Gordon B. Hinckley will be the president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints until his death. He is 97. When he became church president in 1995, Hinckley chose Thomas S. Monson, the longest-serving apostle, to be his first counselor. He chose Faust, his longtime friend, to be his second counselor. The two men had known each other since the 1950s, when both of them served as stake presidents (overseeing several congregations) in two different Salt Lake City neighborhoods. Faust did not follow Monson in seniority - based on when they were named an apostle - but was down three places.

Hinckley must now choose another counselor. Typically, a counselor comes from the Quorum of Twelve Apostles. As with Faust, he does not have to be next in line or even in the Quorum, though that is unlikely. There were only three non-apostles chosen in the 20th century.

In 1901, President Joseph F. Smith selected John R. Winder, second counselor in the church's Presiding Bishopric, to be his first counselor.

In 1925, President Heber J. Grant selected Charles W. Nibley, then the church's presiding bishop, to be one of his counselors. And Grant sidestepped the church's hierÂarchy altogether in his 1933 appointment of J. ReuÂben Clark as his second counselor. Although Clark, as U.S. ambassador to Mexico, was one of the church's most prominent members, he had not served a proselytizing mission, nor had he ever been a bishop or stake president.

Under President David O. McKay, two men, Alvin R. Dyer and Thorpe B. Isaacson, were separately brought into the presidency from outside the Quorum of the Twelve to serve as "extra" counselors.

If Hinckley chooses an apostle as his counselor, that would create an opening in the Quorum. The next man chosen then takes his place at the bottom of the seniority ladder.