The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints dedicated a new 38,000-square-foot stake center at the corner of Seventh South and University Boulevard last weekend.

At 6:00 p.m. last Sunday, Stake President Terry Call of the BYU-Idaho Ninth Stake dedicated the new building for its 1,460 members.



“The dedication was accompanied by a marvelous outpouring of the Spirit,” Call said.



Before the dedication, the Ninth Stake hosted an open house for the public and offered free tours and refreshments.

Tours ran for two hours Friday night and again on Saturday for four hours.



President Call has served as stake president for 18 months. During the first week of his call, the Church held its first meeting to place a bid on the new stake center.

“We want the community to feel welcome in this new building,” said Call. “This open house provided an opportunity for all in attendance to witness a beautiful edifice built for the worship of the Lord.

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Church members exhibited main rooms throughout the facility, explaining what types of Latter-day Saint worship services are held in each room. 



Tour guides answered visitors’ questions and shared with them their feelings about the Church.



“One of the most exciting parts of this event was for BYU-Idaho students to meet with community members in a situation where they could interact and share some of the things that are most important to them,” said Taylor Tibbitts, chair of the stake’s public affairs committee. “It was also a good opportunity to showcase the unique structure of a married-student stake.

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The Ninth Stake consists of nine wards of married couples who attend BYU-Idaho.
They used to meet in several different locations across Rexburg. Meeting places ranged from the stake center near the Rexburg Temple to a meetinghouse near Wal-Mart, across town from the new stake center.



“It’ll be nice for us, because it’s closer to where we live,” said Steven Holt, a junior studying accounting.

The new building, which is twice the size of most LDS meetinghouses, sits on seven acres of land and is the largest model the Church builds.

The building includes two chapels, two Ppriesthood rooms, two Relief Society rooms, two Primary rooms, four nursery rooms and a full-size basketball court.

There is also a pavilion on the grounds for outdoor activities that is not currently finished, but will be completed for the summer.

“This beautiful building is a great landmark of the growth of the Church here at BYU-Idaho,” Call said.