The Tallahassee Florida Temple Opens for Public Tours 

Tours are beginning for the Tallahassee Florida Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

On Monday, October 28, 2024, the media attended a news conference and toured the new house of the Lord. Those participating in the event included Elder Neil L. Andersen of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles.

"We loved seeing the temple," said Elder Andersen. "I was very, very moved by the feelings in the temple."

[The journalists] had good questions, said Elder Corbitt of the North America Southeast Area Presidency. “It was a beautiful, unifying experience.”

At the news conference, Elder Andersen and his wife Kathy expressed their love for Florida and why this temple is so special to them. Kathy is from Florida, and they raised their children in Tampa.

“It just fills our hearts thinking about what this means to the people of northern Florida,” Elder Andersen said.

Kathy’s great-grandfather was baptized in Florida and sold all he owned to travel to a temple.

“His sacrifice at that time was quite great,” she said. “To think that there is a temple now where my great-grandfather traveled, sold everything, to be able to go to the temple is just such an amazing blessing and such a great gift from our Heavenly Father.”

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Public Open House 

The public open house will run from Monday, November 4, through Saturday, November 23, 2024, excluding Sundays. All are invited to tour the temple. There is no cost to attend, and reservations are not needed.

Temples are sacred buildings designed to help God’s children feel close to Him and His Son, Jesus Christ. Once the temple is dedicated, entrance is reserved for members of the Church. This open house is a unique opportunity to tour this house of worship.

"Temples give to us a place that, for us, is the most sacred place in all the earth," said Elder Andersen.

Beth Demme, a pastor at Gray Memorial United Methodist Church in Tallahassee, took a tour through the temple on Monday, October 28. “I was really impressed by how every detail is intended to glorify God,” she said. “I was really moved just by that intentionality.”

“I've seen open houses in various communities, and the temple blesses the community as a whole,” said Elder Corbitt. “It's not just members of the Church. The whole community is lifted, it's blessed.”

Elder Patrick Kearon of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles will dedicate the temple on Sunday, December 8, 2024, at 9 a.m. EST, and the dedication will be broadcast to all units of the Tallahassee Florida Temple district. When dedicated, this house of the Lord will be the 202nd operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. 

About the Tallahassee Florida Temple 

Temples of the Church of Jesus Christ are different from meetinghouses or chapels where members gather for Sunday worship services. A temple is considered a house of the Lord, where the teachings of Jesus Christ are reaffirmed through marriage, baptism and other sacred agreements that unite families for eternity. 

"It gives us a place where we can reflect on what is really important in life," said Elder Andersen.

“In temples we have the opportunity to learn more about Jesus Christ, to draw near to him, to find hope in his teachings, to link families together for eternity. Temples mean everything to us,” said Beth Sundstrom, a native of Tallahassee and a fourth-generation member of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Construction began with a groundbreaking ceremony on Saturday, June 5, 2021. Elder James B. Martino, now an emeritus General Authority Seventy, presided at the ceremony.

“This temple will bless the entire land around it and the entire community,” he said. “It will be a beacon of holiness and a place of peace for all to both see and feel. Here we will seek to draw closer to God, to hear His voice, and seek to follow His teachings.”

The Tallahassee Florida Temple is a single-story structure of approximately 29,000 square feet on a 4.97-acre site at 2440 Papillion Way in northeast Tallahassee.

This new house of the Lord is one of five temples in Florida that are in operation, are under construction or have been announced. The others are or will be located in  Fort Lauderdale, Jacksonville, Orlando and Tampa. The Tallahassee temple will serve more than 30,000 members of the Church in 77 congregations.

There are more than 170,000 Latter-day Saints in nearly 275 congregations in Florida, which is in the far Southeastern United States.

“Come and join with us and find why we have such great hope and endless joy,” invited Sundstrom. “Come and see and appreciate the beauty of the temple, but also come and feel what the temple really means to us because of our faith in Jesus Christ.”