Ground Broken for the Fairview Texas Temple

A groundbreaking ceremony was held for the Fairview Texas Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on Saturday, February 21, 2026.

Elder Jonathan S. Schmitt, First Counselor in the United States Southwest Area Presidency, presided at the event.

“We pray this will be a place where all Thy children may come to feel a unique outpouring of thy divine presence, power, and peace,” Elder Schmitt said in the dedicatory prayer. “Beginning today — and moving forward through construction and beyond — we plead with Thee for blessings to be poured out upon this community. We pray a blessing to be upon all Thy children in this beautiful community of Fairview, Texas, and surrounding municipalities. We pray that hearts will be softened and that all Thy children will feel of Thy light, grace, and goodness that will emanate from this holy place.”

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Lindsey McKneely, a youth from the local area, said at the event, “I love the temple. It’s my favorite place. It’s my refuge. It’s where I go to feel safe and to feel loved. Everything slows down for me. I love my Savior so much and love how close I feel to Him when I am in the temple. I know whatever I go through, I never go through it alone because of my covenants and my Savior Jesus Christ.”

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President Russell M. Nelson announced the Fairview Texas Temple in October 2022.

“It is significant [in the Book of Mormon] that the Savior chose to appear to the people at the temple. It is His house. It is filled with His power. Let us never lose sight of what the Lord is doing for us now,” he said.

As previously announced, this house of the Lord will be built on an 8.16-acre site located along Stacy Road adjacent to and east of an existing meetinghouse at 651 East Stacy Road, in Fairview, Texas. Plans call for a single-story temple of approximately 30,000 square feet.

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“Just as this temple will bear the inscription, ‘Holiness to the Lord,’ please bless and strengthen us to become increasingly holy,” Elder Schmitt said in his prayer. “Bless us to emulate the character of Christ — He who is the Holy One, the Prince of Peace, Faithful and True, the Light of the World, our Helper, Good Shepherd, Refuge from the Storm, the Strength to the Needy in His Distress, and the High Priest of all Good Things to Come.”

Bishop Nolan Godfrey, a local Church leader, added, “A temple in our community stands as an open invitation for all to come unto Christ, who is at the center of all temple worship. This is His house. The words ‘Holiness to the Lord’ will be inscribed above its doors, reminding us — as Gordon B. Hinckley taught — to ‘take on more of the luster of the life of Christ.’ What a tremendous blessing this temple will be for all who see it, walk its grounds, and enter within.”

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Texas is home to over 390,000 Latter-day Saints, meeting in more than 750 congregations.

Dedicated temples in Texas are in Dallas, Houston, Lubbock, McAllen and San Antonio. The El Paso and Houston Texas South temples have been announced, and the Austin, Fairview and Fort Worth temples are now under construction.

Latter-day Saints consider each temple a house of the Lord and the most sacred place of worship on earth. Temples differ from the Church’s meetinghouses (chapels). All are welcome to attend Sunday worship services and other weekday activities at local meetinghouses. The primary purpose of temples is for faithful members of the Church of Jesus Christ to participate in sacred ceremonies such as marriages, which unite families forever, and proxy baptisms on behalf of deceased ancestors who did not have the opportunity to be baptized while living.