Source: The Washington Post

On January 11, 2001, The Washington Post reported that "while many denominations make an effort to win lost souls, the Mormon church is run completely by lay clergy who maintain careers and volunteer enormous amounts of time and resources for the 11-million-member organization. The church has more than 60,000 volunteer missionaries in 162 countries, and the effort seems to be working. Since the Mormon church built its $ 16 million temple on Stoneybrook Drive in Kensington in 1974, Mormon leaders say, membership in area churches has grown to more than 50,000 people." Volunteers hope to educate the public about their religion at a "new, $ 4.5 million renovation of the visitors' center that was formally dedicated last weekend in Kensington and includes a theater and giant movie screen." Mormons often leave their secular jobs and sometimes even their extended families in order to take mission assignments for their faith. Volunteers hope to educate people about their faith, which is "grossly misunderstood" according to Bishop Spencer A. Blackburn, and enjoy spreading the word of Jesus to wider communities.