Hello, everyone! I promised to do this earlier today, and now it's done. This is my revised list of possible candidates for the current apostolic vacancy. Time will tell how likely any of these men might be to be appointed to the apostleship. As always, any comments are welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time, and may the Lord bless you all in all that you do.
Apostles appointed during President Monson’s prophetic tenure have, at the time of their calls, ranged in age from Elder Rasband’s 64.7 years to Elder Andersen’s 57.7 years, having a range of 7 years. After Elder Rasband, the next oldest apostle at the time of his call was Elder Christofferson at 63.3 years, then Elder Renlund at 62.8 years, then Elder Stevenson, who was 60.2 years old, then, of course, Elder Andersen. Of the 14 apostles, they have ranged in age from the oldest apostle, Elder Quentin L. Cook, who was 67.1 years old at the time of his call, to President Monson, who, as we know, was 36.1 years old at the time of his call, which gives us a spread of 31 years between the ages of the two at the time of their call.
The average age of the 14 apostles at the time of their calls was 57.98 years. As this data shows, the Church has no end of options in terms of the age of the new apostle. If the Church sticks to the average age at which apostles have been called during President Monson’s presidency, then the new apostle will be no older than 61.7 years. At a quick glance, that would include two members of the Presiding Bishopric (Bishops Causse & Waddell), three members of the Presidency of the Seventy (Craig C. Christensen, Ulisses Soares, and Patrick Kearon), and 39 General Authority Seventies.
The question arises, as it always does, would the Church look to someone internationally born, in the vein of President Uchtdorf, or would they tap someone American born who has international Church service and experience? And would they look to someone with more experience as a General Authority, or someone newer? The most recently called apostle, Elder Renlund, was called in 2009. If we assume that the Church will look for a more-tenured General Authority Seventy within the age range above, who has international experience and is a US citizen, we have the following brethren (Elders Gong and Cook, who are on this list for the reasons explained below, are on there inview of their age, and because their experiences have given them qualifications that would more than compensate for having been called later than 2009.
Elder Gerrit W. Gong: 63.8 years old; called as a GA Seventy in October 2010 and to the Presidency of the Seventy in October 2015 (is currently fifth in seniority in the Quorum, which (which was Elder Uchtdorf’s status at the time of his apostolic call in 2004; well educated; has had a vice presidential role at BYU; born in California; has Asian ancestry (and would thereby have international appeal); served a full-time mission in Taiwan; is married to the daughter or Richard P. Lindsey, who was a GA Seventy; has been a counselor and president of the Church’s Asia area.
Elder Craig C. Christensen: 61.5 years old; called as a GA Seventy in October 2002; is currently the second most senior member of the Presidency of the Seventy (which was Elder Christofferson’s status at the time of his apostolic call in 2008, and before that, the status of Elder Faust at the time of his call to the apostleship in 1978); Elder Christensen was appointed to that presidency in January 2013 and has been the second most senior member of that presidency since August 2017) born in Salt Lake City; served a mission in Santiago Chile; mission president in Mexico City; served for four years as president of the Mexico South Area.
Elder Marcus B. Nash: 60.5 years old; called as a GA Seventy in April 2006; born in Seattle Washington; served a mission in San Salvador El Salvador; helped construct the Seattle Washington Temple; served as a counselor in and then president of the South America Northwest Area.Elder Kevin W. Pearson: 60.4 years old; called as a GA Seventy in April 2008; born in Salt Lake City; served a mission in Helsinki Finland; has served as a counselor in the Europe East and Pacific Areas; served as president of the Pacific Area.
Elder Paul B. Pieper: 60 years old (birthday was on the 7th of this month); called as a GA Seventy in April 2005; born in Pocatello Idaho; served a mission in Monterrey Mexico; moved to Kazakhstan, where he learned to speak Russian; mission president in St. Petersburg Russia; has served in the Europe East Area Presidency; coordinated Church efforts in the Middle East/Africa North Area; currently serves as a counselor in the Mexico Area Presidency.
Elder Carl B. Cook: 60 years old (birthday was on the 15th of this month); called as a GA Seventy in April 2011; born in Ogden Utah; served a mission in Hamburg Germany; mission president in Auckland New Zealand; has served as a counselor and president of the Church’s Africa Southeast Area. He also made this list because he recently filled an assignment from the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles that is usually filled by an apostle. It is unclear why that was, but I recall that the First Presidency (consisting of Presidents Hinckley and Monson, after the August 10 death of President Faust), sent Elder Eyring on an assignment usually filled by the First Presidency, and he was called to that Presidency shortly thereafter. Given the nature of the assignment Elder Cook filled, the Church could be looking to do the same thing here as happened with Elder Eyring. That said, I have not been able to ascertain if Carl B. is in any way related to Quentin L., who was called as an apostle 10 years ago.
