President 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 sustained and set apart earlier in the day.
In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the prophet is chosen through a divinely inspired process. When the prophet passes away, the First Presidency is dissolved. The Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, led by the longest-serving Apostle, assumes leadership, confirming the new prophet through revelation and priesthood authority. Learn more about how a prophet is chosen.
President Oaks, 93, succeeds President Russell M. Nelson, who passed away September 27, 2025.
“I accept with humility the responsibility that God has placed upon me and commit my whole heart and soul to the service to which I’ve been called,” President Oaks said.
The new leader of a global faith of more than 17 million members has called President Henry B. Eyring, 92, and President D. Todd Christofferson, 80, to serve with him as First and Second Counselors in the First Presidency, the Church’s highest governing body. Jeffrey R. Holland, 84, will serve as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.
“I’m grateful to President Eyring and to President Christofferson for accepting their responsibilities, and I’m grateful to the Quorum of the Twelve, whom I esteem and love also as Apostles of the Lord Jesus Christ, for their commitment to follow the Lord’s will through his duly appointed servants.”
President Dallin H. Oaks
President Dallin H. Oaks has served as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles since May 1984. He was president of Brigham Young University from 1971 to 1980, and a justice of the Utah Supreme Court from 1980 until his resignation in 1984 to accept his calling to the apostleship. Read more about President Oaks.
President Henry B. Eyring, First Counselor
President Henry B. Eyring served as a 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. Prior to full-time Church service, President Eyring was president of Ricks College in Rexburg, Idaho, from 1971 to 1977. He was on the faculty at the Graduate School of Business at Stanford University from 1962 to 1971. Read more about President Eyring.
“I’m grateful for the trust, and grateful for the people whose faith I know will sustain us in this great work of the Restoration and the final preparation of the Lord’s Church for His coming,” President Eyring said. “I bear you my testimony that preparation is occurring and that President Oaks is the perfect one to do the things that I know the Lord will want done.”
President D. Todd Christofferson, Second Counselor
President 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 full-time Church service, he was associate general counsel of NationsBank Corporation (now Bank of America) in Charlotte, North Carolina. Previously he was senior vice president and general counsel for Commerce Union Bank of Tennessee in Nashville, where he was also active in community affairs and interfaith organizations. From 1975 to 1980, Elder Christofferson practiced law in Washington, D.C. Read more about President Christofferson.
“I recognize that I’m not called to be honored, but called to serve, and I’m grateful for the opportunity to serve at the side of President Dallin H. Oaks and Henry B. Eyring,” President Christofferson said. “It is Jesus Christ who is the head of the Church. I know that. I bear witness of it. I’m more sure of it every day. I know Him. I honor Him. I pledge my life and discipleship to Him.”
President Jeffrey R. Holland, President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
President Jeffrey R. Holland served as Acting 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. Prior to his call as a General Authority in 1989, President Holland served as the ninth president of Brigham Young University and has been active in professional educational activity throughout his life. Read more about President Holland.
“We love [President Oaks]. We have known him. We’ve watched him be prepared and have had the confirmation that that is the Lord’s will this day,” said President Holland, 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 that has been a unanimous and a very, very moving experience to see that mantle come fully and completely on President Oaks. We stand ready to serve him out to the newest 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 a ministry of all the children of God 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 in worthiness and commitment and optimism. We do not have the answers to all the world’s problems. They have not been revealed. But what we do know is that we are all children of heavenly parents, and that we are called to serve all of the children of God.”