Joseph Smith shows the purportedly ancient record to eleven other men, who record their personal witnesses of seeing an angel show them the record (plates), seeing the record, handling the plates, and hearing the voice of the Lord command them to bear witness of the veracity of the record.

These testimonies are included in the title pages of the Book of Mormon as The Testimony of the Three Witnesses, and The Testimony of The Eight Witnesses.

By the time the Book of Mormon is published in Palmyra on March 26, 1830, with the financial assistance of Martin Harris, Smith's record indicates that he had received additional revelations and had begun the work of organizing a new Christian church.

Smith and Cowdery report having been visited by John the Baptist, the same as referenced in the New Testament, and state that he had ordained them "the Priesthood of Aaron."

They said that he then commanded them to baptize one another.

Smith and Cowdery state that, not long after the appearance of John the Baptist, Christ’s disciples Peter, James, and John, found in the New Testament, had visited them.

According to Smith and Cowdery, the disciples had come to them in order to restore the Melchizedek priesthood, which, they told the men, contains the necessary authority to restore Christ's church.

On April 6, 1830, a church is formally organized as the Church of Christ, and small branches are soon set up in Palmyra, Fayette, and Colesville, New York.

There is strong local opposition to these branches, however, and Smith soon dictates a revelation (D & C 57:1-3) that the church would establish a "City of Zion" in Native American lands near Missouri.

In preparation, Smith dispatches missionaries led by Cowdery to the area of this new "Zion.”

On their way, the missionaries convert a group of Disciples of Christ adherents in Kirtland, Ohio led by Sidney Rigdon, a former Campbellite minister.

At the end of 1830, Smith dictates a revelation (D & C 37) that the three New York branches should gather in Ohio pending the results of Oliver Cowdery's mission to Missouri.