Stokes Sounds Off: Current Apostolic Statistics: Part Two—Updated Ages, Averages & Apostolic Nonagenarians

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Sunday, August 4, 2019

Current Apostolic Statistics: Part Two—Updated Ages, Averages & Apostolic Nonagenarians

Hello again, everyone! I am back again now with the second part of this apostolic statistical update, in which we will move on to talk specifics regarding the long-form and decimal ages of our current apostles, which will also include updated information on the average ages of the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the 15 apostles as a group, and current and future nonagenarians. So let’s get right into all of that. Again, all data is current as of today (Sunday August 4). There have been no apostolic birthdays since my last update (which was published here on Sunday June 16).

And given the planned timing for my next update (which I will be publishing here on Sunday September 22), a total of five apostles will be observing their birthdays before that update is published. Elder Gary E. Stevenson will celebrate his 64th on Tuesday August 6, followed on Friday August 9 by Elder Neil L. Andersen’s 68th, and President Dallin H. Oaks will mark his 87th birthday on Monday August 12. The remaining two apostles will have back-to-back birthdays in September, with Elder Quentin L. Cook observing his 79th on Sunday September 8, and the 95th birthday of our beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson following on Monday September 9. During my planned September 22 update for this information, I will outline the details of the next 3 apostolic birthdays (which will be observed in October and November).

Having noted that, we now move on to some exact figures about the ages and average ages of the First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and all 15 apostles as a group. In the Church’s leading Quorum, President Nelson is, as noted towards the end of my previous post, 94 years, 10 months, and 26 days old, with a resulting decimal age of 94.90 years. First Counselor President Oaks (whose birthday will be observed 8 days from now) is 86 years, 11 months, and 23 days old, or 86.98 years. President Eyring, as the junior member of the First Presidency, is now 86 years, 2 months, and 4 days old, which is 86.18 in decimal years.

The First Presidency thus now has a combined 268.06 years of life experience, which results in an average age for each man of 89.35 years. President Nelson remains 5.55 years older than that average, with President Oaks closest to it (he is now 2.37 years younger than that average), which means that President Eyring, at 0.8 years younger than President Oaks, is now 3.17 years below it. Unless there is something of which we are not aware in relation to the health of any of these Brethren, they will continue to set new records for the oldest-serving First Presidency in Church history for the foreseeable future.

Next, let’s turn our attention to the members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. President Ballard’s long-form age now sits at 90 years, 9 months, and 27 days, or 90.82 years. Elder Holland now has a long-form age of 78 years, 8 months, and 1 day, with a resulting 78.67 decimal years. Elder Uchtdorf (who is just 4 weeks older than his senior current apostolic seatmate) is now 78 years, 8 months, and 29 days old, which works out to 78.74 years. Elder Bednar has now reached the full age of 67 years, 1 months, and 20 days, which works out to 67.14 decimal years.

Leading off the second third of that Quorum is Elder Cook, who is also the oldest but least senior of the 3 apostles born in 1940. His long-form age is 78 years, 10 months, and 27 days old, with a resulting decimal age of 78.90 years. Elder Christofferson has now reached the age of 74 years, 6 months and 11 days, making his decimal age 74.53 years. Elder Andersen, whose birthday will be observed 5 days from now, is 67 years, 11 months, and 26 days old, and his decimal age is 67.99 years. And, as of today, Elder Rasband is 68 years, 5 months, and 29 days old, or 68.49 decimal years.

As for the final third of the Quorum, Elder Stevenson, who is 4.5 years to the day younger than Elder Rasband and has a birthday now just 2 days away, has a long-form age of 63 years, 11 months, and 29 days, with a decimal age of 63.99 years. Elder Renlund is now 66 years, 8 months, and 22 days old, with a resulting decimal age of 66.72 years. Elder Gong’s long-form age is 65 years, 7 moths, and 12 days old, which works out to 65.61 decimal years. As for Elder Soares, he is now 60 years, 10 months, and 2 days old, with a resulting decimal age of 60.84 years.

Based on those numbers, the current members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles now have a combined 862.44 years of life experience, which results in an average of 71.87 years per member. Elders Christofferson and Rasband remain respectively above and below that average. Elder Christofferson is now 2.66 years older, while Elder Rasband remains 3.38 years below it. With the information I presented earlier about the First Presidency, the 15 apostles as a group now have a combined 1,130.5 years of life experience, which is an average of 75.37 years. As noted previously, Elder Holland remains 3.3 years older than that average, while Elder Christofferson is 0.84 years younger than that average. Those averages remain the same, but I may have been off by 0.04 decimal points when I last spoke of Elder Christofferson being below that average, for which, if true, I sincerely apologize. 

We now move on to the apostolic nonagenarians. As I mentioned in a previous post, President Nelson has moved up into the 6th spot on that list, passing Ezra Taft Benson in early July, and he will not move up thereon again until late August of next year.  In the meantime, on the final day of July, President Ballard’s lifespan matched that of President Boyd K. Packer, making President Ballard the 14th oldest apostle in Church history. President Ballard will move up two more spots on that list before President Nelson moves up to his next spot. In the meantime, among the other apostles, President Oaks will join the nonagenarian list in 3 years and 8 days, while Elder Soares will do so in 29 years, 1 month, and 28 days, with the other apostles doing so at other various intervals, which will be detailed more fully as they approach.

I hope that many of you found this information to be interesting, informative, and accurate. 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 feedback is in compliance 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.

