During the Saturday morning session of the April 2024 general conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on April 6, members sustained a new Sunday School presidency. President Dallin H. Oaks, first counselor in the First Presidency, led the sustainings.
On Aug. 1, Elder Paul V. Johnson will begin his service as the new Sunday School president. Brother Chad H Webb and Australia Sydney Mission President Gabriel W. Reid will serve as first and second counselors, respectively. Elder Johnson currently serves as a General Authority Seventy and will receive emeritus status effective Aug. 1.
Current Sunday School General President Mark L. Pace and his counselors, Brother Milton Camargo and Brother Jan E. Newman, were released effective Aug. 1.
Following is a brief look at the new leaders. A more in-depth profile on each will appear in coming weeks.
Paul V. Johnson, president
Elder Paul V. Johnson has never been a Sunday School teacher, but he has plenty of gospel-teaching experience, from his career as a seminary teacher to the nine years he spent as Church commissioner of education.
And effective Aug. 1, 2024, the most important thing he’ll bring to his new role as general Sunday School president is “my love for my Heavenly Father and the Savior, and my love for young people and other people, too,” he said.
Elder Johnson was born June 24, 1954, in Gainesville, Florida, to Vere Johnson and Winifred Amacher. Before he was a year old, his parents moved to Logan, Utah, where they raised him and his seven siblings.
He met his future wife, Jill Washburn, when he was recruited to play high school football in Monticello, Utah. They became friends while attending the same ward and seminary class, and she wrote to him while he served his mission in Norway.
They were married Aug. 18, 1976, in the Logan Utah Temple and have nine children and 43 grandchildren.
The Johnsons have faced their share of trials together, from losing a daughter to cancer to struggling through their own health challenges. But Elder Johnson said those experiences have shaped his perspective of God’s plan.
“I think it makes me, as a teacher, yearn to help these young people grasp on to the Savior and to their Heavenly Father,” he said.
Elder Johnson’s education includes a Bachelor of Science degree from Brigham Young University in 1978 and a doctor of education degree from Utah State University in 1989.
His Church service includes bishop, stake presidency counselor, counselor in the Chile Area presidency and president of the Europe Area.
He was sustained as a General Authority Seventy in April 2005 and has been serving as a member of the Presidency of the Seventy since Aug. 1, 2021. He will be given emeritus status effective Aug. 1, 2024.
Chad H Webb, first counselor
As a young man, Brother Chad H Webb was attending the College of Eastern Utah (now Utah State University Eastern) when he had a foundational spiritual experience that deepened his testimony of the gospel.
It started with a desire to strengthen his faith. Amid school work and playing basketball on the college team, Brother Webb made it a priority over several months to study his scriptures, ponder and pray often as he prepared to serve a mission.
One cold night, he went for a long walk around Price, Utah, where he thought about everything he was learning. Heaven’s love came as he entered an empty parking lot.
“I felt like all the answers to my prayers and questions came, and I felt very deeply how true the gospel and the Church are,” he said. “It came with great clarity in my mind, along with the feeling that Heavenly Father was aware of me. I felt His love and His direction. That was one of the early, really impactful experiences I had to deepen my testimony.”
Chad H Webb was born in Rexburg, Idaho, on Dec. 18, 1964, to Larry George Webb and Paige Webb. He grew up in southeastern Idaho, and married Kristi Ann Bronson in the Logan Utah Temple on Aug. 4, 1990. They live in Layton, Utah, and have six children.
Brother Webb graduated from Brigham Young University with a bachelor’s degree in Spanish and a master’s degree in educational leadership and foundations. He taught released-time seminary in Salt Lake City and institute in Virginia and Utah. He coordinated institute programs in Washington, D.C. and supervised training and selection of seminary teachers. He has served as an administrator of Seminaries and Institutes of Religion since 2008.
Brother Webb was released as Layton Utah Valley View Stake president shortly before his call. He served as a full-time missionary in Veracruz, Mexico. Previous callings include bishop, high councilor and elders quorum president.
Gabriel W. Reid, 2nd counselor
For President Gabriel W. Reid, one of the most rewarding parts of being a mission leader is to see missionaries “feast upon the words of Christ,” develop a love for the scriptures and desire to be more like the Savior.
“If you truly figure out how to make your gospel study ‘delicious’ to you, as it says in the scriptures, that’s when your life changes,” said President Reid, who concludes his service as president of the Australia Sydney Mission in July.
President Reid — who was born in Pago Pago, American Samoa, and speaks Samoan and Spanish in addition to English — said the word “feast” in the Book of Mormon in Samoan is translated to “taumamafa fiafia” and in Spanish to “deleitar,” both of which denote enjoyment.
As a new counselor in the Sunday School general presidency, “I’m excited to help others see how much joy there is in unpacking the scriptures,” he said.
Gabriel “Gabe” Walter Po’u Reid was born May 28, 1977, to Eugene and Tupu Reid and raised in the village of Leone in American Samoa.
President Reid’s love of God and desire to put Him first began at an early age and sustained him as he played football for Brigham Young University from 1999 to 2002 and pursued a career in the National Football League from 2003 to 2006. It was during this time he learned a valuable lesson — “When the Lord tells you something, you go ‘all in.’”
He married Heather Lynn Sasse in the Bountiful Utah Temple on June 24, 2000, and they are the parents of four children. President Reid graduated from BYU in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in international relations and owns a construction management company.
In addition to presiding over the Australia Sydney Mission, President Reid has served as a counselor in a stake presidency, high councilor, bishop, ward Young Men president, temple ordinance worker and full-time missionary in the Chile Santiago South Mission (1996-1998).
