Memphis, Tennessee - Mormon Temple
The Memphis Tennessee Temple is the 80th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
At the groundbreaking ceremony for the Memphis Tennessee Temple Elder Gordon T. Watts of the Seventy promised “The presence of the temple in the community will spark the Spirit of Christ in hundreds of people.” [1]
Travel time has been reduced from days to hours as Mormon temples have been built closer and closer, now some members will have less than an hour to drive. The Memphis Tennessee temple will serve more than 20,000 members in Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Missouri.
The prophet Joseph Smith sent Wilford Woodruff as the first missionary to the Memphis area. Many people joined the church, but left the area with the body of the Saints as they migrated west because of persecution. The presence of the church was small and in 1934 only about 130 members worshipped in Memphis. Since then the church as grown significantly, warranting not only numerous meeting houses but a temple as well.
On April 23, 2000 President James E. Faust dedicated the Memphis Tennessee Temple. During the dedicatory prayer he echoed the prayers of many of the members in the area when he said, "Now Father, we thank Thee for this temple. It is an answer to our prayers. It will enrich the lives of countless thousands who will here seek blessings for themselves and stand as proxies in behalf of those who have passed beyond. May hearts leap with joy, and may smiles of satisfaction come to the faces of all who labor herein as they carry forward Thy work of salvation and exaltation." [2]
The Memphis Tennessee Temple has a total floor area of 10,700 square feet, two ordinance rooms, and two sealing rooms.