W.A. Criswell is one of the most prominent preachers in the history of the Southern Baptist Convention. He long served as the pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, Texas. He also had served as president of the Convention for a year or two. Most importantly, he was one of the key figures behind the Conservative Resurgence that took place in the denomination from 1979 until about 10-15 years ago.
During the late 1980’s, Dr. Criswell had the opportunity to speak to a large group of pastors at the Convention’s annual meeting. His topic was liberalism– in our nation but also within the church. It is a pretty striking talk and I thought some readers might enjoy it:
As a member of the First Baptist Church in Dallas, I thoroughly enjoyed watching Dr. Criswell’s sermon on liberalism. We need more pastors like him!
As I watched Dr. Criswell, I tried to calculate when this tape was made. I guessed that it was sometime in the late 80’s. Then, I began to wonder what he might have said about the state of our nation today. If things were that bad in the 80’s, one can only imagine how he might have spoken about today.
I had the privilege of personally knowing Dr. Criswell. He was a joy to be around. The night that I was to be baptized, I was waiting outside the Baptism facility when he walked by. He saw me and gave me this encouraging word, “You’re going to do what Jesus did!” That was a good start on my walk of faith.
I’m still a member of the First Baptist Church of Dallas. Dr. Robert Jeffress is our current pastor. He grew up in our church and served as Youth Pastor for a time before going off to become a pastor in other churches, But he’s back and he has brought revival to the church. His style is a bit different, but the message of the Gospel is the same and he is an excellent communicator himself. Praise God for blessing our church so richly!
Jack, it’s great to hear from you. I had heard for many years about Dr. Criswell but never heard him speak until I saw this YouTube. Readers should know that First Baptist Church of Dallas has in excess of 10,000 members. I saw one estimate when Dr. Criswell was pastor at 16,000.
Thanks for sharing your personal experience of faith with this church and with Dr. Criswell. We need more like him.
Thank you for your response to my comments. Dr. Criswell was a great preacher and a visionary. He built up the church to about 25,000 in his hay day. But the church declined after he retired. Fortunately, Dr. Jeffress came in at the right time. The church is thriving again under his leadership. Membership is now around 13000 and growing. His Pathway to Victory program is on TV and radio reaching 195 countries. All services are streamed and viewership often reaches multi-million on a given Sunday. Under Dr. Jeffress leadership the old buildings were demolished replaced with new structures. Also, added 2 new parking garages giving us access to 5 multi-level modern garages.
Watch online at 9:15 and 11:00 am CST. All services are available at the church website so you can watch them at your convenience. Web site: firstdallas.org
You may also be interested in viewing some of Dr. Criswell’s 4100 sermons at: https://wacriswell.com
Thanks, Jack. 25,000 is a crazy, amazing number that reflects on good work being done. I know they build churches bigger in Texas, but that is pretty impressive!
It’s good to hear the church is still trying to be a good witness, and that these resources can be accessed so easily. Thanks for sharing.