The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Tennessee

As of Jan. 1, 2009, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints reported 43,179 members, 10 stakes (with stake center inside the state), 92 Congregations (68 wards and 24 branches), 2 missions

Mission (LDS Church)

A mission of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is a geographical administrative area to which church missionaries are assigned. Almost all areas of the world are within the boundaries of an LDS Church mission, whether or not Mormon missionaries live or proselytize in the area...

, and 2 temples

Temple (LDS Church)

In The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , a temple is a building dedicated to be a House of the Lord, and they are considered by Church members to be the most sacred structures on earth. Upon completion, temples are usually open to the public for a short period of time...

in Tennessee
Tennessee
Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

.

History

David W. Patten

David Wyman Patten was an early leader in the Latter Day Saint movement and an original member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles...

and Warren Parish arrived in Tennessee

Tennessee

Tennessee is a U.S. state located in the Southeastern United States. It has a population of 6,346,105, making it the nation's 17th-largest state by population, and covers , making it the 36th-largest by total land area...

shortly before 11 October 1834 and soon baptized 31 people: organizing a branch by the end of the year. These efforts were in Henry, Benton, and Humphreys

Humphreys County, Tennessee

Humphreys County is a county located in the U.S. state of Tennessee. As of 2000, the population was 17,929. The 2005 Census Estimate placed the population at 18,212. Its county seat is Waverly.-Geography:According to the U.S...

counties. In 1835, Parrish worked alone after Patten returned to Kirtland, Ohio

Kirtland, Ohio

Kirtland is a city in Lake County, Ohio, USA. The population was 6,670 at the 2000 census. Kirtland is famous for being the early headquarters of the Latter Day Saint movement.-Origins of Kirtland:...

.

On March 27, 1835, Wilford Woodruff

Wilford Woodruff

Wilford Woodruff, Sr. was the fourth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1889 until his death...

, then a priest, came to assist Parrish. When Warren Parrish was called as a Seventy in July 1835, he ordained Woodruff as an elder and placed him in charge of the work in Tennessee. Woodruff was assisted by Abraham O. Smoot

Abraham O. Smoot

Abraham Owen Smoot was a Mormon pioneer, the second mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah, mayor of Provo, Utah, and an early supporter of Brigham Young Academy .-Early life:...

and Benjamin L. Clapp.

In 1836, there were about 100 members in seven branches. By 1839, 12 branches existed in the state and by 1846, missionaries

Missionary (LDS Church)

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints is one of the most active modern practitioners of missionary work, with over 52,000 full-time missionaries worldwide, as of the end of 2010...

had preached in 26 counties. Following the exodus to the West, little work was done in Tennessee. Hyrum H. Blackwell and Emmanuel M. Murphy visited the state in 1857 to call the saints to gather in the west.

In 1870, Hayden Church resumed work in Tennessee. The Southern States Mission was formally organized in 1875 with headquarters in Nashville

Nashville, Tennessee

Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...

, then moved to Chattanooga in 1882 and remained there until 1919, when Atlanta, GA became mission headquarters.

Henry G. Boyle established a branch at Shady Grove in 1875. Mob activity increased significantly in 1879. Some converts in the South left their homes and migrated to the west in 1883.

In 1884, members were fired upon in separate incidents. Elder James Rosskelley was shot in eastern Tennessee on August 8, 1884. Elder Rosskelley would survive and his attacker was captured and bound over for trial. The worst massacre of Church members in the South, however, occurred on August 10, 1884 when a mob shot to death missionaries William S. Berry and John H. Gibbs and local members W. Martin Conder and John Riley Hutson during LDS Church services at the home of W. James Conder on Cane Creek in Lewis County. Sister Malinda Conder was injured as well in the attack but recovered enough to walk with a cane. Mission President Brigham H. Roberts donned a disguise, traveled to the tense area and retrieved the bodies of the slain missionaries. Many of the Church members at Cane Creek left in November 1884 emigrating to [Colorado]. In 1888, another group of 177 Latter-day Saints left Chattanooga for Colorado

Colorado

Colorado is a U.S. state that encompasses much of the Rocky Mountains as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of the Great Plains...

and Utah

Utah

Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

.

