Six years after taking leadership of Lifeway Christian Resources, Ben Mandrell is leaving for a prominent Tennessee pastorate.
The pastor search committee at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis has unanimously recommended Mandrell as the church’s next senior pastor, succeeding Steve Gaines, who announced in September 2024 he would transition into an itinerant preaching ministry. Gaines was named to the pastorate in 2005 to succeed Adrian Rogers, a legendary pastor and two-time Southern Baptist Convention president essential to the success of the “conservative resurgence.”
In Baptist parlance, Mandrell will preach at Bellevue Sunday, July 13, “in view of a call,” meaning he will be introduced to the congregation before they vote on extending him a call to be their pastor.
Mandrell, 48, became president of Lifeway in August 2019. His six-year tenure included surviving the COVID pandemic, which dramatically altered church curriculum sales, and downsizing and relocating the corporate headquarters — for the second time in a short span.
As the SBC’s publishing house, Lifeway has faced the same headwinds as all publishers and especially denominational publishers. Just months before Mandrell came on board, Lifeway announced it would close all its brick-and-mortar book stores. Fewer churches use printed curriculum, although Lifeway remains one of the largest publishers of curriculum.
Two years ago, Lifeway announced it would stop updating a popular worship and music online resource only to reverse course after customers begged for a continuation. And last year Lifeway was the lead SBC entity in a controversial amicus brief filed in a Kentucky sex abuse case arguing against the abuse survivor.
This year, Lifeway reports a $329 million budget, with the bulk of income derived from product sales.
Mandrell followed Thom Rainer, who led Lifeway from 2005 to early retirement in 2018, which created a storm of controversy two years later when Lifeway accused Rainer of violating a noncompete clause. Rainer followed Jimmy Draper, who was the first leader of the publishing house put in place through the SBC’s “conservative resurgence.”
Bellevue Baptist draws 6,000 to 8,000 worshipers on Sundays, less than the crowds of an earlier era. However, the church remains one of the largest in the SBC.
“Our entire family is deeply grateful for these years in Nashville with Lifeway,” Mandrell said. “This ministry is filled with salt-of-the-earth people, and it’s truly heartbreaking to think we won’t see their faces as often in the years to come. Even so, the Lord has made it crystal clear that it’s time for us to return to the pastorate and to join the Bellevue family. We are humbled to have been entrusted with such a meaningful role in a significant Southern Baptist church, and we are genuinely excited to see what God has in store for both Lifeway and Bellevue.”
Lifeway trustees Chair James Carroll said the board plans to begin the initial steps to search for a successor right away. A search committee will be named before Lifeway’s board meeting Aug. 25-26.
Previously, Mandrell served as lead pastor of Storyline Fellowship in Arvada, Colo., a church plant with the SBC North American Mission Board. Before that, he served as senior pastor of Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson, Tenn.
He is a native of Tampico, Ill., and graduated from Anderson (Indiana) University in 1998. He also holds a master of divinity degree from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Ky., and a doctor of ministry degree from Union University.