Kennedy started from scratch to create a process for achieving the goals the First Presidency set for him. In the beginning, a monthly meeting was scheduled with the First Presidency, but as his work developed, that meeting became more submerged in the frequent meetings he had with President Kimball, who asked him to keep the other members of the First Presidency briefed on the things the two of them discussed . . . No issue has demanded more of Kennedy's time than the task of expanding missionary work into new areas. That expansion became the highest priority for him precisely because it was President Kimball's first priority. When Kennedy and the President first began to consider which countries might be likely targets for expanding the missionary effort. President Kimball did not have a fixed list of countries to which he wanted to send Kennedy. His first process was to examine the countries one by one, exploring with Kennedy the possibilities each offered. In those early discussions in 1974, as they studied together the large atlas that the President kept in his office, Kennedy placed his hand over sub-Saharan Africa. That gesture eliminated most of the African continent from consideration because, he argued, the Church could not operate without local leadership, and exclusion of blacks from the priesthood precluded the development of that essential leadership. Kennedy took his hand away from the map of sub-Saharan Africa on June 8, 1978, when President Kimball announced to the world that he had received a revelation that "the long-promised day had come when every faithful, worthy man in the Church may receive the holy priesthood . . . without regard to race or color."