DALLAS (ABP) — First Baptist Church in Dallas has called one of its own products, Robert Jeffress, to become its new senior pastor.
According to a statement on the church's website, more than 3,000 congregants affirmed the 51-year-old at an Aug. 12 service in First Baptist's storied sanctuary.
Jeffress is currently the pastor of First Baptist Church of Wichita Falls, Texas. He attended First Baptist Dallas as a child and had previously worked there as a youth minister, according to the Dallas Morning News .
First Baptist has been without a senior pastor since early 2006, when Mac Brunson left to become pastor of First Baptist Church in Jacksonville, Fla.
Legendary ministers W.A. Criswell and George Truett — each of whom led the Dallas church for roughly a half-century — rose to denomination-wide fame from its pulpit. The church has been a fixture since 1868 in downtown Dallas, where its current campus covers six city blocks. The evangelist Billy Graham has been a member of the congregation since the 1950s.
Jeffress earned degrees from Baylor University, Dallas Theological Seminary and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He will begin full-time ministry at the church Sept. 16.