Arizona
A new stake was organized in the Snowflake area on November 13th. The Centennial Arizona Stake was organized from a division of the Snowflake Arizona and Taylor Arizona (renamed Silver Creek Arizona) Stakes. The new stake includes the following seven wards: the Casa Linda, Cottonwood, Heritage, Snowflake 2nd, Snowflake 3rd, Snowflake 4th, and Willow Wards.
There are now 111 stakes in Arizona.
Brazil
A new stake was created in northeastern Brazil on November 6th. The João Pessoa Brazil Centro Stake was organized from a division of the João Pessoa Brazil Torre Stake. The new stake includes the following six wards: the Bela Vista, Colinas do Sul, Costa e Silva, Das Indústrias, Jardim Veneza, and João Pessoa Wards. There are now five stakes in João Pessoa and seven stakes in Paraíba State.
There are now 264 stakes and 39 districts in Brazil.
Cote d'Ivoire
A new district was created from three mission branches in the Cote d'Ivoire Abidjan Mission on October 30th. The new Abengourou Cote d'Ivoire District includes the following three branches: the Abengourou 1st, Abengourou 2nd, and Abengourou 3rd Branches. The original boundaries of the branches were also adjusted to include neighboring cities such as Agnibilékrou and Niablé, suggesting that member groups may operate in these locations.
There are now 11 stakes and 10 districts in Cote d'Ivoire.
Utah stake? Details?
ReplyDeleteJonathan, if you scroll down the main blog page, it appears that the name of the new Utah stake is the St. George Utah Crimson Ridge Stake. As to the particulars, I too find it odd that Matt made a point of mentioning the stake in the blog post title then somehow forgot to delve into specifics. It is the first time I can remember in all my time following this blog of Matt's that he has forgotten to add details like that. Given time, I'm sure he will take steps to add the relevant information. I ran a Google search on the stake to see what I could learn, but the stake appears to have been created just last week, and is new enough that no public information has been released as of yet. I'm sure the details and specifics will be focused upon soon enough on the Church News website, but in following their reports of newly created stakes, in some cases, it takes them as much as 8 months or longer to report a new stake creation. The latest edition of new and reorganized stakes highlighted the creation of a stake way back in March of this year. I am hoping that either the Church News will be quicker on the draw in this case or that Matt will recognize and fix the oversight before too much longer. FWIW, that's what I was able to find out.
ReplyDeleteSorry. Just looked at it again, and the creation of the newest St. George stake was two weeks ago, not last week.
ReplyDeleteMy dad grew up in St. George and may be familiar with the area the stake serves. I'll have to ask him when I get a chance.
ReplyDeleteJust had a hunch. I checked the LDS Church Temples website maintained by Rick Satterfield and clicked on the temple district information for the St. George temple. It appears, from what I've read there, that the new stake was indeed created on November 6, and contains the following five wards: Cottonwood, Desert Edge, Mulberry, Silkwood, and Sycamore. It is highly irregular for a Utah stake to only have five wards. But the intent must have been to streamline things a little, and there must be an abundance of FTPMPH, as Matt has termed it, to staff the stake. This brings the number of stakes in Utah to 583, with 28 of those being in Washington County, and 17 stakes in St. George alone. I hope that information is helpful and that Matt isn't worried about me trying to steal his thunder. I hope that answers your question.
ReplyDeleteWould that stake be in a growing area of developing neighborhoods in the St. George area?
DeleteLike I mentioned recently, if an LDS stake has a concentration of units that is smaller than 100 square miles or so it makes more sense to be the numbers robust, kind of like less general authority oversight for more mature church areas; I find it unfair to both stake leaders and regular members in large geographic stakes to have bigger numbers of units to cover and minister to, and it is better to have less units to visit and worry about.
ReplyDeletePerhaps the new stake in St. George is on the periphery of the city and has more rural wards that would be better served in smaller circuits? This seems to be more sensible to me.
Maybe the new stake in Snowflake is following the same principles.
Hastening the work must happen in more ways than simply baptizing more converts.
The new Stafford Virginia covers about 468 square miles (Stafford and King George counties) and feels quite compact compared to the old Fredericksburg Virginia Stake. 100 square miles seems to be arbitrarily small. Most stakes outside the so-called "Mormon Corridor" would be hard pressed to meet this criteria.
ReplyDeleteThere are 26 stakes now in Washington County Utah (St. George) with an area of 2430 square miles. Two of these stakes of YSA stakes that overlay many stakes. Thus 24 stakes cover the county so on average just over 100 square miles each. The new Crimson Ridge stake may only have 5 wards, but it is in an area of rapid growth out by the new airport. In fact, the center of the runway forms much of the boundary between the Cottonwood and Desert Edge wards of the stake. My guess is that this stake will see wards divide in the near future because of the rapid growth in the area.
I know what you are saying about being spread out, but today's stakes are in general quite a bit smaller in area than previous stakes. It wasn't all that long ago that the Fredericksburg Stake included all currently in the Woodbridge, Stafford, and Fredericksburg, and some of the Richmond Stake. The old Washington DC and Richmond stakes of about 4 decades over covered huge areas and it was better to be a stake than several small districts. It wasn't unfair to the members of those stakes that they had stakes that covered large areas. It wasn't all that long ago that much or all of Loudon County was in the Warrenton Virginia Stake.
Loudoun County has 521 square miles. I doubt you could find 100 square miles of the county that would come close to meeting criteria for a stake. Someday soon, I think, the Ashburn stake will divide. With 12 wards it is a good-sized stake. It may end up taking parts of Fairfax county or perhaps the Warrenton area to allow it to divide.
ReplyDeleteI know I was feeling the need for the old Fredericksburg stake to divide when we had 13 wards and 2 branches covering about 2000 square miles.
I forgot to report on the new stake in St George in this post. I will edit the post tomorrow to include this information.
ReplyDeleteOn the "may be familiar with" there is one stake in Henderson Nevada that I covered most of it on my mission. That was only 14 years ago, and yet most of what is now in the stake was undeveloped open land.
ReplyDeleteWe will probably see at least 1 more new stake in Washington County Soon. The Hurrican stakes have 10 wards and a branch and 13 wards. The stake in neighboring La Verkin has 12 wards.
