In a now-famous address given to regional representatives on April 4, 1974, President Spencer W. Kimball declared, "I believe that the Lord is anxious to put into our hands inventions of which we laymen have hardly had a glimpse." (Ensign, October 1974, p. 10.)

President Kimball made the statement in the context of his discussion of the gospel message being preached to all the world and his quotation from the Prophet Joseph Smith, "The truth of God will go forth boldly, till it has penetrated every continent, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished."

In the intervening 26 years, the belief President Kimball expressed on that occasion has been verified in many respects, but one of the most dramatic is the innovation of what has come to be called the Internet or the World Wide Web.

This "information superhighway," as it was being called a short time ago, right away brought about instant access on a global scale to staggering amounts of information.

While it is true that the Internet can be used for many evil purposes, it can just as easily be used to fulfill what the prophet called "the purposes of God."

A "re-launch" in June of the Church's official Internet site, www.lds.org, has made accessible tools of which Church members could hardly have dreamed when President Kimball gave his address back in 1974.

Consider these features that have only recently become available by virtue of the Church web site:

• The four standard works of the Church — Bible, Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants and Pearl of Great Price — are "on line" in their entirety with full electronic searching capability. More than 250,000 links are provided with them, such that the user, for example, can point with a cursor to specific words for reference and gain access to other scriptural passages with the same word or idea. Study helps are also provided, such as the Bible Dictionary, maps and Joseph Smith Translation selections.

• Church magazines since 1971 — Ensign, New Era and Friend — are on line and searchable, up to the current issues of each magazine. Thus, for example, a family could find the First Presidency message or Visiting Teaching message for a given month. Also, since general conference addresses are always published in their entirety in the Ensign, these are now available and searchable going back to 1971, along with other Ensign content.

• Addresses from the past several general conferences are available to view or hear as well as to read in their entirety.

• Curriculum materials from priesthood and auxiliary organizations are on line and searchable, such as teacher's manuals, Teaching, No Greater Call and Gospel Principles. In teaching a class, for example, an instructor could obtain readings or charts from the manuals on line and print them out to distribute to a class. Or class members themselves could access the materials for their personal enrichment.

• A new section on the web site contains information about Church historic sites, visitors centers and pageants with maps and schedules.

• A current-events section features news headlines pertaining to news of the Church and the Church in the news (linking to sources such as newspaper web sites containing articles about the Church.) This feature is updated promptly even as the material is reviewed in advance by the Church Correlation Department for accuracy pertaining to doctrine and policy. The current-events section includes a link to the more comprehensive Church News web site, (which provides some content for free, though much of it is available only to subscribers).

"The exciting thing is that this is just Phase 1 of what we see as a portal to other resources, other web addresses, that the Church has or will have available," said Franklin Lewis, chief executive officer of M-Star, the Church-owned company that is managing the web site. Thus, Brother Lewis sees the official Church web site as being the starting point for many people who are looking for information and material pertaining to missionary work, family history resources and other subjects.

"With this site, it is intended that the Church have a full digital presence on the Internet with multiple access points," he explained.

For example, the site includes a link to the Church's immensely popular FamilySearch Internet Genealogy Service, www.familysearch.org, which has recently undergone dramatic improvement and a major face-lift in its own right, so that it is now more useful to family history enthusiasts than ever before. (Please see related article on this page.)

"There are a number of other sites under development that will be linked to the official web site," Brother Lewis noted. "This portal is a reflection of the Church's priorities, a place where the seeker can go to begin to learn about the gospel of Jesus Christ."

An important component of the web site is the service it provides to news media organizations.

It has been said often in recent years that the Church today perhaps is enjoying a better public image than at any time in its history. This may be due in part to the fact that news organizations have better access to information and resources pertaining to the Church than ever before. New features on the Church's web site contribute to that access.

"Specifically, the service-oriented section for news media takes advantage of web technology by offering not only the traditional news releases, but also downloadable photographs at the correct resolution for news purposes," said Dale Bills, a Church spokesman.

For example, in this issue of the Church News, an article and and photographs pertaining to the new production at the Conference Center Theater were obtained from the Church's Internet site. (See page 6.)

In addition, "sound bites are made available for use by radio reporters," Brother Bills said. "Posting video news releases (the television equivalent of the press release) on the site is a new service. Journalists can use 'video streaming' off the web to see what the video news release looks like and, if they want it, they can request from us a professional Beta tape. This is all in a very preliminary development phase, and there will be many changes and improvements in the months ahead."

A service area in the "News Media Resources" section of the site is offered specifically in response to journalists whose interest in the Church has been prompted by the approach of the 2002 Olympics that will take place in and around Salt Lake City, Brother Bills noted.

"Clicking on a graphic takes the user to a section that tries to answer the most common questions, or anticipates what those questions might be," he explained. "This section will be aimed primarily at those media who are either planning on coming for the Games or reporting on Salt Lake and the Church in the interim."

This, too, is in the early development stage, Brother Bills said, but during the next year, substantial feature material will be added on dozens of Church topics. "Because of the large number of journalists who will be in town for the Games we will need to provide as much as possible in the way of self-help. We can do that more easily through the web site than by any other means."

Whether it is a news reporter preparing an extensive feature story on the Church and its activities or a Sunday School teacher seeking resources for her next lesson, millions of people now have at their fingertips this miracle the Lord has provided for disseminating the truths of the Restored Gospel.