Elder Michael T. Ringwood: 59.5 years old; called as a GA Seventy in April 2009; born in Provo, Utah; served a mission in South Korea; President Nelson’s son-in-law; mission president in Seoul Korea; has served as a counselor and president of the Asia North Area.
Elder Michael John U. Teh: 52.3 years old; called as a GA Seventy in April 2007; born in the Philippines; served a mission in Davao; worked full-time for the Church as a recorder in the Manila Philippines Temple; also worked as a manager in the Church’s Member and Statistical Records Division in the Philippines Area; was a counselor in a mission presidency and an area seventy; served as a counselor in the Philippines Area Presidency both prior to and after his call as a General Authority; served as president of that area from 2011-2013; has served as president of the Taiwan Taichung Mission since last year. After President Hinckley died, I was praying about the apostolic vacancy and felt distinctly that Elder Teh would fill it at that time. Almost 9 years later, there have been four other apostolic vacancies, and despite my feeling that Elder Teh would fill one of them, that has not happened. It could happen this time.
Presiding Bishop Gerald Causse: 54.3 years old; called as a GA Seventy in April 2008, to the Presiding Bishopric in April 2012, and as Presiding Bishop in October 2015; born in Bordeaux, France; stake president for six years (from 2001-2007); area seventy for one year; served in the presidency of the Europe Area. When there were 3 apostolic vacancies to fill in 2015, I thought he might be called, but that didn’t happen.
Elder Ulisses Soares of the Presidency of the Seventy: turned 59 on October 2; called as a GA Seventy in April 2005 and to the Presidency of the Seventy in January 2013 (is currently third in seniority in that Presidency, which was the status of Elder Neal A. Maxwell at the time of his July 1981 call to the apostleship); born in Brazil; served a mission in Rio de Janeiro Brazil; worked for a time as director of temporal affairs for the Church in Brazil; stake president in Brazil; mission president in Portugal; has served as a counselor and president of the Church’s Brazil South Area; counselor in the Africa Southeast Area Presidency. I thought he would also be called to fill one of the apostolic vacancies in 2015, but that didn’t happen.
It's also possible that the next apstole is selected from someone who is not currently a general authority. It could be any worthy priesthood holder.
ReplyDeleteApostle, not apstole
ReplyDeleteHey, Chris! Thanks for the comments. You make a fair point. The Lord is free to select any worthy priesthood holder. But of the current 14 apostles, only 4 were not general authorities prior to their apostolic call: President Monson, who was serving on one or two Church committees at the time of his call in October 1963; President Nelson (who was serving as a regional representative) and Elder Oaks (who was a lay member of the Church, only known by the BYU community from his time as President) who were both called in April 1984, though Elder Oaks could not be present or ordained as an apostle until a month after that call; and most recently, Elder Bednar, who was among the Regional Representatives that were sustained to be area seventies in 1997, and was serving as such, and as president of Ricks College (which became BYU-Idaho during his tenure), and he was called in October 2004. Aside from these four brethren, the remaining ten have served as General Authority Seventies, with 6 (President Uchtdorf and Elders Ballard, Cook, Christofferson, Andersen, and Rasband) who were serving in the Presidency of the Seventy at the time of their calls, 3 others (Holland, Eyring and Renlund) were serving in the First Quorum of the Seventy at the time of their call (though President Eyring had also served in the Presiding Bishopric as Elder Hales's First Counselor prior to his call to the First Quorum of the Seventy). The final apostle, Elder Stevenson, served four years as a GA Seventy prior to his call to the Presiding Bishopric. So while the Lord could call any worthy man He needs in the calling at this time, and while I have noted that on my preliminary predictions for next Conference, there has only really been 1 apostle in the last 13 years that has received the apostolic call without having first served in a general Church leadership capacity. The Lord may call whomever He pleases, but it is more likely that He will continue to draw from the General Authorities of the Church. There have been exceptions, that is true, but they have been exceptions, not the general rule. Thanks for your comment, Chris, and hope you don't take any offense at my response. I can't wait to see who the Lord actually does call, and how soon that might happen. It could happen anytime between now and a few days before General Conference. Whoever is called will have my full support, which I hope is true for anyone, whether he comes from the general Church leadership or the Church at large. Thanks again for your comments, Chris! Hope you take no offense at this reply. I certainly mean no offense. Your point is well taken, and it will be interesting to see what happens. Thanks again.
