LDS President Russell Nelson is turning 100. Why his historic presidency matters.

When President Russell M. Nelson assumed his role as 17th president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2018, some predicted that his would be a quiet tenure. After all, he was already 93.

What they didn’t know was that Nelson, who had spent the previous 33 years as an apostle, had more than a few items on his to-do list — and the verve and vision to make them happen.

Worldwide travels that took him to every continent (save for Antarctica), a historic partnership with the NAACP, greater gender equity in temple rituals, the reversal of a controversial policy regarding same-sex couples, two-hour weekly church services, a slate of relaxed rules for missionaries, and an unprecedented wave of temple building.

Then, on April 14, 2022, Nelson became — at 97 years, seven months and six days — the oldest man to ever lead the global faith of 17.2 million.

And the former heart surgeon’s heart just kept pumping.

While Nelson’s pace has markedly and publicly slowed in recent years — he now uses a wheelchair and sits while delivering sermons — he nonetheless is poised to become the church’s first prophet-president to reach the century mark on Monday.

To commemorate this milestone, The Salt Lake Tribune invited scholars, newsmakers, advocates, artists and other shapers and observers of Latter-day Saints and their church to answer the same question: Why does Nelson’s nearly seven-year presidency matter?

(Their answers have been edited slightly for style, clarity and, in some cases, length).

‘Not meant to be static’

When I interviewed President Nelson in 2020 for The Atlantic, he told me about a notebook he keeps on his nightstand. Back when he was a doctor, he would often receive late-night phone calls informing him of medical emergencies that needed his attention. These days, he said, the interruptions to his sleep come from a higher power than the hospital. “Very frequently,” he told me, “I’m awakened with directions to follow.” He dutifully writes them down in his bedside notebook so that he can act on them the next day.

Whether or not you believe, as faithful Latter-day Saints do, that Nelson is a prophet of God, his presidency has clearly been prolific. The rapid pace of policy changes became a defining trait of his tenure — exhilarating to some church members, unsettling to others. For a while, it seemed like no facet of Latter-day Saint life would go untouched, from the length of church services to the nature of temple worship to the dress code for missionaries to the way weddings are conducted. These measures might seem inconsequential to outsiders. But taken together, they are a powerful reminder that the church Nelson leads is not meant to be static.

In theory, Latter-day Saints have always believed in ongoing revelation. In practice, many of us struggle with the concept that the church can change. Cultural conventions calcify. Tradition, left unchecked too long, can start to look like doctrine. Nelson’s presidency has provided a much-needed corrective to these trends — and evidence of a present-tense restoration.

— McKay Coppins, journalist and author of “Romney: A Reckoning.”

‘Not easily pigeonholed’

It has taken a steady hand to guide the many societal and ecclesiastical changes of the past 6½ years, and President Nelson has used this time to shepherd the church in ways that evidence his medical skills and attentiveness to detail.

He has worked to reshape collective life in the church through a renewed emphasis on temple attendance and a systematic reworking of Sunday schedules and church procedures. But he has been much more than a bureaucrat: He has also pushed communal boundaries, traveling widely, reaching out on racial issues, and articulating clear statements on health protocols during the pandemic.

As such, he hews to a vision that is not easily pigeonholed into the divisions of national politics. It is fair to say that he has emphasized and celebrated the everyday rituals and encounters that bring people together in families, in communities and in individual experiences of the sacred.

— Laurie Maffly-Kipp, Richard Lyman Bushman Chair of Mormon Studies at the University of Virginia

‘Root out prejudice’

An aspect of President Nelson’s leadership that has received attention, but in my view insufficient recognition, is the partnership he has formed with the NAACP.

In the past, that organization would have had little reason to perceive the church as a potential good partner in furthering its mission, yet key leaders there were open to new exploration. Some wonderful people in the church had built relationships of trust over time with leaders of the NAACP, but it seems to me it was really President Nelson’s personal determination that moved the church beyond words and gestures into something much more transformative and deeply meaningful. His calls to members to root out prejudice in our own hearts was matched by moving the resources of the church into new territory, creating scholarships, support of historically Black colleges and universities and increased local participation with Black churches across the country.

To me, this has demonstrated not only President Nelson’s good heart but also a willingness to step into discomfort, to acknowledge that as a church we have been a source of pain to members of this community, being willing to change and to put effort and resources behind doing better in the future. As individual members and as a church, we have miles to go in making our belief that “all are alike unto God” more consistently evident in our actions toward this group and others, like the LGBTQIA+ community. I am grateful for the example President Nelson has set for all of us.

— Tom Christofferson, director of Encircle and author of “That We May Be One: A Gay Mormon’s Perspective on Faith and Family”

‘His decisiveness’

All leaders bring their history of strengths and focus with them to a new assignment. For some, President Nelson will always be associated with the large number of temples commissioned during his tenure. For me, that is reflective of a broader trait, that being his decisiveness. Few will know of the many areas in the church affected by this trait. Yet, there is little doubt of the lasting influence on the growth of the Lord’s church.

— Darius Gray, co-founder of the Genesis Group, a support congregation for Black Latter-day Saints

‘Lifted the church’

President Nelson, like great prophets in history, has lifted both the church and its individual members. He has brought temples to Saints throughout the world and, by his addresses, he has changed lives. I can attest that his charge to “think Celestial” has made me, and surely countless others, a better Latter-day Saint.

