Two Chosen for LDS Lower Authority Leadership

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — The Mormon church is naming L. Whitney Clayton as the new president of a second-tier governing body called the Quorum of the Seventy.

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said Tuesday in a news release that Clayton will take over a spot previously held by Ronald A. Rasband. Rasband was recently chosen to ascend to a top governing body called the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. The 65-year-old Clayton, of Salt Lake City, was an attorney before being named to the Quorum of the Seventy in 2001.

The 61-year-old Gerrit W. Gong will take Clayton's spot on the seven-member presidency of the Quorum of the Seventy. Gong, from California, has been a member of the seventy since 2010. He previously worked for the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, D.C.