Stokes Sounds Off: Some Final Observations Leading Into General Conference This Weekend--Part Two: Some Additional Observations About the Apostolic Vacancies

Search This Blog

Leaderboard

Wednesday, March 28, 2018

Some Final Observations Leading Into General Conference This Weekend--Part Two: Some Additional Observations About the Apostolic Vacancies

Hello again, everyone! When I posted a day or two ago my final observations about this General Conference, I had not intended to do a second part to that post. But in view of some additional thoughts which I had about the apostolic vacancies, I thought it would be wise to share those in this second part. So let's get right into all of that.

First of all, let's talk some more about the apostolic vacancies. Of the 13 apostles currently serving, only 3 were not serving as General Authorities at the time of their calls to the apostleship. Those three were Russell M. Nelson (although if memory serves, he was a regional representative at the time of his call), Dallin H. Oaks, and David A. Bednar (who was among the first area seventies sustained in 1997, and was still serving as an area seventy at the time of his call to the apostleship).

So the other 10 apostles had all been serving as General Authorities prior to their calls to the apostleship. Of those 10, 6 had been serving in the Presidency of the Seventy (Ballard, Uchtdorf, Cook, Christofferson, Andersen and Rasband), 3 others (Holland, Eyring, and Renlund) had been serving as General Authority Seventies (although Eyring had previously served in the Presiding Bishopric), and 1 (Stevenson) was serving as Presiding Bishop of the Church, although he had served as a General Authority Seventy prior to that.

Let me take this a few steps further. From October 2007 (with the call of Elder Cook) to the calls of the three newest apostles eight years later, all apostles that have been called have been serving among the general authorities of the Church for several years, with Elder Renlund being the newest General Authority among the current bunch, as he was called to general Church service in April 2009. 

So I would anticipate that, barring anything unexpected, the two apostles called during this General Conference will have a minimum of 6 years of service as General Authorities. It is not in any way out of the question that President Nelson could call two men with less than 6 years serving in general Church leadership, nor would it surprise me if he looked among the area seventies or lay membership, but it seems unlikely.

Next, we turn to the subject of age. Among the current 13 apostles, Elder Cook was the oldest at the time of his October 2007 call, at age 67, with then-Elder Oaks being the youngest, as he was 51 when called in 1984. The other 11 were all between their early 50s and mid-60s. So while either or both of the new apostles could be older than that range, I think it would be safe to assume they will be on the younger side, even if they are not the youngest called in recent years.

Having considered the above, we next move on to what President Nelson and his counselors said during the press conference, that while the Lord is not concerned with quotas, and while there will come a day when there are "more flavors in the mix", the apostles are called to represent the Lord's will to the people, not to represent the people to the Lord. For that reason, while I would love to see one or both apostles called from among those born outside the US, I will not in any way be surprised if one or both apostles that are called were born in the US.

In fact, it has often struck me that perhaps the Lord keeps inspiring the calls of US-born apostles as a way to test whether the worldwide Church membership will sustain those He calls, rather than declining to do so because "the face of Church leadership at the top levels does not reflect the diversity within the Church."

For those who have gained a testimony of the process by which such calls come, even if the new apostles are men that have not been the subject of discussion about who could fill those vacancies, the testimony that the Lord directs those calls should enable all of us to gladly sustain whomever He has called.

So while there have been some patterns in recent years in terms of the age, nationality, and time spent in general Church leadership, for those who have obtained a witness that such calls are divinely directed, they will not be disappointed or surprised by whomever is called. Since I have obtained such a witness for myself, I am prepared to sustained whomever has been called, even and especially if they are not on the list of names which I published on this blog earlier.

Hope this information has been helpful to you. That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

No comments:

Post a Comment

In addition to my life-long love for the subjects which I cover in the posts of this blog, I have long held the belief that we can disagree without becoming disagreeable. Differences of opinion are natural, while being disagreeable in expressing those differences is not. And in that sense, I have no desire to close the door on anyone who earnestly desires to contribute to the ongoing dialogue on subjects covered in the posts on this blog.

At the same time, however, I recognize that we live in a time when incivility, discourtesy, unkindness, and even cyber-bullying has regrettably become part of online interactions. With that in mind, while anyone who wishes can comment on anything if they choose to do so, I hereby reserve the right to immediately delete any comments which are critical, unkind, lack civility, or promote prodcuts, services, and values contrary to either the Church, or to the rules of online etiquette.

I'd also like to remind all who comment here that I try to respond personally to each individual comment as I feel is appropriate. Such replies are not meant to end the conversation, but to acknowledge earnest feedback as it is submitted.

And in order to better preserve the spirit and pure intentions for which this blog was established, I also hereby request that anyone not commenting with a regular user name (particularly those whose comments appear under the "Unknown" or "Anonymous" monikers, give the rest of us a name to work with in addressing any replies. If such individuals do not wish to disclose their actual given names, a pseudonym or nickname would suffice.

Any comments made by individuals who opt to not give a name by which they can ber identified may, depending on the substance and tone of such comments, be subject to deletion as well. I would respectfully ask that all of us do all we can to keep the dialogue positive, polite, and without malice or ill-will. May the Lord bless us all in our discussion of these important matters.