Lubbock Texas Temple

Dedication of the Lubbock Texas Temple

On the day of the groundbreaking ceremony for the Lubbock Texas Temple, the weather was rainy and cold. Yet the dampening weather did not change the upbeat attitude of the 400 local Latter-day Saints who went to the event on the grounds of the Lubbock Texas Stake Center. Presiding at the groundbreaking was Elder Rex D. Pinegar, a General Authority Seventy and president of the North America Southwest Area.

“A family gathers to see and be part of the beginning of the family home because it will be a place where they can come to experience the love, receive the counsel, and feel the belonging feelings of their earthly family,” Elder Pinegar told the gathering. “There are few feelings to match that of ‘coming home.’ We have gathered here today to begin construction of a temple, which is the symbol of our heavenly home. In this ‘heavenly home’ we will feel the love and experience the presence of the Spirit of our Father in Heaven.”

Almost a year and a half later, on April 21, 2002, Church President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the Lubbock Texas Temple.

Helen Green, who was 90 at the time of the dedication, was the oldest living member of the first branch Sunday School in Lubbock. In the beginning of the Church in Lubbock, meetings were held in a local courtroom. On Sundays, sacrament meeting talks were delivered from the witness stand, with the presiding officer sitting in the judge’s seat.

The members expressed their gratitude for the reality of having a house of the Lord in the city. During the public open house, many were able to learn about the proper beliefs of the Church. One woman, who taught about other religions in another church in Lubbock, said she had been teaching false things about the Church and would not do so anymore. Another visitor of the open house was seen walking out of the temple after a tour and driving away. Not long after, the car returned filled with people for another tour.

Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “Dear Father, please accept our offering of this, Thy temple. It has been built in obedience to Thy commandment to construct these sacred houses that Thy glorious work may go forward in bringing to pass the immortality and eternal life of man. Sanctify this house. May Thy Holy Spirit dwell here at all times. Let Thy hallowing influence be felt by all who serve within these walls.”

Read the dedicatory prayer of the Lubbock Texas Temple here.

President Gordon B. Hinckley announced the Lubbock Texas Temple on April 2, 2000, and the groundbreaking ceremony took place eight months later, on Nov. 4, 2000, with Elder Rex D. Pinegar presiding at the ceremony. The open house went from March 23 to March 30, 2002. On April 21, 2002, President Gordon B. Hinckley dedicated the house of the Lord.

Architecture and Design of the Lubbock Texas Temple

The Lubbock Texas Temple stands with light colored granite exterior walls, with a single spire topped with a statue of the angel Moroni. The property is 2.7 acres, with an adjacent stake center. The 16,498-square-foot house of the Lord has a celestial room, two instruction rooms, two sealing rooms, a baptistry and a chapel, with offices and a waiting area.