Category Archives: Churches

Temple at the Falls

Idaho Falls Temple on River

Situated on a pretty spot on the Snake River in Idaho Falls, Idaho is the Mormon Church’s Idaho Falls Temple. Next to the Falls it may be the most noticeable feature of the city. It is almost pure white and has a gold statue on top.

Idaho Falls Temple HDR

Groundbreaking started in 1939 and the Temple dedicated in 1945 and is still in use. It is not open to non-members but they do have a visitor center on the grounds open to everyone. I don’t think they mind visitors checking out the beautiful flowers on the ground.

Idaho Falls Temple Moroni

An interesting feature of most, not all LDS Temples, is the Angel Moroni. Interestingly enough the suggestion to add the statue to Mormon temples came from a non-Mormon sculptor, Cyrus Dallin. Almost everything you ever wanted to know about the Angel Moroni is here. He almost always faces east. I was too lazy to walk around the temple to get a picture of the front of the statue.

InSPIREed Sunday – Tulsa Bible Baptist Temple

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I’ve been meaning to stop and take a few pics of the Bible Baptist Temple on Apache Street close to Tulsa’s Airport for a while. I waited until it was raining to do so.

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What has always attracted me to it is the unique A Frame structure. You might see A Frames in Brighton, Utah or Aspen, Colorao but not too many of them are in Tulsa. There is also no windows, at least that one can see from the street. They have a web site and a facebook site with a little bit of information (I love how they incorporated “aframe” into their web address). So I really don’t have much information about what they are about.

The grounds and parking lot are kept in pretty good shape at least.

Do you have any “A Frame” style churches near where you live?

InSPIRed Sunday

Somebody Needs to Explain to Me Why….

Christian Science Church

I like to go walking around downtown at lunch and check stuff out. I see lots of stuff that I don’t get. For example the First Church of Christ Science on Boulder Avenue. I love the building, it is beautiful and they have not crapped it up with additions or a “Family Life Center” or other trendy additions and checking out their web site they seem to be pretty active. Tulsa’s downtown churches, unlike lots of downtown churches in other cities, actually thrive.

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The front of the building is nice. So what I don’t get and maybe one of you can explain to me is…

First Christian Church Signs

Why don’t they spend a little more on their signs?

Do you know why?

InSPIREd Sunday – The Church of Saint Mary

Church of Saint Mary
(I love that  big massive cross. Didn’t use to but it has grown on me. My various lomography cameras throw the guys at Walgreens off sometimes. I don’t know why these images are reversed.)

The Church of Saint Mary is a Catholic Church located just off Peoria in the Brookside area of Tulsa. It is close to the rec center where son has done his improv comedy workshops the last couple years or so. So I have scoured the park, the church grounds, and the surrounding neighborhood with my camera while he is in his class.

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(I can’t wait for Spring when everything will be lush and green.)

The grounds of the church and associated school are quite extensive and well landscaped and has a lot of interesting things to see and photograph.

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Of course my favorites are the statue of Saint Mary and the bas relief carved into the bricks of one of the the walls. I also like the massive concrete cross at the front of the church.

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(Double exposure, fisheye. I’ve posted this before.)

Plus the school has a very colorful playground.

Church and School of Saint Mary Playground
(I’ve posted this before. Note the shadow selfie.)

I’ve never got tired photographing it. I’ll probably be doing it for a couple more years.

Do you have an area that you return to many times to photograph?

InSPIREd Sunday

Inspired Sunday – Kansas City LDS Temple

A couple weeks ago while driving through Kansas City on my way from Tulsa to South Dakota I saw a very striking building next to the freeway. I took the next exit and made my way to it.

#lds #temple #kansascity #roadtrip nobody builds a temple like the #mormons

Turns out that the building was a brand spanking new Mormon (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints) Temple. Ground had been broken in 2010 and it was dedicated in May 2012. 

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The thing about the LDS Temples is that once they are dedicated they are not open to the public at all. Beforehand though they offer tours to the general public. I toured the Oklahoma City Temple in 2000 before it was dedicated. The exterior was not as spectactular as this one in Kansas City but I was struck by the exquisiteness and craftsmanship of interior in both the building and the furnishings. Here is a link to a chuch site that explains the purpose of temples among other information.

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Here is another site that has a lot of information about the this temple in particular and temples in general. Turns out that the LDS Church dedicated two other sites in Missouri back in the 1830’s before the church and is members were driven out of the state so the temples never got built. So the dedication of this temple was especially meaningful to members of the church.

