Few expected the blast of energy, enthusiasm and ingenuity that swept through The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints when then-93-year-old Russell M. Nelson ascended to the faith’s presidency in January 2018 .

After all, the former heart surgeon — who died Saturday shortly after 10 p.m. at age 101 — was the second oldest man ever to take the reins of the Utah-based faith and less familiar among members than his folksy predecessor, Thomas S. Monson .

But Nelson eventually became the faith’s first centenarian president and its oldest-ever prophet . His name quickly became synonymous with change. During his tenure, the church reversed a controversial LGBTQ policy — one he previously had vigorously defended as the “will of the Lord” — that labeled same-sex member coupl

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