Stokes Sounds Off

Monday, November 28, 2016

Important posts by Matthew Martinich

I wanted to use this post to weigh in on some important posts done by Matthew Martinich, the blogger of the LDS Church Growth blog.

This one discusses potential new missions that may be announced and created next year. There follows in the comments an excellent and instructive series of comments regarding the growth in the Church resulting from the creation of new church units.

This one was supposed to highlight the creation of new stakes recently in Arizona, Brazil and Utah, along with the creation of a new district in the Ivory Coast. For some reason, and for the first time in all the time I've followed Matt's blog, the information about the new Utah stake was not included in that post. At the risk of tooting my own horn, I only mention this next part reluctantly. Since the new stake was in St. George, the birth city of my father, and since I was curious about the new stake that was referenced, I dug as deeply as I could. It occurred to me after a few minutes that I could find the information on Rick Satterfield's excellent LDS Church Temples site by looking under the St. George Temple District. There I found the information on the wards in that stake, and I reported my findings in my next comment on that post. Matt initially promised to include the information in the post later last week, but he must have decided against doing so.

As Matt noted in an earlier post this month, the Church is well on track to have created 100 stakes this year. That's the most stake creations in a single year within the past decade. And as has been noted on Matt's blog itself, only nine more stakes need to be created in the four weeks between now and then. With about 3 weeks to get those stakes created (no stakes are likely to be created on Christmas Day), only 3 per week is the magic number to reach that milestone.

Church growth is significant, of that there is no doubt. And we are blessed to live in a time when the growth of the Church can be found at the click of a button. Matt's strength seems to be noting overall Church growth. With Rick's excellent site, you can easily learn of the latest Church units created, and especially the latest in temple news. I hope this blog is one that can also be looked to for the latest news, whatever it is, about the LDS Church. If that can be my lifelong labor of love, and if I can make a difference for just one person by blogging about such things, I will count myself most lucky.

Thanks for reading and (if you feel so inclined), giving me your feedback on my posts. It always helps to hear about people who follow this blog and to have their insights into what I have to report. Thanks to you all.

James G. Stokes

I have had a lifelong love for Church history, which has extended to ongoing reports of the ministry of our apostles and prophets, General Conference, and all temple developments. This blog enables me to share that love with all who read my thoughts on these developments, which are sometimes reported multiple times per day as needed.

Apostolic Age Averages

With the next apostolic birthday on Saturday (Elder Holland will be 76), this second post shares the latest apostolic age averages.

These averages are current as of yesterday.

With the updates I made to my tables, I am pleased to report that the average age of the First Presidency is 82.94. That average is getting closer to the age of President Eyring. President Eyring is 83.94 years old, while President Monson is 89.21 and President Uchtdorf is 76.06.

The average age of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is 74.49. President Nelson is 92.22 years old. Elder Oaks is 84.29, while Elder Ballard is 88.14. Elder Hales, younger than Elder Oaks by just twelve days, is 84.26.

Elder Holland, with his birthday just days away, is 75.98. Elder Bednar, the oldest and most senior of our 3 youngest apostles, is 64.45. Elder Coo, the oldest and least senior of the three apostles born in 1940, is 76.22. Elder Christofferson is 71.84 years old.

Elder Andersen is 65.80. Elder Rasband is just over six months older than Elder Andersen and is 65.81. Elder Stevenson is the very youngest at 61.30. The next youngest and least senior Elder Renlund is 64.04.

With these average ages, the easy calculation of the average age of the group of 15 apostle is 76.18.

Hope this information is helpful and informative to you. Thanks for your readership and for any and all feedback that may be provided.

James G. Stokes

Temple Construction Progress Update

This will be the first in a series of four posts created one after another today because Church News and Events have warranted it. This first post is to inform you of important developments in temple construction progress.

Here is my latest report. As always, any and all comments are appreciated.

Temple Construction Progress Report (current as of 11/28/16)

Current Temple Status: 155 operating; 1 scheduled for dedication; 10 under construction; 1 groundbreaking scheduled; 1 scheduled for rededication; 2 undergoing renovation; 11 announced; (NOTE: Up to 2 additional temples may soon have a groundbreaking announced).

