The following is excerpted from the Church Newsroom. To see the full list of releases, CLICK HERE.

For the first time, the releases of Area Seventies (regional leaders) of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have been publicly announced prior to general conference, which is scheduled for October.

During the April 2021 general conference, 77 new Area Seventies were sustained in the leadership meetings, rather than during a general session of conference. In a similar manner, the practice of announcing releases of Area Seventies during conference is also being modified.

Area Seventies serve as “special witnesses” of Jesus Christ to the geographic areas in which they live around the world.

The following Area Seventies are released, effective August 1, 2021:

Third Quorum of the Seventy (Africa Central, Africa South and Africa West Areas)

     Frederick O. Akinbo         

     M. T. Ben Davis   

     Jerat K. C. Igwe    

     Christophe Kawaya          

     John A. Koranteng

Fourth Quorum of the Seventy (Asia and Asia North Areas)

     Dong Chol Beh     

     Ming-Shun Kuan  

     Seiji Tokuzawa     

     Robert K. William

To see the full list of releases, CLICK HERE.