By the 1890s, public opinion became more tolerant. The oldest existing meetinghouse in the Southeast was dedicated in Northcutts’ Cove on October 24, 1909 by Charles A. Collis. Ten years later, branches were listed in Chattanooga and Memphis

Memphis, Tennessee

Memphis is a city in the southwestern corner of the U.S. state of Tennessee, and the county seat of Shelby County. The city is located on the 4th Chickasaw Bluff, south of the confluence of the Wolf and Mississippi rivers....

. On November 16, 1925, a chapel in Memphis was dedicated by Elder George F. Richards

George F. Richards

George Franklin Richards was a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from April 9, 1906 until his death...

of the Quorum of the Twelve. By 1930, about 2832 members lived in the Middle and East Tennessee Districts.

On April 18, 1965, the Memphis Stake, Tennessee’s first, was created by Elder Howard W. Hunter

Howard W. Hunter

Howard William Hunter was the fourteenth president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from 1994 to 1995. His nine month presidential tenure is the shortest in the history of the Church...

of the Quorum of the Twelve. On March 15–16, 1997, more than 6500 people attended a meeting where President Gordon B. Hinckley

Gordon B. Hinckley

Gordon Bitner Hinckley was an American religious leader and author who served as the 15th President of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from March 12, 1995 until his death...

spoke in the Knoxville

Knoxville, Tennessee

Founded in 1786, Knoxville is the third-largest city in the U.S. state of Tennessee, U.S.A., behind Memphis and Nashville, and is the county seat of Knox County. It is the largest city in East Tennessee, and the second-largest city in the Appalachia region...

Civic Coliseum

James White Civic Coliseum

General James White Memorial Civic Auditorium and Coliseum is a 7,141-seat multi-purpose arena, in Knoxville, Tennessee. It was built in 1961....

.

Following Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina

Hurricane Katrina of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season was a powerful Atlantic hurricane. It is the costliest natural disaster, as well as one of the five deadliest hurricanes, in the history of the United States. Among recorded Atlantic hurricanes, it was the sixth strongest overall...

in 2005, several thousand Latter-day Saint volunteers, from a 7 state area (including Tennessee), went to Louisiana

Louisiana

Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...

and Mississippi

Mississippi

Mississippi is a U.S. state located in the Southern United States. Jackson is the state capital and largest city. The name of the state derives from the Mississippi River, which flows along its western boundary, whose name comes from the Ojibwe word misi-ziibi...

. Many of them taking time out of their jobs or came down on the weekends to help anyone needing assistance (Mormon

Mormon

The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...

and non-Mormon).

Tennessee "Mormons" volunteered relief in their own area on several occasions including the April 2, 2006 Tornado Outbreak

April 2, 2006 Tornado Outbreak

The April 2, 2006 Central United States tornado outbreak was a series of tornadoes that occurred during the late afternoon and evening of April 2, 2006 in the central United States. It was the second major outbreak of 2006, in the same area that suffered considerable destruction in a previous...

, and the April 6–8, 2006 Tornado Outbreak.

In 2007, 360 members of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir

Mormon Tabernacle Choir

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, sometimes colloquially referred to as MoTab, is a Grammy and Emmy Award winning, 360-member, all-volunteer choir. The choir is part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . However, the choir is completely self-funded, traveling and producing albums to...

and 65 members of the Orchestra at Temple Square

Orchestra at Temple Square

The Orchestra at Temple Square is a 110-member orchestra located in Salt Lake City, UT. The Orchestra was created in 1999 under the direction of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Church President Gordon B. Hinckley as part of the creative initiative to continually strengthen and...

performed at the Gaylord Entertainment Center

Gaylord Entertainment Center

Bridgestone Arena, is an all-purpose venue in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, that was completed in 1996.-Ownership and usage:...

in Nashville (June 30), and at the FedEx Forum in Memphis (July 2).

In September 2008, Latter-day Saints from both of the Memphis stakes went to the Baton Rouge area to aid clean up efforts following Hurricane Gustav

Hurricane Gustav

The name Gustav has been used for five tropical cyclones in the Atlantic Ocean:* 1984's Tropical Storm Gustav - Spent most of its existence as a tropical depression hovering over Bermuda, no major damage was reported....

