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The top 15 men, in order of seniority in the Apostleship, now are as follows: TSM – 88 – 52 years since call to Q12, 22 years in Q12, 22 years as counselor in FP, 7 years as Church President
MRN – 91 – 31 years in Q12
DHO – 83 – 31 years in Q12
MRB – 87 – 30 years in Q12, 39 years as a GA
RDH – 83 – 21 years in Q12, 40 years as a GA
JRH – 74 – 21 years in Q12, 26 years as a GA
HBE – 82 – 20 years since call to Q12, 12 years in Q12, 8 years in FP, 30 years as a GA
DFU – 74 – 11 years since call to Q12, 3 years in Q12, 7 years in FP, 21 years as a GA
DAB – 63 – 11 years in Q12
QLC – 75 – 8 years in Q12, 19 years as a GA
DTC – 70 – 7 years in Q12, 22 years as a GA
NLA – 64 – 6 years in Q12, 22 years as a GA
RAR – 64 – new member Q12, 15 years as a GA
GES – 60 – new member Q12, 7 years as a GA
DGR – 62 – new member Q12, 6 years as a GA
Thanks OON. It’s oddly somewhat difficult to find such a list online because if you search for the Q12 you get just them, exclusive of members of the FP. This prompted me to take a stab at predicting future presidents. These are totally my observations, I am not using actuarial tables, revelations, or anything else. I am speaking as a lowly human.
I think Nelson has a slim chance because he does seem healthier than TSM even though he’s a bit older. TSM is a fighter, though, and could linger. Nelson’s time at the top, if any, will be along the lines of Pres. Hunter – months as opposed to years.
Oaks has a good chance as one of the younger of the top five. The other one his age (Hales) appears much more frail and quite frankly older, as does Eyring who is a year younger. If Oaks does ascend he will have a few years. Ten years ago I might have said that was a bad thing, but both he and I have softened since then.
Ballard seems robust for his age, but he’d have to outlive Oaks and that’s unlikely IMO. Hales does not seem hearty for his age and is highly unlikely to take the big corner office (if that’s what it is).
Holland, being several years younger than Oaks, could be Oaks successor. He also appears to be in good health and vigorous. I like much of what Holland says but there are a few things that do trouble me. Since it would likely be a few years from now were he to become president perhaps we can each put those things aside.
I like Eyring, but he looks frail and does the “old man shuffle.” Unlikely to live long enough.
Uchtdorf is also robust, perhaps more so than Holland who is the same age. Uchtdorf still skies and is likely physically active in other ways as well. He could succeed Holland (or Oaks, perhaps) but would likely have a short (but very good) tenure.
Bednar, being the youngster in a group of those much older than him has a very good chance at being president following either Oaks, Holland, or Uchtdorf. I will hold my tongue and not comment further.
Because of Bednar, and being older than Holland and Uchtdorf, Cook has little chance.
Christofferson, also older than Bednar, also has little chance. He’d be a good counselor.
Beyond them is a cluster of sixty-somethings. Fifteen or twenty years from now I will be able to look at them and say which seem more frail or robust and perhaps put them in some order. I can’t at this point. And being that three of them are brand new I can’t even pick a favorite (although I think I might end up liking Renlund a lot).
This is going to sound odd and this may only be the case in my little circle of acquaintances but JRH has a pretty large groupie following. I imagine the prophet is a rockstar phenomenon would get a big booster shot should he become prophet. I’m not sure how the general membership would react to a Bednar presidency. Most people I know fell in love with him initially, now I don’t hear anything one way or the other. Of course you never hear from the other end. Still, I feel like I’ve lost my pulse on the sentiments among general membership re Bednar.
Holland was president of BYU when my wife attended and she is a big fan. I agree that he does have a fan base and that might bring a different dimension to the office. I love the JRH of my BYU days, but not the JRH of today. Sort of like the Rocker Elvis of the 50’s and 60’s vs the Jumpsuit Elvis of the 70’s. My take is that JRH is highly regarded among the believing YSA crowd because he’s more of a straight-shooter. He is definitely bold in comparison to the others and I think it’s the nature of youth to like bold… and the nature of age to like reserved. Young people interpret JRH as the Fist-pump Apostle. I think of him as the Angry Apostle… yet we are both hearing the same words come from his mouth.
And I agree about DAB, nibbler. For someone who made such a splash when he was called, he has become one of the least interesting Apostles. He sort of projects the personality of the nerdy kid trying to convince me to play a game of Risk in which I know I have no chance.
But, let me add that I feel total respect for each of them. They sacrifice everything for the Church. They are all good people totally dedicated to a cause. While I have favorites, I can’t really say that I have any enemies among them. And, in truth, my favorites change over time. I will probably always love DFU, but others move in and out of my playlist. DHO is a great example, as DJ mentioned. I feel better with RMN than I have in the past. My thoughts about DTC are always wildly shifting. RMB is a bit of an enigma. Sometimes I love him, other times I say ‘huh?’. So far, I’m very pleased with the new guys.
nibbler wrote:I’m not sure how the general membership would react to a Bednar presidency. Most people I know fell in love with him initially, now I don’t hear anything one way or the other. Of course you never hear from the other end. Still, I feel like I’ve lost my pulse on the sentiments among general membership re Bednar.
This is just one anecdote, but a speaker this last Sunday talked about how she initially didn’t warm up to DAB and tuned him out. A certain talk (sorry, can’t remember) turned her around on a dime and now he’s a one she pays special attention to. Kind of surprising to me, especially knowing her as well as I do, but it reminded me that it’s a fluid thing – at least sometimes.On Own Now wrote:I love the JRH of my BYU days, but not the JRH of today.
I had been feeling the same way over the last several years, and hit a low point with his talk to the CES/Seminary teachers last fall. (I think.) It’s not anger or disrespect I’m feeling, but the person I so enjoyed seems to have disappeared.Ann wrote:On Own Now wrote:I love the JRH of my BYU days, but not the JRH of today.
I had been feeling the same way over the last several years, and hit a low point with his talk to the CES/Seminary teachers last fall. (I think.) It’s not anger or disrespect I’m feeling, but the person I so enjoyed seems to have disappeared.
I was always particularly fond of when President and Sister (Pat) Holland would speak together at the podium.My YSA TBM daughter just cringes at the Holland groupies. When she was at the Y, it was like a rock concert and she was disgusted by it. He’s her “time to make a sandwich” speaker. She says she feels like he feeds off the group.
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