Construction is underway on First Baptist Dallas to rebuild the historic church sanctuary that burned to the ground in July.

All 3,000 congregants of the church gathered around the remains of the building following Sunday’s service for a photo in hopes of showing the rest of the world that the work of the church never stopped. 

“We are First Baptist Dallas!” exclaimed Dr. Robert Jeffress, Senior Pastor, alongside congregants as they took the photo on Sunday. “We are here, we are standing strong, and we are open to serve this community.”

Church services and ministry programs continued to run in the unscathed portion of the church campus, which spans six blocks of downtown Dallas.

Meanwhile, days after the tragic fire, the church announced it would rebuild and plans for reconstruction began almost immediately.

A selective demolition process took place to preserve as much of the 134-year-old sanctuary’s structure as possible. This included strategically dismantling some sections of the walls in danger of collapse, enabling crews to save other parts where the rebuilding process has already started. Most recently, new beams and scaffolding have been set up to secure what remains.

“We may have lost part of our physical history, but we have a far more important spiritual heritage in this city and this nation, and we are committed to living up to that historic legacy as we look to an even brighter future,” Dr. Jeffress said.

“We know God has great plans in store for us and we look forward to seeing how this tragedy is going to be redeemed for the sake of the Gospel.”

This Sunday the congregation will return to the Horner Family Center, directly adjacent to the church’s current worship center.

This article was originally published by CHVN Radio.

Journalist Colleen Houde is a news writer and on-air host at CHVN in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.