The keys of the kingdom of God are committed unto man on the earth, and from thence shall the gospel roll forth unto the ends of the earth, as the stone which is cut out of the mountain without hands shall roll forth, until it has filled the whole earth. — D&C 65:2; see Daniel 2:45

Daniel's prophecy of the stone rolling forth to the ends of the earth has suddenly become more tangible as the number of temples will soon have doubled in the short period of some two and a half years.

Temple worship and the blessings of the temple are basic to Church membership, and have been an influential factor behind the deepest of life-changing decisions ranging from marriage to migrations, said Elder David E. Sorensen of the Presidency of the Seventy and executive director of the Temple Department.

"Some of my forebears came to this country because they wanted the blessings of a temple," said Elder Sorensen. "That was probably more of a motivating force for them to come to Zion, than anything else."

Now, however, the proliferation of temples across the world has eliminated the 19th century need for migration and "like the tide that lifts all ships" local temples will elevate the spiritual level and stabilize the growth of the entire Church, said Elder Sorensen.

In the areas where new temples have been constructed, overall temple activity has increased by 25 percent. Another indicator of the increasing dedication of members to temple work is that now, an average of more than 70 percent of temple work Churchwide is done for patrons' family names, as opposed to a decade ago when 70 percent of temple work was done for those whose names were supplied by the Church extraction program.

The growth of temples has been dramatic. The Church had four operating temples in 1900, eight in 1950, 16 in 1975, 37 in 1985, and 47 in 1995. During just 1999, there will be 15 temples dedicated in six nations, which is more temples in more nations than were operating in 1973 after 143 years of Church history. In the year 2000, more than 40 temples may well be dedicated in some 13 nations, which is more than were dedicated in 155 years of Church history. Yet the statistics, important as they are, do not tell the real significance of the expansion.

In describing the impact of temples, Elder Sorensen told of his parents in the small, central Utah farming community of Aurora, which is 35 miles from the Manti Utah Temple. It was here his forebears settled after immigrating from Scandinavian countries.

"My parents were faithful and regular temple attenders," he recalled in a recent interview. "In those days World War II was on, and I remember them saving their gas coupons so that they could accumulate enough to go to the temple. I remember my mother carefully laundering and taking care of the sacred temple clothing. We children would listen and learn from her as she prepared this clothing."

Elder Sorensen continued that some years later, "I went to the Manti temple for my own blessings, and that was an all-day event in our lives. I was fortunate that my parents felt strongly enough about the temple to take time from their labors — my father was a farmer — to attend with me. My father was so considerate, so faithful. He went with me when I was preparing for a mission. I will always be grateful to him for that."

Temple attendance brought a spirit of harmony into the home, he said. "We children milked the cows and did the chores while father and mother attended the temple. We were grateful to do it, expected to do it and, frankly, we looked forward to doing it because we knew the joy they received while worshipping in the temple."

He told of other life experiences with temples, such as having youth leaders who were temple workers; being married for time and eternity to his wife, the former Verla Anderson, in the Manti temple; and volunteering full-time for two weeks to help in a construction project at the Manti temple. "There my mother-in-law, Iris Anderson, was working faithfully as an ordinance worker."

He said that his wife, Verla, recalls her grandparents walking hand-in-hand toward the Manti temple with a small case carrying their sacred clothing.

He said that "the more frequently you go to the temple, the stronger the bonds between husband and wife. So as people come to the temple and worship, they fortify and strengthen husbands and wives and their relationships with their children."

As new temples were built across the land during his adult years, Brother Sorensen felt a connection with each of them, and was thrilled with the addition of each new edifice. He was particularly pleased when a temple was built in what was then called "the mission field."

"Temples benefit the mission field, because there is a direct link from the blessings of the temple to the blessings of membership through missionary work," he said. "The whole concept that President Gordon B. Hinckley has yearned for and taught about is that we are determined to take the temples to the people. That has been a very important and significant thing."

Taking the temples to the people has been largely a 20th century concept. As the century began with four Utah temples in operation, missionary work had already created the need for a local temple in a distant land. Missionaries in the Hawaiian Islands had a large colony of converts for whom a temple was unavailable. Some of these Hawaiian members moved to the west desert in Utah in 1889 to be nearer to the temple. However, this colony, Iosepa, was disbanded in 1910 and the Hawaiians returned to their island, adding to the large LDS population. Missionaries in 1913 estimated that 22 percent of the Hawaiian population was LDS. So in 1915, President Joseph F. Smith, who had been a missionary to Hawaii and understood the situation there on a first-hand basis, recommended that a temple be built in Hawaii.

