General Authority
Perry was called as a general authority and Assistant to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in 1972. The death of church president Harold B. Lee created a vacancy in the Quorum of the Twelve when Spencer W. Kimball, who had been serving as quourm president, became church president. Perry was sustained as a member of the Twelve on April 6, 1974 and was ordained an apostle on April 11, 1974.
Today, Perry ranks behind only church president Thomas S. Monson and quorum president Boyd K. Packer in apostolic seniority. As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Perry is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator.
In 2004, Perry was asked by church president Gordon B. Hinckley to serve as president of the church's Europe Central Area, headquartered in Frankfurt, Germany, a position normally held by a member of the seventy. This made Perry one of the most senior officials of the church ever to be stationed away from Salt Lake City. While serving in this capacity, Perry initiated a more proactive institute program that emphasized meeting the social and intellectual needs of young single adult church members.
Read more about this topic: L. Tom Perry
Famous quotes containing the words general and/or authority:
“Amid the pressure of great events, a general principle gives no help.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“Society in general do not like originality, especially in woman, as it looks like defying man’s authority for a woman to prefer her own methods to accepting those laid down for the majority.”
—Caroline Nichols Churchill (1833–?)