August 30th, 2025, 7am MDT
When President Timothy L. Farns was 14, another friend of his faith began to challenge his religious beliefs. The friend said that Joseph Smith “has never seen a father and son,” and that the church of Jesus Christ, the Latter-day Saints, was “not true.”
President Ferns said it was the first time in his young life that he tried to talk about his beliefs.
“Joseph Smith was a prophet of God, and he testified that he had seen Father and Son, and that the Church was true,” he said.
President Ferns was maintained as the new youth general president on April 5th and began serving on August 1st. He said he wanted the young people in the church to know that they belong to the family of Christ as they walked into his new role.
“They are the children of God, the children of the covenant,” he said.
“I long to declare his words.”
Timothy Lowell Ferns was born on June 29, 1969 in Baltimore, Maryland to Gary William Ferns and Mary Ellen Orton Ferns. At a young age, his family moved to Utah, where he grew up. President Ferns is the oldest of his seven children.
The night he first testified to his friend, he ran to the house, awakened his mother, telling her, “Mama, Joseph Smith is a prophet and I know this is the church (of Jesus Christ).” She still remembers the day, President Farns said, “And we talk about it often.”
As a young missionary, President Ferns served on the Porto Aregul Mission in Brazil. He was shy and quiet as a young man, and he once wrote prayers for his mother to say goodbye to the missionary.
But when he left on his own mission, he had a “great desire” to share, preach and teach.
“So I made a strong promise to my heavenly Father that if he allowed me to lose my tongue, I would give it all,” President Farns said.
Submission, he continued, is a major factor in his ability to obtain help in heaven during his mission.
“I recognized the power that has been brought about through strict obedience and submission to him,” President Ferns said. “And it literally, from the willingness to give everything, from the willingness to teach me in a different way, from my willingness to teach, I went home from a mission that I longed to declare his words, and it completely changed me.”
Light lovers
Following his mission, President Farns attended Brigham Young University, where he studied economics.
He also started working for companies that held seminars throughout North America and demanded tickets to be obtained from local travel agents. Every time he visited the agency he noticed that a beautiful girl, Lindsay Anne Skinner, worked at one of the front desks.
Unfortunately, for President Ferns, the appeal was initially one-sided. “I tried to use all the tricks to show her my way, but she never did.”
Then one Sunday, Lindsay appeared in his ward. She recently moved to the same apartment as him. He handed Saint Cra to her line that day, and “finally grabbed her eye.”
He knocked on her door that night and introduced himself. Three months later, on August 27, 1992, they married at Salt Lake Temple.
President Ferns recalled the “unusual light” of the Ferns sisters and her charms for maturity, depth and independence.
Sisters Ferns also remembered being drawn to President Ferns’ light, particularly his love for Jesus Christ.
“There was something about him that was very different from the people I’ve ever met,” she said, “It sounds like we got married quickly, but it literally felt like we knew him forever.”
President Ferns says he and his sister Ferns don’t want young, single adults to listen to their love stories, and believes something is wrong without similar experience. Rather, the pace of his relationship with his sister Farns was the right thing for the two of them.
Almost 33 years after their marriage, Farnes still cares about each other’s light.
“One of the things we love most is that we talk about the gospel together,” President Ferns said, sharing how he and his sister Ferns frequently study the Bible independently and discuss what they have learned from each other. “She taught me a lot — about the meaning of really seeking him.”
Life is not divided
As parents of five children and six grandparents, the faith of Fane’s President and sisters is also central to their family life.
This was particularly evident during his mission leadership at the Brazilian Sao Paulo North Mission from 2014 to 2017. Farnetz moved four of his five children (the oldest one later served on a mission in South Africa) from Bountiful, Utah, from Bountiful, where he lived for his life, to a country that did not speak a language or understand culture.
But their children didn’t just embrace the change, Sister Ferns said. They embraced it enthusiastically.
President Ferns remembered how happy one of her daughters was, despite being an elderly high school student at the time. Another daughter shed tears of joy upon hearing the news as she prayed for her missionary experience.
Back in Brazil as mission leader, President Farns allowed him to share with the missionaries how much his previous service had shaped him, he said. Missions are not checklist items, he told them. It is a platform for starting their lives and becoming better spouses, parents, and disciples of Jesus Christ.
“That’s why you can’t live splitting,” President Ferns said. “You have to live the truth. Truth is true and can be used in all circumstances.”
For Sister Ferns, who had his first formal missionary service during this period, adapting to missionary life in a new country was challenging. But she found her momentum when the spirit ordered her to focus on teaching missionaries about the tone sin of Jesus Christ.
“That’s been my theme for three years,” Sister Ferns said.
In addition to President Farns’ previous calling, his missionary service, he also includes 70 Utah area locals, stake presidents, high councillors, bishops and young, single adult bishops.
“I don’t remember the time I had at my church service, where I wasn’t sitting with the young people,” he said.
“It’s powerful to witness… and I recognize the importance of repentance and the tone sin of Jesus Christ,” President Farns said.
Put faith first
The only way President Furness can centralize the gospel is not through formal church services and family life. It is also the foundation of his career and work ethic.
Shortly after his marriage, President Ferns started several companies in several industries, including humanitarian nonprofits working in Ghana. But before his professional success, the Lord taught him the importance of putting faith first.
President Ferns spoke about the turning point that Farneses married less than a year while the young couple was on vacation in Hawaii. President Ferns has traveled extensively for the seminar company over the past few months.
The Hawaii trip was their first reprieve for a while, President Ferns said, and he wanted to impress his new wife. So despite warning signs posted around the beach, he jumped into the sea and immediately bumped into the dangerous coastal break that had been warned.
President Ferns said he managed to get back to the beach before he lost consciousness. Hospital doctors revive him when his heart stopped and found that he lost more than 3½ liters of blood due to a ruptured spleen.
A few months have passed since President Farns recovered. When he was enough to finally get home, he said, “I knew I needed to change my life.” “It was like the Lord said, ‘Wake up.’ ”
From now on, President Farns has largely recommended his life. He quit his job, which required weekend trips, and was able to better celebrate the Sabbath, and started his own company, which he sold in 2007.
Running the business allowed President Farns to integrate his core values into his work, he said, the most important of which was his recognition of God. “We believe in involving God even in the workplace, and we acknowledge God’s hand in everything.”
Each employee was encouraged to read the Book of Mormon for the first 15 minutes of the day, he said. Additionally, his team began each meeting in prayer, using the Bible and the “Gospel of Sermon” manual at the sales meeting.
“The truth is true in any environment,” President Ferns said.
Now he will bring in the same core values and spiritual habits to serve the youth of the Church.
“I love the youth of this church, the rising generation,” President Ferns said. “They bring great peace and strength and give me great hope today. Their testimony is strong, they have been well prepared before this world. …I love them with all my heart.”
About President Timothy L. Ferns
Family: Timothy Lowell Ferns was born on June 29, 1969 in Baltimore, Maryland to Gary William and Mary Ellen Orton Ferns. He grew up in Sandy, Utah. He married Lindsay Anne Skinner on August 27, 1992 at Salt Lake Temple. They have five children and six grandchildren.
Employment: Founders of several companies in several industries, including humanitarian nonprofits working in Ghana.
Education: Studying economics at Brigham Young University.
Church Service: At the time of his call, President Farns was serving as 70 regions in the Utah area. He is a former president of the Brazilian Sao Paulo North Mission (2014-2017), stake president, stake president, senior official, bishop, bishop, young single adult bishop and bishop counselor, and full-time missionary for the Brazilian Porto Alegre Mission.
