First Baptist Dallas, which saw its 134-year-old historic sanctuary destroyed in a fire last year, got a $7 million donation from Hobby Lobby to continue rebuilding the sanctuary, the church’s pastor said Sunday.
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Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of the church, said at First Baptist’s Sunday service that the total estimated cost of the rebuilding is about $127 million, with insurance covering about $100 million worth of the project. Of the remaining $27 million, Jeffress said the church had already raised $5 million when Hobby Lobby CEO David Green approached him to donate $7 million towards the renovation if the church could raise another $7 million of its own.
Jeffress said he approached a family within the church, who agreed to give the full $7 million after praying on it for a day. With Green’s matching donation, First Baptist is now “within spitting distance” of its goal.
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“We are deeply grateful for the extraordinary generosity of David Green and his family for this gift that will go a long way in helping us rebuild our historic sanctuary in the heart of Downtown Dallas,” Jeffress said in a statement to The Dallas Morning News. “David said to me, ‘We want to invest in organizations that are winning people to faith in Jesus Christ, and that is exactly what First Baptist Church Dallas is doing.’”
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The church sanctuary, located in the heart of downtown Dallas, was destroyed in July 2024 by a four-alarm fire. The cause of the fire remains undetermined.
Church officials have previously told The News that the church hopes to break ground on the new sanctuary in January 2026, with an estimated completion date of Easter 2028.