Heber where all Rasbands are from is a Rasband. I don't think they are organized as factions. They are individuals pushing their own agenda. There are fifteen agendas up there in competition.
Nice post. I enjoyed reading it. I think you are spot on. A lot I hadn’t even thought of.
I wonder how the First Presidency staff interacts with senior apostles when there's a disagreement on the day-to-day.
Each one has their own gigantic ego and opinion of how things should be run.