ReplyDeleteThe St. George case may be spurred by a feeling that it is better to create new wards in a smaller stake so that the stake president can give better training to new bishops and counselors, as opposed to spreading a stake president thin in a huge stake.
ReplyDeleteThe stakes in Washington County are of very unequal geographical size. Also, I believe the Enterprise Stake goes beyond the county boundaries. That said, none are in any way unreasonably large.
Yeah, 100 square mile stakes would be more germane to heavily LDS urban and and suburban environments, mostly in the Inter-Mountain West. Even some rural stakes in and around Utah/Idaho/Wyoming are big in territory. So when we are located outside of that environment, as you have noted, stake sizes become onerous. Therefore, if there is a new policy of smaller stakes, I am all for it.
ReplyDeleteThe leadership needs to be strong enough to help all the wards do their own functions.
It is great to hear that northern Virginia is doing these new creations, I think it is the right direction to go.
While some districts and stakes may never get very small, I think we need to look to make those administrative moves when possible.
At least 2 former Ashburn wards, Algonkian and Sterling Park, are now in the Oaktan Stake. Reportedly, Algonkian Ward will be the biggest ward in this newly reformed stake. Looking forward to hear any more details from Mount Vernon on over. Do we have two new stakes? Is one of them singles?
ReplyDelete100 square miles is only 10 by 10, which leaves in theory no one more than 5 miles from the center of the stake. The ward I used to be in is 72 square miles, the ward I am in now is a little over that. our stake is probably around 500 square miles, and is the smallest by area in Michigan.
ReplyDeleteI know that exceptions are sometimes made with the criteria because of distances. I remember (ok it was back in the 1990s) the stake president of the the Yucca Valley California Stake saying that the Church had denied a request for a new stake in Yucca Valley (and 29 Palms and Palm Springs) because criteria had not been met. The Palm Springs stake president took a couple of visiting general authorities in a car ride from the north to the south side of the stake to show how far spread the stake was. After that, permission was granted for the new stake to be created and it was in January 1994. We lived in the stake 1996 to 1998 and it was both spread out and small and struggling. We had 5 wards and a Spanish branch. It became a lesson to me that creating stakes that are too small is not a good idea, although I did prefer to only drive 20 minutes to Yucca Valley as opposed to 60 minutes to Palm Springs. The stake still survives but has more congregations from "down the hill" than before. This stake didn't meet the pre-1996 criteria. I don't think it would have been created today.
ReplyDeleteI guess I am saying that I get excited at stakes being created but only when the new stake is able to function as a stake. Stake presidents know when stakes get too big and hard to manage. But, they are harder to manage when they are too small.
I can't help but wonder if the change in North America in 2010 from 2500 members per stake to 3000 members per stake was less about getting to 3000 than about slowing down new stake creations to manage them. It said "should have" 3000 members, which implies a goal and that it could be turned down if it fell short of that number, but does offer "wiggle room." I wonder how many new stakes were created at something less than 3000 but more than 2500 members. I remember discussing this with a stake clerk from Delaware who stated that when the Delaware stake split a few years ago neither stake had 3000 but both were somewhat about 2500. I am wondering if Handbook 1 reflects a change from 3000 members back to 2500 for North America and that opened up a little more stake creation this year.
While not listed on the criteria for word and stake creation, I do think average attendance plays a role in local leadership deciding to push a change. Before our ward split a few years ago, Sacrament Meeting filled the chapel, the cultural hall, and the font room, and members could be found in the primary and relief society rooms listening to Sacrament Meeting. We were averaging about 325 in the ward. I remember talking with members of the stake presidency about this and would tell me that two large ward in one building both ward filling the parking lot (so they couldn't overlap in time) was the biggest issue for the stake, but they had to wait until 3 wards had 1200 members before they could create a 4th ward from them. So, creating a new ward was on the agenda for the stake because of average attendance. From what I could tell there were wards of 500 to 600 members elsewhere in the stake that did not have attendance numbers so the stake presidency was not concerned about creating a new ward for them yet.
One of my coworkers at the temple yesterday told me a story about many years ago he was the president of the Beaver Dam Branch in Virginia. The stake president told him if he could have 4 weeks in a row with 100 or more in attendance the stake president would put the papers in to convert the branch to ward. Obviously, the branch must have met the criteria the in place for a ward, but the stake president encouraged the members of the branch to take ownership for the new ward. They met the challenge and the stake president came to the branch president and asked him for options for the new ward's name. He gave the stake president 3 potential names for the ward--Scotchtown (the name of Patrick Henry's boyhood home--the most famous landmark inside the boundaries), Beaver Dam, and the name of the largest locality in the boundaries: Helltown. The stake president chose Scotchtown and that is now the name of the ward currently in the Richmond Virginia Stake.
ReplyDeleteI think Mount Vernon Stake had 4 buildings pre-change. Is it down to three after today?
ReplyDeleteLoudoun County had well over 5200 members prior to today. Maybe it has around 3,000 now in the remaining Ashburn Stake? Maybe Centreville Stake will take Tall Cedars Ward, but again, speculation.
I got this message from a member in Brazil today.
ReplyDelete"Today, the third stake was created in Teresina, in the state of Piauí. The new stake is called Teresina Brazil Planalto Stake."
Right now the New York New York Stake has 13 wards and 2 brnaches. I just figured one way to reduce its size would be to take the 4 YSA wards in that stake, plus the YSA ward in the Yorktown New York Stake, plus the Queen, Brooklyn and Plainview (out on Long Island) YSA branches and make a YSA stake. In theory the Hoboken YSA branch in New Jersey could be included as well, but that might be harder to arrange.
ReplyDeleteMount Vernon Stake did have four buildings with 4 wards in the stake center off Franconia Road, 3 wards in the Mount Vernon building, 3 wards in the King Street Alexandria building, and 3 wards in the rented building on 23rd in Crystal City. Of course, buildings can have wards from multiple stakes. Recall that until recently the Tall Cedars ward shared a building with wards from the Oakton and Centreville Stakes.
