President Hinckley Comes to Madison Square Garden

"President" Belnap's first stake conference responsibility included the hosting of over 20,000 Latter-day Saints from the Tri-state area at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, April 26, 1998 for a special "fireside" with President Gordon B. Hinckley. The logistics that went into planning the non-ticketed event included everything from arranging for sufficient parking for dozens of buses to providing for translation in over a dozen languages via low-frequency FM radio to arranging for choirs, ushering, security, floral arrangements, media coverage, etc., etc.

Special visitors from Salt Lake City included President Gordon B. Hinckley and Sister Marjorie P. Hinckley, Elder and Sister Marlin K. Jensen, Elder and Sister Donald Staheli, and Elder Hyde Merrill. Other special guests included Mike Wallace from "60 Minutes."

The fireside event was covered by the New York Times and the Utah press. Here is the news article from the Times:

24,000 Mormons Gather For 'Fireside' at the Garden
(by Nadine Brozan; published April 27, 1998)

It was at a memorial service for Yitzhak Rabin, the Israeli Prime Minister who was assassinated in 1995, that Dave Checketts, the president of Madison Square Garden and a devout member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, was struck with inspiration.

"I was sitting in the Garden filled with devout Jews, and I thought I would love to see a meeting like this someday to hear the current prophet and President of the church," Mr. Checketts said the other day. "So I wrote to him and asked him if he would be willing to come."

Yesterday, Mr. Checketts stood on a podium in the arena, before a gathering of 24,000Mormons, to welcome Gordon B. Hinckley, 87, the President and prophet of the church, and to invoke blessings for his presence.

The free event, billed as a "fireside," was the largest assembly of the church in New York City -- so large, in fact, that the arena's luxury suites were opened to accommodate the overflow at the 20,000-seat arena.

The crowd at the Garden was respectful and neatly dressed, with men in suits and ties and women in dresses. Mr. Checketts saw to it that the Garden was equally respectful: its Budweiser and Coca-Cola signs were covered in deference to the Mormons, who are forbidden to drink alcohol, coffee and tea and usually avoid any caffeinated beverage.

In his discourse, Mr. Hinckley focused on what the church expects of its adherents and on the glories of belief. "Ours is not an easy religion, but out of it comes great strength and great loyalty," he said.

The family is the central unit of devotion in the Mormon Church, and Mr. Hinckley talked about the importance of parents and children gathering for prayer at home. "We have paid a terrible price for the deterioration of the family, not just here but worldwide," he said.

He also urged the numerous young people in the audience to avidly pursue learning, both secular and religious. "Get all the education you can possibly get, and the world will recompense you," he advised them. "The knowledge we gain rises with us in resurrection."

In addition, he dwelled on the necessity for tithing and on fasting for two meals a month, donating the cost of the food to the needy. "People look on us as a church of great wealth, but we are actually a church of consecrated means," he said. "We fund education, construction of temples and meeting houses and are building more than 400 a year. With the blessing of the tithers, we are able to do what we need to do."

Many people at the event said they had heard Mr. Hinckley by satellite, but seeing him in person was a completely different experience.

"It is a great privilege to see the prophet of God in New York City, a city where the gospel is needed." said Radhames Navarro, who was there with his wife, Yelitza, and their four young children.

Katie Silva of San Antonio, Tex., said she heard about the event when she came to Torrington, Conn., to visit her mother who is suffering from a brain tumor. "This is the thrill of my life," she said.

"Without crying, it is hard to put into words what this means," she said. "This is Christ's true church, and to be near so many other people who feel that way is just incredible."

Here is the report from the July 1998 Ensign:

President Hinckley reminded an estimated 20,000 people who filled Madison Square Garden in New York City on 26 April of the “great expectations” the Church has of its members, including building strong families through faith and prayer.

He also emphasized modern revelation. “Christians generally and our Jewish and Muslim brethren and sisters revere the prophets of old who spoke words of revelation as they were moved upon by the Holy Spirit,” he said. “The times in which they spoke were less complicated. The ways of society were relatively simple. If there was need for revelation then, is there not an even greater need for revelation in this highly complex and difficult age in which we live? If God spoke to Abraham anciently, shall He not speak to prophets in this season of the world? We believe in modern revelation, and I stand before you and can testify in humility—but with certainty—that we are blessed with it in the guidance of this Church in this day and time. God has not forsaken us, nor will He if we will live in obedience to His commandments.”

President Hinckley’s remarks were translated into 11 languages and were broadcast simultaneously through an in-house FM-radio network. Before the conference he met with media and business leaders and international diplomats, including North Korean ambassador Li Hyong Chol, who expressed thanks for the humanitarian aid the Church has provided his famine-stricken country.

Some 20,000 members live in the New York metropolitan area, and members traveled to the conference from as far away as Massachusetts and North Carolina. “The biggest thing about this for me is having so many Latter-day Saints together all at once,” said Scott LeFoll of Hartford, Connecticut. “The Spirit is absolutely overwhelming.”

Anthea Pierre of Brooklyn, a Caribbean native who was baptized four years ago, said: “It meant so much to have the prophet here. It meant getting to personally feel his spirit. It gives me the belief that the principles and the doctrines that we learn and the messages that he passes on to us are real. They are from God, and he is a prophet of God.”