Latest Apostolic Statistics: Part One--Updated Information for the President of the Quorum of the Twelve, Church President, and Apostolic Tenures

Hello again, everyone! While I have no desire to detract attention from the big news of the day, which is the Jordan River Utah Temple rededication, it has been 6 weeks since I last posted an update on the latest apostolic statistics. And although I do not want to distract focus from the coverage of the Jordan River Utah Temple rededication that was held today, I have felt it advisable to post these statistics right now. I will continue to post such updates every month or two.

As always, before we begin discussing that information, I wanted to note that I know that some of you might not find this information interesting. For that reason, I will not be at all offended if any of you choose to bypass this post, as there is a lot of information to unpack. For those of you who are staying with me for this information, let’s dive right in to this subject. It is more likely than not that I will split the data I will be providing into two posts, as I have in the last little while.

I wanted to provide some updated observations regarding apostolic birthdays. In 1.5 weeks, or 11 days (on May 31), President Eyring will be observing his 85^th birthday. And just over two weeks (exactly 15 days) after that, Elder Bednar will mark his 66^th birthday. The next apostolic birthday will not occur for almost 7.5 weeks (exactly 52 days) following that time.

I also wanted to note that I have recently expanded yet again the amount of data I track, as such information puts the ongoing statistics into a more complete and proper context. That said, as I also always say, if any of you see anything that doesn’t look right in this report, I would appreciate any corrections and clarifications. As I also always note, all data contained herein is current as of today (May 20, 2018).

This update will also continue in the same order as previous updates. We will start with some data about the Presidents of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, then turn our attention to the Presidents of the Church. After discussing those things, the first post will end, and the second (to be published shortly after the first) will then highlight all of the latest data about all 15 of our apostles.

To start, let’s address President Oaks’ current tenure length as President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, which will include exploring how soon he will move up on this list. The length of his service has currently spanned 4 months and 6 days. As noted in previous updates, he will be marking 2 additional tenure milestones before the end of this year, and will be marking 5 others in 2019.

In terms of those he will observe in 2018, on Sunday September 16, he will become the 26^th longest-serving Quorum President, with his tenure being longer than that of President David O. McKay. Just over a month later, on October 22, with his tenure length exceeding that of President Gordon B. Hinckley, he will become the 25^th longest-serving Quorum President. Looking ahead to next year, he will mark other milestones in April, July (in which he will observe two milestones two days apart), November, and December. I will mention the specifics of those milestones closer to that time.

Moving on now to President Nelson, since he was ordained and set apart as Church president on the same day he set apart President Oaks as Quorum President, his tenure has spanned 4 months and 6 days as well. Nothing has changed since my last report regarding where he stands among the 16 other Church presidents in terms of his tenure length or age.

He will observe the first tenure length milestone of his presidency in just under 5 months, on Thursday October 11 (when the length of his service will be longer than that of President Howard W. Hunter). He will observe both another tenure-related and his first age-related milestone two days apart in July of 2019, with subsequent milestones more spread out in the years following that. I will be detailing those more specifically closer to the time when they will be reached.

Before closing out this portion of the update, I wanted to add some information about the longest continuously-serving First Presidencies, Quorums of the Twelve Apostles, and, for the first time ever, some additional information about the groups of ordained apostles that have served together for the longest periods of time.

As I may have mentioned in the last update I did, our current First Presidency (Russell M. Nelson, Dallin H. Oaks, and Henry B. Eyring) will not join the list of the longest continuously-serving First Presidencies until Sunday April 1, 2024. Many have said that President Nelson could (and likely will) serve for several years, so it will be interesting to see what happens there.

By comparison, the current members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will not have to wait as long for the milestone that will put them on the list of the longest-serving Quorums. Once they reach the 3-year mark of service together (which will occur on March 31, 2021), they will join that list, and they will move up on it fairly quickly after that.

And interestingly enough, the currently-serving First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will actually observe two milestones as an apostolic group before the current Quorum of the Twelve reaches their first milestone. But those milestones are still almost three years away. I will discuss more specific milestones for each of these groups closer to the time in which they will reach them.

With that said, I want to conclude this portion of the update. 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 (which should be the second one on this subject and will be published here within the next few minutes), I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

Mesa Arizona Temple Closes for Renovation

Hello again, everyone! I wanted to post now to note that I have confirmed that the Mesa Arizona Temple has officially closed for renovation. As I mentioned earlier, this is the second renovation for this temple, which was the 7th one dedicated during this dispensation that is still operating today.

With the knowledge that this temple has been renovated previously, I have felt safe in assuming and asserting that its' rededication (which is anticipated to occur sometime during 2020) will fall somewhere in between the rededication of the Tokyo Japan Temple (which is a smaller one from the Kimball era) and the Washington D. C. Temple (which is larger and is just barely having its' first renovation done).

The one unknown in that regard is the status of the Asuncion Paraguay Temple. As many of you might recall my mentioning previously, there has still not been any confirmation that the renovation process has formally begun for that temple. While I hope to find out soon that it has, unless a miracle occurs, the rededication of that temple might be pushed back from sometime during 2019 to either the early or even middle part of 2020.

To the best of my ability, I continue to monitor all temple developments, and I will be sure to pass those along to you as I become aware of them. 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.

Cultural Celebration Held for Jordan River Utah Temple

Hello again, everyone! Tonight, the Church held the cultural celebration for the Jordan River Utah Temple. President Henry B. Eyring, Second Counselor in the First Presidency, presided at the event. It makes sense that President Nelson asked President Eyring to be there, since he has had experience presiding over such events.

What I am not sure of is whether that means that President Eyring will also dedicate the temple tomorrow. I noted earlier my feeling that President Nelson would likely preside at this event since it is the first major temple event of his administration. But if President Nelson felt inclined to defer to President Eyring in view of his having had more time in the First Presidency, that would not surprise me either. You can find the Church News summary of that cultural celebration here.

I wanted to offer some additional thoughts not directly related to this rededication. We have seen President Nelson delegating things very early in his presidency. President Ballard presided at the private rededication of the Houston Texas Temple last month at the request of President Nelson, and, of the five general conference sessions held last month, he only conducted the Sunday Morning Session of General Conference.

It will be interesting to see what happens tomorrow in terms of whether President Eyring or someone else might preside over the rededication of this temple, and what might occur with the dedications of the Concepcion Chile and Barranquilla Colombia Temples later this year. I continue to monitor all such developments and will do my best to post those here as I become aware of any news in that regard.

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.