<\/p>\n
Sunday service at Greater El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Dallas, Sunday, April 19, 2026. The church is a historic Black church located in the Tenth Street Historic District and celebrating its 140th anniversary on April 25.<\/p>\n
Anja Schlein\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n
In a Dallas neighborhood where historic homes have dwindled, one Oak Cliff church is celebrating 140 years of serving the Tenth Street community.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re standing on the shoulders of individuals who helped plant the Black, African American community in the city of Dallas,\u201d said the Rev.\u00a0Slavoski Wright Sr., who grew up in the Greater El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church.<\/p>\n
Now senior pastor, Wright is working to grow the congregation and modernize the historic landmark. The church was built in a freedman\u2019s town, now the Tenth Street Historic District. It remains standing amid decaying homes and vacant lots, and isn\u2019t far from the city\u2019s new deck park atop Interstate 35E<\/a>, which is poised to bring economic growth to its surrounding areas.<\/p>\n The pastor wants to keep tradition alive, but not without embracing changes that could benefit the neighborhood.<\/p>\n Related: Tenth Street neighborhood, a treasure trove of Black history in Dallas, fights to remain intact<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cSometimes, change is inevitable,\u201d Wright said. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to find avenues to better serve the church, as it does change, and still serve our community.\u201d<\/p>\n While each anniversary comes with traditions, this year the church will host a block party and community fair that focuses on health, civic engagement and neighborhood restoration. The party starts at 11 a.m. on Saturday, outside the church on East Ninth Street.<\/p>\n The Rev.\u00a0Slavoski Wright Sr., the senior pastor at the historic Greater El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, sits in front of a bulletin board advertising the historic church\u2019s 140th anniversary celebration in Dallas, Friday, April 17, 2026.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/The Dallas Morning News A celebration of service<\/p>\n Charles Strain, deacon at Greater El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, stands in the church\u2019s original worship center in Dallas, Friday, April 17, 2026. The Tenth Street Historic District church is celebrating its 140th anniversary.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/The Dallas Morning News Charles Strain, deacon at Greater El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, grabs a book featuring the historic bell, which is no longer used, in the church in Dallas, Friday, April 17, 2026. The historic Tenth Street Historic District church is celebrating its 140th anniversary.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/The Dallas Morning News Slavoski Wright Sr., the senior pastor at Greater El Bethel Baptist Church, points to the balcony in the worship center in Dallas, Friday, April 17, 2026. The Tenth Street Historic District church is celebrating its 140th anniversary.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Greater El Bethel is partnering with\u00a0Baylor Scott & White Health, nonprofit Urban Specialists, and other organizations to commemorate the moment. Urban Specialists plans to knock on doors, telling community members about the celebration and resources available, said Varonika Wilson, a senior director for the nonprofit.<\/p>\n Wilson said Urban Specialists, which was started by a bishop, is honoring the foundation the church formed in the community by bringing in its network.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is bigger than just celebrating the legacy of a church, but it\u2019s also monumental because it\u2019s helping to actually bring all of the resources that we have access to, to a neighborhood that has low-income families,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n The church sits in an area with some of the county\u2019s highest health vulnerabilities<\/a>. Shaun Montgomery, a member of the Tenth Street Residential Association, said the efforts are needed.<\/p>\n \u201cSome people don\u2019t get out. They don\u2019t go out to the doctors like they should,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cThis way, it\u2019ll give them an opportunity to get to talk to some health professionals and get some information.\u201d<\/p>\n Greater El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, a historic Black church located in the Tenth Street Historic District in Dallas, is celebrating its 140th anniversary on April 25.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Keeping history alive<\/p>\n With the new deck park set to open in May, Montgomery said she\u2019s hoping it calls attention to the historic nature of the neighborhood and brings awaited fixes the community needs, like improvements to sidewalks, lighting and infrastructure.<\/p>\n The area\u2019s history can\u2019t be left behind, she said.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had several businesses in the community. We had doctors and lawyers. They were self-sustaining business at one time,\u201d Montgomery said. \u201cA lot of the houses are older, but they\u2019re still over 100 years old, and they\u2019re still standing by the grace of God.\u201d<\/p>\n Related: Two longtime Dallas City Council member departures mark change for much of southern Dallas<\/a><\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Charles Strain, deacon at Greater El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, organizes historical photos and information in the church\u2019s original worship center in Dallas, Friday, April 17, 2026. The Tenth Street Historic District church is celebrating its 140th anniversary.