The First Presidency, also called the Quorum of the Presidency of the Church or simply the Presidency, is the presiding governing body of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). It is composed of the President of the Church and his counselors. The First Presidency currently consists of Russell M. Nelson and his two counselors: Dallin H. Oaks and Henry B. Eyring.
Membership
The First Presidency is composed of the President of the Church and his counselors. Historically, and as mandated by church scripture, the First Presidency has been composed of the president and two counselors, but circumstances have occasionally required additional counselors (for example, David O. McKay had five during the final years of his presidency, and at one point, Brigham Young had eight).
Counselors must be high priests and are usually chosen from among the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, but there have been a number of exceptions of members of the church's Presiding Bishopric or the church at large being called to be counselors. Any high priest of the church is eligible to be called as a counselor in the First Presidency. There have also been a few cases of counselors being ordained to the priesthood office of apostle and becoming members of the Quorum of the Twelve after they had already been set apart as counselors in the First Presidency, such as J. Reuben Clark. There have been other cases where counselors have been ordained to the office of apostle but not set apart as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, such as Alvin R. Dyer. Other counselors in the First Presidency were never ordained to the office of apostle, such as Charles W. Nibley and John R. Winder. Whether or not a counselor is an apostle, all members of the First Presidency are sustained by the church as prophets, seers, and revelators.
Counselors are formally designated as "First Counselor in the First Presidency" and "Second Counselor in the First Presidency". Additional counselors have been designated in different ways, including "Third Counselor in the First Presidency" (such as Hugh B. Brown), "Assistant Counselor to the President" (such as John Willard Young), and simply "Counselor in the First Presidency" (such as Thorpe B. Isaacson).
Counselors serve in the First Presidency until their own deaths, until the death of the church president who called them, or until they are released by the church president. The death of a church president dissolves the First Presidency, and leaves the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as the senior leader of the church. The death or release of a counselor does not dissolve the First Presidency.
Often, the surviving counselors of the late president will be called as counselors in the new First Presidency, and a notably-infirm counselor may revert to his place among the Twelve Apostles, with a healthier man called as counselor in his place. On the death or release of a first counselor, the second counselor usually succeeds, and a new second counselor is named. Although that is fairly common, there are no hard and fast rules about such practices, and each president is free to choose the counselors he prefers.
Title of members
Like the church president and President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, counselors in the First Presidency are given the honorific title of "President".
Removal
A member could be removed by the current president at any time or if disciplined by the Common Council of the Church, although both actions are rare and removal for discipline has not happened since the early days of the church.
Duties
The First Presidency is the highest ranking priesthood quorum of the church. The counselors assist the church president and work closely with him in guiding the entire church and carrying out the duties of the president of the church. The First Presidency has the theoretical authority to make the final decision on nearly all issues that might affect the church or its operations, but in practice, the First Presidency has delegated much of its decision-making power to members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the Seventy, the Presiding Bishopric, and local leaders of the church. Nevertheless, the First Presidency has retained its overarching decision-making power in a number of significant areas and may, at any time, choose to overrule the decisions of a lesser church quorum or authority.