Although known as the Medford Oregon Temple, the 10,700-square-foot building is on Taylor Road in Central Point.

The weeklong open house is an effort to introduce nonmembers to the faith while giving them an opportunity to see the inside of a Mormon temple, explained Stake President Ed Hanson.

Once it is dedicated on April 16, the temple will be open only to faithful church members.

The temple, which cost nearly $3 million to build, is the 79th Mormon temple built worldwide. It will serve more than 28,600 members of the Mormon church who live within the temple district, which covers Southern Oregon and Northern California.

After Church President Gordon B. Hinckley announced the goal to build 100 temples worldwide by the end of 2000, he encouraged stake presidents to send applications for temple sites. The six presidents in Southern Oregon, noting that the area was halfway

between the temples in Portland and Oakland, Calif., applied for a temple to be built in the Rogue Valley.

The request was approved. Ground was broken May 20, 1999.

"We have witnessed tremendous growth in the church and expect that to continue," explained Hanson, a retired Oregon State Police officer.

Previously, Mormons in Southern Oregon had to travel to Portland to attend a temple, he said.

There are nine stakes in the temple district, including Grants Pass, Coos Bay, Roseburg, Klamath Falls, Central Point and Medford in Oregon. The three stakes in California are Eureka, Redding and Anderson. Each stake has about 3,000 members.

Although the temple appears palatial from the outside with its polished granite exterior and the gold statue of the Angel Moroni atop a column, it is designed to be functional inside.

The temple is considered a "House of the Lord" where weddings, baptisms and instruction in the Mormon faith will take place, Hanson said.

Like other Mormon temples, it will be closed on Sundays. However, a stake center adjacent to the temple is available for members to worship on Sundays.