Over the decades that followed, many temples were added in both the United States and in other countries. In the 1950s, temples announced by President David O. McKay were completed in Switzerland, New Zealand and London. In the 1960s and early 1970s, more Utah temples were built as well as the towering Washington D.C. Temple. In the late 1970s and 1980s, temples announced by President Spencer W. Kimball, and later by his counselor, President Gordon B. Hinckley, were completed in Brazil, Japan, Samoa, Tonga, Chile, French Polynesia, Mexico, Australia, Taiwan, Philippines, Guatemala, Germany, Sweden, South Africa, Korea, Peru and Argentina, and in the United States. In the 1990s, temples were built in Canada, Hong Kong, England, Spain, Colombia, Ecuador and the United States.

One of the most revolutionary advances in taking temples to the members, however, came with the 1997 October general conference announcement by President Gordon B. Hinckley that smaller temples would be located in "many areas of the Church that are remote, where the membership is small and not likely to grow very much in the near future," President Hinckley said as he made the announcement. "Are those who live in these places to be denied forever the blessings of the temple ordinances? While visiting such an area a few months ago, we prayerfully pondered this question. The answer came bright and clear.

"We would construct small temples in some of these areas, buildings with all of the facilities to administer all of the ordinances. They would be built to temple standards, which are much higher than meetinghouse standards. They would accommodate baptisms for the dead, the endowment service, sealings, and all other ordinances to be had in the Lord's House for both the living and the dead.

"They would be presided over by local men called as temple presidents. . . . Patrons would be expected to have their own temple clothing, thereby making unnecessary the construction of very costly laundries. A simple laundry would take care of baptismal clothing. There would be no eating facilities."

The following April, he announced that 30 such temples would be started in the near future. Since that announcement, 11 of these temples have been dedicated and up to 40 others are scheduled for completion. These temples will carry the blessings of eternal sealings into such far corners as Accra, Ghana; Kiev, Ukraine; and Perth Australia, plus many others.

"I call it the revelation on temples," said Elder Sorensen. "I think President Hinckley will be remembered as the builder of temples in the dispensation of the fulness of times."

These temples have and will cut the travel time and literally make temples available for hundreds of thousands of members. These temples "are a blessing to the people, and when the people are blessed, the Church is blessed," said Elder Sorensen. "We know that as members increase their worthiness, they have the faith to pay their tithes and offerings. When they pay their tithes and offerings, they prosper. Their health is better, their strength is improved, their economic circumstances improve and then their whole communities are lifted, like leaven in bread, or as the salt of the earth.

"When one is qualified to go to the temple, one makes a better friend, a better father or mother, a better husband or wife, a better neighbor as he or she tries to follow the teachings of the Master."

Elder Sorensen said that as families in areas once distant from temples begin to attend their new local temple, "The spirit of temple work that we have in our home will begin to permeate the homes of Latter-day Saints all over the world."

Now, instead of spending their allotment of temple time in caravans traveling to and from temples, they will spend it inside temples. Instead of saving for two years to attend a distant temple, they will be able to use their resources for their families, and for family research.

"People are connecting with their own ancestors, and this is a motivational, spiritual experience," said Elder Sorensen. "The ability to do research is increasing at the same time as the number of temples; it is a web effect and it makes a person so much stronger."

Under the plan for small temples, members also own and care for their own temple clothing. This becomes "a reminder of the importance of the temple" as well, he said. Another strengthening aspect of a nearby temple is that "we are seeing temple presidents and matrons raised up all over the world. They never would have had an opportunity to serve in these callings were it not for these smaller temples and the whole idea of bringing temples to the people. And the same for the counselors and the sealers and all of the workers; it all has a multiplying effect."

He said that at a time when families across the world are disintegrating, "this Church and the prophet are stepping forward and declaring to the world that we have a way to strengthen families, and that families are forever."

"Temples become a bridge between heaven and earth, and temple worship is the highest form of worship the Church has to offer. We have confidence that the Lord will raise up a righteous people in numbers heretofore unknown to claim their blessing in the temple."