BYU President C. Shane Reese paid tribute during the university’s Tuesday devotional to the life and legacy of President Russell M. Nelson, who served as prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and chairman of the university’s board of trustees until he died Saturday at age 101.
President Reese’s brief tribute to President Nelson preceded Emmy award-winning journalist Jane Clayson Johnson’s devotional remarks, and was followed by a similar tribute offered by a General Authority Seventy and the church’s commissioner of education, Elder Clark G. Gilbert.
President Nelson “lived what he taught, when he said, ‘We educate our minds so that one day we can render service of worth to somebody else,’" said President Reese.
“It was a special moment just a couple of weeks ago to have our campus community sing ‘Happy Birthday’ to this mighty prophet,” he continued.
“He was a renowned surgeon and an accomplished skier, but far more importantly, he is forever a prophet, seer and revelator; a husband, father, grandfather and great grandfather; a child of God, a child of the covenant, and a disciple of Jesus Christ.”
At the close of his tribute, President Reese witnessed to listeners that the Church of Jesus Christ is led by “prophets, seers and revelators, with Jesus Christ at the helm.”
He then outlined plans regarding how the BYU campus community will be working to “appropriately honor the life and legacy” of President Nelson. These plans included:
- Canceling the university’s upcoming weekly devotional, which was originally scheduled to take place Tuesday, Oct. 7.
- Canceling all noon classes for next Tuesday, Oct. 7, in order to allow the campus community to view President Nelson’s funeral services.
- Welcoming the campus community to the Marriott Center to view a live broadcast of President Nelson’s funeral services to be held Tuesday, Oct. 7, at noon in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City.
- Asking faculty, campus supervisors and staff to make any necessary adjustments to enable as many as possible to view President Nelson’s funeral services.
“Thank you for all you do to honor President Nelson and his family in this important time of remembrance,” President Reese continued.
Following President Reese’s tribute to President Nelson and an opening prayer, Elder Gilbert stood to introduce the devotional’s speaker. But before he did, he offered some of his own words in homage to the late President Nelson, recounting an interaction he’d had with him and President Dallin H. Oaks of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
“(I had been) assigned to speak with President Oaks, and our talk had been reviewed by the prophet,” said Elder Gilbert, recounting the interaction.
“Line by line, all the way through the talk, President Nelson had provided edits,” he said. And President Oaks — being at the time, the church’s second most senior apostle — “quietly and humbly” incorporated every edit that came from the prophet.
Impressed by President Oaks’ willingness to “look to and directly take the feedback from President Nelson,” Elder Gilbert said the two discussed the occurrence. What President Oaks told Elder Gilbert in that moment strengthened his testimony of the prophet, he said.
“Clark,” Elder Gilbert recalled President Oaks telling him, “I sat next to President Nelson for 34 years in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. He was a good, and a righteous, and a noble man, but nothing prepared me to see what happened since he was called as the prophet.
“The Lord has magnified him in ways I could never have imagined.”
With this experience, Elder Gilbert testified to listeners that “President Nelson was a prophet,” after which he urged them to offer the “same humility and deference” that President Oaks did President Nelson to the next prophet of the Church of Jesus Christ.