ReplyDeleteYesterday, at the temple, I was told that Mount Vernon had 14 wards, but it still shows up as 13 wards. I had heard that the mid-Singles Potomac Ward was on the verge of splitting so maybe that is the 14th ward, if indeed one has been recently created.
Good news about the Teresina Brazil Planalto Stake.
ReplyDeleteMount Vernon still has four buildings in it (Mt. Vernon, Franconia, King St., 23rd St Crystal City). The 23rd street building is NOT rented, the church bought it and converted it from an office building to a church.
ReplyDeleteThere were changes in 8 wards of the 13 of Mt. Vernon. One of the redrawn wards will go to the Annandale stake. Bringing Mt. Vernon down to 12 wards. In two weeks a DC YSA stake will be created and thus will bring Mt. Vernon to 10 wards.
Layjent,
ReplyDeleteWhat is the name of the new (non-YSA) stake?
I am unaware of a new stake being created besides the YSA stake (which won't be created for another two weeks). If there is a new stake it must be further west, doesn't affect Mt. Vernon.
ReplyDeleteThank you, layjent. Good info. I stand corrected on the status of the 23rd Street building. Which ward went into Annandale?
ReplyDeleteYour description does partly match information about what was happening in the Annandale stake. I am more and more convinced that when a member of the temple presidency told me two stakes were being created in northern Virginia that the 2nd stake must be the singles stake in a couple of weeks. That is especially true if McLean is not involved in this last weekend and Mount Vernon's involvement was to only give up a single ward to Annandale. Annandale also had its ward boundaries redrawn and lost at least one ward to the west and was going to gain at least a ward from Mount Vernon.
We used to live in the Mount Vernon stake. I met my wife in the Colonial Ward about 25 years ago. We had then the Alexandria, Groveton, Huntington, and Mount Vernon wards, the Colonial singles ward, and the Old Town (Spanish) Branch. After our marriage we lived in the Groveton Ward. Subsequently, the Lakeridge 1st and 2nd wards were moved in from the then Fredericksburg Stake, so our three years in Lakeridge were also in the Mount Vernon Stake. In 2004, the 2 Lakeridge wards plus several Woodbridge wards from the then Fredericksburg Stake were put in the newly created Woodbridge Stake. We lived in Nevada from 2001 to 2010 and returned to Virginia in Stafford, but I was amazed to learn that the Mount Vernon Stake that we had lived in had grown so much in those original boundaries north of the Occoquan and east of I-95/I-395. The old Colonial Ward had become two YSA wards and a mid-singles Potomac Ward. A new stake center had been built near where we had lived in Manchester Lakes. And there were now 9 regular family wards plus the Spanish branch had become a ward.
In peoples' experience how long does it take lds.org or ldstemple.com to update new stakes? I don't have access to CDL, it seems like that would update first.
ReplyDeleteMaybe the new stake is Springfield? Falls Church? I heard the Fair Oaks Ward in the Franklin building, so both are probably belonging to Centreville Stake.
Exciting times.
When Wilmington Delaware Stake was divided in 2012 to create the Dover Delaware Stake, both stakes had about 2700 members. But it was 100 miles between the farthest wards. Each stake had six wards and two branches, though Wilmington stake's branches were Spanish and YSA. Since then, Dover stake has upgraded a branch to a ward and combined two wards, so they're at seven wards and one branch. Wilmington stake still has six and two (and about 2700 members) but took in another school district from Pennsylvania and reshuffled its wards recently.
ReplyDeleteMike Johnson-- the former Alexandria 2nd which had boundaries completely redrawn, and now called the Lincolnia ward is part of the Annandale stake
ReplyDeleteThank you layjent Lincolnia ward to Annandale.
ReplyDelete4 new branches were formed in the Abeokuta Nigeria Stake yesterday. Abeokuta is 48 miles from Lagos. With 10 wards as well as now 5 branches in the stake, the stake could in theory be split. These developments make me hopeful that there will be a temple in Lagos soon.
ReplyDeleteOne of the new branches, the Ilaro branch is in a city that is only 44 miles from Lagos, and 39 from Abeokuta. It is further west than the Church has had a presence, and may represent the first formal congregation in the home land of the Yewa people, a subgroup of the Yoruba who number about 400,000. The distance calculator suggests it takes nearly 3 times the amount of time to get to Lagos as Abeokuta suggesting that Lagos has horrible traffic congestion.
The Abeokuta Stake is only 2 years old. I could not place the other 3 new branches.
On another note it appears that the Abo-Ekiti branch in the Nigeria Benin City Mission (but bordering the Lagos Mission) covers an area of almost 2500 square miles, the entirety of Ekiti State. It would be nice if there was a stake there in 5 years. That area is especially interesting since this is much larger than the area of almost all branches and even some stakes in Africa. It would be large for the US, but with transportation availability in Africa it is unreasonable to expect people from much of this area to be able to gather together for Church.
To follow up on comments about why the Church is thriving in Ivory Coast, both Benin City and Lagos Missions have natives of Nigeria as mission presidents. In Lagos Mission case the mission president was called from Canada but he and his wife are natives of Lagos.
On the other hand President Alexander A. Odume was living in Nigeria when called as mission president. He is a native of a town in Delta State, which is within the boundaries of the Benin City Mission. Sister Odume was born in the same town, which may suggest that they met and married there. President Odume was previously an area seventy and then the first native of Nigeria to be president of the Aba Nigeria Temple. He was working as Area welfare specialist when called as mission president and held callings as an institute teacher and assistant to a high priest group leader. He was born in 1957.
President Odume was the first stake president in Benin City when the first stake was organized in that city back in 1993. In fact that was only the second stake organized in Nigeria, which means from 1991-1993 there were more stakes in Ghana than in Nigeria.
The town the Odumes were born in, Adonte, has a branch, and is part of the Ogwashi-Nsukwu Nigeria district, which was formed in 2013. Per an April 2008 article in the Ensign President Odume's father was a farmer who grew casava, plaintains, maize and yams.
Eduardo, TempleRick is incredibly fast and accurate.
