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. 

David Farnsworth has forwarded more pictures of the work on the Joplin Missouri Stake Center.

Joplin Stake Center, looking north at the south entrance.

Next step on the outside of the new Joplin Stake Center: Parking lots.

A view from the cultural hall, looking west toward the pulpit
in the new Joplin Stake Center in Joplin, Missouri.

A sneak peak inside the new Joplin Stake Center

A look down a long hallway at under-construction
Joplin Missouri Stake Center, Church of Jesus
Christ of Latter-day Saints.

The mirros are up and the dressing stalls are in at the
under-construction Joplin Missouri Stake Center.

A look toward the chapel from the cultural hall at the
under-construction Joplin Missouri Stake Center.

Work is moving along at the under-construction Joplin Missouri Stake Center

Looking east at the stage in the cultural hall at the under-construction Joplin Missouri Stake Center

Walk of Unity Steeple Raising at Joplin Stake Center

Crane lifts steeple at site of under-
construction Joplin Missouri Stake Center of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Crane lifts steeple toward its resting place
on top of the Joplin Missouri Stake Center of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Workers move steeple, being lifted by crane,
toward its resting place
on top of the Joplin Missouri Stake Center of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Workers gently move steeple, being held by crane,
onto its permanent place atop
the Joplin Missouri Stake Center of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Creed Jones, Joplin Missouri Stake President,
speaks from the steps of the under-construction
Joplin Stake Center to Walk of Unity participants,
estimated at nearly 6,000.  

Workers wait in the shade of the new steeple
atop the Joplin Missouri Stake Center of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

Guests at the Stake Center Steeple raising.
Those in the yellow shirts are wearing their
LDS Helping Hands shirts. 

After the steeple ceremony at
the Joplin Missouri Stake Center of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints,
Walk of Unity participants walk
between lines of buses toward the next stop, the ruins
of the Joplin High School.

The steeple is lowered to the ground after
the ceremony. It was raised and secured later in
the week at the Joplin Missouri Stake Center of
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

New steeple placed on Joplin, Mo., LDS chapel as part of anniversary events

(Click on title above to go to Deseret News Website post and pictures.)

By Christine Rappleye, Deseret News

• Wednesday, May 23 2012 12:55 p.m. MDT

A steeple was placed on a chapel of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Joplin, Mo., on May 22 as part of the Unity Walk marking the first anniversary of a deadly tornado.

Joplin Missouri Stake President Creed Jones gave thanks for religious freedom and noted that many churches in Joplin were affected, the Springfield (Missouri) News-Leader reported. Only a few walls of the building were left standing after the tornado hit in May 2011, reported the LDS Church News.
More than two dozen church buildings in the community were destroyed by the storm and seven have been rebuilt, according to the Joplin (Missouri) Globe,

The estimated 5,000 to 6,000 people on the walk then went to a groundbreaking for the new high school, a ribbon cutting at a new business and then concluded with a progrram at Cunningham Park, according to the Neosho Daily News.
For more on the anniversary commemorations and remembrances, including a video and photo gallery, please see "Joplin remembers deadly tornado, one year later"

Joplin commemorates anniversary of deadly tornado

By Alan Scher Zagier

Associated Press

Published: Tuesday, May 22 2012 5:05 a.m. MDT

(Click on this line to go to Deseret News post.)

JOPLIN, Mo. — A day of solemn remembrances and forward-looking celebrations is planned Tuesday as Joplin commemorates the anniversary of a tornado that ripped the city in half.

The May 22, 2011, twister was the nation's deadliest in six decades, killing 161 people, injuring hundreds more and destroying thousands of buildings, including the city's only public high school. Groundbreaking ceremonies are scheduled at three sites for replacement buildings, including Joplin High School's future home.

President Barack Obama greets students before the
Joplin High School commencement, a day before
the anniversary of the twister that killed 161 people,
Monday, May 21, 2012, in Joplin, Mo.

Gov. Jay Nixon, who joined President Barack Obama on Monday night as a Joplin High School graduation speaker, plans to attend a sunrise service and "journey of healing" at Freeman Hospital honoring the city's medical workers and volunteers who have aided the recovery. The hospital has seen a surge in use after the tornado destroyed St. John's Regional Medical Center, which has since occupied a succession of temporary facilities but is being rebuilt at a new location — and renamed as Mercy Hospital Joplin.
A 4-mile unity walk through some of the city's hardest hit neighborhoods begins at 2 p.m. in neighboring Duquesne, where more than one-fourth of the community's 750 homes were destroyed and nine people died. The Joplin portion of the walk begins past a Wal-Mart where 200 people survived the storm by huddling together in employee break rooms, bathrooms and other designated safe zones. Three people, though, were killed inside that store.
The walk will conclude with a moment of silence at Cunningham Park at 5:41 p.m., the precise time when the EF-5 tornado packing 200 mph winds hit Joplin. The city park, which is across the street from the hulking remains of the St. John's hospital, has since been rebuilt.
While many of Tuesday's events will reflect upon the past year, community leaders are also looking ahead toward what is bound to be a long recovery effort.
In January, elected officials and other members of a 45-person recovery committee endorsed a long-term recovery plan that calls for the creation of four new business districts that would allow residents to live and shop nearby and a unified approach to rebuilding that ensures new construction meets certain design standards.
In March, the city hired Wallace Bajjali Development Partners, of Sugar Land, Texas, as its "master developer" to oversee the rebuilding plan.
The day's events are also expected to attract some of the more than 130,000 volunteers who descended on southwest Missouri from across the country to help out. That group includes a contingent of bicyclists who left New York City's Central Park nearly three weeks ago on a Cycle for Joplin fundraising ride organized by a group of former Joplin residents known as the Joplin Expats.