Stokes Sounds Off: 11/10/19

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Sunday, November 10, 2019

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

Hello again, everyone! I am back with the second part of this apostolic statistical update, in which we will move on to note specific information about 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 November 10). There have been three apostolic birthdays since my last such update: Elder Ulisses Soares, as I previously mentioned, observed his 61st birthday on Wednesday October 2. Just six days later (on Tuesday October 8) President M. Russell Ballard marked his 91st birthday. 4 days prior to this update (on Wednesday November 6), Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf celebrated his 79th birthday.. And three days from now, Elder Dale G. Renlund will be marking his 67th birthday, for which I will post another tribute. With my next planned update scheduled to occur on Sunday December 29, in addition to Elder Renlund’s aforementioned 67th birthday, the final two apostles will have had their 2019 birthdays by that date. On December 3, Elder Jeffrey R. Holland will be observing his 79th birthday. Just 20 days later (2 days before Christmas), on December 23, Elder Gerrit W. Gong will observe his 66th birthday. 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, 95 years, 2 months, and 1 day old, with a resulting decimal age of 95.17 years. Hi apostolic seatmate and right-hand man, President Oaks, is now 87 years, 2 months, and 29 days old, or 87.25 years. President Eyring, as the junior member of the First Presidency, is now 86 years, 5 months, and 10 days old, which is 86.45 in decimal years. The First Presidency thus now has a combined 268.87 years of life experience, which results in an average age for each man of 89.62 years.

President Nelson remains 5.55 years older than the aforementioned average, with President Oaks closest to it: he remains 2.37 years younger, and President Eyring, at 0.8 years younger than President Oaks, remains 3.17 years below that average. Unless there is something of which we are not aware in relation to the health of any of these Brethren, they will almost certainly continue to set new records for the oldest-serving First Presidency in Church history for the foreseeable future, and are bound to join (and even move up quite a bit on) the list of the longest-serving First Presidencies, as I mentioned towards the end of my previous post.

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 91 years, 1 month, and 2 days, or 91.09 years. Elder Holland now has a long-form age of 78 years, 11 months, and 7 days, with a resulting 78.94 decimal years. Elder Uchtdorf (who is 27 days older than his senior current apostolic seatmate) is now 79 years, 0 months, and 4 days old, which works out to 79.01 years. Elder Bednar has now reached the full age of 67 years, 4 months, and 26 days, which works out to 67.41 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 79 years, 2 months, and 2 days old, with a resulting decimal age of 79.17 years. Elder Christofferson has now reached the age of 74 years, 9 months and 17 days, making his decimal age 74.79 years. Elder Andersen is now 68 years, 3 months, and 1 day old, and his decimal age is 68.25 years. And, as of today, Elder Rasband is 68 years, 9 months, and 4 days old, or 68.76 decimal years.

As for the final third of the Quorum, Elder Stevenson, who is exactly 4.5 younger (to the very day) than Elder Rasband, has a long-form age of 64 years, 3 months, and 4 days, with a decimal age of 64.26 years. Elder Renlund, the last apostle called during the prophetic administration of President Thomas S. Monson, is now 66 years, 11 months, and 28 days old, with a resulting decimal age of 66.99 years. As for our newest apostles, Elder Gong’s long-form age is 65 years, 10 months, and 18 days old, which works out to 65.88 decimal years. As for Elder Soares, he is now 61 years, 1 month, and 8 days old, with a resulting decimal age of 61.11 years.

Based on those numbers, the current members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles now have a combined 865.66 years of life experience, which results in an average of 72.14 years per member. Elders Christofferson and Rasband remain respectively above and below that average. Elder Christofferson continues to be 2.65 years older, while Elder Rasband is now 3.38 years younger. With the information I presented earlier about the First Presidency, the 15 apostles as a group now have a combined 1,134.53 years of life experience, which is an average of 75.64 years. As noted previously, for the apostles above and below that average, Elder Holland remains 3.3 years older, while Elder Christofferson is now 0.85 years younger than that average.