ReplyDeleteLDS Maps takes a while. First stake clerks have to enter changes. They show up in CDOL shortly after that. LDS Maps takes a few days to catch up to CDOL, but we often see intermediate steps--such as wards and branches no longer being listed in stakes and districts.
When I had access to CDOL, it sometimes took a few weeks. I ended up with my filter looking for ward and stake creations over the previous 6 weeks to catch late arrivals.
This is my guess about yesterday in Northern Virginia:
ReplyDeleteCentreville Stake retains Centreville 1st Ward, Centreville 2nd Ward, and Twin Lakes Branch (Chinese). Other wards are added as outlined below. Spanish speaking members in the areas of these Centreville wards as well as in the areas of wards moving into Centreville are formed into a new Spanish speaking ward.
Gainesville Ward, Haymarket Ward, Manassas 1st Ward, Manassas 2nd Ward, Sudley Ward (Spanish), Vint Hill Ward, Warrenton 1st Ward, and Warrenton 2nd Ward are formed into a new Manassas Stake.
Oakton Stake retains Fair Oaks Ward, Franklin Ward, Herndon Ward, Oakton Ward, Reston Ward, Spring Lake Ward (Spanish), and Vienna Ward. Centreville Stake receives Chantilly Ward and Oak Marr Ward.
Ashburn Stake retains: Algonkian Ward, Ashburn Ward, Belmont Ridge Ward, Brambleton Ward, Catoctin Ward, Goose Creek Ward, Hamilton Ward, Leesburg Ward, Potomac Crossing Ward, Sterling Park Ward, and Shenandoah YSA Ward. Centreville Stake receives Tall Cedar Ward.
Annandale Stake retains: Annandale Ward, Rolling Valley Ward, Springfield Ward, Wakefield Ward, Little River Ward (Spanish)
and Braddock YSA Ward and receives the Lincolnia Ward from Mount Vernon Stake. Centreville Stake receives Fairfax Ward and Burke Ward. Now, the Annandale wards were supposed to have boundaries redrawn, so names may have changed.
The 2nd Northern Virginia stake would be the singles stake in 2 weeks: Potomac SA, and Colonial 1st and 2nd, Langley, Lake Braddock, and Shenandoah YSA.
Its the best I can figure out right now. Now we wait and see what emerges.
Algonkian and Sterling Park have joined Oakton Stake.
ReplyDeleteFair Oaks, and probably Franklin Ward, will be part of the Centreville Stake.
Alexandria 2nd Ward of Mount Vernon Stake has ward boundaries change and will be called Lincolnia and will be part of Annandale Stake, right?
All of the singles units will be formed into a singles stake in two more Sundays.
I think that is what I know for sure, with the Franklin Ward a strong probable.
Potomac Single Adult ward will NOT be part of the YSA stake as of right now. The YSA stake will cross the river. Thus it will likely include: Colonial 1, Colonial 2, Langley, Braddock, Shennadoah, DC 2nd, and Glenn Dale Wards. It was announced as being a 7 ward stake and covering the DC region.
ReplyDeleteI just wanted to verify the point regarding TempleRick's swiftness in having the most accurate and most recent unit information to date. After I had initially struggled to find any information about the new Utah stake, and once I had time to think about it, my next thought was to go to the LDS Church Temple Website, which I well remembered had complete unit information. Sure enough, one look there for the new stake in the St. George temple district revealed the information for which I was seeking. He seems to instinctively be able to know about changes in temple progress and Church growth, and has those latest updates up so fast, it sometimes makes my head spin. That's why, no matter what else I do during the day, I always almost compulsively and repeatedly check his site for the latest information. His labor of love has made him what this blog has made Matt, one who is known for always having the latest information about any facet of Church growth. I have been trying all along to follow in their footsteps with my own blog, which has become lately focused on all Church news in general and the monumental milestones of temple progress in particular. I hope that one day, I can be even in the smallest possible degree the caliber of these good men that labor unceasingly to share the latest Church milestones with the world. I have known all along that I will likely never have as many people following my blog as those who religiously (pun intended) check this blog and the LDS Church Temples websites. Each of these men have, in their own way, shared so freely with all of us what they know about the Church they love, and how the history of all that's happened in the Church relates to where the Church now is. If I can have even a portion of their success in my own small labor of love, I will count myself extremely lucky. For now, it would be one of my greatest honors if some of you would be willing to check out the latest things I have posted on my blog and give as much feedback as you feel would be appropriate. I sometimes wonder, as I'm sure Matt and Rick often do, if what I am doing is making a difference. I think they would join with me in saying that it is because of people like you who consistently read and comment on these important developments that they, and even I, can continue, in our own small ways, to keep the world informed about what's happening in regards to the Lord's work which we all love so well. To Matt and Rick, please keep up the great work, and please know that what you do has made a difference to me personally, and, in so saying this, I am sure I am far from alone. And to all of you who might read this and wonder what my part is, small though it is, in this process I have described, I would love for any or all of you to check out what I do, and, if you feel so inspired, to comment and let me know your thoughts. With all of us thus working together, the dialogue can keep going. Thanks.
ReplyDeletehttp://stokessoundsoff.blogspot.com
Thank you, Eduardo and layjent. It makes sense to include the YSA wards north of the river.
ReplyDeleteEduardo, for some reason I thought you were in one of the Sterling Park or Algonkian wards.
I have been around the Ashburn Stake but there are a lot of people around here who don't want to be too closely pegged. For security reasons. I have checked a few area stake Facebook pages and I thought there would be more information and activity.
ReplyDeleteStill waiting for the new changes to be seen.
From my earlier comment, a correction: Dover Delaware Stake has six wards and a branch, not seven wards and a branch. Many of its units (including that branch) are relatively large geographically, as are the Kent Island Branch in Annapolis stake, and Eastern Shore Branch in Virginia Beach Stake. Both of these branches are (mostly, in Kent Island's case) on the Delmarva Peninsula with Dover stake and part of Wilmington stake.
ReplyDeleteThoughtful meditation on the changes happening in Virginia on the 27th.
ReplyDeleteBoundaries in 5 stakes are going to be changing.
http://www.millennialstar.org/changing-boundaries/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheMillennialStar+%28Millennial+Star%29
Will there be an update on USA and Canada stakes likely to split soon?
