Elder David A. Bednar was born on June 15, 1952, in Oakland, California, and has served as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints since Oct. 7, 2004.
He served as a young full-time missionary in Southern Germany, and after entering Brigham Young University he met a young woman while playing flag football for home evening. He and Susan Robinson were married March 20, 1975, in the Salt Lake Temple, and they are the parents of three sons.
Elder Bednar received bachelor’s and master’s degrees from Brigham Young University and a doctorate in organizational behavior from Purdue University. He was a professor of business management at Texas Tech University and the University of Arkansas and later served as the president of Brigham Young University–Idaho (formerly Ricks College) from 1997 to 2004.
In honor of his 74th birthday today, here are nine quotes from Elder Bednar in the past year.
“The Savior’s grace and the power of the Holy Ghost can help us over time to strip away the self-centeredness, selfishness and self-doubt characteristic of the natural man in each of us — and that constrain our capacity to rise up.”
— BYU Women’s Conference, May 1, 2026
“As our love for Him grows ever stronger and deeper, we can be blessed to receive spiritual perspective, the Lord’s empowering grace and exceedingly great and indescribable joy.”
— “All Who Have Endured Valiantly,” April 2026 general conference
“Plant this seed, and do the work to nourish it. And I promise it will change your heart in ways you cannot imagine.”
— Church News video, Jan. 14, 2026
“The stone cut out of the mountain without hands is rolling forth. It is the restored Church of Jesus Christ filling the earth.”
— Ministry in Democratic Republic of the Congo, March 15, 2026
“Ultimately, then, we are our own judges. No one will need to tell us where to go. In the Lord’s presence, we will acknowledge what we have chosen to become in mortality and know for ourselves where we should be in eternity.”
— “They Are Their Own Judges,” October 2025 general conference
“I witness that [the] Restoration is ongoing. It is happening today. It was happening yesterday. It will happen tomorrow, every day, week, month and year, until the Savior comes again.”
— BYU–Pathway Worldwide devotional, Oct. 31, 2025
“We are living right now in a remarkable season in the history of the Church. I want you to absorb and relish that. I pray it will endure with you forever and help you understand things about yourself and about The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
— Provo Missionary Training Center devotional, Nov. 4, 2025
“This work is accelerated, it is hastened, it is directed by the living Lord Jesus Christ. I witness He is alive. I witness He is our Savior and our Redeemer. And I witness that the Father and the Son appeared to the boy Joseph Smith, and that was the beginning of the Restoration of the gospel of Jesus Christ in this latter-day dispensation.”
– Devotional in the Sacred Grove in Palmyra, New York, Sept. 21, 2025
“Counseling in council with and under the influence of the Holy Ghost can and should be a revelatory experience. … We strive to ‘be one’ and become faithful servants so the Lord can inspire and work through us to accomplish His holy work.”
— 2025 Seminar for New Mission Leaders, June 20, 2025
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