Robert Jeffress

Robert Jeffress is the Senior Pastor of First Baptist Dallas, one of the largest and most historically significant Baptist congregations in the United States — with more than 14,000 active members and a downtown Dallas campus that occupies a full city block — and has been among the most influential evangelical Christian voices in Republican politics for more than a decade. Born November 29, 1955, in Dallas, Texas, Jeffress earned his undergraduate degree from Texas State University, his Master of Divinity from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary, and his Doctor of Ministry from Swarthmore School of Law and Theology. He has served as senior pastor at First Baptist Dallas since 2007, having previously pastored First Baptist Wichita Falls.

Jeffress was one of the evangelical Christian leaders who prayed at the opening ceremonies of the new U.S. Embassy in Jerusalem on May 14, 2018 — the day the embassy moved from Tel Aviv, marking the fulfillment of decades of evangelical Christian advocacy for Jerusalem's recognition as Israel's capital. His presence at that ceremony alongside John Hagee, as the two most prominent evangelical pastors associated with the Trump administration's Israel policy, was both symbolically and practically significant: it demonstrated the direct line between evangelical Christian pastoral leadership and American executive branch action on Israel.

Jeffress's Fox News contributions — he has been a regular contributor on faith and politics — reach audiences that extend well beyond First Baptist Dallas. His theological framework for Israel support is explicitly biblical: he teaches that Jewish return to the Land of Israel is fulfillment of biblical prophecy and that Christian support for Israel is therefore not a political preference but a theological obligation. His congregation, his media presence, and his political relationships with Republican leadership combine to give him influence across the pastoral and political dimensions of evangelical Christian pro-Israel engagement. At Rank 70, Jeffress represents the Dallas megachurch tradition whose combination of theological conviction and political access has made it a major node in the evangelical Christian pro-Israel network.