DeleteJoseph, thank you. I looks like ward adjustments were made on 20 November. The sister who wrote the blog you refer to looks very familiar, but then again I first moved out to northern Virginia almost 28 years ago and have been in several wards in different stakes. She says these changes are effective on the 27th. When our ward split three years ago, we had a special meeting at the stake center with the three wards involved and told that the four wards that emerged were effective the next week as well. But, the ward creation date was the date of the meeting.
ReplyDeleteChris, in regards to stakes in the US and Canada that are most likely to split in the near future, Matt last featured that on this blog in February. I have been following the blog long enough to know that he doesn't habitually do two such lists within the same year. The significant increase in the number of stakes added this year may lead him to decide to do so. If he feels it's necessary, I'm sure he will get it taken care of. Hope this information has helped.
ReplyDeleteI just learned that two wards of the Annandale Stake, Fairfax and Wakefield, lost a lot of their members to the stake to the west. Or maybe more than one stake. This info is trickling much slower than I expected...
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like more than half of the Fairfax Ward and about half of the Wakefield Ward were moved west, but not the wards themselves, which apparently survived in the Annandale Stake with new boundaries. Of course, these members are now part of wards in a stake other than Annandale, namely Centreville or Oakton or perhaps a new stake.
ReplyDeleteI mentioned on Saturday morning to somebody from the Annandale stake that of all the stakes in northern Virginia, the Annandale Stake had changed the least since I first moved to northern Virginia in 1989--same six family wards with the Spanish branch becoming a ward and the old Columbia Singles Ward disappearing for a long time before recently reappearing as the Lake Braddock YSA Ward. The individual then said, "well, that will all change tomorrow" and then proceeded to tell me vague things about ward and stake boundaries being adjusted the next day, including the stake shifting eastward gaining territory from Mount Vernon and losing to west. This was my first hint of changes happening in Northern Virginia.
While other stakes had been adding wards fairly regularly, Annandale had not. I have wondered if Annandale wards had been getting large over time and were getting ripe for adjustment. Given that the Fairfax and Wakefield wards appear to have lost at least the equivalent of a ward to a stake west of Annandale and that all wards in the Annandale Stake had boundary adjustments, my wondering may have been accurate.
If Fair Oaks and Franklin left Oakton Stake, then I would think that the Chantilly Ward had to have left as well.
Fair Oaks and Chantilly, but not Franklin, wards are now in Centreville Stake. It appears that the only stake that will be created in Northern Virginia will be the Washington D.C. YSA stake the weekend of December 4. However, another stake could be formed in the next few years. Sevens stakes are affected, even if it just loosing a YSA ward to create the YSA stake. I am confident that your stake presidency and/or your bishopric can give you the information about these changes if you live in the affected stakes.
ReplyDeleteThere could be a possibility with the wards the Centreville Stake gained, that they will actually split.
ReplyDeleteI live in the Centreville Stake. Before last Sunday, our Stake had 11 wards and one branch. Several of those are very large wards, FYI. Last Sunday we received four additional units (Chantilly, Tall Cedars, Fair Oaks, and the newly created Clifton Ward). There is zero chance that when four wards are added to an already large Stake, it isn't going to split. Our Stake Conference is on December 11th so we will know more then.
ReplyDeleteI will qualify my opinion about the Centreville Stake in one respect- as far as I know there is no new building under construction that could house a new Stake. Not sure where a new Stake would be housed in this area.
ReplyDeleteEverything appears to have set up the Centreville stake to split and it either has split or will do so this Sunday.
ReplyDeleteThe Centreville Stake had 10 wards and a branch. It gained the Fair Oaks and Chantilly wards from Oakton and much of a ward from Annandale which likely has been used to create another ward with the Centreville 2nd Ward. That would make 13 wards and a branch. Eduardo originally thought the Tall Cedars Ward had left the Ashburn Stake, which makes sense as it has been associated with the Centreville 1st Ward and the Fair Oaks Ward in the same building until recently. Ashburn Stake was easily large enough to lose Stirling Park, Algonkian, Tall Cedar, and Shenandoah YSA. That would still leave 8 "family" wards in the Ashburn Stake. But, Eduardo has not been mentioning the Tall Cedar Ward recently.
It appears that the Oakton Virginia Stake now has:
Reston Ward
Algonkian Ward
Sterling Park Ward
Herndon Ward
Spring Lake Ward (Spanish)
Vienna Ward
Oakton Ward
Oak Marr Ward
Franklin Ward
(slice of the Wakefield Ward, Annandale Stake)
And the Centreville Virginia Stake has:
Chantilly Ward
Fair Oaks Ward
(possibly) Tall Cedars Ward
Centreville 1st Ward
Centreville 2nd Ward
(much of the Fairfax Ward, Annandale Stake)
Twin Lakes Branch (Chinese)
Manassas 1st Ward
Manassas 2nd Ward
Sudley Ward (Spanish)
Gainesville Ward
Haymarket Ward
Vint Hill Ward
Warrenton 1st Ward
Warrenton 2nd Ward
I think this was all done in the name of splitting this enlarged Centreville Stake.
Des Moines Iowa Mount Pisgah Stake
ReplyDeleteCenterville Branch
Indianola Branch
Lenox Branch
Perry Branch
Easter Lake Ward
Osceola Ward
Raccoon River Ward
Walnut Hills Ward
Waukee Ward
Teresina Brazil Planalto Stake
ReplyDeleteCaxias Branch
Angelim Ward
Esplanada Ward
Planalto Ward
Poti Ward
Timon Ward
Mike- see above. The transfer of Tall Cedars to the Centreville Stake is official and publicly known, and the newly created ward that used to be part of the Fairfax Ward is the Clifton Ward. That ward is also part of the Centreville Stake.
ReplyDeleteI see the Oakton Stake Facebook page states the following confirming some of what has been posted here:
ReplyDeletehttps://www.facebook.com/OaktonStake
"Dear Members of the Oakton Virginia Stake,
This past Sunday, it was announced that the Fair Oaks and Chantilly Wards will be transferred to the Centreville Stake; Sterling Park and Algonkian Wards of the Ashburn Stake will transferred to the Oakton Stake and the we have developed over years of working together; and the seven Young Single Adult Wards in the greater DC area will combine to create the Washington DC YSA Stake.
