After an Aug. 15 groundbreaking, the Huntsville Alabama Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has now entered its construction phase.
Elder John D. Amos, a General Authority Seventy and member of the Church’s United States Southeast Area presidency, presided at the Saturday event. He also offered the dedicatory prayer on the site and construction process.
This house of the Lord for Huntsville will be the second temple in Alabama.
Information and photos of the livestreamed ceremony were published in an Aug. 15 news release on ChurchofJesusChrist.org.
In his remarks to those in attendance, Elder Amos highlighted a scripture that “we quote often” in the southern United States: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16).
Heavenly Father’s plan of salvation, then, is “all about love.” And at the central point of that plan is His Only Begotten Son, Jesus Christ, said Elder Amos.
“We are to come to know Him and to increase our faith in Him. Well, the temple is a place where we can go to come to know Him, to worship Him and increase our faith.”
The Lord expects those who worship in the temple to be changed in the way they live their lives, he noted.
“God is aware of Huntsville, Alabama, and the greater Huntsville area. He knows your needs,” Elder Amos said. “He wants blessings for you and all His children. This temple will be a blessing to this great community.”
Elder Amos bore witness that Jesus Christ is the Savior and Redeemer. “He has done everything we need to receive that great, blessed, eternal life. We need to accept His invitation and come to Him.”
In his dedicatory prayer on the site, Elder Amos said, “We are humbled as we remember the faithful Saints of past generations, whose sacrifices, covenant devotion and unwavering faith have helped prepare the way for this hallowed occasion.”
He prayed that God would protect this sacred edifice from natural disasters and those who may seek to do harm, “that it may ever serve Thy holy purposes and bring glory to Thy name.”
Added Elder Amos: “We ask Thee, Father, to bless this land and the holy temple that will one day stand here, that it may be a house of peace, refuge, revelation and love for all who worship within its holy walls, and a source of strength, light and hope to all who live within this community.”
Earlier in the groundbreaking program, a combined Primary choir from the Madison Alabama and Huntsville Alabama stakes sang “I Love To See the Temple,” bearing testimony through lyrics that “the temple is a house of God, a place of love and beauty.”
About the Huntsville temple and Church in Alabama
Planned as a single-story structure of approximately 30,000 square feet, the Huntsville temple will be built on a site of about 21 acres at the southeast corner of Gillespie and Browns Ferry roads in Madison, Alabama, about 11 miles west of Huntsville.
On Oct. 6, 2024, then-Church President Russell M. Nelson announced this house of the Lord for Huntsville, Alabama. It was one of 17 new temple locations he identified in that general conference.
Alabama currently has one other house of the Lord, the Birmingham Alabama Temple. It was dedicated in September 2000 by then-Church President Gordon B. Hinckley.
In 1844, Church membership in Alabama grew to about 190 Latter-day Saints. Many early converts eventually left the area to join the main body of Church membership in the Utah Territory.
By 1930, approximately 2,500 members of the Church lived in Alabama, and the first stake in the state was organized in Huntsville in 1968.
More than 40,000 Latter-day Saints live in Alabama, meeting in around 75 wards and branches.
