More Coverage & Thoughts on Today's Events (Including a Historical Perspective)

Hello again, everyone! Continuing my coverage of today's events, if I have not already shared this (the last 8 hours have been somewhat of a blur, so I'm honestly not sure), the Church News has shared this article which has provided a summary of the questions that were asked and answered during the press conference held earlier today.

I also wanted to put into perspective some data about President Nelson. During the process of researching content I posted today, I was reminded that while President Nelson ranks as the least tenured Church president thus far (it will be interesting to see how long he serves given his announced intention to live for at least the next several years), he is also the 16th in birth chronology (since President Monson was born roughly three years after he was), and his age makes him the second oldest man in Church history to ascend to the presidency (the oldest ever Church President at the time of his ordination was Joseph Fielding Smith, who took the mantle of Church President when he was 93 years, 6 months, and 4 days old (which occurred on January 23, 1970), meaning that President Smith was at that time just 2 months and 1 day older than President Nelson was when he was ordained and set apart as the 17th Church President on Sunday.

This last Sunday, President Nelson's ordination made him the 5th oldest Church President of the 17. It will be interesting to see what occurs in terms of how long he does live. All going well, I could see him at least passing President Hinckley as the oldest president in Church history, and if the Lord wills, I could also see him becoming the first ever centenarian prophet. What will be interesting to see is if he will outlive his current First Counselor, or whether President Oaks will succeed him. There is no doubt in my mind whatsoever that President Oaks would prefer the former over the latter, but time will tell what occurs in that regard.

Whatever the case might be, I will do my level best to bring the latest to you as it occurs. 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, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Some Thoughts About Current and Future Apostles

Hello again, everyone! I am back as promised, with some thoughts about current and future apostles. Let's get right to that.

With Elder Uchtdorf's return to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, he rejoins the other two that, along with him, were born in 1940 (with Elder Cook on September 8, Elder Uchtdorf on November 6, and Elder Holland on December 3). It is also interesting to me that the three apostles born in 1940 were called in the reverse order, with Elder Holland in June 1994, Elder Uchtdorf in October 2004, and Elder Cook in October 2007.

We also, as you may be aware, have two apostles each that were born in 1951 (Elder Rasband on February 6, and his seatmate Elder Andersen roughly six months later on August 9) and 1952 (Elder Bednar on June 15 and Elder Renlund just under five months later on November 13).

The two born in 1951 were called in the opposite order, with Elder Andersen being called in April 2009 and Elder Rasband in October 2015. As for Elders Bednar and Renlund, the former was called in October 2004, and the latter in October 2015.

Now, if I may, I'd like to offer some thoughts about the ages at which our current apostles were called and at which future apostles may be called. As we know, President Monson, prior to his death, was the youngest apostle called of the group, having received his apostolic call at the age of 36. His death means that, of the current apostles, the oldest at the time of his call was Elder Cook at 67.1 years, with the new "youngest" apostle to be called being Elder Oaks, who was 51.7 years old at the time of his call.

In anticipation of the reorganization of the First Presidency that we saw today, I have begun the preliminary process of gathering some thoughts about who might be called to fill the two vacancies in the Quorum, the one resulting from the death of Elder Hales in October, the other from the reorganization process.

In doing so, I am looking at more recent apostles (primarily those called under President Monson's administration) for my guide on a rough target of ages to place my focus. There were five such appointments, which ranged in age from that of Elder Andersen (who was 57.7 years old at the time of his ordination) to his seatmate, Elder Christofferson, who was 63.3 years old when he was so ordained. For that reason, I will be centralizing my focus on those candidates who are in their early 50s-early 60s. There is a possibility that the two new apostles could be older or younger than that range, but it seems a safe assumption for now that that won't be the case.

I should also note that I liked the way the new First Presidency (who were all born in America) responded to the question about international outreach. The response was essentially an echo of what had previously been said by our three newest apostles at the October 2015 press conference held in which they addressed and took questions from the media: the three are called to represent the Lord to the people, not the other way around, and they are also called to minister worldwide, and not just to those within the US where they were all born.

Each has been tested by proven service and a ministry the scope of which has been worldwide. As President Nelson observed, he and his counselors have roughly (rounding up) 91 years of apostolic experience, in which they have traveled round the world quite extensively. With nearly a century's worth of worldwide ministry to Church members in their favor, no one should question their ability to relate to and receive revelation for all members.

By the same token, while it would be wonderful to see one (or both) new apostles being called from a foreign country, if those called are born in the US but have had international experiences either prior to or in conjunction with their calls as general authorities, and their subsequent assignment as apostles, no one can (or should) have reason to accuse those selected of being other American-born men.

