What to expect
A FRIENDLY CROWD
Visitors often comment about how welcome our members make them feel. Going all the way back to the early days of our church’s long history, hospitality has always been high on our list of values at First Baptist Dallas. We love guests, and we love our church. Nothing pleases us more than introducing them to each other.
ALL KINDS OF PEOPLE
As a downtown church that has grown up with the area, we draw people from diverse backgrounds and from all over the Metroplex. Many find our congregation’s age diversity to be particularly appealing. Children are able to grow up worshiping side-by-side with “senior saints” who’ve been following God for 50 years or more. This is one place you’ll find generations without the gap.
THE DOWNTOWN VIBE
With the Arts District booming just around the corner from us, highrises and lofts, restaurants and shops going in all around and thousands of people moving back to the neighborhood, downtown is an exciting place to be. To us, it always has been. Commerce and the arts, law and government, civic and spiritual life all come together downtown. We’re as committed as ever to providing a thriving seven-day-a-week spiritual and educational community in the heart of Dallas.
MEET THE PASTOR
Dr. Robert Jeffress leads our congregation and preaches at most services. A gifted communicator, Dr. Jeffress (usually known simply as Robert) shares solid and often surprising principles from the scriptures. He sees the Bible not as a stern rulebook but as a practical instruction manual for living and the story of God’s love for us all.
Robert received his B.A. in business and communications at Baylor University, then went on to earn a master’s at Dallas Theological Seminary and a doctorate at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. Don’t let the string of academic degrees make you think he’s an ivory-tower theologian; he’s a thoroughly down-to-earth teacher. Just look at the titles of his 16 bestselling books, which include Grace Gone Wild!, Hell? Yes! and his newest, Second Chance, Second Act. He also hosts a TV show called Pathway to Victory that airs on more than 1,100 stations and cable systems in the U.S. and 13 foreign countries, as well as a radio version of the show that airs nationally. Robert and his wife, Amy, have two daughters.
150 YEARS IN ONE PARAGRAPH
Dallas in the mid-1800s was one wild and reckless burg. Several Baptist churches were run out of town before our determined little congregation took root in 1868. Our first building, on Akard, cost a whopping $6,000. We soon outgrew it. The cornerstone of the historic sanctuary where we worship today was laid in 1891. The campus now includes seven major buildings on six city blocks. Through the years, First Baptist Dallas has been a downtown anchor and a nationally recognized beacon of Bible teaching, a tradition extended to a new generation with the call of Dr. Robert Jeffress as pastor in 2007.