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Gordon B. Hinckley

15th President: 1995–2008

Contents

    PreparationMinistryTeachingsTestimony
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    • Preparation

    • Preparation of Gordon B. Hinckley: A Testimony of Joseph Smith
    • June 23, 1910

      While raising eight stepchildren, Ada Bitner Hinckley gave birth to her first biological child, a son named Gordon. 

    • Preparation of Gordon B. Hinckley: Following the Crowd
    • University graduation portrait of Gordon B. Hinckley, 1932
    • Gordon B. Hinckley as a missionary, age 24
    • Preparation of Gordon B. Hinckley: “Forget Yourself and Go to Work”
    • 1933–1935

      As a missionary, Elder Hinckley developed strong public speaking skills in the crucible of London’s Hyde Park. 

    • Gordon married Marjorie Pay in 1937. The two had met as Primary children and grew up across the street from each other. “You cannot know him unless you know her,” said Boyd K. Packer, “[and] the tender, guiding, patient influence she has been in his life.”
    • Ministry

    • President Hinckley worked on early Church efforts to use new media technologies.
    • Ministry of Gordon B. Hinckley: Bringing the Church Out of Obscurity
    • The Church became increasingly focused on the needs of members worldwide during President Hinckley’s early years as an Apostle.
    • Oct. 5, 1961 

      Gordon B. HInckley was ordained an Apostle. He would later serve as a counselor to three Church Presidents.

    • In 1983, President Hinckley dedicated the Atlanta Georgia Temple. He would later dedicate or rededicate 97 different temples.
    • Ministry of Gordon B. Hinckley: Love for the People
    • Mar. 12, 1995 

      Gordon B. Hinckley was set apart as President of the Church. He served in this capacity for 13 years. 

    • Gordon B. Hinckley visits with a Latter-day Saint family in Japan. Throughout his ministry, he kept a busy travel schedule to keep close to the Saints.
    • President Hinckley often took his doctor’s advice to “carry a cane” more literally than the doctor intended.
    • Gordon B. Hinckley and Thomas S. Monson served together in the First Presidency for 22 years.
    • View Additional Time Line Events

      Read a Biographical Sketch

    • Teachings

    • Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley: Be a Little Kinder
    • President and Sister Hinckley taught the Saints that humility, gentle humor, and Christlike love strengthen family.
    • Ministry of Gordon B. Hinckley: Temple Building
    • President Hinckley at the dedication of the reconstructed Nauvoo Illinois Temple
    • “Each temple built by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints stands as an expression of the testimony of this people that God our Eternal Father lives [and] that He has a plan for the blessing of His sons and daughters. . . . Every temple, be it large or small, old or new, is an expression of our testimony that life beyond the grave is as real and certain as is mortality.”

    • “Go forward in life with a twinkle in your eye and a smile on your face, but with great and strong purpose in your heart.”

    • Many Saints felt encouraged by President Hinckley’s optimism.
    • A month after the October 2000 dedication of the Conference Center, President Hinckley gave a memorable fireside address and offered a prayer for the youth of the Church from the new building.
    • Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley: The Six B’s
    • “Any man in this Church who abuses his wife, who demeans her, who insults her, who exercises unrighteous dominion over her is unworthy to hold the priesthood. Though he may have been ordained, the heavens will withdraw, the Spirit of the Lord will be grieved, and it will be amen to the authority of the priesthood of that man.”

    • “The Family: A Proclamation to the World,” issued in 1995, lays out teachings and warnings that President Hinckley repeatedly emphasized.
    • Teachings of Gordon B. Hinckley: Standing for Something
    • “O God, our Eternal Father, as Thy servant I bow before Thee in prayer in behalf of these young people. . . . Bless them that they shall be happy at times and serious at times, that they may enjoy life and drink of its fulness. Bless them that they may walk acceptably before Thee as Thy cherished sons and daughters. Each is Thy child with capacity to do great and noble things.”

       

    • Testimony

    • Gordon B. Hinckley speaking in the Salt Lake Tabernacle in 1961
    • “Of all the things for which I feel grateful . . . one stands out preeminently. That is a living testimony of Jesus Christ.”

    • Testimony of Gordon B. Hinckley
    • “Jesus is the Christ, the promised Messiah, who came to earth in the most humble of circumstances, who walked the dusty roads of Palestine teaching and healing, who died upon Golgotha’s cruel cross and was resurrected the third day. This is His church. It carries His name. We are His servants, each of us.”

    • Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008)
    • Further Readings

      Gordon B. Hinckley (1910–2008)

      Gordon B. Hinckley: Fifteenth President of the Church, Presidents of the Church Student Manual (2012), 260–85

      M. Russell Ballard, “President Gordon B. Hinckley: An Anchor of Faith,” Ensign, Sept. 1994, 6–11

      Jeffrey R. Holland, “President Gordon B. Hinckley: Stalwart and Brave He Stands,”
      Ensign, June 1995, 2–13

      Gordon B. Hinckley, “The Stone Cut Out of the Mountain,” Ensign or Liana, Nov. 2007, 83–86

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