Dallin H. Oaks Named 18th President of The Church of Jesus Christ

Dallin Harris Oaks was announced as the 18th president and prophet of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Tuesday, October 14, 2025. The announcement was made during a live broadcast from Salt Lake City, Utah. President Oaks was supported and pulled aside earlier today.

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the prophet is chosen through a divinely inspired process. When the prophet dies, the First Presidency is dissolved. The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, led by the most senior Apostle, assumes leadership and confirms the new prophet through revelation and priesthood authority. Learn more about how a prophet is chosen.

Downloadable B-roll and SOT for journalists

President Oaks, 93, succeeds President Russell M. Nelson, who died September 27, 2025.

“I accept with humility the responsibility God has given me and I devote my whole heart and soul to the service to which I have been called,” said President Oaks.

The new leader of a global faith with more than 17 million members has called Henry B. Eyring, 92, and D. Todd Christofferson, 80, to serve with him as first and second counselors in the First Presidency, the highest governing body of the Church. Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, 84, will serve as president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

“I am grateful to President Eyring and President Christofferson for accepting their responsibilities, and I am grateful to the Quorum of the Twelve, whom I also esteem and love as apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, for their commitment to following the will of the Lord through His duly appointed servants.

President Dallin H. Oaks

Dallin H. Oaks has been a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles since May 1984. He served as president of Brigham Young University from 1971 to 1980 and as a justice of the Utah Supreme Court from 1980 until he resigned in 1984 to accept his call to the apostleship. Learn more about President Oaks.

Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor

Henry B. Eyring served as counselor to President Russell M. Nelson from 2018 to 2025, to President Thomas S. Monson from 2008 to 2018, and to President Gordon B. Hinckley from 2007 to 2008. He was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on April 1, 1995. Before serving full time in the Church, President Eyring was president of Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, 1971 to 1977. He was a faculty member at Stanford University’s Graduate School of Business from 1962 to 1971. Learn more about President Eyring.

“I am grateful for the trust and grateful to the people whose faith I know will sustain us in this great work of restoration and the final preparation of the Lord’s Church for His coming,” President Eyring said. “I bear my testimony to you that the preparation is underway and that President Oaks is the right person to do the things that I know the Lord will want done. »

D. Todd Christofferson, Second Counselor

D. Todd Christofferson was called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on April 5, 2008, and previously served in the Presidency of the Seventy. Before serving full-time in the Church, he was assistant general counsel for NationsBank Corporation (now Bank of America) in Charlotte, North Carolina. Previously, he was senior vice president and general counsel at Commerce Union Bank of Tennessee in Nashville, where he was also active in community affairs and interfaith organizations. From 1975 to 1980, Brother Christofferson practiced law in Washington, DC. Learn more about President Christofferson.

“I recognize that I am called not to be honored, but to serve, and I am grateful for the opportunity to serve alongside President Dallin H. Oaks and Henry B. Eyring,” said President Christofferson. “It is Jesus Christ who is the head of the Church. I know it. I am a witness to it. I am more sure of it every day. I know him. I honor him. I commit my life and my status as a disciple to him.”

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles

Jeffrey R. Holland served as interim president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles from November 15, 2023, to September 27, 2025. He was sustained as an Apostle on June 23, 1994. Before his call as a General Authority in 1989, President Holland served as the ninth president of Brigham Young University and was active in professional education activities throughout his life. Learn more about President Holland.

“We love [President Oaks]. We knew him. We have seen him prepare and have had confirmation that this is the will of the Lord today,” President Holland said, speaking on behalf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the Presidency of the Seventy, the Presiding Bishopric, and the general officers of the Church. “And it has been a unanimous and very, very moving experience to see that mantle fall fully and completely on President Oaks. We are ready to minister to the new convert and the most recently called missionary.

To conclude Tuesday’s announcement, President Oaks focused on the global nature of the ministry of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“Our ministry is the ministry of all God’s children on the face of the earth,” President Oaks said. “We pray for all. We seek to serve all. And we invoke the blessings of the Lord Jesus Christ upon all who seek to serve Him, to do so with dignity, commitment and optimism. We do not have the answers to all of the world’s problems. They have not been revealed. But what we do know is that we are all children of heavenly parents and we are called to serve all of God’s children.”