An investigation is underway to determine the cause of a massive four-alarm fire that destroyed a historic chapel at First Baptist Dallas Church.
Meanwhile, church leaders say they’re forging ahead with plans to continue services in the coming days and weeks.
It’s been three days, and people are still curious and compelled to go to the site and see what’s left of the historic chapel in downtown Dallas. For those with deep connections to the church, decades of memories are in the rubble.
Executive pastor Ben Lovvorn was baptized here as a young boy and married here years later.
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“Believe it or not, my family has been in this church for five generations, over one hundred years,” he said. “So, I grew up, just like our pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress, sitting in that room, the historic sanctuary.”
As a church leader, the short-term goal is to bring the congregation back into the adjacent sanctuary, which will take some work between today and Sunday morning. Lovvorn said they’re working to ensure the air is clean and items are sanitized.
The historic chapel went up in flames Friday evening and took some 50 units to control. No deaths or injuries were reported after the blaze broke out Friday evening in the Texas Historic Landmark, a Victorian-style red brick church built in 1890. It took firefighters about three hours to contain the blaze.
On Monday pastors joined engineers to present a 200-page report to Dallas Fire Rescue, which helps determine whether investigators will have full access to the building.
“It presents a plan that would allow us to construct a structure that would help us secure the building. In the meantime, make sure everything is safe,” Lovvorn said. “It would also preserve the site so that they’re able to do what they want to do.”
The cause of the fire is still under investigation, but services will go on. The damage to the historic chapel is extensive, but there’s hope that what remains can be preserved and become part of what’s built on the site in the future.
“There are people across the country and even across the world who have ties to First Baptist Dallas,” said Lovvorn. “But our message to them is First Baptist Dallas stands stronger than ever. We are more committed than ever to transforming the world with the truth of God’s word.”
