UPDATED: Current Apostolic Data

Hello again, everyone! As most of you are almost certainly aware, I have provided updates on the latest apostolic data (specifically relating to tbeir lifespan or tenure length milestones) roughly every seven weeks. Having last done so on June 20, it is time to publish the newest such data. As with that last update, the first part contains updated data about the age and tenure length records for all 17 Church Presidents, along with updated information on the tenure length records for each of the 28 Presidents of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

The first document also shows information on three sets of apostolic groups: the longest-serving First Presidencies (which will not be updated with the First Presidency as presently constituted until 2024), 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).  

The latest version of that document also shows when the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles as currently comprised will move up on the list of the longest-serving Quorums of the Twelve Apostles, in addition to specifics on when the current members of that Quorum, along with the current First Presidency, will reach the next milestones on that list.

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 2 of the current 15 apostles being on that list, and the timing noted for when each of the other 13 apostles will join that list).

Hopefully this shared data will be of interest to you all, and again, I offer an open invitation to anyone who has any questions about those documents to ask them here. I will, of course, conFitinue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments, and will do my level best to bring word of those to you all as I become aware of all such reports.

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.

Tribute to Elder Gary E. Stevenson, Who is Marking His 66th Birthday Today

Hello again, everyone! With today being August 6, Elder Gary E. Stevenson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles is celebrating his 66th birthday. Gary Evan Stevenson was born to Evan and Jean Stevenson on this day in 1955 in Ogden, Utah. He grew up in the Cache Valley. He served full-time in the Japan Fukuoka Mission, after which he continued his secondary education at Utah State University's Jon M. Huntsman School of Business. During the course of his studies there, he met Lesa Jean Higley, whom he later married in the Idaho Falls Idaho Temple, and with whom he would raise four sons. He spent his professional career working as the COO of ICON Health and Fitness, and served on both the Marriott School of Management Advisory Council and also the USU Foundation Board.

In the Church, he has served as a bishop and a stake president's counselor. From 2004-2007, he and his wife presided over the Japan Nagoya Mission. Less than a year after his return, he was among the first general authority seventies called during President Thomas S. Monson's prophetic administration in April 2008. In August of that same year, he was called to serve as First Counselor in the Asia North Area Presidency, marking his third return to Japan as a representative of the Church. The following year, he became the president of that same area, and he served in that assignment until April 2012, at which point, he was released as a General Authority Seventy and sustained as the Church's 14th Presiding Bishop.

In October 2015, with three vacancies in the apostleship due to the deaths of President Boyd K. Packer and Elders L. Tom Perry and Richard G. Scott, Elder Stevenson was unexpectedly summoned to meet with the First Presidency. He related that he felt sure that he was being notified that one of his counselors (Bishops Gerald Causse or Dean M. Davies) were being called to the apostleship. He was stunned when the apostolic call was instead extended to him personally.

He was sustained as a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on October 3, 2015, and was ordained an apostle on October 8, then released as Presiding Bishop one day later. His call to the apostleship marked the second time a current General Authority Seventy who had subsequently been called as Presiding Bishop was also eventually called to the apostleship. Previously, that had been the case with Elder Robert D. Hales, who was called as a General Authority in 1975, and as Presiding Bishop of the Church in 1985 before being called to the apostleship in 1994. Those two former Presiding Bishops of the Church would serve together in the apostleship for approximately two years before Elder Hales' passing on October 1, 2017.

2015 marked the first time since 1906 that the Church needed to fill more than two apostolic vacancies. 1906 that the Church had more than two apostolic vacancies to fill at the same time.

In 1906, following the resignations of Matthias F. Cowley and John W. Taylor over the Church's repeal of the doctrine of plural marriage, and the death of another apostle, Marriner W. Merrill, the Church called George F. Richards, Orson F. Whitney, and David O. McKay, Of the three, Then-Elder McKay was the youngest, with Elder Whitney being the oldest, and Elder Richards fell in age between the two. This was an exception to the gneral rule that when more than one apostle was called on the same day, they are typically ordained in order from oldest to youngest. The three apostolic calls in 2015 saw a similar anomaly in that respect. Although Elders Ronald A. Rasband, Gary E. Stevenson, and Dale G. Renlund were all called to the apostleship on the same day of the week in the week prior to General Conference, Elder Rasband is the oldest, Elder Stevenson is the youngest, and Elder Renlund is in the middle of those three.

At the age of 60, Elder Stevenson was the youngest man called to the apostleship since Elder David A. Bednar (who was 52 at the time of his October 2004 apostolic call). He would retain his status as the youngest currently-serving apostle until the April 2018 call of Elder Ulisses Soares, who was 59 at the time of his call. With the apostolic calls of Elders Gerrit W. Gong (another apostle with strong connections to Asia) and Ulisses Soares in April 2018, Elder Stevenson is now the 9th in seniority in the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and the 12th in seniority among all current apostles. In terms of his age, he is the second-youngest among both the Quorum of the Twelve and the apostles overall. In his 11 years of service as a general authority, he has given ">15 addresses in General Conference (1 as a General Authority Seventy, 2 as Presiding Bishop, and the remaining 12 since his call to the apostleship). All of these addresses, covering a wide variety of topics, are well worthy of your time, attention and review.

