'What a show!'

Although there were no streamers or balloons, President Gordon B. Hinckley got a one-of-a-kind 95th birthday bash thrown in his honor Friday night, with a 21,000-plus guest list, international performers and world-renowned hosts.

The event, "A Celebration of Life," was held Friday night in the Conference Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. The concert and tribute were presented by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the Orchestra at Temple Square.

"What a show! . . . Let's have another such party five years from now," President Hinckley said, wearing a lei sent to him from the king of Tonga.

"Serving in this office is a very heavy and challenging responsibility," he said, noting how large and complex the church has become. "It will continue to increase in stature across the entire earth."

In a tribute to President Hinckley, CBS newsman Mike Wallace said that, "Over time, it became clear that no inspired innovative leader, however ambitious, was too much for Gordon B. Hinckley to consider. He is and always has been a builder. A builder of families, youth, missionaries. A builder of character and faith and through it all, a builder of people. The pace has been tiring, but he has been tireless. But from his point of view, it's been worth it to help build the organization he loves by building the people that he loves so much."

When President Hinckley was born on June 23, 1910, there were just over a million members of the LDS Church, half of them in Utah, and only four temples in the state. Today, the church counts over 12 million members, most living outside the United States, and 120 temples around the world.

Wallace spoke of President Hinckley's wit and wisdom and said those traits are an emblem of him, "even to cranky journalists," referring to his own "60 Minutes" interview with President Hinckley in April 1996.

"As it turns out, nearly everything about that whole experience surprised me. I didn't expect his humor, his candor. I asked questions that were on the minds of the skeptics. He answered every single one."

Numerous church, city and civic leaders attended the event, and members of the First Presidency shared some of their thoughts on the prophet, to honor the 9 1/2 decades of his life and his 10 years as president of the LDS Church.

"His outreach on an international scale is truly unprecedented," said his first counselor, President Thomas S. Monson. "He is a leader for our time. In the past 10 years, we've seen a worldwide expansion of church membership."