My dear brothers and sisters, I rejoice in this opportunity
to be with you this evening.
Before I introduce Elder Gong, I would
like to share a thought that I hope will be helpful
to you and to your students.
I first want to express my love for you and my gratitude
for what you do.
You do a great work in God's kingdom
and in the lives of your students.
I love you, and I pray the Lord's choicest blessings
will be with you and with your families.
I want to say a word tonight about Doctrinal Mastery.
What I say will apply especially to those of you
who are teaching seminary, but it really applies to all of us.
Doctrinal Mastery is a program in seminary with three
objectives: first, to help our students learn how to acquire
spiritual knowledge; to help students know and understand
the Savior's doctrine--that means both to know true
doctrine in their minds and to understand true doctrine
in their hearts, and we want it to be deep in their hearts;
and third, to help the students learn how to apply the doctrine
in their lives, both to live it themselves and to use it
to answer questions their friends may have or to teach
and help others know the truth.
Doctrinal Mastery was introduced worldwide last fall.
I want you to know and feel in your hearts
that it has come by revelation from the Lord; it is a miracle.
I have reflected often on how it came and when it came
and why it came.
I have come to see Doctrinal Mastery in the larger
context of Church education and the great work of the Lord
in the earth.
I believe that Doctrinal Mastery helps our students grow
in knowledge and understanding of doctrine
and helps them learn how to use that knowledge
and understanding in their lives.
But it does more than that.
It also teaches our students the Lord's way
to learn deeply in any kind of knowledge
and at any time in their lives.
Learning is deep when it increases our power
to do three things: to know and understand,
to take effective, righteous action,
and to become more like our Heavenly Father
and His Son, Jesus Christ.
Deep learning must be done in the Lord's way,
through the power of the Holy Ghost
and through active, diligent study
and teaching of one another, attended
by the grace of Jesus Christ.
This is true for any kind of knowledge
and for any time of life.
This is exactly what we teach our students in Doctrinal
Mastery--and also, I hope, in everything we teach.
Doctrinal Mastery, therefore, is a gateway
to lifelong deep learning.
I want to close my remarks with two invitations.
The first is to those of you who teach seminary.
My beloved brothers and sisters all over the world,
I hope your students see that you are teaching them
how to learn in the Lord's way.
Teach them that they need to learn deeply
in both spiritual and secular knowledge all
through their lives.
Help them see that graduation from seminary is not the end.
We want them to graduate from institute,
and we want them to pursue education beyond high school.
You are helping them to do both of those things
and to lay a foundation for lifelong deep learning
by teaching them how to learn in the Lord's way.
My second invitation is to those of you who teach institute.
My beloved brothers and sisters, please help your students
learn in the Lord's way.
Please help them see the value and power in their lives
of graduation from institute.
Institute graduation represents the completion
of a systematic, extensive study of the gospel.
Graduation from institute will solidify their gospel
understanding, deepen their testimony and their commitment
to the Lord, and will help them to know and love Jesus Christ.
I know that if you act on these invitations, brothers
and sisters, the Lord and Savior will
bless you and your students.
I bear witness that our Heavenly Father lives and loves us.
His Son, Jesus Christ, is our Savior and Redeemer.
I know He lives.
I know that in Him and through Him,
we all can learn deeply all through our lives,
for He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
In the sacred name of Jesus Christ, amen.
It will now be my pleasure to introduce
Elder Gerrit W. Gong.
Elder Gong was sustained as a General Authority
Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints in April of 2010, currently
serves as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy.
Elder Gong holds a bachelor's degree
from BYU and master's and Ph.D. degrees from Oxford University.
In Washington, D.C., Brother Gong worked at the Center
for Strategic and International Studies and the U.S. State
Department.
At BYU Brother Gong served as assistant
to the president for planning and assessment
and also as a member of the U.S. Department
of Education National Advisory Committee on Institutional
Quality and Integrity.
Elder Gong has served in numerous Church callings,
including full-time missionary in Taiwan
and seminary teacher, twice.
Elder Gong born in Redwood City, California.
He and his wife, Susan, the daughter
of Elder Richard and Sister Marian Lindsay,
have four sons and three grandchildren.
Sister Gong is a returned missionary from Taiwan
and a language educator involved with
our global English initiative.
We look forward to hearing from Elder Gong this evening.
Thank you.