We will miss our close associations with those who are leaving our stake, and look forward to forging new relationships with those who are now joining us. It is exciting to see the Church grow in our area. Let us remember that the Lord constantly pours out his blessings upon us and that we have much to be thankful for.
Happy Thanksgiving!"
For the YSA wards:
Colonial 1st YSA Ward (eastern part of Mount Vernon Stake)
Colonial 2nd YSA Ward (western part of Mount Vernon Stake)
Langley YSA Ward of the McLean Stake covers both the McLean and the Oakton Stakes.
Braddock Road YSA Ward of the Annandale Ward covers the Annandale, Centreville, and Woodbridge Stakes
Shenandoah YSA Ward Ashburn Stake
Washington DC 2nd YSA Ward Washington DC Stake
Glenn Dale YSA Ward of the Silver Springs Maryland Stake covers the Silver Springs and Suitland stakes.
Gaithersburg YSA Branch of the Senaca Maryland Stake
No YSA ward or branch is in or covers the Annapolis Maryland Stake
This comes to 7 wards and 1 branch for the YSA congregations in the area. I wonder if the stake center is going to be in Crystal City or up by the temple or someplace else.
If the Gaithersburg YSA Branch isn't the new YSA stake, it will be the only YSA unit in the Washington DC North and South Missions not in the new YSA stake.
I had wondered about the Rappanhannock YSA Branch of the Fredericksburg Virginia Stake which covers both the Fredericksburg and Stafford stakes, but have heard nothing about them.
Yeah, so if Franklin Ward stays in Oakton Stake then does that mean the building by Frying Pan Park will be split between two stakes? The Fair Oaks Ward is going to Centreville Stake.
ReplyDeleteFor geographic reasons it would make sense to put a stake in Manassas, right? That would help Warrenton travel less.
As has been commented, some ward chapels make due as stake centers for periods. Then they can wait for a new building for construction. Also, Tall Cedars chapel was meant to be expanded, but I don't think that it would be a good "center". Then again, Bloomington Stake in Indiana has been the far east side of its stake since about 1978. Makes it harder on Terre Haute, an hour's drive away, close to the Illinois border.
Sean, thank you very much.
ReplyDeleteSo the Centreville Virginia Stake has:
Chantilly Ward
Fair Oaks Ward
Tall Cedars Ward
Centreville 1st Ward
Centreville 2nd Ward
Clifton Ward
Twin Lakes Branch (Chinese)
Manassas 1st Ward
Manassas 2nd Ward
Sudley Ward (Spanish)
Gainesville Ward
Haymarket Ward
Vint Hill Ward
Warrenton 1st Ward
Warrenton 2nd Ward
Wow, this is quite the discussion about the new YSA stake and possibly another new stake in the Washington DC area. I don't think I have ever seen such an interest in the organization of a new stake since I have operated this blog!
ReplyDeleteI would argue that the creation of the Bangkok Thailand West Stake this Sunday is a more significant development looming on the horizon, but great to see the excitement about stake creations.
L. Chris Jones-
ReplyDeleteI am not planning on an update to stakes likely to split in the United States for at least a few more months since I provided my most recently updated list earlier this year. I am currently working on a list of likely new mission to be organized in 2017.
The Fair Oaks Ward and the Centreville 1st Ward share the building at 14931 Willard Road, Chantilly.
ReplyDeleteThe Chantilly and Franklin wards share the building at 2727 Centreville Road, Oak Hill so yes, the two wards will be in different stakes sharing the same building. That has been true for the Fair Oaks Ward and the Centreville 1st Ward for years thus a building shared by two stakes and for many years the Tall Cedars Ward was in the Willard Road building as well so the building was shared by 3 stakes.
Stakes don't own buildings anyway the PM groups do.
I would think that the current Centreville Stake Center would still be the stake center for the wards in Fairfax and Loudoun county, assuming a north-south split for the stake. A presumed new stake would likely have the wards in Prince William and Fauquier counties and Manassas and Manassas Park. These wards are in three buildings--Manassas, Gainesville, and Warrenton. Gainesville strikes me as the appropriate stake center even if the stake's name is Manassas. The building is central and the newest of the three and it looks like it could hold more cars.
Mike,
ReplyDeleteYou are probably correct about Gainesville. It just got a parking lot expansion finished in the past week (certainly still not as large as a stake center parking lot but it is something). The building itself is slightly larger than the other two you mentioned but is still nowhere near the size of the Centreville building.
Matt, thank you for putting up with this. New stakes in northern Virginia have been expected for years. It looks like that is happening, although the two stakes most expected to divide to produce a stake are Ashburn and Mount Vernon so it is interesting that the bulk of the changes was along the I-66 corridor.
ReplyDeleteAs for Bangkok West, I have wondered why it was a district with 3 branches when there were two stakes in the city. And now I am interested in how this district of 3 branches becomes a stake probably with an assist from one or both those stakes.
I am pretty sure we will soon see the two stakes mentioned to me by a member of the temple presidency. When I mentioned two stakes to another temple worker that worker said something like--"not 2 stakes just ..." then paused and said something like "unless you include the singles stake in a couple of weeks." I am not going to mention that individual's calling but it is one that I would expect to know what was happening. If Centreville wasn't split last Sunday, which it appears didn't happen--the movement of stake and ward boundaries were probably a needed prerequisite--I suspect it will soon.
Mount Vernon lost part of the Alexandria 2nd Ward to the Annandale Stake which has been added to part of the Annandale Ward to form the Lincolnia Ward which now meets at 11 in the Annandale Stake Center. Given that both the Fairfax and the Wakefield wards survived but took in members to the east, Annandale appears to have grown by one ward--that is until Lake Braddock goes into the YSA stake. I have three times lived in the Mount Vernon Stake and am interested in what happened in the rest of that stake. Did taking part of the Alexandria 2nd Ward into Annandale result in a drop from 13 wards to 12 or was the Stake able to keep up the number of wards. Of does it now have 14 which is a figure somebody told me about the ward boundary changes in Mount Vernon. I still think there are 11 potential stakes in the Washington DC mission considering the criteria.
