Historic Conference Shatters Records

The 34^th Annual Meeting of the John Whitmer Historical Association proved to be a historic occasion, resulting from the participation of a large number of leaders of Latter Day Saint (Restoration) movement leaders.

Participants included:

Community of Christ

Grant McMurray, former Prophet/President

Dale Luffman, Apostle

Alan Tyree, former counselor in the First Presidency

 

The Church of Jesus Christ (with Headquarters in Monongahela, Pennsylvania)

Paul Benyola, Apostle

Paul Liberto, Apostle

 

The Church of Jesus Christ (Alpheus Cutler)

Stanley Whiting, President

 

Church of Christ (Temple Lot)

Bill Sheldon, Apostle

 

Church of Christ "The Church with the Elijah Message"

Paul Savage, Apostle

 

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (James J. Strang)

Bill Shepard, Wingfield Watson Trustee

 

Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints

Fred Larsen, Prophet/President

Lee Kilpack, Apostle

 

Independent Restoration RLDS Branches

Rudy Leutzinger, Elder

 

Principle Voices (Mormon Fundamentalist Advocacy Group)

Anne Wilde, Founder

 

To our knowledge, never before has such a group of diverse leaders of the Latter Day Saint movement been gathered together in a single conference.

In addition to presentations on groups whose leaders were represented, participants were treated to sessions on David Whitmer and the Church of Christ (Whitmer), Amasa Lyman and the Church of Zion, William Smith and his church, Lyman Wight and his church, Joseph Morris and the Church of the First Born, George J. Adams and his church/colony in Palestine, and R.C. Evans and the Toronto Schism in the RLDS church.

New Records

Eighty-five people participated in this year’s conference as Presenters, Panelists, Responders or Chairs, topping last year’s impressive showing of sixty-four participants. In addition, 200 attendees registered for the conference — a significant increase over last year’s total of 126 registered attendees and eclipsing the previous record attendance figure of 160, set at the memorable Nauvoo Conference in 2002.

Awards

Melvin C. Johnson was awarded JWHA’s 2006 Smith-Pettit Best Book Award for Polygamy on the Pedernales: Lyman Wight’s Mormon Villages in Antebellum Texas, 1845 to 1858. Richard Clothier won the 2006 Best Article Award for his "Different Drummers: The Diverse Hymnody of the Reorganization," which was published in Volume 32, Issue 1 (Spring 2006) of the Journal of Mormon History. Paul M. Edwards was presented with the JWHA Lifetime Achievement Award.

Highlights

The strength of the program was such that it is difficult to pick out highlights. Grant McMurray’s Sterling M. McMurrin Lecture, entitled "Reflecting on the Evolving Faith and Culture of the Community of Christ" was extremely well received by the membership. Numerous members have already requested printed copies of the address, which we hope to make available in advance of its publication in the 2007 JWHA Journal.

Everyone who attended the Distinguished Senior Scholar Memorial honoring Val Avery’s legacy will certainly agree with JWHA founding president Bob Flanders who declared it the most fitting "elegy" he had ever heard presented. Outgoing past president Jan Shipps presented what she believed "Val might have said." Other moving tributes were presented by Barbara Bernauer, Alma Blair and Bill Russell.

JWHA’s new connection with members of The Church of Jesus Christ (with Headquarters in Monongahela, Pennsylvania) was cemented with a plenary address by Apostle Paul Benyola and Church Historian Larry Watson. Many members commented positively on Benyola’s refreshingly open and frank discussion of some of the tough issues facing Restoration leaders.

The walking tours of the Temple area of Independence were particularly popular. Attendees split into four groups and toured the headquarters buildings of the Church of Christ (Temple Lot), the Church of Jesus Christ (Alpheus Cutler) and the Remnant Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, as well as the Temple Archives of the Community of Christ, where they viewed a number of key artifacts from the early church.

On Sunday morning at the Conference Center of the Remnant Church, Steve Shields, author of The Divergent Paths of the Restoration, presented his reflections on his lifelong study of the Latter Day Saint movement. His address was followed by an interdenominational Latter Day Saint service with hymns and readings drawn from many of the diverse traditions of the movement.