Dedication of the Nashville Tennessee Temple
The couple of days leading up to the Nashville Tennessee Temple dedication, held on May 21, 2000, were cloudy; however, the day of the dedication, the sun came out, symbolic of the light the new temple would bring to the Nashville area.
Though there was opposition from some in the area about the house of the Lord, President Alan L. Soderquist, a local stake president, said about the dedication and open house, “We have seen a windfall of publicity in the last few weeks. ... Virtually every day, there has been something in the newspaper.”
It appeared that, despite some negative feelings toward The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the area was developing a more positive view of the dedication of the temple.
A local newspaper reported: “Followers are strongly into the preservation of family — now and in the afterlife. ... Then there’s the denomination’s genealogy work. It fits the South’s fascination with heritage. All these characteristics make the Mormon church a lean, mean outreach machine.”
President James E. Faust, second counselor in the First Presidency, dedicated Tennessee’s second temple on May 21, 2000, in four sessions. He was accompanied by Elder Russell M. Nelson of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Elder Loren C. Dunn, a General Authority Seventy and North America East Area president.
Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “It is our gift of love. Please accept of it, dear Father, as an expression of the faith we have in Thine eternal purposes. This sacred structure stands as a monument before the world of our belief in the immortality of the human soul and that a great work is going forward on the other side of the veil to bring blessings to those who will accept the ordinances which will be performed in their behalf in this, Thy house.”
Read the dedicatory prayer of the Nashville Tennessee Temple here.
Timeline of the Nashville Tennessee Temple
A temple for Nashville, Tennessee, was announced Nov. 9, 1994. Five years later, a groundbreaking ceremony was held March 13, 1999, with an open house just over a year later beginning May 6, 2000. President James E. Faust dedicated the Nashville Tennessee Temple on May 21, 2000.
Architecture and Design of the Nashville Tennessee Temple
The Nashville temple is a total of approximately 10,700 square feet, with a Imperial Danby white marble exterior. The design includes a single spire with a gilded angel Moroni statue and an iron fence going around the structure.
The grounds are covered in various flowers and bushes, which also line walkways that lead to the front doors. The temple includes two instruction rooms, two sealing rooms and a baptistry.