Ft. Lauderdale Florida Temple

That a new temple would be built in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, was announced by Mormon Prophet Thomas S. Monson during the semi-annual General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in October, 2009.  The temple site is located on the northeast corner of Interstate 75 and Griffin Road on SW 154th Avenue in Davie, Florida.

The temple will be the second in Florida — the first was the Orlando Florida Temple, dedicated in 1994.  The temple will serve approximately 25,000 Church members from congregations in Stuart to the Florida Keys as well as members living in Ft. Myers, Naples and in the Bahamas.   The gorgeous 28,000-square-foot building was described in permit application materials as “an interpretation of Neoclassicism with arches, columns and a steeple.”

The groundbreaking ceremony to initiate construction was announced for Saturday, June 18, 2011, at 10:00 a.m.  Due to parking constraints, attendance at the groundbreaking was by invitation only.  However, the groundbreaking was scheduled to be aired on closed-circuit television at Mormon meetinghouses in Florida.

When construction is complete, an open house will be scheduled so that the general public can tour the temple before its dedication as a House of the Lord.  After dedication as a holy house, only worthy members of the Mormon Church who hold temple recommends may enter.  Mormons worship on Sundays in chapels, also called “meetinghouses.”  Temples are open most hours of the day, five days a week, and those wishing to attend may do so during those hours.  The temple is a place of meditation and prayer, where higher covenants are made between the Lord and His children.  Temples are also places of education, wherein one may learn the purpose of life.  Work in holy temples is for the living and the dead.