Sean seems knowledgeable about the Centreville Stake, which was the last of the 5 stakes for me to find a source about what happened last Sunday. Of course, it was Centreville that was sucked up enough to now allow for mitosis.
I like the insight shared. I hope I am wrong about no new stakes besides the YSA stake. It seems strange that they would move wards around just to form a stake a couple of weeks later. I think someone made a similar comment but I have stranger things.
ReplyDeleteHere is the message from the Mount Vernon Stake President:
ReplyDeleteWard Boundary Changes...
Dear Brothers and Sisters,
Today in eight of our 13 wards we presented boundary changes that were approved recently by the First Presidency.
With the goals of (1) strengthening the ministering of our leaders to the members, (2) utilizing available space in certain meetinghouses, (3) providing more opportunities for meaningful service for members, and (4) aligning ward boundaries more closely with county / municipal / school boundaries as appropriate, five of the seven stakes in Northern Virginia sought and received approval to adjust ward boundaries and shift some wards from one stake to another.
In the Mount Vernon Virginia Stake, the boundaries of Alexandria 1st, Alexandria 2nd, Alexandria 3rd, Crystal City, Franconia, and Shirlington Wards were changed, meaning that some members of those wards will now be members of what have been adjacent wards. The Alexandria 2nd Ward was reconfigured significantly, and will now be included in the Annandale Virginia Stake, adding some members from the Annandale Ward, and will be re-named the Lincolnia Ward. There no longer will be a ward named Alexandria 2nd (unless a new Alexandria 2nd Ward is created in the future).
In addition, members of the Old Town (Spanish) Ward and the Colonial 2nd YSA Ward (boundaries reach across multiple wards, including those above) who live in the area to be transferred to Annandale Stake will become members of the Little River (Spanish) Ward and Braddock YSA Ward, respectively.
It also was announced in the seven Young Single Adult Wards in the greater DC area that the First Presidency has approved the creation of the Washington DC YSA Stake. Elder Anthony D. Perkins of the Seventy, along with Elder Kevin E. Calderwood, Area Authority Seventy, will conduct a special devotional for all YSAs in the greater DC area on Saturday, December 3rd at 7pm (in our Stake Center) and then hold the first stake conference of the new DC YSA Stake on Sunday, December 4th at 10am (venue to be announced later this week). ALL YSAs in the greater DC area are invited to these two meetings.
It has been a personal blessing for me to be involved in working on and developing these proposals, along with the other Stake Presidents, as I have seen the love and care of our Heavenly Father for His children, His involvement in and direction of the work. Our Savior lives and does indeed guide His church and the work to be done.
I hope that we all can treasure the friendships we have formed as "fellow citizens with the saints" as we see some of our friends move into other wards, and that we will readily and quickly welcome and love those that now become part of our wards, who will be with us as "fellow citizens with the saints”.
"Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness..." (3 Nephi 13:33)
With my love and gratitude,
Keith Davey
Stake President,Mount Vernon Virginia Stake
The statement from the Mount Vernon Stake president suggests to me that the Gaithersberg YSA branch is to be included in the YSA meetings. What exactly is and is not "greater Washington DC" is a bit tricky to define. However Gaithersberg clearly is.
ReplyDeleteMike-
ReplyDeleteFrom my understanding, the Bangkok (BKK) West District was created with only 3 branches (former wards) in 2014 when the BKK North Stake was created with both the intent of looking forward to when it will be its own stake, but also because these wards were having some problems with real growth and needed more direct management from the mission as opposed to going through a stake presidency. The plan for it to become a stake is to take the Bangkok International Ward from the BKK Stake (which meets in the same building as Asok Branch) and the Bangbuathong Ward from the BKK North Stake to complete the BKK West Stake. There are also plans/goals in the works to split a few wards in the city, but it's not yet certain when these splits will take place.
Thank you, Kevin.
ReplyDeleteIf the Washington–Arlington–Alexandria, DC–VA–MD–WV metropolitan statistical area is used for the definition of the Washington DC area, then the Rappahannock YSA Branch (Fredericksburg VA Stake) and the Frederick YSA Branch (Frederick MD Stake) should also be included included in the new stake. But, I doubt they will. My experience living and working in the densely populated northern Virginia area is that most there would not consider Fredericksburg or Frederick to be worthy of inclusion in the term "Washington DC area." But, Montgomery County is considered an inner part of the area and the Seneca Stake and the Gaitherburg YSA Branch are undoubtedly part of this.
ReplyDeleteThe Gaithersburg YSA Branch is closer to the six YSA wards that meet inside the beltway (Colonial 1st and 2nd, Langley, Lake Braddock, Washington DC 2nd, and Glenn Dale YSA) than the Shenandoah YSA Ward. It is possible that "7 YSA Wards" means 6 wards and 1 branch (considering the branch as a ward) or 7 wards and 1 branch (ignoring the branch).
A general authority is coming for the Centreville Stake Conference on 10-11 December. Although not yet announced several ordnance workers from the Centreville Stake were sure the now enlarged stake would be split then,
ReplyDeleteThat makes sense. My guess is Gainesville Stake if it has more parking.
ReplyDeleteI think the temple workers deal with ordinances, not explosives. Hopefully.
But in the DC area or near military bases you never know.
My step-dad retired as govt. worker working in ordnances in the Midwest. Now he goes to the Indy temple and does holy ordinances as a retiree.
A missionary serving in northern Virginia reports that a new stake will be organized from a division of the Centreville Virginia Stake. It appears that this will occur on December 10th.
ReplyDeleteEduardo, thanks. I think this is the second time I have been caught typing ordnance instead of ordinance. BTW, ordnance is not only explosives but the procurement and maintenance of mechanical equipment like vehicles. Your point is well taken. Now, in my defense, my "i" key doesn't work to well on my computer and
ReplyDeleteThe name of the stake and the building designated as stake center are often not the same thing. It could be the Manassas Virginia Stake because Manassas is a city and fairly well known while Gainesville is a census designated place in Prince William County (on the other hand Woodbridge is also a CDP in Prince William County).
