Following through on the promise to post the latest apostolic statistics

As it has been almost four months since I last posted an update regarding the latest apostolic statistics, I thought it was high time I did so again. I will be throwing out a lot of facts and figures here. Before beginning, I should like to note that all information in this post is current as of today. Hopefully these details will be of interest to some few of you, even if others of you bypass or disregard this post. Comments continue to be welcome and appreciated.

First, let’s talk about President Russell M. Nelson’s status in terms of his tenure as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. Today, he marked 1 year, 11 months, and 15 days in that position. In these last four months, he has moved up from being the 21^st longest serving Quorum President to now being the 19^th. In exactly 3 weeks (on Sunday July 9), he will take the 18^th spot currently held by Heber J. Grant. 3 months and 2 days after that (on Wednesday October 11) he will become the 17^th longest serving Quorum President, a distinction currently held by Anthon H. Lund.

His final Quorum Presidency tenure milestone this year (assuming both he and President Monson are still alive by then, which seems more than likely unless something drastically changes) will happen on Monday December 18, when he will become the 16^th longest serving Quorum President, having served longer than Harold B. Lee. The tenure milestones he will observe after that are more spread out, but I will report on his progress towards those milestones in later updates.

For now, let’s turn our attention to President Monson. Though he has officially stepped away from an active leadership role, our Church has had several prophets that have been less visible and involved in the work during the last several years of their lives. Since there is precedence for this type of situation, it is anyone’s guess how long his tenure might be extended. It is becoming increasingly more likely that he will live to mark his 90^th birthday, which is on Monday August 21. In doing so, he will become the 7^th nonagenarian Church President. While it is unclear whether or not a formal celebration will be held in his honor, it is not out of the question. In addition to that milestone, he will observe a milestone relating to his tenure length. On the last day of this month, he will become the 8^th longest serving prophet, having served one day longer than President Wilford Woodruff. Until more is known about President Monson’s health and situation, it will be difficult to project how many other milestones he might reach as our prophet. He could live for several more years, or, if the Lord wills it, could pass away in the near or more distant future.

Now, if I may, I would like to talk about two recent apostolic birthdays. On the last day of May, President Eyring observed his 84^th birthday. 15 days later, on June 15, Elder David A. Bednar turned 65. Until August, when 5 (33%) of our apostles mark their birthdays, there will not be anything else to report on that front.

As we now turn our attention to apostolic statistics, I would like to note that our current First Presidency is the 5^th of the top 5 longest serving unchanged First Presidency. Ten days from now (on June 28), they will become the 4^th longest serving First Presidency, and 1 month and 3 days after that (on July 31), they will become the 3^rd longest serving First Presidency. Again, until more is known about President Monson’s health, condition, and life expectancy, I think it is safe to assume that our current First Presidency will reach both milestones. If the current First Presidency is still serving on September 12 of next year, they will become the second-longest serving First Presidency. And if, through God’s will, nothing changes by July 3, 2020, they will have become the longest-serving First Presidency in Church history. All that will depend on President Monson’s health and condition. I am hoping they will reach all of these milestones, but that is in the Lord’s hands.

I should also note that, in order to be among the longest continuous serving Quorums of the Twelve Apostles, the current group would need to serve until Thursday January 17, 2019. That may or may not happen. As I have previously observed, one or two of our current 12 apostles is having health issues, and President Nelson is the oldest of the current 12 apostles, so it could very well be that our current Quorum of the Twelve will not reach even that first milestone. It is almost equally certain that all of our 15 apostles as a group will not meet either of the two longest periods without a change being made. To reach the second-longest milestone, our 15 apostles would need to continue serving until April 3, 2022. The Lord has been known to surprise us, though, so it could happen. Once more is known in this regard, I will pass that along.

For now, let’s turn our attention to apostolic age developments. The First Presidency stands at an average age of 83.49 years, with President Monson being 89 years, 9 months, and 28 days old (with a decimal year of 89.82), President Eyring being 84 years and 18 days old (which is 84.05 in decimal years), and President Uchtdorf being 76 years, 7 months, and 12 days old (which is 76.61 decimal years).

The ages of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles currently stand as follows: President Nelson is 92 years, 9 months, and 9 days old (92.77 in decimal years). Elder Oaks stands at 84 years, 10 months, and 6 days old (with a decimal age of 84.85 years). His birthday is coming up in August. Elder Ballard today marks 88 years, 8 months, and 10 days old (which is 88.69 years).

Elder Hales, who is 12 days younger than Elder Oaks and another apostle with an August birthday, stands at 84 years, 9 months, and 25 days old (84.82 decimal years). Elder Holland is 76 years, 6 months, and 15 days old (being 76.54 in decimal years). Elder Bednar, who, as noted, observed his 65^th birthday three days ago, has a decimal age of 65.01 years. Elder Cook, who is older than both President Uchtdorf and Elder Holland, marked 76 years, 9 months, and 10 days old today, putting him at 76.78 decimal years. Elder Christofferson today marked 72 years, 4 months, and 25 days of life, which works out to 72.4 decimal years.

Elder Andersen, another apostle with an August birthday, is 65 years, 10 months, and 9 days old, putting him at 65.86 years. Elder Rasband, just over six months older than his seatmate, is 66 years, 4 months, and 12 days old (or 66.36 decimal years) today. Elder Stevenson, who will have the next apostolic birthday, today marked 61 years, 10 months, and 12 days of life, which is 61.87 years. Elder Renlund, the least senior but second youngest apostle, is 64 years, 7 months, and 5 days old, putting his decimal age at 64.59 years.

With that information noted, I wanted to mention that the average age of our current members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as of today is 75.05 years. And the average age of all of our apostles as a ground now stands at 76.73 years. Again, I am honestly not sure about how that compares with apostolic averages of the past. If anyone knows, they can be sure to let me know.

This brings me to a brief update on apostolic nonagenarians. President Nelson, as noted in previous reports, will become the 9^th oldest apostle on Wednesday July 5, taking the spot now held by Elder L. Tom Perry. President Nelson will reach other nonagenarian milestones this year as well, On Wednesday October 18^th, President Nelson will become the 8^th oldest apostle, having lived longer than Richard R. Lyman. And just over two months after that, he will become the 7^th oldest apostle, having lived longer than Charles W. Penrose. His next nonagenarian milestone will not be observed until 2019.

As already noted, President Monson will become the 18^th nonagenarian apostle on Monday August 21. The only other nonagenarian milestone that President Monson will observe this month will happen on Wednesday September 27, when he will have lived longer than J. Reuben Clark. He will observe a few more milestones next year if he is still alive by then. As always, once anything more is known, I will pass that along.

Our other apostles will take varying lengths of time to join the list of nonagenarians, from Elder Ballard’s 1 year, 3 months, and 20 days to Elder Stevenson’s 28 years, 1 month, and 19 days. I am keeping an eye on all tenure and age developments relating to our apostles and will pass that information along as I am able to do so in the future.

For now, this is the latest information I have. It will be interesting to see what happens with our apostles over the next several years. Some will pass, and others will take their place. I hope you all enjoyed this update. I will hopefully be more diligent in providing updates of this information more regularly going forward. Let me know any thoughts you might have, if you are able and willing to do so. Thanks for reading this.