I.
My dear brothers and sisters, as some of you are already aware, this morning, at 10:00 a.m., the First Presidency made a very significant announcement of great importance to BYU-Idaho.
A new higher-education organization is being created within the Church Education System, reporting directly to Elder Kim B. Clark, Commissioner, who is with us today. This new organization will have Church-wide responsibilities for online higher education and will include many of the online programs currently administered through the BYU universities and LDSBC. The certificates and degrees will continue to be granted by the institutions whose faculty do the teaching. The new organization will be called BYU-Pathway Worldwide.
Significantly, the First Presidency also announced that President Clark G. Gilbert will be the president of this new organization, BYU-Pathway Worldwide.
For BYU-Idaho, the functions to be assumed by this new worldwide organization are a significant recognition and magnification of the pioneering work you have done in an area of worldwide need for the whole Church, which pioneering work is now to join with and benefit online programs at other CES institutions.
Of course, you will need a new president to succeed President Gilbert at the end of your current semester. We will say more of that in a moment.
For the past two years, President Clark G. Gilbert has served with great distinction as the president of BYU-Idaho. His exemplary service has earned the trust and support of the board, faculty, staff, administrators, and students of this remarkable institution. His innovative efforts to develop online programs to bless the lives of many more students are an ideal resource for his leading the new BYU-Pathway Worldwide.
President Gilbert's wonderful service would not have been possible without the support and love of his dear wife, Christine. On this important occasion, we recognize and commend Sister Gilbert and their children for their dedication to BYU-Idaho and the great influence they have had upon this entire campus community.
President and Sister Gilbert, would you please join me at the podium for a moment to allow all who are present to show our love and appreciation for your marvelous service. We will hear from President Gilbert later.
Now we turn to the future leadership of BYU-Idaho. The officers of the board, the First Presidency, have authorized me, as Chairman of the Board's Executive Committee, to announce the necessary change of leadership of this wonderful university. The Board of Trustees has chosen an individual to serve as the new president of BYU-Idaho, who will continue to build upon the solid foundation laid by President Gilbert and his many distinguished predecessors. We are pleased to announce the appointment, as the 17th president of BYU-Idaho, of Henry J. Eyring. President Eyring will formally assume his duties on April 10, 2017.
As you know, Henry J. Eyring currently serves as your Academic Vice President. He has been at BYU-Idaho for more than 10 years, serving earlier as the Advancement Vice President and even earlier as Associate Academic Vice President with responsibility for outreach and learning. His Church service has included bishop, stake president, and president of the Japan Tokyo Mission.
President Eyring and his wife, Kelly, are the parents of five children. We warmly welcome all of them to this new assignment. Sister Eyring, would you and your family please join us on the stand. Now, would each of you join with me in welcoming the Eyring family to this new assignment.
II.
I feel very privileged to have been part of this historic occasion. In behalf of the board and its officers, I welcome Henry J. Eyring as the new president of BYU-Idaho. I have known him for many years, and so have many of you. I have admired his work as an educator, and so have you who have benefited from it. He is ideally suited to be the leader of this great institution, and I urge you to listen to his counsel, benefit from his direction, and give him your wholehearted support as you go forward to new heights of service in the work of the Lord.
I join each of you in commending President Clark G. Gilbert for his marvelous leadership of BYU-Idaho. Now the Lord's servants have been inspired to call him to another assignment. As I thought about what I might say to you about that, I remembered an experience I had in 1972. It concerns President Harold B. Lee.
When President Lee was called as President of the Church at age 73, we expected to have him as our president for many years. If he lived as long as his predecessor, he would have been our Church president for 22 years. Then, in 1973, just 18 months after he became President of the Church, he died suddenly. Shocked, like so many others, I wondered why the Lord would release a leader so vigorous and well prepared to lead the Church in that critical time.
The comfort that settled upon my soul is precisely the comfort that is available to you as you think about the sudden departure of your well-loved and highly capable President Gilbert. I was comforted with the assurance that the Lord had transferred President Lee to another important assignment on the other side of the veil, and the Lord had another very capable Apostle to take up the reins of leadership--Spencer W. Kimball. Happily, President Gilbert's transfer, which follows that same pattern, is not accomplished in the same way as President Lee's. But the principle is the same. And happily, the Lord has prepared another leader, President Henry J. Eyring, whose gifts and vision and experience at BYU-Idaho are fully equal to the great responsibility of carrying on the vital work of this wonderful university.
III.
You live in challenging times, including the political uncertainties attending a new administration in Washington. More important, values and standards honored for thousands of years are now being denied or cast aside. Selfishness is replacing service. Evil is being called good, and good is being called evil.
Though men's hearts are failing them, you should take heart. There have always been challenging times. We, the generations of your predecessors, have survived daunting challenges, and so will you. The answer to all of these challenges is the same as it has always been. We have a Savior, and He has taught us what we should do. At the conclusion of His earthly ministry, He declared, "These things I have spoken unto you, that in me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."[1]
What overcomes the world is the power of God, manifested through His Son Jesus Christ and given to us through the principles and doctrine of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. That is what makes this university possible.
In the stressful circumstances that surround us, we must trust in God and His promises and hold fast to the vital gospel teaching of hope. As the Apostle Paul told the Corinthians,
We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.[2]
When we trust in the Lord that all will work out, this hope keeps us moving. Hope is a characteristic Christian virtue. I know it will counter all current despairs. When you feel down, put faith and hope to work in your lives. While others may abandon progress, you of faith should hope on and press on with your education, your lives, and your families. As the Lord said to our early Church members, "Fear not, little flock; do good; let earth and hell combine against you, for if you are built upon my rock, they cannot prevail."[3]
Notes
[1] John 16:33
[2] 2 Corinthians 4:8-9
[3] D&C 6:34