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Hundreds gathered at Antioch Fellowship Missionary Baptist Church in Oak Cliff on Sunday to celebrate renaming a street after Karry D. Wesley, the church’s founding pastor, who died in 2019.
A portion of Kirnwood Drive near the church, from South Hampton Road to Indian Ridge Trail, will be known as Dr. KD Wesley Way.
Wesley should be remembered for his dedication to serving others, Dallas County Commissioner John Wiley Price said Sunday during a ceremony at the church.
“Dr. Wesley was about community,” he said. “These individuals who have been on the ground not just preaching shelter but building shelter, that’s what we have to have in the community.”
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Dallas City Council member Tennell Atkins, whose district includes the Red Bird-area church, said renaming the road helps preserve Wesley’s memory and legacy.
“He did so much for the community for more than 30 years,” Atkins said. “He built a great church and a great congregation, so it’s great to have something that shows his name when people drive by.”
Wesley, who led the congregation for 33 years, was the first Black doctoral candidate at Phoenix Seminary in Arizona, where he received his degree, according to the church’s website.
Son Chris Wesley, now the senior pastor at the church, said his father was dedicated to building the community, but above all else, loved being a good father and husband.
He thanked the elected officials and community members who contributed to the effort to rename the street.
“I stand today not simply as a successor but as a son,” he said, eliciting cheers. “I’m not going to be pastoral in this moment because I stand to honor my father. Y’all knew him as ‘Pastor.’ My brothers and I knew ‘Dad,’ and for that reason he is most worthy of what we’re about to do.”
Cheryl Wesley, the late pastor’s widow, said her husband was a humble man who probably wouldn’t have pushed for a street to be named after him. Although the renaming should be celebrated, she said, it’s only a milestone on a bigger journey.
“It just reminded me that there is still so much work to do in our community and to bring hope to the hopeless,” she said.
Joel Leach, chairman of the church’s board, said Wesley was not only his pastor and friend, but also a pillar of Dallas’ Black community.
“It’s Black History Month, and I wouldn’t have it any other way,” Leach said. “He’s a legend and he is Black history.”