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Families who helped build the Tenth Street community, former slaves after the Civil War, were a part of Greater El Bethel\u2019s congregation<\/a>. Noah Penn, an area pioneer, founded the church in 1886, according to its website. Every 4th Sunday in April, the church celebrates its anniversary.<\/p>\n In the years after its founding, the church went through many changes. It burned down and was rebuilt in the early 1900s, with a basement dug out by former slaves and mule teams, according to the church. William Sidney\u00a0Pittman, an accomplished Black architect<\/a>, built the top portion with a crew of men in 1926.<\/p>\n In the Tenth Street District, the construction of I-35E in the ’50s, along with integration in the \u201860s, meant about\u00a0175 structures were demolished<\/a> and residents sought opportunity elsewhere. The area got historic recognition from the city in 1993, but its decline continued. A few years ago, neighbors resisted rules<\/a> that allowed small homes to be demolished.<\/p>\n In a neighborhood that once had several churches, Greater El Bethel is one of the last remaining, Wright said.<\/p>\n Charles Strain, deacon at Greater El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, flips through a book featuring photos of the historic church in Dallas, Friday, April 17, 2026. The Tenth Street Historic District church is celebrating its 140th anniversary.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Growing the church<\/p>\n By signing up, you agree to our Terms Of Use<\/a> and acknowledge that your information will be used as described in our Privacy Policy<\/a>.<\/p>\n Generations have been served by the church. Montgomery\u2019s grandmother and great-grandmother were members.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wright still remembers running around the church as a child. His grandfather served as the church pastor for decades. His late uncle, William McNealy, was also the pastor.<\/p>\n \u201cI have been in this church all my life,\u201d Wright said. \u201cA lot of people have seen me grow up.\u201d<\/p>\n Three years ago, Wright took over after spending time at the church to help as the COVID-19 pandemic was taking hold. McNealy had diabetes and couldn\u2019t be exposed. Wright said he set up livestreamed services and started working toward growing the church\u2019s congregation. It has gone from about 30 people to nearly 100, not including online viewers. Some congregants, along with Wright, returned to the church from the suburbs.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Slavoski Wright Sr., the senior pastor at the historic Greater El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, stands on the dais in the church in Dallas, Friday, April 17, 2026. The Tenth Street Historic District church is celebrating its 140th anniversary.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/The Dallas Morning News Slavoski Wright Sr., the senior pastor at the historic Greater El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church, leans on a donation box near the dais of the church in Dallas, Friday, April 17, 2026. QR codes are pasted to the back of pews for parishioners.<\/p>\n Angela Piazza\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n Affixed to the pews are QR codes, a sign of modernization inside the historic red-brick building. Wright is still aiming for improvements to the structure\u2019s aging interior.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re looking to modernize it,\u201d Wright said, adding that \u201cthe congregants and everybody, they are very supportive, and they are wanting to see us change.\u201d \u201cThere are still some churches, some pastors that genuinely care for the people, genuinely care for the community, and want to see people grow, not just spiritually, but in their personal lives,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Congregants embrace each other at Greater El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Dallas, Sunday, April 19, 2026. The church is a historic Black church located in the Tenth Street Historic District and celebrating its 140th anniversary on April 25.<\/p>\n Anja Schlein\/The Dallas Morning News<\/p>\n This reporting is part of the Future of North Texas, a community-funded journalism initiative supported by the Commit Partnership, Communities Foundation of Texas, The Dallas Foundation, the Dallas Mavericks, the Dallas Regional Chamber, Deedie Rose, Lisa and Charles Siegel, the McCune-Losinger Family Fund, The Meadows Foundation, the Perot Foundation, the United Way of Metropolitan Dallas and the University of Texas at Dallas. The News retains full editorial control of this coverage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sunday service at Greater El Bethel Missionary Baptist Church in Dallas, Sunday, April 19, 2026. The church is…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":263659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[102,104,103,93339,95705,88945,92240],"class_list":{"0":"post-263658","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-dallas","8":"tag-dallas","9":"tag-dallas-headlines","10":"tag-dallas-news","11":"tag-tp-future-of-north-texas","12":"tag-tp-southern-dallas","13":"tag-tp-oak-cliff","14":"tag-tp-religion"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=263658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/263658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/263659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=263658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=263658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=263658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
![\"image\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1775016909_917_rawImage.jpg\" "\\"#\\"")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Digital or aesthetic shifts are only part of the efforts. The church has a nonprofit in its early stages, Wright said, to better partner with organizations for food or utility assistance. He\u2019s hoping to show that smaller, traditional churches can have a powerful impact.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n