Membership History

Year	LDS Membership
1834	31
1890	136
1906	841
1930	2,832
1980	15,839
1990	23,007
1999	31,104
2008	43,179

Stakes

There are 10 stakes with their stake center located in Tennessee. Since The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints have no paid clergy, stake presidents, bishops, etc. have their own occupation.

Stakes with their stake center in Tennessee and their current stake presidents are as follows:

Stake	Organized	Stake President	Occupation
Chattanooga Tennessee	May 21, 1978	Richard G. Youngblood	chief operating officer for Blood Assurance
Franklin Tennessee	Dec. 2 1979	William P. Grayson	executive director of St. Thomas Medical Group
Kingsport Tennessee	January 13, 1980	Sean Stewart McMurray	chief executive officer at Johnston Hospital
Knoxville Tennessee	June 25, 1972	Benjamin Todd Morgenegg	district sales coordinator at AFLAC Aflac Aflac Incorporated is the largest provider of supplemental insurance in the United States, founded in 1955 and based in Columbus, Georgia. In the United States, Aflac underwrites a wide range of insurance policies, but is perhaps more known for its payroll deduction insurance coverage, which pays...
Knoxville Tennessee Cumberland	Nov. 17 1996	Douglas Shane Cruze	vice president, global information security at NOVA
Madison Tennessee	June 9, 2007	Peter J. Abernathy
McMinnville Tennessee	August 18, 1991	Cordell H. Crawford	Grant writer
Memphis Tennessee	April 18, 1965	Steven Moyle Dorius	tax attorney at International Paper
Memphis Tennessee North	Sept. 14, 1980	C.E. Zobell	general counsel for Peabody Hotel Group
Nashville Tennessee	Dec. 6 1970	Kevin Mackenzie Tipps	manager, gen. liability at Travelers Insurance Co.

Missions

The Southern States Mission was formally organized in 1875 with its headquarters in Nashville. Then in 1882, the headquarters moved to Chattanooga, until in 1919, it moved to Atlanta, GA. Tennessee remained in the Southern States Mission until the creation of the East Central States Mission in 1928. In 1975, the Tennessee Nashville Mission was organized. In 1993, the Tennessee Knoxville was organized from the Tennessee Nashville Mission.

Mission	Current Mission President
Tennessee Nashville Mission	William L. Mckee
Tennessee Knoxville Mission	James E. Griffin

Temples

On November 12, 1994, a letter sent to priesthood leaders announced plans to build a temple in Nashville. However, after three unsuccessful years of trying to gain approvals, Church leaders announced on April 25, 1998, they would move ahead with plans to build a temple somewhere else in the Nashville area, and said the temple would be substantially smaller in size. That fall, on September 17, 1998, the first presidency announced it would build a second temple in Tennessee, this one in Memphis

Memphis Tennessee Temple

The Memphis Tennessee Temple is the 80th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.Ground was broken for the Memphis Tennessee Temple on 16 January 1999. The temple in Memphis serves more than 20,000 members in Tennessee, Arkansas, Mississippi, and Missouri. On April 23,...

. The temple in the suburb of Bartlett

Bartlett, Tennessee

Bartlett is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and part of the Memphis metropolitan area. The population was 54,613 at the 2010 census.-History:...

was dedicated on April 23, 2000. The Next month, on May 21, 2000, the Nashville Tennessee Temple

Nashville Tennessee Temple

The Nashville Tennessee Temple is the 84th operating temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.The temple was built next to an existing meetinghouse about twenty miles southwest of Nashville. The temple's exterior is constructed from Imperial Danby white marble and has a single...

, in the suburb of Franklin

Franklin, Tennessee

Franklin is a city within and the county seat of Williamson County, Tennessee, United States. The population was 62,487 as of the 2010 census Franklin is located approximately south of downtown Nashville.-History:...

, was dedicated.
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Prominent members connected with Tennessee

D. Todd Christofferson
D. Todd Christofferson
David Todd Christofferson is a member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . He has been a general authority of the church since 1993...

, called to the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles on April 5, 2008, was senior vice president and general counsel for Commerce Union Bank of Tennessee in Nashville. He was also active in community affairs and interfaith organizations. He was the chair of the Middle Tennessee Literacy Coalition and the chair of Affordable Housing of Nashville.

External links

LDS Newsroom (Tennessee)
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Official Site
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints - Visitors Site

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