GRAND JUNCTION, Colorado — Colorado is no stranger to members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
In 1846, a group of new Latter-day Saints from Mississippi temporarily settled in Pueblo, Colorado, before continuing to the Salt Lake Valley. More than 30 years later, in 1877, another group of converts arrived from the southern United States and established a more permanent Latter-day Saint community in Pueblo.
Almost 180 years later “we are now opening what is undoubtedly western Colorado’s most important chapter with the completion of a house of the Lord in Grand Junction,” said President Jeffrey R. Holland, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles, at the dedication of the temple on Sunday, Oct. 19.
President Holland 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.”
President Holland dedicated the Grand Junction Colorado Temple during a single session Sunday morning. He was joined by Elder Steven R. Bangerter, General Authority Seventy and executive director of the Temple Department, and his wife, Sister Susan Bangerter; Elder Karl D. Hirst, General Authority Seventy and second counselor in the United States Central Area, and his wife, Sister Clair Hirst; and Bishop W. Christopher Waddell, first counselor in the Presiding Bishopric, and his wife, Sister Carol S. Waddell.
The late President Russell M. Nelson announced the Grand Junction temple during April 2021 general conference.
The Sunday dedication makes a total of 210 dedicated temples of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. It is the third operating temple in Colorado, joining the Denver Colorado Temple, dedicated in 1986, and the Fort Collins Colorado Temple, dedicated in 2016. The Colorado Springs Colorado Temple was announced in 2023 and is now in its planning and design phase.
‘House of the Lord, holiness to the Lord’
President Holland brought attention to the “simple and beautiful dual phrase” written on plaques found on the outside of every temple around the world: “House of the Lord, holiness to the Lord.”
He said almost all instruction and meaning of the temple experience comes primarily through symbols; and that instruction could begin with “this little plaque we are discussing.”
Regarding the phrase “house of the Lord,” President Holland said he once thought those words simply meant the temple had been dedicated. But now he knows they mean “a lot more than that” — for instance, that the temple is literally God’s house.
“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, then, “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.
A focus on families
In an interview with Church News, President Holland emphasized that the entire gospel plan is about families; God even asks His children to call him “Father,” despite all the other titles He could use.
The “central structure of the Restoration” is the temple, because it is where families are “solidified and sealed,” President Holland continued, both through living and proxy ordinances.
“If you had to ask one word that is … a synonym of ‘the gospel,’ it would be ‘family.’ And everyone has a family of one kind or composition.” President Holland said. “The principles that we live are the fundamental pieces of a family: love and trust and patience and long suffering. Those are the virtues that we all pledge to, and they are the virtues that get tried first in a family.”
In this way, President Holland said, a family is a “little celestial kingdom lab” that helps individuals develop the traits needed to be better spouses, children and siblings.
President Holland also noted how a temple enhances an entire community, both with its physical beauty and its spiritual light.
“It is just a marvelous addition to any community, on the outside for those not of our faith and on the inside for people who can go there lovingly and who know and appreciate what it means,” he said.
Church members react
Following the Grand Junction temple dedication, multiple church members shared their feelings about the sacred, historic occasion.
Adeline Belle, of the Canyon View Ward in the Grand Junction Colorado West Stake, was the youth speaker during the dedication services. She expressed excitement at having a temple in her city, particularly as she’s never lived close to a temple before.
“God cares about His children everywhere, and this is a home that was made ... for people everywhere, but made and designed for Grand Junction,” Belle said.
Bryson and Elise Rasmussen, a married couple from the Adobe Creek Ward of the Fruita Colorado Stake, are grateful that their 3-year-old son will grow up with a temple nearby.
“I just never thought that this was something that would happen, at least while I lived here,” Elise Rasmussen said.
Bryson Rasmussen said he also appreciated the articulate, reverent way that President Holland spoke about the temple. “I always think about that after he speaks,” Bryson Rasmussen said. “What words am I choosing to speak with other people, and how will that bring reverence to the conversation?”
And 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.
Grand Junction Colorado Temple
Address: 678 Horizon Drive, Grand Junction, Colorado
Announced: April 4, 2021, by President Russell M. Nelson
Groundbreaking: April 16, 2022, presided over by Elder Chi Hong (Sam) Wong, a General Authority Seventy
Public open house: Sept. 11-27, 2025, excluding Sundays
Dedicated: Oct. 19, 2025, by President Jeffrey R. Holland, president of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles
Property size: 7.93 acres
Building size: 29,630 square feet
Building height: 118 feet, 8 inches
Temple district: 5 stakes in west-central Colorado
