Dallas didn’t just build influential churches. It helped build a movement that spread far beyond Texas.
The region became a national hub for training pastors, pioneering new ways to reach believers and defining how evangelical Christianity mixed with culture and politics.
Dallas Theological Seminary and the Fort Worth-based Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary trained generations of pastors who went on to lead congregations in Texas and beyond.
Their graduates, along with theologians from both schools, helped shape evangelical teaching for decades and establish Dallas as a leading center for evangelical leadership.
Dallas adopted new technology to spread that message. Radio ministries evolved into televangelism, carrying sermons from North Texas into millions of American homes.
Dallas-area megachurches embraced online streaming years before the pandemic made virtual worship commonplace.
Those Sunday messages, amplified by social media, often extended beyond theology to culture and politics. Dallas has long played an outsized role in both.
First Baptist Dallas pastor W.A. Criswell helped steer the Southern Baptist Convention toward conservative theology in the second half of the 20th century, strengthening ties between evangelical Christianity and conservative politics.
That relationship has remained a defining force in elections as evangelical leaders and voters became increasingly influential in Republican campaigns.
Church leaders say that involvement is rooted in their faith.
Ben Lovvorn, executive pastor of First Baptist Dallas, said Christians are called to influence culture, in part by engaging civic leaders.
“Not to shape our country from a political sense, but to share the good news of Jesus Christ and the Judeo-Christian values on which our nation was founded,” he said.
Dallas’ evangelical tradition has not been without critics or scandals involving prominent churches and religious leaders. But the region’s evangelism continues to heavily influence Christianity in America.
“The churches and the seminaries and the ministries here in Dallas have been a light to the nation and have really shaped the advancement of Christianity throughout our history,” Lovvorn said.