Some Additional Observations About Future Temples

Hello again, everyone! As I promised to do so, I have been working on researching, editing, and revising my list of future temple locations. While getting that together, I discovered some things about how the temple announcement boom that occurred beginning with this announcement from President Hinckley about how the number of operating temples would more than double in a few years compares with what is potentially going to happen based on Elder Wilson's statement last April about the 80 potential temple locations that may subsequently have an official announcement within the 15 years following that statement. What I have put together below goes into detail on my findings about that thought.

Two things have occurred within the last year that will affect temple announcements going forward. First, President Monson, who for the final 3 years of his presidency (2015-2017) gave shorter addresses, habitually announced temples during his Sunday Morning remarks. If he had continued to live through this General Conference, any new temples would have been announced, with his consent, by one of his counselors. In view of President Nelson now being the Church President, it seems clear that he will make new temple announcements himself, and for this General Conference, that seems most likely to occur during the Sunday Morning Session, which, if recent tradition holds, will be President Nelson’s first General Conference address as President of the Church to the entire membership.

Second, Elder Larry Y. Wilson stated in late April 2017 (around a month after President Monson announced 5 new temples in General Conference) that the Church was actively considering 80 potential temple locations for a future announcement within the following 15 years. That statement was made almost a year ago, and no new temples have been announced since that time. This means that, whether or not each one of those 80 goes on to be officially announced within that time, there are slightly more than 14 years remaining in which to do so, which means, if Elder Wilson’s statement is anywhere close to being literally taken, 5 or 6 temples would need to be announced per year, which could result in temples being announced in every General Conference, and with a few others here and there in between those times. 

The task therefore for me was to try and determine, of the many locations that I considered, which should be on my list for the near future and which might occur at some point, but perhaps not as immediately. For that purpose, I posted in-depth analysis of such prospects on my blog and requested feedback. Based on what was said in the course of doing that series of posts, I made changes, revisions, and substitutions. Since the conclusion of those conversations, I have done more research and have made a few additional adjustments.

The list as it now stands represents my best researched thoughts, based on personally-gathered data and (where applicable) insight from those who have commented on those prospects. It should also be mentioned that I will be organizing the list a little differently this time around as well. As I considered how best to do so, it seemed advisable to group this list first by general world area (which corresponds to the regions that make up the Third-Eighth Quorums of the Seventy), then by likelihood within that area. I am also providing endnotes to set the context for any pertinent information about either the regions or specific locations, which I hope will be illustrative.

With all of that noted, while it may be impossible to anticipate every potential location that may get a temple, or how imminently that might occur, I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that the Lord is hastening His work in His time, is very much aware of the needs of the members of His Church, and knows exactly when, in what locations, and how imminently temples are needed anywhere, and He reveals such locations at the right time through His prophet. Exactly 20 years ago this conference,

President Gordon B. Hinckley announced to the Church his smaller temple design, and the goal to more than double the number of temples in a few short years. There were 51 operating temples at the time that announcement was made, and in the 20 years since, that number has more than tripled to 159, a total increase of 108 temples, or roughly 5.4 per year.

And of those 108 (if my research and subsequent calculations are correct), around 76 were both announced and completed within those 20 years. With that in mind, it is not a stretch of logic to believe that Elder Wilson’s statement will likely prove correct and justified, and that around 80 (if not exactly that or more than that) could easily be announced in the next 14 years. That is great to think about.

That does it for this post. Any and all comments are, as always, welcome and appreciated. Thank you for the privilege of your time. Until my next post, I wish each one of you all the best and pray that the Lord will bless you all in everything you do.