An Overview of Upcoming Apostolic Milestones (and One Temple Development) Which Will Occur in July

Hello again, everyone! Although I am still planning on posting later this evening or tonight a series of comparative posts to share the temple construction progress which has been made between the beginning of this second quarter of 2019 (April 1) and its' end, which will occur today, I wanted to now share an overview of upcoming developments which will occur in the Church over the next week or two. First of all, with today being the last day in June, and with it being a Sunday, I am reasonably certain that the Brethren will begin their annual July recess starting tomorrow or within the next week.

But while that recess is in effect, there will be many significant developments which will take effect. On Wednesday of this week, Church President Russell M. Nelson will be observing his first (and only) 2019 prophetic tenure milestone. On that day, he will have served as Church President for as long as Harold B. Lee, the 11th President of the Church. As a result, on that date, President Nelson will replace President Lee as the 15th longest-serving Church President. Just two days later, President Nelson will observe his first (and only) 2019 prophetic age milestone. On that date, his lifespan will match that of 13th Church President Ezra Taft Benson, and he (President Nelson) will thus become the 4th oldest prophet in Church history.

Then, on the first Sunday in July, President Dallin H. Oaks, who is simultaneously serving as both the President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and as First Counselor to President Nelson, will be observing his second 2019 Quorum Presidential tenure milestone, at which point his tenure as such will match that of President Spencer W. Kimball. As a side note on President Kimball, prior to his service as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he had served during the prophetic administration of 10th Church President Joseph Fiielding Smith as Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve, due to President Harold B. Lee then serving in the same dual roles which President Oaks now fills.

Getting back on topic, when President Oaks' tenure as Quorum President exceeds that of President Kimball, he (President Oaks) will then be the 23rd longest-serving Quorum President in Church history. Although he will be observing his next Quorum Presidential tenure milestone two days later, I wanted to interject a reminder here that the Hong Kong China Temple is scheduled to close for its' 3-year renovation process on Monday July 8. I am assuming that the rededication of that temple may occur in mid-2022, though that estimate could possibly be pushed back to mid-to-late 2022, depending on what the renovation involves. But I am hoping that everything related to that process will go smoothly, and might even proceed ahead of schedule, which would be wonderful.

Having noted that, as I mentioned above, the day following the renovation closure for the Hong Kong China Temple, President Oaks will be observing his third Quorum Presidential milestone. On that date, his tenure as such will match that of the second (and shortest) tenure of the current 22nd longest-serving Quorum President, Brigham Young Jr. In another post on this blog or a previous thread thereof, I had mentioned the unique circumstances relating to why Brigham Young Jr. had served two nonconsecutive terms as Quorum President, but let me provide that context again.

In the early days of the Church, the matter of how to determine apostolic seniority was not as clearly established as it is today. For the first 75 years of Church history (spanning roughly from 1830 to 1905), the understanding of apostolic seniority evolved as Church Presidents sought guidance on that subject. At the time the Quorum of the Twelve was first constituted, seniority was determined by age rather than ordination date, and excommunications or disfellowshipments were factored into seniority after the fact. Beginning in 1875, Brigham Young determined that the date when an apostle first joined the Quorum of the Twelve and continuous service were the more important factors. As a result, the seniority of Brigham Young Jr., who was ordained an apostle before Joseph F. Smith, but joined the Quorum of the Twelve after Joseph F., were reversed.

Additionally, if one or more senior apostles were serving in the First Presidency, the most senior apostle not serving in the First Presidency was set apart as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, rather than as Acting President. When Lorenzo Snow became the 5th President of the Church in September 1898, Franklin D. Richards, as the next most senior apostle, was designated Quorum President, and the next two in apostolic seniority (George Q. Cannon and Joseph F. Smith) were serving as First and Second Counselors respectively to President Snow. After serving as Quorum President for almost 15 months, President Richards passed away, and, as a result, Presidents Cannon and Smith became the second and third in apostolic seniority.

But since both were still serving in the First Presidency, and the designation of Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve had not yet been established, that left Brigham Young Jr. as the most senior apostle not serving in the First Presidency, and he thus was designated as the Quorum President. President Cannon then passed away in April of 1901, and Joseph F. Smith thus became the second in apostolic seniority, with Brigham Young Jr. still serving as Quorum President. President Snow then passed away himself in October of 1901. As a result of his death, his First and Second Counselors (Joseph F. Smith and Rudger Clawson, who had been appointed as such 4 days prior to the death of President Snow, and who were thus never formally set apart in those capacities) returned to their places in the Quorum of the Twelve.

With President Smith's return to the Quorum, since he was the more senior apostle to Brigham Young Jr., he (President Smith) assumed the assignment of Quorum President for the week between the death of President Snow and his (President Smith's) ordination as Church President. Once that ordination took place, Brigham Young Jr. then reassumed the assignment as Quorum President. Interestingly enough, it was President Joseph F. Smith's prophetic successor, President Heber J. Grant, who would establish the formal position of Acting President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and, coincidentally, the first person to ever formally serve in that assignment was Rudger Clawson, the only man who served in the First Presidency for less than a week.

I apologize for that long-winded explanation, which was more lengthy than I meant it to be. But I hope it serves as sufficient explanation regarding why Brigham Young Jr. was the only apostle of the Church to serve two nonconsecutive terms as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. With that lengthy tangent taken care of (and again, my apologies for it),  I wanted to mention that, since I am providing this overview today, rather than doing a post following the observance of these 4 apostolic milestones and the renovation closure for the Hong Kong China Temple, I will likely opt to just note these milestones in comments on existing threads of this blog as they occur.

The one other July apostolic milestone will be marked on the last day of that month, at which time, President M. Russell Ballard will be observing his fourth (and final) 2019 apostolic nonagenarian milestone. As of that date, President Ballard's lifespan will match that of President Boyd K. Packer, and he (President Ballard) will thus become the 14th oldest apostle in Church history. The following Sunday will, of course, be August 4, on which date I will have my next apostolic milestone update published on this blog, which will be the fifth such update I have done during 2019. As part of that update, I will be providing an overview of the 3 apostolic birthdays which will be observed in August.

As you can see, just in terms of the milestones I mentioned here, a lot is happening during the 2019 recess for the General Authorities, which I imagine may include the other general authorities conducting the transfer of assignments that will go into effect on August 1. I also have little or no doubt that there will surely be other Church news and temple updates to report on as well. That coverage will likely include articles about Utah's Pioneer Day observations (which will be marked on July 24). It has been somewhat traditional for a member of the First Presidency to serve as grand marshal of the annual KSL "Days of '47 Parade", but there has been a time or two within the last decade when then-Elder/now-President Ballard has been asked to do so, in view of his familial ties to early Latter-day Saint pioneers.

For my part, I will do my level best to stay on top of all of these developments and to pass them along to you all in either new posts or the comment threads of existing posts. That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated, on any post at any time, as long as such comments are made in accordance with the established guidelines. Thank you for the privilege of your time. If you enjoyed what you read here and would like to stay informed of newly-added content, please feel free to subscribe. 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.