Church President Russell M. Nelson Observes His 6th Anniversary as Prophet

Hello again, everyone! This Sabbath Day marks the 6th anniversary of the prophetic tenure of Church President Russell M. Nelson. Under his direction, the Church now has three global magazines, is awaiting the arrival of new hymnbooks and children's songbooks to also be used worldwide, has now seen the appointment of the first Asian-American, Latin American, and British-Irish/adult convert apostles, and has seen restructuring efforts affecting the Elders' and High Priests' Quorums, ward Young Men Presidencies, and stake Sunday School and Young Men Presidencies.

All but one of our current apostles (Elder Patrick Kearon) have individually presided at 2 or more temple dedications or rededications. And President Nelson has surpassed 15th Church President Gordon B. Hinckley as the oldest living prophet and the prophet to announce the most temples. The 153 temples announced around the world in the last five years have brought the total number of worldwide temples to 335.

Additionally, the Church is well on track to have 200 operating temples by sometime during the third or fourth quarter of this year, and the Church could almost certainly have 300 temples dedicated by the bicentennial anniversary of the Church (Saturday, April 6, 2030). President Nelson is not only the oldest living prophet but is the oldest living apostle as well.

The prophet's apostolic colleagues, his wife, and his children all say he is hard to keep up with and continue to report that he acts with the energy and vigor of someone 30-40 years younger than his now-99 years of age.  Some have stated that he might be near the end of his life several times. But just as the prophet has proven the world wrong in the January 2018 assessment that he was unlikely to change the Church, he continues to live and function well daily. 

Of course, as any good former physician would do, he followed the advice of his doctors and was absent from the October 2023 General Conference, though he was able to prerecord his remarks delivered during the final session. Later this year, President Nelson and his counselors will join the list of longest-serving First Presidencies of the Church, and several months after that, President Nelson will become the first ever centenarian prophet and apostle.

The last six years of inspired leadership from and through President Nelson has taught me so much. A long time ago, I began regularly praying that when any major Church announcement is made, I would know for myself that it has been inspired by the Lord. And the Lord has never disappointed me in that. Many of the adjustments and changes that have been made have always left me with the question, "Why hasn't this been done before?"

I am grateful for the opportunity I have almost daily to witness what is going on in the Church around the world because of our current beloved prophet, President Russell M. Nelson. He is truly the man for our time. As we heed his prophetic counsel and seek to obtain confirmation from the Lord regarding it, I promise He will continue to testify to all of us that He does indeed direct His work, through His chosen prophet, seer, and revelatory and President of the Church in our day, President Russell M. Nelson.

I am grateful to have had the chance to reflect on the impact the prophet has had on the Church in the last 6 years. I continue to monitor any and all Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples updates and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as they cross my radar. In the meantime, that does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as the offered feedback is made per the established guidelines.

I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly added posts and comments. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Exterior Renderings Released for 3 Temples

Hello again, everyone! The big temple news for today, and the first major announcement affecting temple construction in 2024 was the release of 3 exterior renderings for temples that have had sites announced previously. The three renderings are for the Londrina and Riberao Preto Brazil Temples (both of which were jannounced in October 2022 and had their sites confirmed one month later), and the Bakersfield California Temple (which was announced in April 2023 and had its' site location confirmed in July 2023. 

I will let others more qualified than I am share anything they like in the comments about the features of these exterior renderings. I will just note here that I anticipate each of these temples might now be closer to a groundbreaking. But I also wanted to provide an update to my thoughts on the potential timing for temple dedications in the near term. 

Since Casper is a smaller temple, I anticipate a short open hoouse there, which probably means the Church could hold its' dedication before the end of June. There has reportedly been a delay in completing the Taylorsville Utah Temple landscaping due to a supply shortage and backlog, so I anticipate that temple will only be dedicated after the Salta Argentina and Coban Guatemala Temples. 

Those temples (Salta, Coban, and Taylorsville) will likely be at the top of the list for August and September, unless the First Presidency opts to dedicate any temples in July. There is a precedent for that, but whether they'd do it again remains uncertain. So that's why I say I anticipate that the bulk of temple dedications in 2024 will come in the last 5 months of this year. 

There is also a precedent from last year to schedule 2 or more dedications for the same day, so we could see that occur this year as well. I continue to monitor any and all Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples updates and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as they cross my radar. In the meantime, that does it for now. 

All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as the offered feedback is made per the established guidelines. I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly added posts and comments. 

Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.

UPDATED: Current Apostolic Data

Hello again, everyone! It has been a tradition on this blog for me to provide updates on apostolic data every 7 weeks. Having last done so on Sunday, November 19, it is time to publish the newest such data. The recent passing of President M. Russell Ballard and the subsequent call of Elder Patrick Kearon are making the biggest differences in this edition. As with every two-part update, the first part contains updated data about the age and tenure length records for all 17 Church Presidents, in addition to updated information on the tenure length records for each of the 28 Presidents of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles. 

The first document likewise notes information on the tenure length rankings for three sets of apostolic groups: the longest-serving First Presidencies (with the current First Presidency joining that list for the first time), in addition to the longest-serving groups of members of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and groups of all ordained apostles (the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve Apostles), and an overview of when each of those current groups will move up on the list.

Obviously, in view of President Ballard's death and Elder Kearon's subsequent appointment, the clock has reset for the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and overall apostolic group, so there will not be any milestones to report in that regard until 2027, provided no other current apostles pass away between now and then.

Meanwhile, the second part of today's update shows the long-form and decimal ages for the members of the current First Presidency, Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, and the apostolic groups overall, in addition to the average ages of each group and apostolic nonagenarians (with 3 of the current 15 apostles being on that list), and a final table showing the remaining time between today and when each of the other 12 apostles will become nonagenarians and join that list. With these updates coming every 7 weeks, the next update will be posted here on the morning of Sunday, February 25.

Hopefully, this post is of interest to you all. Again, I offer an open invitation to ask anyone who has any questions about those documents to ask them here. I continue to monitor any and all Church News, Newsroom, and Church of Jesus Christ Temples updates and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as they cross my radar. In the meantime, that does it for now. All comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated on any post at any time, as long as the offered feedback is made per the established guidelines.

I hope any of you who would like to share anything will take your opportunity to “sound off” in the comments below. Please subscribe if you liked what you read here and would like to be informed of newly added posts and comments. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.