The pebble dropped into the pond at 10:30 a.m. on June 9, 1978.

A hastily gathered group of local newspeople had been invited to the Church Office Building for the announcement of a revelation opening priesthood blessings to all worthy men in the Church, regardless of race.But from this simple, four-paragraph announcement emanated boulder-like waves that are still sweeping outward, now across oceans, 10 years later.

For faithful Church members, the announcement has taken its place among those few historic moments of life where, even decades later, there are vivid, detailed memories to answer the question: "Where were you when . . .?"

Many were at work, or tending their homes, when the ripples began to sweep across the predominantly LDS regions of the West on this Friday morning. Some returned from lunch and shared the tidings with astonished co-workers, who tuned into news reports to confirm the momentous announcement for themselves.

Telephone lines in the area may never have been busier, as Church members by the thousands called one other to share the joy they felt. Dozens of people at Church headquarters were kept busy all afternoon fielding calls from many nations, confirming that, "Yes, it really is true." Black members, estimated at the time to number only a few thousand, shared tearful conversations with fellow ward members calling to offer their congratulations and support.

Ripples continued to spread throughout the United States and Canada, then around the world, as the afternoon and evening progressed. The NBC Nightly News considered the priesthood announcement its most important story of the day. The nation's top circulation news magazines, Time and Newsweek, moved back deadlines to get reports in the current week's edition. Even U.S. President Jimmy Carter took time that day to send a telegram commending Church President Spencer W. Kimball "for your compassionate prayerfulness and courage in receiving a new doctrine."

No time was wasted in putting the revelation's direction into effect. Within 48 hours, on the first possible Sunday, local priesthood leaders started to interview black brethren to determine their worthiness to hold the Aaronic or Melchizedek Priesthood. It is known that Joseph Freeman Jr., then of the Granger (tah) 15th Ward, and Jose Ramon Diaz of the San Juan (uerto Rico) Branch were ordained elders that first Sunday, and there were probably a handful of others.

Other milestones soon followed. About two months after the announcement, Marcus Martins, then of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, began a full-time mission in Porto Alegre, Brazil. His father, Helvecio Martins, became the first black to be called as a counselor in a stake presidency in November 1978. (ow he is serving as president of the Brazil Fortaleza Mission.) On Oct. 30 of that year, a temple was dedicated in Brazil, a country whose black or mixed black population is estimated at 30-50 percent. The revelation made it possible for every worthy member there to enter the temple from the first day the building opened its doors.

Though the announcement came as a total surprise to Church members, the matter of blacks and the priesthood had been weighing on President Kimball's mind for some time.

Still, he told a press conference just after being ordained president of the Church: "I am not sure that there will be a change, although there could be. We are under the dictates of our Heavenly Father, and this is not my policy or the Church's policy. It is the policy of the Lord . . . and I know of no change, although we are subject to revelations of the Lord in case he should ever wish to make a change."

A little more than four years later, President Kimball felt that perhaps that time had come. As he told the Church News in an interview on Dec. 5, 1978: "I went to the temple alone, and especially on Sundays and Saturdays when . . . I could have it alone. It went on for some time as I was searching for this, because I wanted to be sure. . . ."

In The Teachings of Spencer W. Kimball, the prophet's son Edward also quotes from a talk President Kimball gave to missionaries in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Oct. 23, 1978: "I prayed with much fervency. I knew that something was before us that was extremely important to many of the children of God. . . . Day after day I went alone and with great solemnity and seriousness in the upper rooms of the temple, and there I offered my soul and offered my efforts to go forward with the program. I wanted to do what He wanted."

President Kimball brought the matter before a regular meeting of the First Presidency and the Council of the Twelve on June 1, 1978. In the same 1978 interview with the Church News, he recalled: "I asked the Twelve not to go home when the time came. I said, `Now would you be willing to remain in the temple with us?' And they were. I offered the final prayer and I told the Lord if it wasn't right, if He didn't want this change to come in the Church, that I would be true to it all the rest of my life, and I'd fight the world against it if that's what he wanted."

But it was right. ". . . I knew that the time had come," President Kimball added. "This revelation and assurance came to me so clearly that there was no question about it."

The other General Authorities gathered that day in the Salt Lake Temple knew this, as well. President Gordon B. Hinckley, in a recent priesthood commemoration fireside, recalled the events of that meeting 10 years ago. "There was a hallowed and sanctified atmosphere in the room. . . . The Spirit of God was there. And by the power of the Holy Ghost there came to that prophet an assurance that the thing for which he prayed was right, that the time had come. . . . Every man in that circle, by the power of the Holy Ghost, knew the same thing."

The following week the decision was presented to members of the First Quorum of the Seventy and the Presiding Bishopric. Those General Authorities on assignment outside of Salt Lake City were contacted by telephone. "There was unity, and there was rejoicing on the part of each," President Hinckley said in his recent priesthood address.

The letter announcing the revelation was released to the Church and the world on Friday, June 9, 1978.

"Thus the Church was first local, then moved westward to become regional. Later it became national, and then international. With the priesthood revelation of June 1978, the Church received its authority to bestow all blessings on all of our Father's worthy children. Its undertakings can be universal."

- Elder Neal A. Maxwell

(Church News, Jan. 5, 1980)

On May 15, 1988, Elder Maxwell, a member of the Council of the Twelve, witnessed a unique unfolding of these words he earlier penned. He was in Aba, Nigeria, to create the first stake based in western Africa and the first Churchwide in which all priesthood leaders are black.

Many more stakes will surely follow in Africa. Though missionary efforts and resources are still somewhat limited, Church membership is steadily growing among black Africans - from a small and scattered group in 1978 to about 20,000 today.

In a statement commemorating the 10th anniversary of the priesthood revelation, Elders Jack H. Goaslind, Spencer H. Osborn and Alexander B. Morrison of the United Kingdom/Ireland/Africa Area Presidency, said: "The gospel light which now shines over Africa falls on a prepared people - a people who are deeply spiritual and naturally full of faith, eager to learn and quick to believe. We are thrilled and humbled by the caliber of priesthood leaders in Africa, men already numbered in the thousands. The deep roots already firmly established in Africa are bearing rich, abundant fruit."

The ripples have been just as dramatic elsewhere. Brazil claimed about 50,000 members 10 years ago; today that number nears 300,000. On the Caribbean islands, Church membership has grown more than tenfold in the past decade to about 30,000. In isolated locales on the northern coast of South America with high concentrations of black population, Church growth has been similarly explosive.

As well, most larger metropolitan areas in the United States, Canada and England have steadily growing numbers of black LDS members. Many congregations are becoming significantly integrated; a few are now predominantly black. "The potential for growth among blacks is great," said Pres. M. Dalton Cannon of the Alabama Birmingham Mission. "I think we'll see some wonderful things in the next 10 years."

The ripples from that small pebble of 10 years ago will surely continue to sweep outward.