President Jeffrey R. Holland Dedicates the Grand Junction Colorado Temple

President Jeffrey R. Holland dedicated the Grand Junction Colorado Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Sunday, October 19, 2025, and encouraged Church members to serve in the house of the Lord.

The President of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles said that in a time of division, hostility and dishonesty, the temple is a place of instruction, peace, cleanliness and divine covenants — “a world as close to God’s world as we can find in mortality.”

He spoke about the “simple and beautiful dual phrase” “House of the Lord, Holiness to the Lord,” which appears on the exterior of each of the Church’s temples worldwide. 

Church News President Holland's prayer to dedicate the Grand Junction temple

He said he used to think those words “house of the Lord” just meant that the temple had been dedicated. But now he knows that the words mean that the temple is literally God’s house.

Download Photo

“It is one of the ties on earth that He has with His children that are here,” President Holland said. “It is the obvious place to which God could come if He had family business on the earth. And ultimately, all of His business on earth is family business.”

Regarding the phrase “holiness to the Lord,” President Holland said the world is a noisy, raucous and increasingly unclean place. That noise is often internal, he said, and can be distracting, incessant, demanding and destructive to human spirits.

“How wonderful to have ‘holiness’ be the watchword of our day, our Latter-day Saint day, where we make covenants from our service here that counter the distractions and the noise and the destruction of the world out there,” President Holland said.

Download Photo

President Holland was joined by Elder Steven R. Bangerter, General Authority Seventy and Executive Director of the Temple Department, and his wife, Susann; Elder Karl D. Hirst, General Authority Seventy and Second Counselor in the United States Central Area, and his wife, Clair; and Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, First Counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, and his wife, Carol.

Taylor Allen, of the Rifle 2nd Ward in the Rifle Colorado Stake, said having a temple so close to her means she’ll be able to attend much more regularly.

Allen also sang in the dedication’s choir and said she strongly felt the presence of deceased family members.

“My family was there, and they [were] loving me ... just holding my hands throughout the entire thing,” she said.

Download Photo

President Russell M. Nelson announced the Grand Junction Colorado Temple during April 2021 general conference. The groundbreaking ceremony was April 16, 2022, and a public open house was held September 11–27, 2025.

The house of the Lord is the first in western Colorado and joins two temples in operation and another one recently announced. The Denver Colorado Temple was dedicated in 1986, and the Fort Collins Colorado Temple was dedicated in 2016. The Colorado Springs Colorado Temple was announced in 2023 and is now in its planning and design phase.

The Church’s 210th operating temple of the Church will serve nearly 150,000 Latter-day Saints in 310 congregations in Colorado.

Learn more in this related Church News article Church members in Grand Junction react to new temple with joy, gratitude