Dedication scheduled:

156. Paris France Temple: Interior work underway; open house and dedication dates announced; scheduled to be dedicated on Sunday May 21, 2017.

Under Construction:

157. Meridian Idaho Temple: Installing interior and exterior light fixtures; interior work and landscaping progressing; completion anticipated sometime in late 2017.

158. Cedar City Utah Temple: Installing sprinkler systems and planting bushes; installing window frames and art glass; completion anticipated sometime in late 2017.

159. Tucson Arizona Temple: Pouring concrete parking lot; adding landscaping structures; completion anticipated sometime in late 2017.

160. Rome Italy Temple: Interior work progressing; completion anticipated sometime in 2018.

161. Concepcion Chile Temple: Cupola assembly attached to steeple framework; paving main entrance; completion anticipated sometime in 2018.

162. Kinshasa Democratic Republic of the Congo Temple: Building the exterior walls; completion anticipated sometime in 2018.

163. Durban South Africa Temple: Pouring the foundations; connecting to city utilities; installing sewage lines; landscaping entrance mounds; completion anticipated sometime in 2018.

164. Barranquilla Colombia Temple: Exterior walls rising; completion anticipated sometime between 2018 and 2019.

165. Fortaleza Brazil Temple: Concrete forms surrounding main floor exterior walls; completion anticipated sometime in 2019.

166. Lisbon Portugal Temple: Pouring meetinghouse footings; clearing temple site; completion anticipated sometime in 2019.

Groundbreaking scheduled:

167. Winnipeg Manitoba Temple: Plans approved September 12, 2016; groundbreaking scheduled for Saturday December 3, 2016 @ noon (11 am MST).

Scheduled for rededication:

8. Idaho Falls Idaho Temple: Closed for renovation; finish work underway; rededication scheduled for Sunday June 4, 2017.

Undergoing Renovation:

20. Jordan River Utah Temple: Closed for renovation; rededication anticipated sometime in late 2017.

41. Frankfurt Germany Temple: Closed for renovation; rededication anticipated sometime in 2018.

Announced:

168. Arequipa Peru Temple: General contractor selected; groundbreaking pending.

169. Rio de Janeiro Brazil Temple: Construction preparation phase; plans approved by local government; groundbreaking pending.

170. Urdaneta Philippines Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

171. Port-au-Prince Haiti Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

172. Bangkok Thailand Temple: Planning and approval phase; awaiting official site announcement.

173. Abidjan Ivory Coast Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

174. Quito Ecuador Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

175. Harare Zimbabwe Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

176. Belem Brazil Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

177. Lima Peru Los Olivos Temple: Planning phase; awaiting official site announcement.

Key:

Bolded numbers and text denote temples whose numbers already exists (for renovations), or is certain due to a scheduled dedication, as well as information that is certain, such as dedication or groundbreaking dates.

Italicized numbers and text denote temples whose numbers may change based on the order in which future dedications and groundbreakings are scheduled.

Underlined numbers and text denote temples whose numbers may change based on progress towards planning, approval, and groundbreaking.

Red text denotes changes from the last posted temple progress update.

James G. Stokes

Thursday, November 24, 2016

Significant posts by Matthew Martinich

Matthew Martinich, a well known authority on the subject of growth in the LDS Church, recently has done several posts of import on his blog dedicated to such growth milestones. I refer to some particular posts that have lately been fascinating. As always, I would prefer conversation about those posts to take place at the location of the original posts rather than here. This post will mainly serve to enlighten my readers about these posts.

This post highlights some milestones about the largest missions of the Church that may split sometime during 2017. It is well worthy of your attention.

This one highlights the creation of several new stakes. Included in the excellent comments that follow include information about some specific stake and ward creation milestones this year.

Enjoy!

James G. Stokes

Updated Temple Construction Progress Report

Given the milestones I have noted in my last several posts, and, in light of further progress in temple construction above and beyond what I shared last time, I am now posting an update to my temple construction progress report. Any and all feedback is welcome. Let me know your thoughts. Thanks for reading this.

Temple Construction Progress Report (current as of 11/23/16)