On Easter Sunday 2022, an interesting thing happened: Two apostles for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints appeared on CBS Sunday Morning and gave viewers a rare look inside the Washington, D.C. Temple. The interview marked the first time network television cameras—cameras not owned by the Church—have been allowed inside a temple that was not yet dedicated. When the interview aired, the open house, which is currently underway, was set to open its doors to other media the following day. At first glance, it may have seemed like an odd interview choice for an Easter morning but as the temple co-chairs, Kent and Kathryn Colton, explained on this week’s episode of All In, the temple has everything to do with Easter.
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You can listen to the interview with the Coltons in its entirety by listening in the player below or by clicking here. You can also read a full transcript here.
The following excerpt has been edited for clarity.
Morgan Jones Pearson: What would you say has been the most memorable part of this experience for the two of you?
Kent Colton: For me, one of the most memorable parts of this has been the fact that it started on Easter morning, when they announced the timing for the open house, they initially said, and of course, this is what happened that the first day for the media seminar was going to be on the 18th of April. And that was the day after Easter. And it made us think, “Oh, wow, we're going to be in the middle of Easter. That's not a particularly great time to think about Easter and all the things that were involved.” But as we were preparing for the open house, it was interesting, it was busy. But Sister Colton has prepared our family book that goes through that sort of each day leading up to, of course, the resurrection of Jesus Christ on Sunday morning. And as we would read that book and think about Jesus Christ, and then think about all the things that were going on related to the open house, it was very powerful for us to think about—that this building is there for Jesus Christ and to bring us closer to the Savior. And at the same time is a chance for the Savior to return to His house, the house of the Lord, and to be able to be involved in that. And so then on Sunday morning, when it was Easter morning, we got up, we were getting ready to go to a luncheon that was going to be ahead of time and on CBS Morning News were Elder Bednar and Elder Christofferson doing a 5-minute show with news cameras inside the Washington, D.C. temple, proclaiming the purpose of what goes on in the temple and wonderful blessings that come therein, the closeness that brings us to the Savior on Easter morning. t was just a very powerful experience, which is one of the [most] memorable times for me.
Kathryn Colton: So I would say yes to everything he said that I would like to also add to that, as we have been involved in this open house preparation for this extended period of time, It has been so tender to see how individuals have been prepared to give their all to this event. They have the skills and the know-how but they have the dedication and they want to consecrate their experience in life, their job, their professional job training, whatever it is, that will allow them to then consecrate that to the Lord in the use of their time and their effort to make this a wonderful open house. You can imagine that to do this open house has required hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people and at every level—from the committee that we put together initially to the subcommittees and more subcommittees and just all the volunteers who are part of this is such a tender thing for us to see in terms of the dedication and the consecration that people are exhibiting as they are part of this temple open house.
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