Historic Lonesome Dove Baptist Church will double in size with a new 376-seat worship hall | DaveLieber
It was only a matter of time that the 21st century would finally catch up with historic Lonesome Dove Cemetery in Southlake. It has happened.Poor comments aside, I have to give pastor Stover, 43, credit. He has taken a 19th-century historical church and hustled it into the 21st century.
The 13,000-square-foot building doesn’t qualify as a true arena megachurch because those should probably be at least a thousand-seater. But for an old church , this is a big step up.As a newbie in Texas almost three decades ago, I became enamored with this historic treasure and, along with others, tried to be a watchdog for this hallowed ground in hopes of preserving it as an important piece of our past.
He knows how to sell, whether it’s church T-shirts, cemetery plots or a $2 million building on sacred holy grounds. As he explained to council members and a cable TV audience, “On a typical Sunday, I try to let everyone out early so we can beat the Methodists to [restaurants] Dragon House and to Kincaid’s. If I’m long-winded and the service is a bit rough, then our neighbors head straight to Yates Corner Grocery for a 12-pack and hopefully, that’s a 12-pack of Dr Pepper, but no guarantees.”
An architect's drawing of what the new $2 million sanctuary would look like at Lonesome Dove Baptist Church. Neighbor Danielle Schug told me, “I personally feel duped because our agreement to let the historic cemetery expand from a quiet little country church has now helped fund the monstrosity they are planning on building.”