Photo Courtesy of Grampa Bill
Photo Courtesy of Grampa Bill
One of the most important jobs inside the temple is that of the Temple President. This job is an unpaid position and the man who fills it is chosen by the Prophet and Twelve Apostles of the Church by revelation. The Temple President is responsible for everything that goes on inside the temple.
President Darwin B. Christenson is currently serving as the President of the Oakland, California Temple. President Christenson was born in Firth, Idaho in 1935 and grew up in a strong LDS family. He served as a Mormon missionary in Brazil from 1956-1959, an unpaid position in which he learned Portuguese and taught the people of Brazil the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
President Christenson received his Bachelor's degree from Idaho State University in accounting and business. He then went into the National Guard in 1959, where he served until 1976 and reached the rank of Lieutenant Colonel.
President Christenson married Sandra Jolene Lyon in 1962 in the Idaho Falls Temple, and they have four children.
In 1981 he returned to Brazil to serve as a Mission President, again, an unpaid position where he was responsible for directing the efforts of the local Mormon missionaries in the Sao Paulo area. He served in this capacity until 1984.
President Christenson retired from working in the Church's financial department in 1989 to work in the Idaho Falls Temple. He was then called to serve in the Second Quorum of the Seventy for the Church, where it was his responsibility to help supervise and direct different aspects of the Church. In 2005 he was called to Oakland, California to serve as the Temple President, where he remains to this day.
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