The First Presidency of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has released October 2023 groundbreaking dates for the Modesto California Temple and the Fort Worth Texas Temple.
The announcement of the dates was published Monday, July 17, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
The groundbreaking services for both temples will be invitation-only events but broadcast live to the members living within the temple districts.
Modesto California Temple
Groundbreaking services for the Modesto California Temple are scheduled for Saturday, Oct. 7, with Elder Gary B. Sabin — a General Authority Seventy and first counselor in the North America West Area presidency — presiding and offering the dedicatory prayer.
President Russell M. Nelson announced a temple for Modesto in April 2022 general conference. The temple will be California’s 10th.
The temple site was announced Oct. 10, 2022, with plans calling for a single-story edifice of approximately 30,000 square feet to be built on a 17.63-acre site next to an existing meetinghouse at 4300 Dale Road, in Modesto.
An exterior rendering of the Modesto California Temple was released Dec. 19, 2022, one of four such renderings of new temples released on that date by the Church.
California is home to nearly 730,000 Latter-day Saints in more than 1,130 congregations and 12 temples that are dedicated, under construction or in planning.
Other houses of the Lord in the state including the operating Los Angeles, Oakland, San Diego, Fresno, Redlands, Newport Beach and Sacramento temples, with the Feather River California Temple scheduled for dedication by Elder Ulisses Soares of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on Oct. 8, 2023.
The Modesto Temple will join the Yorba Linda California Temple as the Church’s two temples under construction in the state. Two additional houses of the Lord were announced for California — for San Jose and Bakersfield — as part of the 15 new temple locations identified by President Nelson in April 2023 general conference.
Fort Worth Texas Temple
Elder Jose L. Alonso, General Authority Seventy and first counselor in the North America Southwest Area presidency, will preside and offer the dedicatory prayer at the Oct. 28, 2023, groundbreaking ceremony for the Fort Worth Texas Temple.
President Nelson announced a temple for Fort Worth, Texas, in October 2021 general conference.
The site location and exterior rendering for the Fort Worth Texas Temple were both released on Oct. 31, 2022. Plans calling for a single-story building of approximately 30,000 square feet on a 9.37-acre site southeast of SW Hulen Street and Greenridge Drive in Burleson, Texas. Burleson is a suburb just south of the Fort Worth city limits
More than 378,000 Latter-day Saints comprising nearly 750 congregations reside in Texas. The state has dedicated and operating temples in Dallas, San Antonio, Houston and Lubbock, with the McAllen Texas Temple scheduled for dedication by Elder Dieter F. Uchtdorf of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on Oct. 8, 2023.
Two other temples have been announced and are still in planning — one for Austin and one for Prosper, in the northern part of the Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington metro area.
