Dedication of Joplin (Missouri) Stake Center

I neglected to post this item when I wrote it Sept. 28, 2012, on assignment from the stake Public Relations Committee.

Nancy Hunt, my wife, took this picture before the dedication.

   JOPLIN, MO -- Sixteen months and one day after one of the most devastating tornadoes in U.S. history ripped through this southwest Missouri city, LDS members in the city and surrounding area gathered Sunday evening for the dedication of their newly rebuilt stake center.

    Presiding at the dedication and offering the dedicatory prayer was Elder Tad R. Callister of the Presidency of the Seventy of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

   Joplin Stake President Creed R. Jones, whose home was one of more than 7,000 destroyed in the killer twister, conducted the dedication session and welcomed the more than 600 in attendance.

   Speakers recalled the miracles amid the storm’s tragedy and rejoiced in the completion of the beautiful 21,023-square-foot stake center – a new light on a rise in Joplin.

   The church building is at 2107 Indiana Ave., Joplin, Missouri, 64804.

   On May 22, 2011, the Category F-5 tornado cut a path through Joplin, killing 158 people and injuring about 1,000 -- the deadliest tornado in the United States since 1947.

   Eight members rode out the tornado inside the stake center in the only area of the building left standing. When the survivors opened the door out of the women’s restroom, virtually all the rest of the stake center was rubble!    

   Elder Callister warned that the new stake center itself will not save our lives. “Our lives will be saved only if we dedicate ourselves to Christ.”

    There is no tornado, earthquake, job loss or other misfortune that can take away our eternal blessings if we have faith in Jesus Christ and keep His commandments, he said.

   Choose faith over the reason of the world, Elder Callister said.

   As Prime Minister Winston Churchill told his nation in the darkest hours of World War II – “We will never, never, never give up” – Elder Callister urged those in attendance to “never, never, never give up on the Lord's promises.”

   Pres. Jones, who with his wife rode out the howling tornado winds in their car, said there are three refuges in life: home, church and the temple.

   There is safety in the church ordinances, he said. “If you keep your covenants, your covenants will keep you.”

   Beryl Nickolaisen, a member of the Joplin 1^st Ward, said that in the aftermath of the tornado, members have learned to put the needs of others above their own.

   Within days after the tornado, LDS Church members began cleanup projects and eventually put in more than twenty-thousand service hours in the stricken area.

   Joplin City Manager Mark Rohr reported on June 1, 2012, that by the end of April of 2012, the community and other volunteers had provided 810,476.5 hours in cleaning up and rebuilding the city area.

   Cleanup of the stake center debris after the tornado moved swiftly and less than seven months later, the building’s general contractor, Hunt Taylor Creek Contractors, was supervising the pouring of the huge concrete floor of the new stake center.

   The original Joplin meetinghouse was constructed in 1960-61 and was comprised of the chapel, some offices and several classrooms. Other additions were completed in the 1970s. The building as a stake center was dedicated June 15, 1996, as the Joplin Missouri Stake Center.

   Less than 15 years later, the tornado wrote a harrowing new chapter in the history of the church in Joplin, Missouri.

 
KSL.com posted the above picture and story on Oct. 15, 2012.

 

First meeting in new Joplin Missouri Stake Center

Members of the Joplin Stake met in the new stake center Saturday, Sept. 15, for the Adult Session of the Joplin Stake Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The chapel and cultural hall were filled, and many were seated even on the cultural hall stage.

The only thing obviously missing in the chapel was a clock on the wall: All the speakers had to use their own watches or cell phones to keep track of the time.

There is still a lot of work to be completed outside, including parking and even the northwest entrance into the north parking area.
The Joplin First and Joplin Second Wards will hold their first meeting, a joint session on Sunday, Oct. 14, the week after LDS General Conferance.
The Open House (see previous blog) is scheduled Oct. 18, 19 and 20. So don't forget to invite your friends, neighbors and co-workers to celebrate with us! 

Here are a few pre-dedication pictures before the adult session of stake conference.

A view from the center of the chapel back through the cultural
hall and stage.

The front of the chapel (looking west).

Getting ready for the adult session of Joplin Stake Conference.

Looking south at the connection between the chapel and the
cultural hall, including the mounted basketball standard.

 

Dedication and Open House set for new Joplin Missouri LDS Stake Center

Dedication of the new Joplin Missouri Stake Center of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is scheduled Sunday, Sept. 23, at 7:30 p.m.

 

The stake center is located at 2107 Indiana Ave., Joplin, Missouri, 64804, just south of 20th Street and across from where the Joplin High School was located before the F-5 tornado of May 22, 2011, destroyed both the high school and meetinghouse and a major swath of Joplin City.

 

Also, an open house for the new Joplin Stake Center will be held Thursday, Oct. 18, through Saturday Oct. 20, 2012.

A special luncheon is scheduled at noon, Thursday, Oct. 18 for all media representatives and area dignitaries, which will be followed by a formal tour conducted by a member of the Joplin Stake Presidency.

 

A question-and-answer session will conclude the special tour.

 

The open house for the general public will follow that evening from 6 to 9 p.m., and again Friday, Oct. 19, from 6 to 9 p.m.

The open house hours Saturday, Oct. 20, will be from noon until 9 p.m.

 

Members of the Joplin Stake will have their first meeting at the new stake center when they meet Saturday, Sept. 15, at 7 p.m. for the Adult Session of the Joplin Stake Conference.

 

Sunday's general session of Stake Conference will be at 10 a.m. at Carthage High School.