DeleteJust one other thought, and I hope I am not belaboring the point, but for the last ten years, the apostles that have been called have come from the general Church leadership. I am not ruling out the fact that the new apostle may be called from the Church at large, but the question is how likely that might be. The Church may stick to the precedent that has held true for President Monson's presidency. Or we could see another exception. Based on what I have observed in this post about prior apostolic appointments, it seems more likely that it will be a current general authority. Hope you have not been offended in any way by either of my replies to your comments. I appreciate your candid and valid comments. Thanks again.
Delete... and then there is me :) ... I know that Heavenly Father will pick the 'perfect man for the calling' and I spend absolutely no time at all wondering, nor do I speculate about who that man might be. I will sustain him, as I do all the other General Authorities, with my full heart. “God does not call the 'qualified'. He qualifies those He calls.”
ReplyDeleteThank you for taking time to comment. I appreciate you doing so. Of course the Lord governs the call, but there have been patterns to apostolic calls in recent years. I don't support speculation myself. But I define speculation as "a wild guess that may or may not prove accurate". Because of the patterns I have noted, I wanted to offer my readers, such as yourself, the thoughts I had about this vacancy. I will not be surprised if the Lord calls someone that is not on anyone's "list", That happens a lot more than it does not. And whomever He does call will have my support, whether he is among those I listed here or not. I hope that anyone who has read or will read this post will take this as nothing more and nothing less than my own musings, which are just as far from perfect as I am myself, and as such, may or may not contain the man whom the Lord has selected for this office. That man will have my support, whomever he may be. Thanks again for taking time to comment. I appreciate you!
DeleteSorry not sure if my other comment posted, i was wondering if there was a reason Elder Sitati did not make the list?
ReplyDeleteHello, and thank you for taking time to comment. Elder Sitati may be on some people's lists of possibilities. He was called to the Seventy during the same conference as Elder Renlund, who has now been an apostle for two years. But there are two things that, in my opinion, rule Elder Sitati out as a possibility. First, even though many are not happy any time a US-born General Authority is announced as a new apostle, there have only been a handful of foreign apostles. And despite the fact that the priesthood was extended to all worthy males almost 40 years ago, there are those in the Church who might have a real problem with a black apostle. I personally hope the Church would accept him if he is called, but in many ways, I imagine the first black apostle will create a bit of an uproar when that happens. It shouldn't be so, but until the Church is more ready to accept a black apostle, I don't see it happening. The second reason is only slightly less significant: In my post above, I went into specifics about the ages at which our current apostles have been called, including the average age of those called during President Monson's presidency. And regarding that consideration, Elder Sitati is 65.4 years old at present. If he were to be called, he would be the oldest apostle to be so called during President Monson's prophetic administration, and also the oldest since Elder Quentin L. Cook's call in 2007 (when he was 67). I can't rule out anyone entirely, but these are the reasons that Elder Sitati is not on my list. Thanks for taking time to visit and comment, Kenneth. I appreciate you doing so.
DeleteMy picks in each group
ReplyDeletePresidency of the Seventy
- Craig Christensen - 61
- Whitney Clayton - 67
- Garrett Gong - 64
- Ulisses Soares - 59
- Patrick Kearon - 56: Just called Oct 2017 conference to the Presidency of the Seventy
Presiding Bishopric
- Gerald Causse - 52
- Christopher Waddell - 56
First Quorum of Seventy
- Kim B Clark; former BYU-I President and former head of the Business department at Harvard
- Clark Gilbert; former professor at Harvard business school; former managing director of Deseret Managing Corperation; Former BYU-I President and co creator of Pathway online learning: current age is 46
- Carl B. Cook
- Brent Nielson
- Michael U. Teh - 52
THU 1:02PM
One other person I failed to mention in this list; Elder Kevin R. Duncan. Duncan spoke just recently at the First Presidency Christmas Devotional in December, which i found interesting..