— Mitt Romney, Republican senator from Utah

‘Peacemakers never seek to coerce or control’

Peacemaking isn’t intuitive, and nothing in our society right now encourages us to do the hard work it requires. Because of this, President Nelson’s call for us to become peacemakers resonated with me as timely and prophetic. Prophetic because it was both a call to turn away from something destructive and to turn toward something better. He asked us to reject the patterns of contention and anger that have come to characterize human interactions, and instead to repent and exhibit charity. What we do as individual Saints matters, and he wasn’t letting us off the hook.

But perhaps more importantly, this was a charge for us to do better collectively — to turn as a people and a church toward something that could and should set us apart from others.

President Nelson provided prophetic insight into exactly how the world “needs” us right now, and then invited us to answer the call. I hope we let that call transform us for the better.

— Jennifer Walker Thomas, co-executive director of Mormon Women for Ethical Government

‘The power of families’

In 2018, President Nelson spoke about the newly implemented home-centered curriculum. When he said it could “unleash the power of families,” I perked up. He promised that “as you diligently work to remodel your home into a center of gospel learning, over time your Sabbath days will truly be a delight. Your children will be excited to learn and live the Savior’s teachings, and the influence of the adversary in your life and in your home will decrease.”

A lifelong member, I had never been so motivated to act by a single talk. Would our three sons (12, 10 and 8 at the time) really be excited to learn about the Savior’s teachings? There was only one way to find out. I got a hard copy of the “Come, Follow Me” manual and placed it in the middle of our dinner table. We quickly fell into a routine of scripture study after dinner. The boys didn’t complain or roll their eyes; it simply became something we did. We weren’t perfect at it. We might miss a week here and there, but our consistency brought us closer together. This initiated conversations that have allowed us to teach our boys what we believe matters most. When COVID reared its head and the church literally became “home-centered,” we were ready. Our habit of studying the manual had prepared us for those kitchen counter sacrament meetings. Our house became a holier place.

There has been a lot of negativity surrounding the church as of late. Many who have left make snide remarks about the “sheep” who follow the prophet. I feel lucky to count myself among those sheep.

— Brandon Flowers, songwriter, vocalist and keyboardist for The Killers rock band

‘Advocacy for women’

President Nelson’s advocacy for women in the church is truly inspiring. He consistently emphasizes the profound impact that women have on society and acknowledges their essential role in shaping future generations.

As a woman, I see it as incredibly empowering to know that we have a prophet who not only recognizes our contributions but also champions our place within the church and beyond.

Under his leadership, alongside the apostles, there has been a marked impact on how we share and engage with the gospel. His strong advocacy for social media has been particularly noteworthy, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, as it allowed for the continued spread of the gospel and connection.

— Espino Sosa, Latter-day Saint influencer @mamasosa

‘Love…irrespective of race”

As an African who received the gospel over two decades ago, I can categorically state that President Nelson’s term has brought various blessings to Africans and others around the world — from the BYU-Pathway Worldwide program to the announcement of new temples in Africa and around the world. His love for everyone irrespective of race has broken barriers.

— Amaechi Okafor, doctoral candidate, Concordia University, Montreal

‘Sweeping revisions’

I most associate President Nelson’s legacy with change. His early instruction in 2018 to eat vitamins and rest before declaring that we “are witnesses to a process of restoration” hits different in 2024. We’ve seen his sweeping revisions at an institutional level — slashing the home teaching program, building a staggering number of temples, shortening and revising the endowment ceremony, instructing members on what to call themselves, etc.

He is a leader unafraid of change, iterating and moving away from beloved precedents. Still, I ache to see changes in how we treat women and queer members. “If you think the church has been fully restored, you are just seeing the beginning,” President Nelson said. “There is much more to come.” Many are still waiting. It remains unclear if President Nelson’s changes will be remembered as good or crippling while this community struggles to embrace all of God’s children. The greatest gift he could give the church on this momentous birthday would be to listen to its marginalized members, earnestly collect feedback, do repair work, and overturn its stance on gender — starting with retracting the harrowing transgender exclusion polices printed in the revised handbook last month.

— Rachel Rueckert, editor-in-chief of Exponent II and author “East Winds: A Global Quest to Reckon With Marriage.”

‘Energetic’

Especially in its first few years, Nelson’s presidency was as energetic as we have seen from any recent church president. Members embraced Nelson’s model of dynamic, visionary leadership, signaling that they want a president-prophet who really leans into his role.

Not all of his changes will be long-lasting, particularly because subsequent church presidents will have their own signature initiatives and may possibly even reverse course on some things (as Nelson did with the word “Mormon,” which his predecessor Gordon B. Hinckley had embraced). While phrasing and policies come and go, Nelson will have left his mark in a very concrete way — by announcing 168 (and counting) temples around the world. With these sacred buildings, he is quite literally creating facts on the ground, indicating that the church is a temple-centered religion and is here to stay all around the world.

— Patrick Mason, Leonard J. Arrington Chair of Mormon History and Culture at Utah State University

‘Emphasis on continuing revelation’

President Nelson’s emphasis on continuing revelation, temple worship, and a home-centered, church-supported approach to gospel learning are just a few examples of how his leadership has positively affected the course of the church. One of his more significant directives was rightly stressing the importance of using the full and correct name of the church, redirecting focus away from commonly used shorthand nicknames to the proper name given by revelation.

His medical background was especially important during the COVID-19 pandemic. This lent an added layer of credibility to his counsel during the crisis. The combination of his medical expertise and prophetic leadership helped guide the church’s response to the pandemic, emphasizing both practical health measures — such as social distancing, mask-wearing,] and vaccination — and the need for increased faith and spiritual resilience.

— Stephen Smoot, adjunct instructor of ancient scripture at church-owned Brigham Young University

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