We now move on to the apostolic nonagenarians. As I mentioned in a previous post, President Nelson remains the 6th spot on that list, a spot he took from Ezra Taft Benson in early July, and he will not move up thereon again until late August of next year. In the meantime, President Ballard remains 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, and the next time he will do so is in late March of next year. In the meantime, among the other apostles, President Oaks will join the nonagenarian list in 2 years, 9 months, and 2 days, while Elder Soares will do so in 28 years, 10 months, and 22 days, with the other apostles doing so at 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 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.

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

Hello again, everyone! While I continue to welcome comments on any previous posts, it is time once again to bring you all updated information on the latest apostolic statistics. This data will again be published in two posts. As has been customary, all data is current as of today (Sunday November 10, 2019). My last such update was published here on Sunday September 22, and with my continuing efforts to provide these updates roughly every 7 weeks, my next such update, the final one I will publish in 2019, will be posted to this blog on Sunday December 29. While I continue to hope that most of you will find this information interesting and enlightening, because some of you may not be interested in this update, I in turn will not be offended or bothered if any of you skip over this post and the next one. This first post, as has been the case for previous updates, will address President Dallin H. Oaks’ tenure as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, then shift to explore where Church President Russell M. Nelson currently stands in terms of his age and tenure length among his prophetic predecessors. That will be followed by some observations about the tenure lengths of the three groups of apostles (First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve, and overall).. The more specific data about upcoming apostolic birthdays, the long-form and decimal ages of our 15 current apostles, and details about current and future apostolic nonagenarians will then follow in a second post, which will be published a few minutes after this one is.

There is a lot to get to, so let’s jump right in. President Oaks has now served as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles for a period of 1 year, 9 months, and 27 days. As I previously mentioned. President Oaks remains the 22nd longest-serving Quorum President, and he has not moved up on that list since my last update. His next three milestones as such, as I mentioned in my last such update, will be observed consecutively, with one each later this month, and in December 2019, and January 2020. Five days from now, he will become the 21st longest-serving Quorum President, at which time the length of his tenure as such will match the second (and longest) tenure of Brigham Young Jr. I previously explained why Brigham Young Jr. had two separate tenures as Quorum President.

Then, looking ahead to President Oaks’ next milestone as Quorum President, just 29 days after reaching the milestone I detailed above, on Sunday December 14, the length of his tenure will match that of George Albert Smith, which will then make President Oaks the 20th longest-serving Quorum President. And just over 7 weeks later, on January 19, 2020, President Oaks will become the 19th longest-serving Quorum President when the length of his tenure as such will match that of Heber J. Grant. And his next Quorum Presidential milestone will only be observed more than 3 months after that. Therefore, I will detail the next ones closer to the time.

Turning now to President Nelson, who was ordained and set apart as Church President on the same day he set apart President Oaks as President of the Quorum of the Twelve, his prophetic tenure has spanned 1 year, 9 months, and 27 days as well. His next prophetic tenure milestone will not be observed until mid-June of next year. Regarding his age, he is now 95 years, 2 months, and 21 days old. His next prophetic age milestone will not be observed until mid-August 2020.

In the meantime, as also noted previously, I have been keeping lists of the longest-continuously serving First Presidencies, Quorums of the Twelve Apostles, and apostolic groups as a whole. Those lists include 13 of each of those groups that have served together for the longest continuous periods of time. The current First Presidency will only be joining the list of other First Presidencies on Saturday April 20, 2024, so I will be outlining their future milestones on that list closer to the time. As for the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, the current members will mark 3 years together on March 31, 2021, at which point they will join the list of the longest-serving Quorums of the Twelve Apostles in Church history. I will likewise be providing updates on those future milestones closer to that time.

Interestingly enough, less than two months prior to that, the 15 apostles will make the list of the longest-serving such group (the exact date is February 8, 2021). With that said, I want to conclude this portion of the update. 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.