A massive, four-alarm fire broke out in the historic chapel of First Baptist Church of Dallas last Friday.
But the flames failed to destroy the sanctuary’s historic pulpit.
“It’s truly a miracle, especially when you see the area where this pulpit was on display engulfed in flames.”
As the church began assessing the damage this week, it was discovered that the pulpit in the chapel, used by Baptist preachers including George Truett and W.A. Criswell, had survived the fire.
“Words cannot express how grateful I am for this miracle,” said O.S. Hawkins, former senior pastor of Dallas FBC.
“While the fire completely destroyed the church, somehow, miraculously, this 130-year-old pulpit of Truett and Criswell and the rest of our congregation survived. Thank you, Lord,” he praised.
The church’s current senior pastor, the Rev. Robert Jeffries, called it a “true miracle” that the pulpit survived.
“This is truly a miracle, especially when you see the area where this pulpit was on display engulfed in flames,” he said.
Not only was the pulpit found relatively intact, church leaders received further good news this week.
It was initially thought that the fire had done so much damage that it had compromised the structural integrity of the historic building, which has been in use since the 1890s, and if that had been the case, the entire building would have been demolished.
But lead pastor Ben Loveborn said the church has permission from the city to renovate the building.
“We have received permission from the city to begin work on preserving these historic walls,” Lovorn said. Said“There are no guarantees how this will work or even if it will be successful, but we have permission to try. We intend to do everything we can to protect the exterior walls of this historic sanctuary.”
“Church, it’s an answered prayer,” Lovborn added.
The cause of the fire has not yet been determined and the investigation is ongoing.
Meanwhile, Pastor Jeffress revealed that former President Donald Trump contacted him after the fire to offer help.
“I don’t think my support for President Trump has anything to do with this fire,” Jeffries said. Said KTVT-TV. “I received a lovely letter from the president, who had spoken at our church before, and he offered to do whatever he could.”
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