Inspired Sunday

Inspired Sunday – Sioux Valley Baptist Church

Last week I wasn’t blogging, I drove to South Dakota to attend the family reunion of my Dad’s side of the family.

Sioux Valley Baptist Church

A traditional part of the reunion is to attend the service at Sioux Valley Baptist Church near Del Rapids. The church is a humble very honest and impeccably maintained building on a dirt road. The first service was held Thanksgiving Day 1888 and it has been going strong ever since.

(Photo from ancestry.com)

The church was built by a group of Scandanavian Immigrants. The man pictured above, my Great Great Grandfather Nels Norgaard donated the acre of land that the church is built on. And that is why the Norgaard clain attends church service at the church before the picnic in Del Rapids.

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The service was well attended and the hospitality was warm. The pastor, Rita Weber introduced herself and welcomed everybody individually before the service. I got the impression that she does that every service. Turns out that there was a man in the church and a member of the familiy who grew in Bartlesville, Oklahoma and he and his daughter, and her boyfriend also from Oklahoma attending the University of Central Oklahoma. Pastor Brown said during the service that the church had never had so many Oklahomans in the building ever. I felt like saying “Rita, we are Okies, not Oklahomans” but I was doing my best to behave myself.

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The service was very warm with great singing and Pastor Webb delivered a great sermon. The whole experience was very warm, welcoming, and encouraging. I love the Bible verse on the plaque above. I think that a small country church that has been hanging in there doing the good work for 125 years deserves that verse.

Sioux Valley Baptist Church

Here is my sister and fellow blogger Ellen. She posted about the church and our family here. She has a great photograph of She, our brother, father, and me on the post.

Inspired Sunday 

Pastor Rita Weber’s web site. Check it out, she is quite the woman and a great pastor.

If you are geocaching minded, there is no geocache on the grounds but the church has been listed as a waypoint on the geocaching offshoot site  waypoint dot com here.

Our World – Idaho Falls Temple

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The Idaho Falls Idaho Temple is located right on the east bank of the Snake River in Idaho Falls, Idaho. It is a beautiful gleaming white structure constructed of reinforced concrete. The exterior is covered with a cast stone of quartz aggregate and white cement which gives it the bright white appearance.

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It is owned by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the “Mormons”).

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Construction was started in 1939. Completion was delayed by World War II and the building was dedicated in 1945. It was the first Temple in Idaho, and only the tenth ever constructed. The church now has 138 worldwide. It was the first Temple built with a single spire design.

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I’m going to venture off and display my architectural ignorance and say that the church has a vaguely art deco design. Given that, the building was inspired by a vision of an ancient Nephite temple by architect John Fetzer, Sr., who had prayed for guidance.

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The Temple spire is topped by a statue of the Angel Moroni.

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Temples are not used as churches for regular worship. They are considered to be a house of the Lord, and a place to make covenants, receive instructions, and perform special ordinances. After dedication, they are open only to members of the faith in good standing. Before dedication they are open for a few days to the public. This is called “Open House.” I toured the Oklahoma City Temple in 2000 during its Open House. I was very impressed with the building and the care that went into its construction.

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Although the Temple itself is not open to the public there is an adjacent visitor center. We were on a family walk up and down the river so we didn’t go through the visitor center or view the adjacent gardens and water features. (We missed out!)

Our World

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Our World – Boston Avenue Church

Boston Avenue Church

Boston Avenue Church is one of my favorite subjects and used to be the Yogi family church. It is an art deco design structure completed in 1929. The architects of the church are Bruce Goff and Adah Robinson. The interior is just as beautiful as the interior. If you want to see it the Church offers tours after the 11 AM service on Sundays.

Our World Tuesday

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Signs – Morning Line Church

Spotted close to a huge Indian Casino in southern Oklahoma

morning line chapel

The chapel is not a gimmick nor is it the latest and greatest in “Name it, Claim it” Prosperity Gospel,  it houses a hard working chaplain for a local horse race track. It is part of The Race Track Chaplaincy of America a network of 62 chaplains all across America. As described in The Surebet Racing News:


In addition to holding weekly services and prayer meetings, many racetrack Chaplains also perform marriages, officiate at funerals, and serve as marriage counselors, drug counselors. They are good listeners. Much as with your traditional Minister, they do whatever is needed. That is their calling.”

Signs, Signs