JOEL - No Church leader has come right out and said that any of us would still be alive when Christ comes again. However, many have certainly said that it could happen. Church leaders have often declared that the young people today are a "chosen" or a "royal" generation who have been saved to come to earth at this time to prepare for the second coming of Christ. President Ezra Taft Benson said,
"I pray that you, the young and rising generation, will keep your bodies and minds clean, free from the contaminations of the world, that you will be fit and pure vessels to bear off the kingdom of God triumphant in preparation for the second coming of our Savior. (Ezra Taft Benson, in Conference Report, Oct. 1977)
Actually Jesus Christ himself was the first leader of the church to proclaim which generation would see His second coming. In Mathew 24:4-33, Jesus lists all the things that will happen during the period of time when He will come again. Then in verse 34 He says,
"Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled."
The "generation" He is talking about are those who are around to see all those propheses fulfilled. A generation can have different meanings. It could represent a time period of 30 or 40 years, or it could be as much as one thousand years. Therefore Christ's second coming will happen in our generation, but of course we don't know exactly when in our generation.