He has been a general authority since 2010 and served as a member of the church's Presidency of the Seventy from October 2015 until his calling to the Quorum of the Twelve in March 2018.

[5] Prior to becoming a general authority, he served as assistant to the president of Brigham Young University (BYU) for planning and assessment.

[6][2][3] As a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, Gong is accepted by the church as a prophet, seer, and revelator.

Gong then studied international relations at Oxford University as a Rhodes Scholar, receiving a master's degree in 1979 and a D.Phil.

Susan is white, making Gong the first member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles in a multi-racial marriage.

They began dating a few years later, in the summer when Gong had returned from Oxford to spend a few weeks with his parents, during a time his father was a BYU professor.

In October 2015, Gong was appointed to the Presidency of the Seventy, filling a vacancy created by Ronald A. Rasband's call to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

[32][33][34][35] In early 2020, the church announced that Gong would preside at the November dedication of the Winnipeg Manitoba Temple, originally set to occur in mid-November.

[36] The church later announced that Gong, whose wife has ties to Taylorsville, Utah, would preside at the October 2020 groundbreaking for the temple in that city.

[37] During the church's general conference in October 2020, it was announced that Gong and his wife had been exposed to COVID-19, and that his address had been pre-recorded as he quarantined at home.

[39] On October 16, the church announced that he and his wife had successfully completed their quarantines, and that Gong had been cleared by his doctors to resume his regular assignments the following week.