1999 Dedication of the Raleigh North Carolina Temple
The Raleigh North Carolina Temple is located in Apex, a community just 12 miles southwest of Raleigh. The name of the town seemed to have significance to local members who believed that the dedication of this new house of the Lord was at the “apex” of Church history in North Carolina.
Many were positively affected by the construction of the new edifice, including a nonmember named Gary Stansbury, who was sent to help build the temple after previous work fell through. In the six months that it took to build the temple, Stansbury learned about the Church and was baptized before its dedication.
“Looking back at the series of events that brought me here to North Carolina, I don’t much believe in coincidence,” he said. Even when he was offered another job before the temple’s completion, he declined the offer. “I had to stay and build this temple,” said Stansbury. “I needed to be here.”
Another Latter-day Saint, Sarah Barnhill, invited her employer — who was also a local minister — to the Raleigh temple’s open house. Not only did her employer attend, but he also invited his entire AME Rush Methodist congregation to the event.
The Raleigh North Carolina Temple was dedicated from Dec. 18 to Dec. 19, 1999, by President Gordon B. Hinckley, 15th President of the Church. Other Church leaders attending the dedication’s seven sessions included Elder M. Russell Ballard of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles and Elder Loren C. Dunn, president of the North America East Area.
One member at the dedication ceremony said, “I will always remember this day and the feelings that I had. The Spirit is just enormous in this little temple.”
Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “We are partakers of those wondrous blessings promised in words of revelation. Thou hast said: ‘For I deign to reveal unto my church things which have been kept hid from before the foundation of the world, things that pertain to the dispensation of the fulness of times, ... even the fulness of the priesthood’ (Doctrine and Covenants 124:41, 28). In the authority of this priesthood and in the name of Jesus Christ we dedicate unto Thee and to Thy Beloved Son this, the Raleigh North Carolina Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.”
Read the dedicatory prayer of the Raleigh North Carolina Temple here.
2019 Dedication of the Raleigh North Carolina Temple
Members felt that the Raleigh temple was a miracle for them. When the house of the Lord closed in 2018 for renovations, many members continued to make sacrifices to go to temples in other areas.
President M. Russell Ballard, acting president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, presided over the rededication of the Raleigh North Carolina Temple on Oct. 13, 2019. He told the Church News, “[Raleigh is] a wonderful part of the country and a tremendously important part of the Church. There are great Saints here in North Carolina.”
Other members described the rededication as a special and spiritual experience.
Elder Matthew S. Harding, an Area Seventy and resident of North Carolina, said, “The people who came to the open house were uplifted and saw our love of the Savior. ...”
“The beautiful Raleigh temple is the symbol of our faith and our love for the Savior and His atoning sacrifice for each one of us,” he continued.
President Ballard said that the purpose of dedicating or rededicating a temple is to help increase Latter-day Saints’ spiritual preparation in a world that is becoming more secular and dismissive of God.
“One of the best ways our spirits can be reinforced and strengthened is to be here at the temple,” said the Apostle. “The Spirit of the Lord is here. The temple feeds the inner soul. It makes us stronger. It teaches us of our true identity: sons and daughters of God coming into His holy house and doing sacred work.”
Attending with President Ballard were Elder Kevin R. Duncan, executive director of the Temple Department, and Elder James B. Martino, president of the North America Southeast Area.
Dedicatory prayer excerpt: “We ask Thee, dear Father, for heavenly protection to be over this temple, that the sacred work of salvation for the living and for the deceased may continue here uninterrupted from this day forward. Heavenly Father, please temper the weather from storms and watch over the temple and grounds, that they may remain clean and beautiful.”
Read the dedicatory prayer of the Raleigh North Carolina Temple here.
Timeline of the Raleigh North Carolina Temple
The Raleigh North Carolina Temple was announced Sept. 3, 1998, by the First Presidency. On Feb. 6, 1999, a groundbreaking ceremony was held, presided over by Elder Loren C. Dunn. In just six months the temple was completed, and an open house was held from Dec. 3 to Dec. 11, 1999, and was dedicated Dec. 18, 1999, by President Gordon B. Hinckley.
The Raleigh temple was closed in early 2018 for renovations, and an open house to welcome the renovated temple was held from Sept. 21 to Sept. 28, 2019. President M. Russell Ballard rededicated the house of the Lord on Oct. 13, 2019.
Architecture and Design of the Raleigh North Carolina Temple
Standing on 3.17 acres, the Raleigh temple is surrounded by long-leafed pines and other greenery, including 51 shade trees, evergreen trees and other local trees. Also found throughout the temple grounds are 901 shrubs and 402 perennials, as well as ground cover and annuals that fill 3,163 square feet of the area.
The exterior was made with beige-colored limestone and features an array of art-glass windows.
The interior of the structure includes daphne white stone tile in the entryway, waiting room, baptistry and bride’s room. The celestial and sealing rooms have a unique, gold-leaf pinstriping detailing. Blue, gold and cream art glass is found throughout the temple.
Interior Photos of the Raleigh North Carolina Temple
