I have greatly appreciated all of the excellent feedback, updates, and comments on this blog over the years from visitors and long-term contributors. With so many new stakes and districts organized thus far in 2016, and reports of many more to come in the near future, I would appreciate any information on new stakes or districts to be organized, or stakes or districts to be discontinued.
I have confirmed the organization of 31 stakes that have been organized thus far in 2016, with an additional nine stakes to be organized in the next two months. There have been 10 districts organized thus far in 2016. Four stakes and four districts have been discontinued since the beginning of the year.
I wish I had more outreach with more people in the world to know about future stake and district creations.
ReplyDeleteThe subject of FaceBook came up a little while ago. About 5 or so weeks ago I spoke to my missionary trainer, from Puente Alto Chile, and my last companion, from El Bosque (both suburbs of Santiago de Chile). I wish I could do some more outreach with former members of the wards and branches I lived in. Maybe I should. Unfortunately Chile is huge on paper but not dynamic on stakes.
I will let you know what I hear in a few US places I have access to ...
There are lots of rumors circulating around a split in my home stake (colleyville, Texas) but I don't see it happening for a while, still. The Keller 1st and southlake wards are bursting with members, so I could see them split soon, and the Keller 2nd and colleyville 1st wards are both very large, too- so maybe once they all split it will happen. Not to mention the Stake already split once only 2-3 years ago to form the alliance Texas Stake.
ReplyDeleteDavid,
ReplyDeleteThere are 10 wards in your stake. A lot of stakes are split when they get to 10 wards, particularly if they have some wards that are ready to split in their own right.
I wonder when we'll see a new stake in Anchorage. The 3 stakes here (not counting the Bush branches) total 27 wards and 3 branches, averaging 9 wards and 1 branch per stake. Given the minimum 5 ward requirement, there are 12 "excess" wards in Anchorage. Most likely, the new stake will be on the west side of town, where the airport is, and would probably also take in all of the Bush branches as well. That part of town is the dividing line between the original Anchorage Stake and the North Stake. I am wondering if the hold up is for more members in the Eagle River area (which is a bulk of the Chugach Stake membership). A year ago, I was told the Chugach Stake had 3200 members - 6 wards in Eagle River, 1 ward in Anchorage, a YSA Ward (majority live in Anchorage proper), and a Hmong branch (as well as branches in Nome, Bethel, and Kotzebue). It would be nice if there was a stake just for the Eagle River/Chugiak area, though I don't know if that area would retain the Chugach Stake name or if it would be renamed the Eagle River Stake, or even the Anchorage Eagle River Stake.
ReplyDeleteUnit Update
ReplyDeleteMarch 6
Dougako Branch, Divo Cote d'Ivoire District (B:5)
Aprl 10
Choix Branch, El Fuerte México District (B:6)
May 1
Cookeville Tennessee Stake (B:3, W:6)
Lebanon 2nd Branch (Spanish)
Livingston Branch
Sparta Branch
Burgess Falls Ward
Cookeville Ward
Crossville Ward
Jamestown Ward
Lebanon 1st Ward
Tompkinsville Ward
Mesa Arizona Flatiron Stake (B:1, W:6)
Adobe Branch (Spanish)
Boulder Mountain Ward
Ironwood Ward
Ocotillo Ward
Signal Butte 1st Ward
Twin Knolls Ward
Chapman Hill Ward, Monmouth Oregon Stake (W:11)
Eastbrooke Ward, Twin Falls Idaho Stake (W:9)
Finima Branch, Okrika Nigeria District (B:6)
Fuentes Ward, Guatemala City Villa Hermosa Stake (W:8)
Harrison Ward, Twin Falls Idaho West Stake (W:10)
Helena 6th Ward, Helena Montana Stake (B:3, W:7)
Mbare 2nd Ward, Harare Zimbabwe South Stake (B:2, W:7)
Superstition Mountain YSA Ward, Mesa Arizona YSA East Stake (W:9)
Willows Ward, Gilbert Arizona Gateway Stake (W:9)
YTD 251(13.9/week*18) +13 - Total 34,355(+1) (Net 153 61%)