I gratefully sustain Elder Stevenson as a prophet, seer, and revelator, and appreciate this opportunity to post this tribute to him for his birthday. I similarly greatly admire and sustain each and every one of the other apostles in their God-given roles and responsibilities, and I am grateful to them for giving their time and talents to build up the kingdom of God, and to go wherever they are sent, bearing witness of the Savior at all times and in all circumstances. I share my witness that these men are called of God, and that we will be blessed as we give heed to their words. 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.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Latest Phased Temple Reopenings Announced for July and August

Hello again, everyone! Following a one-week hiatus necessitated by my aforementioned medical emergency, I am back to share the latest temple reopening updates, which were released by the Church this morning. This post will highlight those updates, as they in are found in the updated official release from the Newsroom, with coverage also provided through the Church News update and the updated temple reopening status tracker. 

Without further interruption, let's dive right in to what these changes are, when they will go into effect, and the updated data about how many temples will be open in each operational phase as of next Monday (August 9). According to today's report, the Paris France and Stockholm Sweden Temples have now offficially entered phase 3, allowing all living ordinances in priority order, in addition to limited proxy work by appointment.

Meawhile, 5 temples in Brazil are anticipated to move to phase 2-B later this month, alowing all living ordinances in priority order, in addition to limited prxy baptism as scheduled. The 5 in question are Campinas, Curitiba, and Recife (each of which may enter phase 2-B as early as next Tuesday (August 10), with the Porto Alegre and Sao Paulo Brazil Temples anticipated to enter phase 2-B as early as the following Tuesday (August 17).

Today's coverage also reiterated that the Spokane Washington Temple was still anticipated to transition to phase 3 as early as Monday August 16, with the Medford Oregon Temple anticipated to do the same at some point between now and the end of August (an exact date on that has not yet been mentioned on that). Additionally, the two temples in the Philippines (Cebu City and Manila) will pause operations for the time being, out of an abundance of caution and in compliance with restrictions in that island nation.

As I have previously done with recent temple reopening reports, I wanted to again share the demographic breakdown of the different temple statuses. It remains a given that 8 temples continue to be closed for renovation. Of those 8, 6 have been granted phase 3 status so that those in the relevant temple districts can schedule living ordinances in priority order, in addition to limited proxy work, at the temple nearest to the Church members in the districts of those 6 temples.

Meanwhile,` 9 temples are "paused" in their reopenings. Of those 9, 6 had been in phase 3 when they were paused, with 2 in phase 2-B and 1 in phase 1. Of the remaining temples in various phases of reopening, there are 2 in phase 1, 9 in phase 2, 16 in phase 2-B, and the reamining 124 in phase 3. I am grateful for the measured approach and week-to-week adaptability the First Presidency has shown in their efforts towards reopening temples as quickly and as safely as possible. I remain committed to bringing you all the latest in Church news and temple developments (relative to temple reopenings, temple construction, and temple milestones.

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 omments 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.

Personal Circumstance Delay Blog Updates

Hello again, everyone! I know that the weekly temple updates, along with additional changes to General Conference and additional temple groundbreakings have been announced. But early Tuesday  morning, I had a medical emergency that resulted in surgery yesterday. I am at home and in the mend, but until further notice, previously-prepared content will serve as the bulk of updates here. I do have several additional developments I'm awaiting word on, but I wanted to give you that update. If any of you are aware of anything any of us need to know, please share that in  the comments of the newest post. My thanks once again to you all.

BREAKING TEMPLE NEWS: Latest Phased Reopening Updates Released

Note: This post was originally published on this blog at 10:20 AM. Subsequent content was added between 12:30 and 1:00 PM.

Hello again, everyone! Although I had published an initial version of this post here at 10:20 AM,  some of the Church News articles covering that development were not yet available at that time, and I had another commitment to tend to this morning, so, on the heels of this morning's announcement of the revised reopening dates for the Washington D.C. Temple, temple reopening update were first provided in this official release from the Newsroom. Those updates were subsequently also shared in the latest update from the Church News, and were further reflected in the weekly reopening status tracker. Let's get right into those details.

First, the temples in Caracas Venezuela, Manaus Brazil, Tijuana Mexico, and Vancouver British Columbia have reopened or will soon reoepen in phase 3, which allows for the performance of all living ordiances in priority order, and the scheduling of limited proxy work. Meanwhile, the Church has announced that the Fortaleza Brazil Temple could transition to phase 2-B, allowing ordinances for the living in priority order, and proxy baptisms by appointment, as early as August 2. And the Sydney Australia Temple, which had reached phase 3 in its reopening, has had to puuse operations due to COVID-19 conditions and restrictions.

And three more temples in North America could reopen in phase 3 anytime between now and the ned of next month. Those three are the Toronto Ontario Temple in the North America Northeast Area, and the Medford Oregon and Spokane Washington Temples  in the North America West Area. As of next Monday (July 26), these adjustments will result in the following breakdown of temples reoepning in each phase:

8 are closed for major renovations (6 of which have been granted phase 3 designation, allowing ordinances for the living in priority order and limited proxy ordinances as scheduled); 10 temples are currently "paused" in their reopenings (6 of those had reached phase 3, with 1 in phase 2-B and the remaining 3 in phase 2); 3 are operating in phase 1; with 10 in phase 2; 17 others are in phase 2-B; and the remaining 120 are now operating in phase 3.

As always, I remain continuously grateful for the measured approaach the Brethren have taken to carefully transition temples to the next phases of operation, while allowing COVID-19 conditions to inform their choices about pausing or stepping back any of the temples in their reopening. Each week, the Church is getting all the more close to a return to normal temple operations, and that is very much a reason to rejoice.

For my part, I continue to monitor all Church news updates and temple developments, and will be sure to pass word of those along to you all as I become aware thereof. 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.