Thank you for stopping by to comment with your thoughts on the one (or probably two) apostolic vacancies. That is a subject close to my heart. As to the picks you mentioned above, two important questions come to mind: In filling the apostolic vacancies, would our new prophet, President Nelson, look outside the ranks of the current General Authorities (from which he himself was called in 1984) or would he opt for picks that are known to the Church? Since the August 2007 death of President James E. Faust, the six apostles called within that time have all been general authorities. I think we can therefore safely assume that the new apostles will be known in the Church, if only by name, as General Authorities. That brings us to the question of where the new apostles might come from. Among our 13 current apostles, 3 have come from the Church at large (President Nelson was a regional representative at the time of his call, Elder Oaks was a former BYU president and current Utah Supreme Court justice, and Elder Bednar was an area seventy), 6 others (Elders Ballard, Uchtdorf, Cook, Christofferson, Andersen & Rasband) were serving in the Presidency of the Seventy, 3 more (Holland, Eyring and Renlund) were general authority seventies at the time of their calls, and 1 (Elder Stevenson) was Presiding Bishop. The interesting thing there is that Elder Eyring had been a counselor to Elder Hales in the Presiding Bishopric until 1992, when he was called as a General Authority Seventy. Anyways, with 10 out of the 13 current apostles coming from the General Authorities, it seems to be safe to assume that will be where President Nelson's apostolic picks come from. Then of course, there is the age factor. During the time President Monson served as Church president, his picks ranged in age from 64.7 years at the oldest (Elder Rasband) to 57.7 at the youngest (Elder Andersen). So I also feel it could be safe to assume that the new apostles will be between their early 50s and late 60s. The average age of the 13 apostles at the time of their calls appears to be 59.66. So early 50s-late 60s is a good target age range. That brings us to the final question: Would President Nelson appoint a foreign-born apostle or two, or would his first picks more likely be American-born men who have international experience, in the mold of the 5 picks of his predecessors? It seems that any apostolic appointment is bound to disappoint someone: either an international pick becomes a problem for some people either because the birthplace of that apostle is not reflective enough of areas in which the Church is thriving, or because the Lord sees fit to call someone born in the US who has international experience, and someone finds fault with such picks because they do not reflect the diversity within the Church. These factors are why I was so glad to hear from the three new apostles that, though born in the US, they all had international experience, and they were called to represent the Savior to the people of the Church, not the other way around. Many of those you mentioned are on my personal list. After the First Presidency reorganization is made public, I may post more of my thoughts on that subject. Thanks again for taking time to comment.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of Elder Duncan speaking at the Christmas devotional, I agree that was interesting. But since the format changed beginning with the 2014 edition of that devotional, it was common for the three devotionals within that time to feature one member of the First Presidency, a speaker from the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, one from the Presidency of the Seventy, and one general officer from one of the Church's five auxiliary organizations. The 2017 devotional deviated from that pattern somewhat, as it did not include a member of the Quorum of the Twelve or of the Presidency of the Seventy, but the three speakers last December (President Uchtdorf, Elder Duncan, and Sister Franco) had been given extra time for their addresses, so it worked well. I have already altered my predictions for next General Conference to reflect what I feel might happen, but I will be waiting to put that up on this blog until after we have confirmation of how the First Presidency has been reorganized. Thanks again for your comment. I appreciate you doing so.
ReplyDeleteWhat task to Elder Cook fulfill that was normally done by an apostle?
ReplyDeleteHello, Will, and thanks for your question. It has been the recent practice of the Church to send one of the apostles of the Church (from either the First Presidency or Quorum of the Twelve Apostles) to areas devastated by natural disasters to provide comfort and encouragement. While it is not unusual for a General Authority Seventy to be sent on assignments that apostles have typically been known to fill, Elder Cook's assignment to fill a role normally filled by the apostles seems pretty significant. You can find a link to the relevant article from the Church news. With that said, I also wanted to note that I have sometimes read too much into things like this. So it is possible that Elder Cook could have just filled that assignment because he either has personal ties to the area, or that the schedule of the apostles was not such that one of them could go. Thanks again for your great question. I appreciate hearing from you. Here's that link I referenced:
Deletehttps://www.deseretnews.com/article/900002305/searching-for-gladys-a-day-of-worship-in-fire-zone-brings-stories-of-hope.html
Another thought hit me: The fact that Elder Cook was asked to fill that kind of assignment, which, as noted, is usually filled by an apostle, could be nothing more than the Church placing continued emphasis on the idea that the seventy are called to assist the apostles in their ministry. Whether or not Elder Cook is called to the apostleship, it might just be that simple. Thanks again.
Delete