9 comments:

  1. Hello again, everyone! The Church News has reported a couple of additional developments. From the editor, Sarah Jane Weaver, comes an article discussing the word “tangibilitate”, a word used by Reverend Amos C. Brown as he introduced President Nelson at the NAACP convention. Sister Weaver explains in her article why, although it is not an actual word, it is one conveying an idea with which we should all be familiar:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/leaders-and-ministry/2019-08-04/naacp-president-russell-m-nelson-amos-c-brown-50416

    Next, in 1963, while on a tour of the Pacific Islands, then-Elder Gordon B. Hinckley of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles learned of a tragedy that struck the members on one of the French Polynesian Islands. Although he had moved on to the next stop on his planned itinerary, he immediately made arrangements to return to comfort those who were impacted thereby. The lives of the Church members lost, and the efforts of then-Elder Hinckley to comfort and support those affected by that will be honored in mid-to-late May of next year, when a new marker will be dedicated:

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/history-revisited/2019-08-05/president-hinckley-south-pacific-tahiti-french-polynesia-50409

    I have some temple updates to share as well, but will pass those along in another comment in a few minutes. In the meantime, my thanks again to you all.

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  2. I am back with the temple updates I mentioned in my previous comment.First of all, tomorrow in Port-au-Prince Haiti, a press conference has been scheduled for the temple in that city in conjunction with the open house thereof beginning on Thursday of this week. Next, for the Durban South Africa Temple, a new report shares the following update: The construction crew is preparing to pour front steps, installing marble baseboards, wooden doors and trim, continuing the process of guilding for the sealing and Celestial rooms, laying driveway pavers, and making progress on the landscaping efforts.

    Next, for the Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple, while final landscaping continues, and while work continues on the water feature for the temple grounds, new information indicates that interior finish work is also progressing. And at the Pocatello Idaho Temple site, while the work of pournig the temple footings and foundation continues, concrete blocks are now being placed for the retaining walls. The one other temple update I have at this time is for the Washington D.D. Temple, where the parking lot is being demolished, and interior and exterior work continues.

    I continue to monitor all Church news and temple updates, and will do my level best to pass word of those along to you all as I receive it. In the meantime, my thanks again to you all.

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  3. Hello again, everyone! I have one more Church News story to share, which, coincidentaqlly enough, relates to an upcoming temple milestone. The Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple is readying for guests, and the article (which can be found at the following web address), seems to imply VIP and Media tours are already underway, which will apparently continue tomorrow following the planned press conference for the temple, and which will wrap up on Wednesday, with the public having a chance to tour the temple from August 8-17.

    https://www.thechurchnews.com/temples/2019-08-05/haiti-earthquake-port-au-prince-temple-50425

    A few interesting takeaways: The first Haitian Temple will be dedicated less than two years following its' groundbreaking ceremony. Also, the Caribbean Area Presidency (as newly constituted effective August 1 of this year) are on hand to assist with the initial tours. And the area seventy who chaired the committee for the open house and dedication of this temple was mentioned by name as well. The article notes his name as Elder Bien Aimé Huberman, whereas the official list of area seventies on the Church's website lists his name as Huberman Bien-Aimé. I am not sure what to make of that, but I assume only one of those is correct.

    That concludes my brief analysis of this newly-available article on this temple. If nothing else, I will return within the next 6-18 hours with a new post paying tribute to Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, who will be celebrating his 64th birthday tomorrow. In the meantime, my thanks once again to you all for your continued interest and ongoing support.

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  4. About Elder Bien Aimé Huberman. Both names appear correct. I'm not sure about his culture, but in some places in the world they put the surname or family first and the given name second. It is exciting to have another temple open. I have I seen leaders interviewed by the media prior to an open house or dedication but I have not seen an official press conference for a temple before.

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    1. Fair point, Chris. That makes sense. Thanks for this information. Now if I could only figure out what (if anything) has changed in terms of the composition of Area Seventies Quorums as a result of the consolidation of the 10 North American Areas down to 6.

      It did occur to me, Chris, that since you live in Idaho (which has now been consolidated into the North America Central Area), you might be able to shed some light on a question I have had since the area consolidations were first announced in late April of this year. Area seventies in Idaho have typically belonged to the 5th Quorum of the Seventy, while those in the North America Central Area have belonged to the Sixth Quorum. Do you happen to know if and how the area seventies from Idaho have been reassigned based on the consolidation of the Idaho Area? If you don't, that's okay, but I thought I would at least ask. Thanks.

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    2. James,I sorry, have no idea on anything about area leadership.

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    3. Not a problem Chris! Thanks for letting me know. Hopefully at some point in the near future, we will see the Church provide some clarification on that particular issue. I knew it was a long-shot that you might have such information, but I thought it would be worth asking, even if you didn't know. I imagine those who update the Church website have plans to update that information ASAP, so hopefully we will know soon one way or the other. In the meantime, thanks for getting back to me, and for taking time to comment.

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  5. In Haiti, it's very common for both names to be used interchangeably. It always confused me as a young elder serving there and I never caught on as to why it was done that way, but either is accepted.

    Michael

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    1. Hello, Michael. Thanks for stopping by to comment on this. I know that tradition or culture in some areas of the world have that as being somewhat ambiguous. We saw something similarly confusing in the 1990s when General Authority Seventy Han In Sang (also known as In Sang Han) served as such for around a 5 year period. Naming conventions for General Authorities has also been something that has intrigued me for a while now. I regret that things are not more trasnparently clear in that respect, but I suppose culturally, there has to be some interchange in some cases. Thanks again, Michael, for taking time to comment. I always appreciate hearing from you.

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