D. Todd Christofferson
Quick Facts
Biography
David Todd Christofferson (born January 24, 1945) is an American religious leader and former lawyer who serves as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). He has been a general authority of the church since 1993. Currently, he is the ninth most senior apostle in the church.
Christofferson grew up in Utah and New Jersey, and after high school served as a LDS missionary in Argentina. He then studied English literature at Brigham Young University before attending law school at Duke University. After graduating from law school in 1972, Christofferson clerked for Judge John Sirica on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia while Sirica presided over much of the legal proceedings stemming from the Watergate scandal. Christofferson then entered private practice, and eventually became an in-house lawyer for NationsBank (now part of Bank of America).
Early life
Christofferson was born in American Fork, Utah, and raised in Pleasant Grove, Utah; Lindon, Utah; and Somerset, New Jersey. As a young man, he served as a LDS Church missionary in Argentina. His mission president during his period of service was Richard G. Scott, who would already be a member of the Quorum of the Twelve when Christofferson was called to the same quorum. After his mission, he earned a bachelor's degree from Brigham Young University in English and International Relations and a J.D. from Duke University School of Law.
Christofferson began his law career as a law clerk to Judge John J. Sirica during the Watergate hearings.
After his work as a judicial clerk, Christofferson was an active member of the US military and then in the reserves for eight years.
Career and family
As a lawyer, Christofferson worked in Washington, D.C.; Nashville, Tennessee; Herndon, Virginia; and Charlotte, North Carolina. Christofferson was the associate general counsel for NationsBank in Charlotte and was the volunteer chairman of Affordable Housing of Nashville, Tennessee.
Christofferson clerked for Judge John J. Sirica during the Watergate trials. Together they were the first outside the White House to hear the Nixon White House tapes. "Judge Sirica and I were shocked as we heard Nixon calmly ask" how much money it would take to keep the Watergate burglars quiet, Christofferson said in a June 2017 address to faculty and students at Christ Church College in Oxford, England. "The judge and I couldn’t believe, didn’t want to believe what we were hearing ... He passed me a note suggesting we rewind the tape and listen again. Up to this point we both still hoped that the president was not really involved, but this was indisputable."
Christofferson married Katherine Jacob in the Salt Lake Temple on May 28, 1968. They are the parents of five children.
Honors
- World Peace Prize (2017)
LDS Church service
Prior to becoming a general authority, Christofferson served in the LDS Church as a bishop, stake president, and regional representative. At the church's April 1993 general conference, Christofferson was called as a general authority and member of the First Quorum of the Seventy. In August 1998, Christofferson became a member of the Presidency of the Seventy.
As a seventy, Christofferson served as the executive director of the church's Family and Church History Department. While in this position he was involved in negotiations with Jewish leaders on policies on temple work for Holocaust victims, which concluded with the church stating that its members should only do such temple work for family members. He also was in charge of the department when the church completed the Freedman's Savings Bank Records project.
On April 5, 2008, during the solemn assembly session of the church's general conference when Thomas S. Monson was sustained as church president, Christofferson was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, Christofferson is regarded by church membership as a prophet, seer, and revelator.
Works
- Articles
- Christofferson, D. Todd (May 2011), "'As Many as I Love, I Rebuke and Chasten'", Ensign
- —— (April 2011), "To Always Remember Him", Ensign
- —— (November 2010), "Reflections on a Consecrated Life", Ensign
- —— (October 2010), "How Can I Make Daily Prayer More Meaningful?", New Era
- —— (May 2010), "The Blessing of Scripture", Ensign
- —— (November 2009), "Moral Discipline", Ensign
- —— (August 2009), "Elder Neil L. Andersen: Man of Faith", Ensign
- —— (June 2009), "Moral Agency", Ensign
- —— (May 2009), "The Power of Covenants", Ensign
- —— (March 2009), "Why Do We Baptize for the Dead?", New Era
- —— (November 2008), "Come to Zion", Ensign
- —— (May 2008), "Born Again", Ensign
- —— (March 2008), "Becoming a Witness of Christ", Ensign
- —— (November 2006), "Let Us Be Men", Ensign
- —— (June 2006), "A Sense of the Sacred", Liahona
- —— (February 2006), "Friend to Friend: Seeking Him in Prayer", The Friend
- —— (January 2005), "Allegiance to God", Ensign
- —— (May 2004), "When Thou Art Converted", Ensign
- —— (Spring 2004), "Lest we forget: the meaning of Kirtland's history in the present", Journal of Mormon History, Mormon History Association, 30 (1): 104–119, OCLC 367833284
- —— (November 2002), "That They May Be One in Us", Ensign
- —— (June 2001), "Justification and Sanctification", Ensign
- —— (January 2001), "The Redemption of the Dead and the Testimony of Jesus", Ensign
- —— (November 1998), "The Priesthood Quorum", Ensign
- —— (March 1995), "Friend to Friend", Ensign
- —— (May 1993), "I Know in Whom I Have Trusted", Ensign
- ——; Naftali, Timothy J. (15 July 2008), An Oral History Interview with Elder D. Todd Christofferson (PDF), The Richard Nixon Oral History Project