CORDOVA, Tenn. (ABP) — The fabled pulpit of Bellevue Baptist Church near Memphis will have a new occupant — 47-year-old Alabama pastor Steve Gaines.
Gaines, pastor of Gardendale's First Baptist Church in Gardendale, Ala., was presented by a search committee Sunday, July 10, and elected by the congregation without opposition.
He follows a legend — Adrian Rogers, 73, Bellevue's pastor for 32 years and leader of Southern Baptist conservatives. Rogers retired earlier this year, creating a much-discussed vacancy in one of the largest Southern Baptist churches.
Gaines, also a conservative, has been active in Southern Baptist leadership, serving as president of the annual Pastor's Conference after nomination by Rogers.
After Gaines was elected by the Bellevue congregation, Rogers led the final prayer. “I knew before the committee ever went to work who the right man was,” Rogers jokingly told the congregation, according to the Commercial Appeal. “I don't know what took them so long.”
Gaines, whose nomination was reported by Associated Baptist Press July 8, said he withdrew his name from consideration twice during the seven-month search but reconsidered when he felt God leading him to Bellevue. “I was happy in Alabama and prepared to spend the rest of my life there,” Gaines said. “But God had other plans and I want to follow his will.”
Gaines is only the fourth pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church since 1927 — a legacy that includes the famed preacher R.G. Lee. Under Rogers' leadership, the 28,000-member congregation moved from its location near downtown Memphis to the current 377-acre campus in Cordova.
Rogers, one of the most recognizable faces in Baptist life, was three times elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention — the first in 1979, launching a succession of conservative presidents that took control of the largest non-Catholic denomination and reshaped it around biblical inerrancy and conservative social values. He suffered a heart attack in 2002, underwent successful bypass surgery and recently was diagnosed with cancer.
Gaines told the Commercial Appeal he would not try to imitate Rogers but “be the best Steve Gaines that I can be.” “Dr. Rogers is a close personal friend, and I believe he'll be my biggest supporter,” he said.
Gaines has been pastor of the 8,400-member Gardendale church near Birmingham since 1991, growing it into one of Alabama's largest. In 2000 he was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis, a form of muscular dystrophy. “I'm in the latter part of my recovery and I feel fine,” Gaines said.
A native of Mississippi, he is a graduate of Union University in Jackson, Tenn., and Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He served churches in Tennessee and Texas before going to Alabama.
He begins his duties at Bellevue Sept. 11.