Six weeks after one of the best-known Southern Baptist sanctuaries in America burned in a four-alarm fire, no cause of the blaze has been determined, according to officials at First Baptist Church of Dallas.
Executive Pastor Ben Lovvorn has been posting frequent video updates to the congregation on the church’s website. As of Friday, Aug. 30, no cause for the fire had been determined, and Lovvorn said it may take several more weeks to answer that question.
On Tuesday, Aug. 27, he reported: “The investigation into the cause of the fire will continue in the historic Sanctuary site for the next few weeks. The Dallas Fire Department is leading this effort, in conjunction with others. Crews were able to retrieve some historical items from the Sanctuary basement. We will be using a sophisticated, months-long process to potentially restore these items.”
Firefighters blast water into the historic sanctuary of First Baptist Dallas July 19. (Photo by Jim Pike)
In an earlier video, Lovvorn was shown standing amid the rubble at the site where the pulpit of George W. Truett and W.A. Criswell once stood.
The downtown megachurch could not hold Sunday school classes for four weeks, due to smoke damage in adjacent buildings. Now, those classes are running again, with special footpaths created between parking garages and the buildings reopened. First Baptist Dallas occupies several blocks of prime real estate in downtown Dallas.
The historic sanctuary was built in 1890 and served as the congregation’s primary worship space until a new modern worship center opened next door in 2013.
Although First Baptist lists 16,000 members on its rolls, the church’s reported average Sunday attendance is less than 3,000, according to the Hartford Institute for Religion Research. There are more than 200 larger churches in the state of Texas.
The church maintains a national profile because of its history and because its current pastor, Robert Jeffress, is a contributor to Fox News.
The church’s 2013 worship space cost a reported $130 million to build, which was one of the largest church construction projects in modern American history.
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