Africa 73, 29.1% (+3) - Total 1842 (+3)
Asia 5, 2.0% (0) - Total 936 (0)
America Central 20, 8.0% (+2) - Total 3935 (0)
America North 87, 34.7% (+6) - Total 9377 (+5)
America South 13, 5.2% (0) - Total 6336 (-1)
Europe 6, 2.4% (0) - Total 1712 (-1)
Pacific 16, 6.4% (0) - Total 2742 (-6)
Utah & Idaho 31(23), 12.4(9.2)% (+2) - Total 6933(5719)(+1)
Totals no-sensitive (Net +1)
Areas Temples Miss Stakes Dist Wards Branch Totals
Global 25 150 419 3,201 546 22,697 7,342 34,380
Us/Can 10 82 131 1,614 10 12,637 2,048 16,532
US n/a 74 124 1,566 7 12,299 1,899 15,969
Utah n/a 16 10 578 1 4,721 326 5,652
Canada n/a 8 7 48 3 338 149 553
Out 15 68 288 1,587 536 10,060 5,294 17,848
I happen to have friends in Sparta, Tennessee, and this is really good news to see they should be closer to their stake center. I am not sure where the former one was but a new one must make resources more accessible, in essence being a member more tenable in direct and indirect ways.
ReplyDeleteTangent: A quick scan of Matt's sidebar list seems to indicate that the church does not create stakes in the USA on Mothers' day.
ReplyDeleteMission closures - We were told today that the Twin FallsIdaho mission will close in July. Any others?
ReplyDeletePrague Czech Republic will become a stake next wk. President Uchtdorf will be there
ReplyDeleteIdaho has been discussed as recently as the Dallas meetings that Elder Holland spoke at, both special firesides were posted to Youtube by a member.
ReplyDeleteTold why things like dissolving a stake sometimes happened, and it had to do with a stake that had been around for decades, and how everyone had moved on to the cities, thanks to the mechanization of much farm work there, meaning fewer people needed in the local area to do the work manually. This process may still be going on as Twin Falls is right in the major farming area of the state.
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ReplyDeleteThe Highland Stake in the San Berdardino Valley dissolved around 2005, probably mostly because of lost jobs and better real estate prices in the California high desert and outside the state. San Bernardino and surrounding cities have some rough areas. My mother-in-law recently had a car broken into not far from Cal St SB. In years past cars were stolen completely from their driveway or adjoining street parking. Also, San Berdu 2nd and 4th wards combined this past year.
ReplyDeleteAccording to this article from the Church news detailing all new mission presidents for 2016
ReplyDeletehttp://www.deseretnews.com/lds/mission-presidents/2016 the new president of the Twin Falls Idaho Mission will be Brent J. Nelson. I see no indication that the Twin Falls Idaho Mission will be disolved. I know in the last month or so the Church created two new wards in Twin Falls.
From 1990 to 2010 the population of Twin Falls rose from 27,000 to 44,000, and it is estimated to have continued rising. During the same time frame Twin Falls county rose from a population of 53,000 to 77,000.
ReplyDeleteI would expect to see the Idaho Nampa Mission to be discontinued before any other Idaho Mission, despite the population growth in the area. If the Boise Mission was truly focused only on the Boise/Nampa metro area (plus perhaps some of eastern Oregon), it could probably take it on alone.
ReplyDeleteTwin Falls is well-legitimized in the central part of the state, and dissolving it would probably make the Pocatello Mission fairly hard to administer. Pocatello is also pretty solid.
ReplyDeletethe Twin Falls mission is definitely being discontinued. However, now that I think about it the verbiage of the announcement makes it sound like an Idaho Falls mission is being created. Because the Eastern Stakes were said to be joining the Idaho Falls mission - yet there is no Idaho Falls mission currently.
The western Stakes of the Twin falls mission will be part of the Boise Mission. Some of The Meridian stakes will join the Nampa Mission.
