First Baptist Church Dallas

===W. A. Criswell===
Pastor [[W. A. Criswell]] never spoke in support of [[racial segregation]] in his sermons but was critical of the Supreme Court's decision in ''[[Brown v. Board of Education]]'' and of federal intervention against [[de jure]] southern segregation.<ref name="Freeman">{{cite journal |last=Freeman |first=Curtis |date=2007 |title="Never Had I Been So Blind": W. A. Criswell's "Change" on Racial Segregation |url=http://jsr.fsu.edu/Volume10/Freeman.pdf |journal=Journal of Southern Religion |volume=10 |pages=1–12 |access-date=October 9, 2015}}</ref> In 1956 he made an address denouncing forced integration to a [[South Carolina]] evangelism conference. A day later, he addressed the [[South Carolina General Assembly|South Carolina legislature]] remarking that he "strongly favored racial segregation" and charged that those who were attempting to integrate the white church were "infidels, dying from the neck up."<ref name="Freeman" /><ref>{{Cite book |last=Fitzgerald |first=Francis |title=The Evangelicals |publisher=Simon & Schuster |year=2020 |pages=243}}</ref> He was particularly critical of the [[National Council of Churches]] and the [[National Association for the Advancement of Colored People]]. However, after his 1968 election as president of the [[Southern Baptist Convention]], he said that his church already had many non-white members and was open to all regardless of race. In 1970, he remarked that he had "come to the profound conclusion that to separate by coercion the body of Christ on the basis of skin pigmentation was unthinkable, unchristian and unacceptable to God".<ref>{{Cite book |last=Leonard |first=Bill J. |title=God's Last and Only Hope |publisher=University of Michigan Press |year=1990 |pages=22}}</ref> He asserted publicly, "I don't think that segregation could have been or was at any time intelligently, seriously supported by the Bible.<ref name="StandProm">{{cite book |title= Standing on the Promises: The Autobiography of W. A. Criswell|last= Criswell|first= W. A.|author-link= W. A. Criswell|year= 1990|publisher= Word Publishing|location= Dallas, Texas|isbn= 0-8499-0843-4|pages= 202–204, 216–217}}</ref>

In September 1992, after 2 years of pastoring, senior pastor Joel C. Gregory announced his resignation, claiming it was due to the refusal of Pastor W.A Criswell to relinquish control of the church, despite Gregory being the senior pastor ''de jure''.<ref>{{cite web|author=Steve Scott and Enrique Rangel |url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1992-10-03-9210030082-story.html |title=PASTOR SUDDENLY RESIGNS AT LARGEST U.S. BAPTIST CHURCH |publisher=The Dallas Morning News |date=October 3, 1992 |access-date=2020-10-12 |website=orlandosentinel.com|language=en-US}}</ref> In 1994, Gregory published the book "Too Great a Temptation: The Seductive Power of America's Super Church", detaling his reasons for leaving.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Somerville|first=Frank P. L.|title=A pastor is led into temptation by the allure of a megachurch|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/news/bs-xpm-1994-10-23-1994296041-story.html|date=October 23, 1994|access-date=2020-09-12|website=baltimoresun.com|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Staff|first=Adelle M. Banks of The Sentinel|title=EX-PASTOR RAISES QUESTION ABOUT MEGACHURCHES' FUTURE|url=https://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/os-xpm-1994-10-01-9410010529-story.html|date=October 1, 1994|access-date=2020-09-12|website=OrlandoSentinel.com|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last= Hirsley |first=Mike |title=WHY TEXAS PASTOR QUIT HIS DREAM JOB|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1994-09-23-9409230214-story.html|date= September 23, 1994 |access-date=2020-09-12|website=chicagotribune.com|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web| title=The rise and fall and rise again of Joel Gregory|url=https://www.baptiststandard.com/news/texas/the-rise-and-fall-and-rise-again-of-joel-gregory/ | date=2014-09-19|access-date=2020-09-12|website=Baptist Standard|language=en-US}}</ref>