Not really. The denomination owned the property and the congregation decided to buy it when they left the denomination rather than build a new building.
Churches which outgrow their building sell all the time and move to a larger structure.
The denomination owned the property because the deed was turned over as membership fee. The denomination was holding them for ransom.
Wrong. The building was paid for by the members and titled in the local church. About 30 years ago, when its denomination merged into the northern church, a clause was added to the denomination's rules which said that the local congregation held the property in trust for the denomination. Highland Park claimed that no trust was established under Texas law (although it could be argued that they did, in fact accede to the the clause when they voted against leaving in the early 1990s after the merger but before the clause became binding.