It sounds like there may be a split of Pocotello Mission. Still as I said the Church News gave no indication of such changes in January.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like there may be a split of Pocotello Mission. Still as I said the Church News gave no indication of such changes in January.
ReplyDeleteThe Highland Stake in the San Berdardino Valley dissolved around 2005, probably mostly because of lost jobs and better real estate prices in the California high desert and outside the state. San Bernardino and surrounding cities have some rough areas. My mother-in-law recently had a car broken into not far from Cal St SB. In years past cars were stolen completely from their driveway or adjoining street parking. Also, San Berdu 2nd and 4th wards combined this past year.
ReplyDeleteSo a boundary relalignment and mission renaming seems to be occurring in Idaho, rather than a dissolving of a mission per se. Idaho will still have 4 missions.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe the Pocatello Mission is being renamed to the Idaho Falls Mission at the same time the Twin Falls Mission is being discontinued. The matter remains less than clear.
ReplyDeleteI would be surprised if the Idaho Nampa mission was discontinued. I served in that mission, and we were baptizing 300 to 400 people per year. We were also seeing lots of growth in units occur. However, the Boise mission seemed to struggle more. So perhaps they will consolidate the two in order to make for a stronger mission.
ReplyDeleteIt is sounding like Nampa is being left in place, and Boise is absorbing much of Twin Falls. However the fate of the Pocatello Mission still remains unclear.
ReplyDeleteThe Winnipeg Manitoba Stake shifted two branches, Kenora and Warroad to the Fort Frances District, which now is those two units, Dryden, Fort Frances/International Falls and Atikokan Ontario. So, that district is strengthened and now the Winnipeg Stake is just all of Manitoba.
ReplyDeleteNot all of Manitoda is in the Winnepeg Stake. The Flin Flon Branch is Saskachewan covers a part of Manitoba, including the place called The Pas. The Pas has over 5,000 residents. The Warrod Branch takes in close to a 50 kilometre square area of Manitoba including Piney, and the Kanora Branch takes in a slice across the border in Manitoba. Still the Winnepeg Stake probably has an area in excess of 200,000 square miles. This would put it well above the area of California.
ReplyDeleteSaratoga Springs is getting a new stake tomorrow. Crossroads stake is splitting.
ReplyDeleteJust heard from my in-laws serving in the Dnepropetrovsk Ukraine Mission that the church organized the Dnepropetrovsk District this weekend with 3 branches in the district.
ReplyDeleteStake Presidency spoke in one of the southern wards in the Fredericksburg Stake, which always seems to be on the verge of splitting. They would like to split the stake at the Rappahannock River, a perfect geographic feature, but they put in a request and got denied by Salt Lake because there were lacking in full-tithe, temple going Melchizedek priesthood brethren. He basically said, "If you want to form a new stake, go to the temple and pay your tithing. We'll keep things as is until you all get your ish together."
ReplyDeleteI can confirm that the Idaho Twin Falls Mission will be closing and that an Idaho Idaho Falls Mission will be opening. The four missions in the state will be Boise, Nampa, Idaho Falls, and Pocatello. Idaho Falls will cover about 50 stakes (14 of which are young adult or student stakes in Rexburg). And Pocatello will cover about 30 stakes. The stakes covered by the Idaho Pocatello Mission are expected to have significantly more missionaries than in the past.
ReplyDeleteHave you seen the powerpoint outlining the optimal stake size for the NA Southwest area? (400 members in a ward/3000 members in a stake) That seems to be driving a lot of the divisions - desire for smaller wards/stakes.
ReplyDeleteA few years ago, the minimum requirement for a stake in North America was increased from 2500 to 3000 members. This is not about a desire for smaller wards and stakes.
ReplyDeleteIt was announced recently the Monument Park and Monument Park North Stakes in Salt Lake City would be merging. The changes will be announced during Stake Conference on June 12th.
ReplyDeleteThree stakes in the Austin area are meeting this Sunday to hear about realignment. The stakes are the Austin Texas, Round Rock, and Oak Hills stakes. New units and a new stake are likely.
ReplyDelete