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First Baptist Dallas gets approval to try to save walls of historic sanctuary

The sanctuary, which has stood in downtown Dallas for more than 130 years, was severely damaged in a fire last week.

First Baptist Dallas has received approval from the city to attempt to preserve the exterior walls of its secondary chapel after it was severely damaged in a fire last week, the church announced in a video posted online Wednesday.

“I can make no guarantees about how that work will go or even if it will be successful, but we do have approval to try,” executive pastor Ben Lovvorn said of the preservation efforts.

The historic red brick sanctuary partially collapsed Friday during a four-alarm fire that firefighters say started in the building’s basement. The downtown chapel served as the church’s primary place of worship for over a century until First Baptist opened a new facility in 2013.

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Work to preserve part of the building would begin Thursday, Lovvorn said. “What that means for us is that when you arrive on campus next, this is gonna look very different. There will be a new structure of scaffolding and tabling that is built around the walls of this historic sanctuary.”

That scaffolding will secure the walls while the sanctuary is being rebuilt, he added.

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Lovvorn also read a Bible verse from the Book of Nehemiah that described the destruction and rebuilding of the walls around Jerusalem. “Then I said to them, ‘You see the trouble we’re in, how Jerusalem lies in ruins with its gates burned,’” Lovvorn said. “‘Come, let us build the wall of Jerusalem, that we may no longer suffer derision.’”

First Baptist Dallas started in 1868 with just three men and eight women, according to a story by The Dallas Morning News on its 150th anniversary. The church now has about 16,000 members, and was called the “Notre Dame” of the Southern Baptist Convention by the newly-elected president of the denomination after the fire last week.

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It is led by senior pastor Robert Jeffress, a religious leader well known nationally. Jeffress is a regular contributor to Fox News, and was one of former President Donald Trump’s most prominent Christian advisers.

Adrian Ashford covers faith and religion in North Texas for The Dallas Morning News through a partnership with Report for America.