04: “You Can Take Your Hand Off Africa Now”: A New Short Film about President Kimball, David M. Kennedy, and the Revelation on the Priesthood

As a young man, I remember vividly the thrill I felt when I first read the address that President Kimball gave at the April 1974 regional representatives seminar entitled, “When the World Will Be Converted” [2]. I was enthralled by the film version of his message, “Go Ye into the World,” that came out shortly thereafter [3]. Some months later I would begin serving in France and Belgium as a full-time missionary.

Most adult Church members born by the early 1960s can tell you when they heard the news about the revelation on the priesthood. In my own case, I was returning from an outing with some of my friends. As we pulled in the driveway, my mother noticed us and burst out of the front door on the upper story of our house to shout out the good news. Two years later, my parents would serve among the first group of full-time missionaries assigned to the Africa West mission.

The thrill of all these events has never left me. So, you can imagine how meaningful it was when, through the kind efforts of Derek Westra and Robert Stephenson of the Church Communications Department, Junior Banza and I were given permission to film scenes in the north board room of the Church Administration building, the very room where, almost fifty years earlier, President Kimball had called for a modern-day fulfillment of Jesus’ original apostolic commission.

The stately façade of the Church Administration Building, dedicated in 1915 [4]. Due to construction, it was impossible to get an unimpeded view of the entire structure, including the front steps.

Nearby, the remarkable Salt Lake Temple and Temple Square renovation was in full swing.

David Bradshaw films Junior Banza’s narration on the front steps of the Church Administration Building [5].

Sudden loud noises frequently interrupted our filming. Fortunately, the noise reduction on the microphone was very effective—in fact, so effective that some street noise had to be added back in behind Junior’s narration in post-production to achieve better realism.

Junior and David prepare to film in the elegant north board room of the Church Administration Building. Derek Westra sits in the background [6].

This short video tells an inspiring, but little-known incident relating to the revelation on the priesthood. It took place privately between President Spencer W. Kimball and church ambassador David M. Kennedy. This and related stories will be treated more fully in the “Not by Bread Alone” episode entitled, “An Impossible Meeting with Mobutu.”

We hope the little-known anecdote told in this short film will rekindle in viewers the same feelings of joy and gratitude for a living prophet that we have experienced in making this little film.