Once again, Robert Jeffress is the talk of the nation because of his political views.
If you live outside Dallas, you probably have an image of First Baptist Church of Dallas as one of the largest and most prominent megachurches in America.
News flash: It is not.
Robert Jeffress posted this photo of him with Donald Trump in November 2024.
Which makes it all the more curious that Jeffress has found a platform as one of the best-known pastors-political commentators in the nation. His political influence far outstretches his pastoral influence.
There was a day when First Baptist Dallas was, indeed, one of the largest churches in America. That was decades ago. Two things have changed since then: More megachurches have popped up and grown bigger than ever, and First Baptist Dallas has shrunk in attendance.
The glory days of George W. Truett and W.A. Criswell are gone.
First Baptist Dallas claims to have 16,000 members. If so, they must not have cleaned up their membership rolls in decades. Actual in-person Sunday attendance is, at most, 3,500 people. A statistical report handed out to members in April this year showed Sunday school enrollment of 7,421 and Sunday school attendance of 3,410.
Hartford Institute on Religion Research, the most reliable curator of data on America’s megachurches, reports First Baptist Dallas has an average Sunday worship attendance of 2,632 people.
The newish worship center at First Baptist Dallas seats only 3,000 people. Two Sunday morning services are held in there, plus a smaller service in a chapel, and video of the two main services shows plenty of empty seats.
As BNG previously reported, there are 200 churches in Texas alone with larger Sunday attendance than First Baptist Dallas. Hartford Institute defines a megachurch as a congregation that has more than 2,000 people in average Sunday worship attendance. First Baptist Dallas sits at the low end of that threshold. Average weekend attendance at megachurches in America is 4,022.
An aerial view of First Baptist Church of Dallas looking northwest across Downtown and Uptown Dallas. The bulidings in the foreground with white roofs belong to First Baptist, as well as the parking deck in the foregound and other buildings beyond the curved white roof, which is the new Worship Center. (BNG photo by Mark Wingfield)
Compared to the average church in America, which has fewer than 80 people in Sunday worship, First Baptist Dallas is huge. But compared to other megachurches, First Baptist Dallas is small.
However, First Baptist Dallas has two things few other churches have: Vast real estate holdings and lots of cash.
Depending on how you count a “block,” First Baptist Dallas owns four or five city blocks in downtown Dallas. This is legacy property accumulated mainly during the Criswell era. But through some of the most successful capital campaigns in U.S. history, the church has built enormous new buildings that include state-of-the art technology. The current project to rebuild the historic sanctuary that burned two years ago clocks in at an astonishing $127 million — of which the church at large will give about $12 million.
Map from First Baptist Dallas website
First Baptist’s real estate includes five parking garages that also generate $2.5 million in annual income for the church from weekday parkers.
The church’s annual budget is more than $42 million. Finding comparative data from other churches is an imprecise science, but it is safe to say there are maybe a dozen other churches in America with annual budgets exceeding $42 million. When you consider that First Baptist Dallas is one of the smallest megachurches by attendance yet has one of the largest annual budgets of any church in America, it becomes clearer what’s going on here.
First Baptist Dallas has more money than it has people. It is one of the wealthiest churches in America. Its image is enhanced locally by high-visibility billboards on major highways, local TV ads and a huge social media presence.
All this works together to give the impression that First Baptist Dallas is huge and influential. And that is what Jeffress capitalizes on to advance his national media image.
There are only a handful of megachurch pastors in America whom the average citizen might recognize by name: Jack Graham at Prestonwood Baptist, Josh Howerton at Lakepointe, Andy Stanley at NorthPoint, David Platt at McLean Bible Church. But Jeffress has risen above them all in name recognition because of his commentaries on Fox News and his association with Donald Trump.
And by the way, dear reader, his name is Jeffress — not Jeffers, not Jeffries or any other variation I see all across social media. Even fame can’t make people pronounce your name correctly.
Were it not for Donald Trump, Robert Jeffress would be barely known outside Dallas. He’s carved out his lane, and it seems to be working fine for him. Just remember: He’s leading one of the wealthiest churches in America but not one of the largest.
Mark Wingfield serves as executive director and publisher of Baptist News Global and has lived in Dallas for 28 years.
Related:
Robert Jeffress, apostate | Analysis by Mara Richards Bim
Hobby Lobby founder gives $7 million to rebuild First Baptist Dallas