For the first time since 2022, an Apostle will dedicate the site of a house of the Lord of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
A groundbreaking ceremony for the Tampa Florida Temple will be held Aug. 23, with Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles presiding.
Information about the upcoming groundbreaking was published in a news release on Monday, July 7, on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
After meeting at Brigham Young University and later marrying in the Salt Lake Temple, Elder Andersen and Sister Kathy Andersen lived and raised their family in Tampa. Elder Andersen would later serve as Tampa Florida Stake president until he became a General Authority Seventy in 1993.
The most recent groundbreaking presided over by a senior Church leader was that of the Heber Valley Utah Temple on Oct. 8, 2022, with Church President Russell M. Nelson.
As previously announced, the Tampa temple will be a single-story building of approximately 29,000 square feet. It will be built on a 12-acre site at 9445 Camden Field Parkway in Riverview, Florida.
About the Church in Florida
President Nelson announced a temple for Tampa, Florida, on April 3, 2022, during April 2022 general conference. It was one of 17 temple locations he identified at the conference, totaling 100 temples announced by the Church President through that time.
Florida currently has three dedicated houses of the Lord: the Orlando Florida Temple (dedicated in 1994), the Fort Lauderdale Florida Temple (2014) and the Tallahassee Florida Temple (2024). The Orlando temple is currently undergoing renovations that started in July 2024.
In addition to the Tampa temple, another temple is in planning stages in Jacksonville, announced in 2022. This makes the Tampa and Jacksonville temples the only duo of Florida temples announced in the same year.
After missionaries first arrived in Florida in 1845, growth of the Church started slow in the state. Florida’s first Latter-day Saint branch, the Hassell Branch, was created on May 9, 1897, in Jefferson County.
By 1904, the state had 1,230 Church members. Today, Florida is home to more than 176,000 Latter-day Saints in around 280 congregations.