Since President Nelson said he sees in the Church's future a day when there will be more diversity in terms of foreign apostles, until that time, it is our duty to gain a testimony that whomever will be called during any prophetic administration (whether born in the US or from a foreign country) are those the Lord would have come to those positions at those times.

Those regular readers of this blog will no doubt be aware that I am fiercely loyal to the leading Brethren of the Church, whomever they may be, and that I will not condone on the part of anyone within the scope of my influence any unjust criticism of such leaders or the process by which they are called. And I hope the same is true for each of you. If you do not have such a witness regarding the wonderful way such calls are issued and accepted (by both those receiving them and by those of us who should sustain them for the duration of that calling), I would implore such individuals to take the time to go through the necessary processes to obtain such a witness.

In my case, the minute I got the news of the new leaders, it felt right to me in that very moment. So I know those changes have been inspired. I leave these thoughts with you, along with my unshakable witness that the Lord guides the process of selecting his leaders, from the President of the Church on down to the newest deacon's quorum president or Young Women's class president, and it is our right and duty to gain a witness of that process and to share it when we have received it, in the name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Interesting Tidbits About Newly Announced Leadership

Hello again, everyone! I thought I would post again now to share some things that I found interesting, and I hope you will as well, in terms of the newly announced leadership. First, the four oldest apostles of the Church now all bear the title of President. We have one nonagenarian (President Nelson) and one that will be a nonagenarian in October of this year (President Ballard). Additionally, the age difference between Presidents Oaks and Eyring (they were born 9 months and 19 days apart) is one of the closest differences between two First Presidency members that we have seen  in a while.

In fact, I was curious, so I looked it up. The last time the Church came anywhere close to having First Presidency members relatively close in age was at the time Presidents Kimball, Tanner, and Romney served together, from December 1973-July 1981 (at which time the considerably younger Elder Hinckley was brought into that presidency).

How close were the first three in age? President Kimball was born March 28, 1895, President Romney on September 19, 1897, and President Tanner on May 9, 1898. With more than two years passing between the births of Presidents Kimball and Romney, the period of time that passed between the births of Presidents Romney and Tanner was 7 months and 20 days.

It is significant to me that we have not had two (or more) First Presidency members as close in age as Presidents Oaks and Eyring are since the death of President Tanner concluded his service on November 27, 1982. Think of that for a minute. That was 35 years, 1 month, and 18 days ago, or 35.12 years ago the Church last had First Presidency members this close in age.

Additionally, it may interest some of you to know that President Eyring is the first man to go back to his previous position as Second Counselor after serving as First Counselor since that was the case for J. Reuben Clark. He and David O. McKay had served as First and Second Counselors respectively to Heber J. Grant and George Albert Smith. Since President McKay was the senior apostle to President Clark, when the First Presidency was reorganized, President McKay became the Church President. He selected Stephen L. Richards, a more senior member of the Quorum of the Twelve, as his First Counselor, and, in like manner to President Nelson and President Eyring, he asked his former senior in the First Presidency to become the junior member.

President Clark's response to that invitation, as recorded in General Conference (which took place around the events of the death of George Albert Smith and the reconstitution of the First Presidency, with the former Church President's funeral services held during the time that would otherwise have been reserved for the Saturday Afternoon Session) was similar in pattern to President Eyring's response to once again becoming the Second Counselor when President Nelson invited President Oaks to replace President Eyring as the First Counselor, and it echoes something that then-President now-Elder Uchtdorf said in General Conference on previous occasions (which KSL reported earlier today was his response to being reassigned to the Quorum), that calls are never sought for or declined, and that lifting where you stand is what all members of the Church, whatever their calling, should do. The more important thing is not where you serve, but how.

But in getting back to my point (sorry about the sidenote), the last time a First Counselor reverted to the Second Counselor position was (in President Clark's case) on April 9, 1951, which makes the difference between that date and the date of President Eyring's own revert (January 14, 2018) a period of 66 years, 9 months, and 5 days, or 66.77 years.

Additionally, the last time a member of the First Presidency under one prophet was not retained in that body by the next was when President Marion G. Romney, who served under President Kimball's administration but was not retained by President Benson, primarily in consideration for his failing health and old age. The date of that change was November 10, 1985, and the difference between that date and the date when President Uchtdorf reverted back to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles (January 14, 2018) is 32 years, 2 months, and 4 days, or 32.18 years. That's significant, to be sure.

I was going to write more in this post, but I will save it for the next one, as this one has run a little longer than I intended it to. That does it for now. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. 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.