Stephen M. Veazey

Stephen Mark Veazey is the current Prophet-President of Community of Christ, headquartered in Independence, Missouri. Veazey's name was presented to the church in March 2005 by a joint council of church leaders led by the Council of Twelve Apostles as the next Prophet-President. Delegates elected to a memorable World Conference of the church approved Veazey, and he was ordained as the eighth president of the High Priesthood, Prophet, and president of the Church on June 3, 2005.

Early Life

Born on May 3, 1957, in Tennessee, Veazey has been a full-time minister in the church since 1983. Before 1983, Veazey was an executive minister to the Fremont, California, congregation and oversaw a missionary development project funded by the World Church for San Francisco Bay Stake. Veazey also served the church as a young adult two-year contractual minister to Pacific Northwest Region, in the Portland Metropole; director of youth camps and seminars; field associate for the Young Adult and Campus Ministries Office; presiding elder in McKenzie, Tennessee; and counselor to the pastor in Paris, Tennessee. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Tennessee and a Master of Arts in religion from Park College.

Community of Christ Ties

He was ordained a member of the Council of Twelve Apostles in 1992. In April 2002, he was set apart as president of the Council of Twelve and assigned by the First Presidency as director of Field Ministries. He has also brought support and leadership to Church Planting Ministries and Young Adult and Campus Ministries. His areas of ministry have included missionary and administrative work in the Southern USA Mission Field, the Africa-East Central Field, the South Central, and the East Central States Regions, the Division of Program Services, Outreach Ministries, the North Central Region, the Advanced Leadership Studies at World Church headquarters, and the African American Ministries.

Veazey presented Doctrine and Covenants Section 163 to the 2007 World Conference of the Community of Christ. He cited the Hymns of the Saints as a source for this document, which clarifies the theology of scripture, the mission of the church, and other ecclesiastical matters in the Community of Christ.

On January 17, 2010, Veazey presented another document that became part of the Doctrine and Covenants. The President's April 5, 2009 address to the church included a concise message of inspired counsel. On April 14, 2010, the Community of Christ voted to affirm the counsel as scripture. It is now included in the Doctrine and Covenants as section 164. Doctrine and Covenants Section 165, from an inspired document of Veazey's, was canonized in 2016. Veazey, president of the Council of the Twelve, replaced W. Grant McMurray, who resigned for health, family, and undisclosed personal reasons. Veazey is married to Cathleen Henson Cackler Veazey and has three children.

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