President Timothy L. Farnes

Young Men General President

When President Timothy L. Farnes was 14 years old, a friend of another faith began challenging his religious beliefs. For the first time in his young life, Timothy testified that Joseph Smith was a prophet of God and that The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is true.

“The Spirit filled the room. It was palpable,” he recalled. “We all felt it, and we all changed.”

President Farnes said he wants the Church’s youth to know they belong to the family of God.

“They’re children of God and children of the covenant,” he said, “and they can become disciples of Jesus Christ if they’ll accept Him—accept the gift that is theirs because of His Atonement.”

Timothy Lowell Farnes was born on June 29, 1969, in Baltimore, Maryland, to Gary William Farnes and Mary Ellen Farnes. When he was a child, his family moved to Utah, where he grew up. He is the oldest of seven children.

President Farnes served as a missionary in the Brazil Porto Alegre Mission. He studied economics at Brigham Young University and later started multiple companies, including MedSource Direct, Aspire, and the humanitarian nonprofit World Joy.

He married Linsey Anne Farnes in the Salt Lake Temple on August 27, 1992. They have five children and six grandchildren, and they live in Bountiful, Utah.

President and Sister Farnes served as mission leaders in the Brazil São Paulo North Mission from 2014 to 2017. President Farnes’s previous callings include Area Seventy in the Utah Area, stake president, high councilor, bishop, and young single adult bishop.