Latest Apostolic Statistics: Part One--Updated Data for President Oaks, President Nelson, and Longest-Serving Apostolic Groups

Hello again, everyone! It has been 6 weeks since I last posted updated information on the latest apostolic statistics (which was done on May 20, 2018). So I have determined that today would be the best day to do so again. First, as always, I wanted to again mention that I will not be in any way offended if those of you who are not interested in this information skip over the data I will share in this update. Also, as I have previously done, I will split this update into two parts. That said, let’s get right into this first part.

With the birthdays of President Eyring and Elder Bednar having come and gone within this last 1.5 months, the next apostolic birthdays will not occur for another 5 weeks or so (36 days, to be exact). In light of the deaths of 2 apostles that had their birthdays in August, only 3 of those remain (for Elders Stevenson and Andersen and President Oaks, which will occur in the course of a 6-day period on August 6, 9, and 12 respectively).

As usual, all data is current as of today (Sunday July 1, 2018). This update will again feature the data in the same order as previous updates. We will start with some data about the Presidents of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, then turn our attention to the Presidents of the Church. After discussing those things, the first post will end, and the second (to be published shortly after the first) will then highlight the latest data about all 15 of our apostles.

So let’s address President Oaks’ current tenure length as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which will include exploring how soon he will move up on this list. The length of his service has currently spanned 5 months and 17 days. As noted in previous updates, he will be marking 2 additional tenure milestones before the end of this year, and will be marking 5 others in 2019.

To review the milestones he will reach by the last day of 2018, on Sunday September 16, he will become the 26^th longest-serving Quorum President, as by that time he will have served longer than President David O. McKay. Just over a month later, on October 22, he will become the 25^th longest-serving Quorum President, having served longer in that capacity than President Gordon B. Hinckley. Then in 2019, he will mark 5 milestones, one in April, two others in July (which will be observed two days apart), and the remaining two in November, and December. I will mention the specifics of those milestones closer to that time.

Moving on now to President Nelson, since he was ordained and set apart as Church president on the same day he set apart President Oaks as Quorum President, his tenure has spanned 5 months and 17 days as well. He has now reached the age of 93 years, 9 months, and 22 days old. Nothing has changed since my last report regarding where he stands among the 16 other Church presidents in terms of his tenure length or age rank.

He will observe the first tenure length milestone of his presidency roughly 3.5 months from now, on Thursday October 11 (when he will have served longer than President Howard W. Hunter). He will observe both another tenure-related and his first age-related milestone two days apart in July of 2019, with subsequent milestones more spread out in the years following that. And again, I will be detailing those more specifically closer to the time when they will be reached.

Let me now close out this portion of the update by reiterating very briefly some of the information I shared for the first time in the previous update. By all accounts, President Nelson remains healthy, vigorous, and fully involved in the day-to-day work of moving the Church forward. And as far as I know, neither of his counselors (who are both around 7-9 years younger than he is) are suffering from any major health issues.

With that in mind, I have no doubt these Brethren will be serving together for at least the next several years, and I could easily see them at least making the list of the longest-serving First Presidencies in the Church, which will, as previous noted, occur on Sunday April 1, 2024.

And by the end of that same year, not only will the current First Presidency reach a couple of other milestones, but President Nelson will by then have become the first centenarian apostle and Church president.

As for the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, except for President Ballard (who will be 90 on October 8, which is 3 months and 1 week from today, and who appears to be in good health as well), all other apostles are younger than 80.  With that in mind, the current members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who have served together since March 31 of this year, will most likely easily make the list of the longest-serving apostles on that same day in 2021. By the end of that year, same year, they will have moved up 3 spots on the list. I will give more specific data in this regard closer to that time.

By the end of 2021, the current group of apostles in the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will have made and moved up on the list of other apostolic groups to become the 12th longest-serving such group in Church history, and other milestones will be reached in the years following. All of those milestones will depend on how long Presidents Nelson and Ballard live and serve, and on how much they (or anyone else) are affected by health issues. I continue to track the health and ministry of these Brethren and will keep you posted.

With that said, I want to conclude this portion of the update. 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 (which should be the second one on this subject and will be published here within the next few minutes), I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.