As this issue of the Church News is being received by local readers and is being mailed to subscribers elsewhere, the 175th Annual General Conference of the Church is convening in the Conference Center in Salt Lake City.

Coming as it does just a few days prior to the 175th anniversary of the organization of the Church on April 6, 1830, the conference is a time both for gazing back in appreciation and gratitude and looking ahead in anticipation, resolve and faith.

Today, we might appropriately remember the April general conference of 25 years ago, when the Church commemorated the 150th anniversary of its organization. Probably fewer than one in three Latter-day Saints now living can recall that sesquicentennial, as the Church has grown from about 4.5 million to about 12.4 million living members in the intervening quarter-century.

It was a grand occasion indeed when, on Easter Sunday, April 6, 1980, President Spencer W. Kimball addressed the conference by satellite transmission from Fayette, N.Y., the birthplace of the Church. Speaking from the reconstructed Peter Whitmer Sr. farmhouse, a restoration of the tiny structure where the formal organization of the Church transpired, President Kimball spoke via projected television image to the congregation assembled in the Salt Lake Tabernacle and to millions of others viewing the televised transmission.

His words then could have application now: "Standing here today we review in our minds the mighty faith and works of those who, from this humble beginning, gave so much to help move the Church to its present wondrous stature; and more importantly, we behold through the eye of faith a vision of its sure and glorious future."

Following the Church president's introductory comments, Elder Gordon B. Hinckley, then a member of the Quorum of the Twelve, read to the world a proclamation prepared by the First Presidency and Quorum of the Twelve concerning the Church's "progress, its doctrines, its mission and its message."

The proclamation declared that the gospel's latter-day restoration was initiated by the appearance of God the Father and the resurrected Lord Jesus Christ, fulfilling Peter's prophecy of "the restitution of all things" (Acts 3:21) in preparation for the coming of the Lord to reign personally on the earth.

It covered all major aspects of the mission and message of the Church: priesthood authority, the Book of Mormon, salvation and exaltation for the living and the dead, the sanctity of the family, the purpose of mortality, the spirit of prophecy and revelation, and the preaching of the gospel. It called upon "all men and women to forsake evil and turn to God."

The event symbolized the long and prosperous journey of the Church since its humble beginnings: the primitive farm dwelling juxtaposed with a modern meetinghouse and visitors center that were dedicated by President Kimball on the occasion; the proceedings carried to the Tabernacle congregation through satellite technology and from there televised to much of the world.

From the vantage of 175 years, the symbols are even more dramatic. We still have the Tabernacle, now under renovation, but the world conference now originates from a beautiful and commodious new auditorium that more than triples the capacity of the historic pioneer structure.

In his opening address at that memorable conference in 1980, President Kimball set a tone for the sesquicentennial observance by quoting the Prophet Joseph Smith's famous statement from the Wentworth letter:

"The standard of truth has been erected; no unhallowed hand can stop the work from progressing; persecutions may rage, mobs may combine, armies may assemble, calumny may defame, but the truth of God will go forth boldly, nobly, and independent, till it has penetrated every continent, visited every clime, swept every country, and sounded in every ear, till the purposes of God shall be accomplished and the Great Jehovah shall say the work is done" (History of the Church 4:540).

Manifestations of the fulfillment of that prophecy were plentiful in 1980; they are eclipsed by conditions in 2005, when the Church's global presence and influence has broadened considerably, bringing to mind Daniel's prophecy of the stone cut out of the mountain without hands (see Daniel 2:45).

In his closing conference address, President Kimball alluded to the injunction given by the Lord to Church leaders in 1831, "Be not weary in well-doing for ye are laying the foundation of a great work. And out of small things proceedeth forth that which is great" (Doctrine and Covenants 64:33).

That scriptural passage was selected as the theme for this special issue of the Church News. As we celebrate 175 years of endurance and progress, may it spur us on to magnificent accomplishment as we seek to bring to pass the prophesied destiny of this Church in preparation for the coming of our Lord in glory.