Roof collapse at North Texas church exposes more misery, opportunity to sit in faith

Kingdom Culture Dallas would like to be known more for its ministry than as "the church with the collapsed roof." 

The church is led by Apostle Sherman Dumas and his wife, Dr. Jaquet Dumas.

"If I have no weakness, I have no space for God's strength to step in," he said. "So I actually sit in that space and allow for both the community around me and for God himself to be able to speak to those spaces and assure me of the truth of the matter."

He said that on Jan. 27, one of the church's leaders FaceTimed him to show the destruction caused by the ice storm. When he, his wife, and their five children arrived at the sanctuary, the scene was overwhelming.

"It took all the faith that I thought I had to let us to actually get here," he said. "And so to be in this situation now, it felt like, you know, a little bit, God, are you playing a trick on me?"

Kingdom Culture Dallas highlights the worldwide donations that helped it purchase four acres in Cedar Hill, where an existing church was built in 1982. The 11,000‑square‑foot building, he said, offered more than worship space - it was a community hub. An estimated 50,000 pounds of ice collapsed the sanctuary roof, destroying nearly everything.

"So the outside exterior walls, even to this moment now, are bending in because things are still moving," he said.

Congregation keeps moving forward

As the Dumases secured temporary spaces for services, they also took their ministry into the community.

More bad news came one Sunday as she prepared to preach at a host church. Dumas received a text about their Cedar Hill property.

"You have a roof open to the elements and not safe to really tarp it or anything of that nature right now, because you're not knowing if walls will come in if you tarp it," he said. "And so while the roof is open, we get torrential rains a couple of weeks ago."

The church flooded, and he said it will continue to flood until demolition crews tear down the sanctuary next week. Sandbags now line the hallways and sanctuary.

Vision for a new beginning

In the meantime, Kingdom Culture Dallas has released an animation of what they hope their new church will look like. Dumas said he hopes the congregation can be fully back on its property this summer.

"I really feel like we are called to Cedar Hill, Texas. We are called to the DFW, and that we were to really just sink in and rebuild. And so that's what we're believing. And that's what we're doing," he said.