I think the Gainesville building will be the stake center for the reasons I mentioned earlier plus the report that the parking at that building has just been expanded. But, the stake could be named Manassas or Gainesville. I have seen plenty of cases where the stake center is not in the city the stake is named for.
Matt thanks for the information. Stake conference for the Centreville Stake is Saturday 10 December and Sunday 11 December. The official division is happening on Sunday although the new stake presidency will be selected on Saturday.
The Mount Vernon Stake has invited all Washington DC YSA to a fireside in their stake center on Saturday 3 December at 7:00 PM for a fireside (I guess in lieu of an Adult conference session). Then at 10 AM Sunday 4 December, the first stake conference of the new Washington DC YSA Stake will occur. It makes me wonder how the stake presidency will be chosen--who gets selected to be interviewed? The 7 YSA bishoprics and probably their current stake presidencies.
From what I understand, the standard practice is to interview all the active high priests in the stake. However, I could be wrong. They might only select from leadership positions like the existing bishoprics or high council.
DeleteOur stake presidency officially announced the creation of a fifth stake in Colorado Springs in two weeks.
ReplyDeleteGood news out of Colorado Springs
ReplyDeleteJonathan, as an active high priest now a couples of times, I have never been interviewed for stake president. The stake presidency, high council, and bishopric are the automatic invites. Others may get invited as well.
Makes sense.
DeleteThe four Colorado Springs stakes:
ReplyDeleteColorado Springs Colorado Stake: 8 wards and 1 branch
Colorado Springs East Stake: 11 wards and 1 branch
Colorado Springs North Stake: 15 wards
Fountain Colorado Stake: 8 wards and 1 branch
This might be a straight division of the Colorado Springs North Stake or the East stake could be involved. Three of those 15 wards in the North Stake are YSA wards, but they appear to cover most of the wards in the other three stakes as well. Interesting how all of the YSA are grouped into multiple wards in one stake.
The new stake will be created from the Colorado Springs North and Colorado Springs East Stakes.
ReplyDeleteIt is inefficient and odd that all of the YSA wards are in one of the stakes. I believe it is because they all meet in an older, small building located within the Colorado Springs North Stake boundaries. Hopefully the new stake creation will also result in the reassignment of the YSA wards to their respective stakes that they cover.
There is a lot of speculation regarding the name and location of the new stake to be organized. Monument, Falcon, and Black Forest all seem like likely names and locations.
Scientists are nevertheless unsure as to the precise reasons why some records are misplaced at the same time as others pass on to create lasting reminiscences. but, it is safe to assume that a few special importance is hooked up to that facts for one reason or every other. within the global of data overload we live in there are regular distractions and records competing for attention. For more ==== >>>>>> http://musclegainfast.com/ion-z/
ReplyDelete>>>There is a lot of speculation regarding the name and location of the new stake to be organized. Monument, Falcon, and Black Forest all seem like likely names and locations.
ReplyDeleteThose were the same three names I kept wondering about when I was looking at LDS maps last night. A fourth might be Colorado Springs Central and keep north for the remaining wards.
Is the Meadow Run Ward new? TempleRick lists that ward, but it isn't in LDS maps on the list in the North Stake.
I did think that building with the YSA wards was small, but there isn't a need for youth Sunday School classes and probably not a primary--although when I was in the old Colonial Singles Ward of the Mount Vernon Virginia Stake, we did have a primary, but we also went from 18 to 55 in age then. YSA wards need a lot fewer classrooms. I imagine there originally was one YSA ward covering all stakes and when the second was created both would cover multiple stakes anyway and the building was available. Finally, the 3rd ward was created. These wards don't seem to cover stake lines very well. It is interesting--kind of allows a small YSA stake inside the larger stake.
@MikeJohnson: I believe every good question deserves a good answer, and, since I have been able to do legwork in the recent past to discover answers to similar questions in the past, I wanted to do the same for you. It appears that the Meadow Run ward was formed within the Colorado Springs Colorado Stake sometime between mid-October and early November. According to John Pack Lambert's comment on an earlier post, the exact date of the ward creation appears to be November 6. So the ward is not quite one month old. I hope that information answers your question.
ReplyDeleteThat's right, James. It was created November 6. Thank you!
ReplyDeleteYou are most welcome. And thanks to you for getting that information available for me to so easily find and confirm. I owe you big time for all you have shared with me and with all who regularly follow your site, and the same is true for Matt's site here. I hope that by my own labor of love, and through following the labor of love you and Matt continuously update that we can flood the world with the latest Church news and information, and I hope it is true that all of those who are regularly reading what we have to say are being touched by what we are trying to do. If that can happen, and I can attest it is already very much so for you both, then all our efforts will be infinitely worth it. Thanks again.
ReplyDeleteThank you James and TempleRick
ReplyDeleteHow are stake presidencies for YSA stakes normally chosen? In general such stake presidencies will be drawn from brethren not in that stake, but in surrounding supporting stakes.
ReplyDeleteThat may be true in the cases of YSA and young married stakes at universities, but it may not be entirely accurate for YSA stakes elsewhere. I know that when the Lehi YSA stake was established, of which my old American Fork YSA ward was made a part, that the first stake presidency for the new stake were chosen from brethren living in the Lehi area. Once the singles' ward left my home stake, I didn't follow news of that ward or stake very well as a result of no longer having any younger siblings attending there. Periodically, I still hear things, but not regularly enough to come to any solid conclusion. I do know, however, that every member of that first stake presidency resided in Lehi, where the Stake Center was. And I think it is wise when the stake encompasses many cities that the leaders of it should be drawn from local areas. Such stakes in a university setting play by different rules. At least, that's what I've observed.
ReplyDeleteleucine, citrulline malate and diet B6. SciVation Xtend components is likewise full of flavors so it is going to be outstanding. It offers soy lecithin, citric acid and pink and blue lake. This dietary supplement has 0 fats, sugar and cholesterol and has 230 mg of Sodium and one hundred seventy mg of Potassium. For more ==== >>>>>> http://www.strongtesterone.com/max-test-xtreme/
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDelete