New Double Oak Latter-day Saint Congregation, Leaders Announced

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints created a ninth congregation to serve Flower Mound and Double Oak, Texas, on Sunday, January 27, 2019.

In the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, the congregations, known as “wards,” often grow and split. To accommodate a rise in membership totals, the Church of Jesus Christ created a new congregation to serve the Flower Mound and Double Oak areas.

The Double Oak Ward will serve about 140 families that include 224 adults and 144 children and youth. Chris McDown will serve at the Bishop – a presiding high priest of the local lay ministry. Bishops have the overall responsibility for ministering the temporal and spiritual affairs of the congregation.

“This is an area that has been expanding and growing for many years,” said McDown. “We find a lot of families moving here because it’s such a great community with great values.”

McDown, originally from Oklahoma, has resided in Flower Mound for eight years and is a healthcare executive with degrees from Brigham Young University-Idaho and the University of New Mexico. He has four children with Nancy, his wife of 28 years. 

McDown called J.D. Stacey of Double Oak and Steven Draper of Flower Mound as counselors to serve with him in the bishopric. 

Stacey, formerly a marriage and family therapist, has five children with his wife Courtney and has a career in hospital administration. 

In addition to his church service, Draper is a health benefits actuary and has lived in Flower Mound for 11 years. He and his wife, Janet, have four children, of which the second oldest is leaving in February on a proselytizing and service mission for the Church of Jesus Christ in Brazil.

Of serving in a volunteer ministry, McDown said, “It is a true blessing to be able to serve. We know that the Lord’s blessings will be with us and we will find great joy as we serve those around us. We have a strong love for those in our community.”

The creation of the Double Oak ward affected boundary changes for other existing Latter-day Saint congregations in the area to better balance the number of members within each congregation.  As a result, two new bishoprics were named in the Highland Village and Flower Mound 3rd wards. 

Kirk Brown was called as Bishop of the Highland Village Ward, along with Zach Elmer and Ryan McCook as counselors.

Brown is a former U.S. Army Captain who served in Iraq to support Operation Iraqi Freedom. Upon his honorable discharge, he earned his master’s degree in Endodontics from the University of Louisville and has operated an endodontic practice in Highland Village since 2010. He lives in Copper Canyon with his wife Julie and four daughters.

Dallin Combs serves as the Flower Mound 3rd Ward Bishop alongside counselors Mark Lundell and Scott Chadwick.

Combs and his wife Sarah have lived in Flower Mound for 19 years where they are raising their four children. In addition to his church service, Combs is a local business owner in the IT field where he provides services for other small businesses in the area.

“We are humbled to have been asked to serve in this capacity and look forward to working together to invite all to come until Christ,” Combs said. “We have a love for the Flower Mound area and the people who live here. We have faith that we can serve as Christ would have us serve.”

The Double Oak, Highland Village, and Flower Mound 3rd wards are part of the Lewisville, Texas Stake, which comprises of nine wards in the area. There are roughly 3,800 members in the Lewisville, Texas Stake, which was formed in 1981. There are more than 70 similar stake divisions within the state of Texas.

The Double Oak Ward meets at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on 902 N Chinn Chapel Rd in Highland Village, with services every Sunday starting at 1pm.