Steve Gaines (pastor)

Last updated

Steve Gaines
SteveGaines 03 (cropped).jpg
Church Bellevue Baptist Church
Installed2005 (2005)
Personal details
Born
John Steven Gaines

(1957-12-31) December 31, 1957 (age 66)
Corinth, Mississippi, U.S.
Denomination Baptist (Southern Baptist Convention)
SpouseDonna Dodds
Children4
OccupationPastor, 61st President of the Southern Baptist Convention (June 15, 2016 - June 13, 2018)
Education Union University
Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary

John Steven Gaines (born December 31, 1957) is an American Southern Baptist pastor who has served as the president of the Southern Baptist Convention. [1] He resigned as senior pastor on September 22. 2024, to pursue an itinerant preaching ministry at Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova (a suburb of Memphis, Tennessee), one of the largest congregations in the Southern Baptist Convention and has visited Israel 16 times. On Sunday, July 10, 2005, the Pastor Search Committee of Bellevue Baptist Church presented Dr. Steve Gaines to the church congregation. [2] At the conclusion of the services the Bellevue family overwhelmingly voted to call Steve Gaines as the seventh Pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church. [2] Gaines succeeds the longtime Bellevue pastor Adrian Rogers.

Contents

Before arriving at Bellevue Baptist, Gaines pastored for 14 years at the Gardendale First Baptist Church, an 8,500-member church in suburban Birmingham, Alabama. There he became one of the leading voices in the conservative wing of the SBC. In 2004, Gaines was elected president of the Southern Baptist Pastors' Conference, and was the keynote speaker at the SBC annual meeting in Nashville. He served with his predecessor at Bellevue and three-time SBC president, Adrian Rogers, on a committee charged with revising The Baptist Faith and Message. The document, which is the primary doctrinal statement for all SBC agencies, including its six seminaries and International Mission Board, was adopted by the SBC in 2000. On March 9, 2016, Dr. Johnny Hunt announced he would nominate Gaines to be President of the Southern Baptist Convention [3] at the upcoming SBC annual meeting in St. Louis, Missouri. He was elected, and was then re-elected for a second one-year term at the 2017 annual meeting in Phoenix, Arizona. [4]

Gaines' theology is best described as conservative and evangelical.

Early life

Born to parents Edgar and Dorothy Gaines, Steve and his only sibling, Ed, spent most of their youth in the small town of Dyersburg, Tennessee. Their father worked for the Illinois Central Railroad and retired in 1976 as a track supervisor. Their mother founded and supervised a janitorial business in Dyersburg, for which both Gaines and his brother worked. He was baptized by his pastor at First Baptist Church in Dyersburg, Dr. Robert Orr.

During his senior year at Dyersburg High School, Gaines was selected as first team defensive end in his high school's "Big Ten Conference" and as All-District in track. He entered the University of Tennessee at Martin (UTM) on a full football scholarship in the fall of 1975. [5] By the third game of his freshman season, he shared a starting defensive end position with a senior teammate. At UTM, he began attending weekly meetings of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes. In the fall of 1977 he gave up his football scholarship to transfer to Union University, a Christian college in Jackson, Tennessee. [5] On October 23, 1977, Steve Gaines was licensed to the Gospel ministry by his home church in Dyersburg.

Family

At Union University, Gaines met Memphian Donna Dodds, a campus leader who was selected as Miss Union University. Their first date was in December 1978, and they were married on June 14, 1980. Donna Gaines is a Bible teacher and author who leads women's ministries at Bellevue and speaks at churches and conferences across the nation. [5] She has a Master's of Education from Texas Woman's University in Denton, Texas, and is board certified as an educational diagnostician. Steve and Donna Gaines have four children. [5]

Education

After graduating from Union University in 1979, Gaines began studies for a Master of Divinity degree at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. For seven years he served as Professor Roy Fish's grader, longer than anyone else to ever hold that position. In the final year of his master's program, the seminary preaching faculty awarded Steve with the H. C. Brown, Jr. Preaching Award for "Outstanding Achievement in the Study and Practice of Preaching." At the same time, the evangelism faculty presented him with the W. Fred Swank Evangelism Award for best demonstrating the spirit of evangelism as a graduating student. Fred Swank was the legendary pastor of Sagamore Hill Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas. [6]

He was the only Southwestern Seminary graduate to ever receive both awards. For Senior Preaching Week, Gaines was selected to preach in the seminary's chapel services before his professors and peers. He graduated with his Master's of Divinity on May 11, 1984.

He began doctoral seminars at Southwestern in the fall of 1985, majoring in preaching and minoring in evangelism. Dr. Fish's course on The History of Spiritual Awakenings particularly inspired him to pray and seek genuine revival for America. His doctoral dissertation was entitled, "An Analysis of the Correlation between Representative Baptist Hour Sermons by Herschel H. Hobbs and Selected Articles of The Baptist Faith and Message." He graduated from Southwestern Seminary with a Ph.D. on May 10, 1991.

Ministry

On July 27, 1980, Steve was ordained to the Gospel ministry at First Baptist Church, Dyersburg. In 1978 he became youth pastor at First Baptist Church in Milan, Tennessee, where he served for a little more than two years before beginning studies at Southwestern Seminary. While a student at Southwestern Seminary, he was associate pastor/youth minister at Lake Shore Baptist Church in Lake Dallas, Texas. When the pastor resigned, he was asked to serve as the church's interim pastor, and six months later the church called him as pastor. The church grew steadily during the next five years, adding an educational wing and renovating the church facility. The church also planted Shady Shores Baptist Church in Shady Shores, Texas, during Gaines' tenure as pastor there.

After eight years in Texas, Gaines returned to Jackson, Tennessee, in 1988 to serve as pastor of West Jackson Baptist Church. In 1991, First Baptist Church in Gardendale, Alabama, called him to be the pastor. For 14 years of his ministry at Gardendale, the church membership grew exponentially. For the Easter 2005, services were held at the Birmingham–Jefferson Civic Center where more than 10,000 people attended. [5]

Involvement with Bellevue

While serving in Alabama, Steve was an annual guest speaker at Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, at the invitation of Pastor Adrian Rogers. After Rogers' retirement in 2005, the church voted to call Gaines as pastor. On July 10, 2005, Gaines accepted the call and preached to more than 10,000 people in two morning worship services. [5] He preached his first sermon as pastor on September 11, 2005. [5] Numerical growth in every area of the church's life marked Gaines' first year at Bellevue, but the church experienced leadership transition difficulties in the second year.[ citation needed ]

Bellevue Loves Memphis

In 2007 Gaines initiated a church-wide, ongoing volunteer ministry to Memphis and the community. On September 28, 2009, the State of Tennessee House of Representatives issued a proclamation recognizing Bellevue as an institution that has demonstrated "unflagging capacity for love, dedication of spirit, and faith in God" and for enriching the lives of people in their community. [7] The proclamation cited pastor Gaines' for leading the way in showing "Jesus' love to the City of Memphis by meeting practical needs of residents" and for "embracing Bellevue Loves Memphis as a way of life." [7] The document mentioned the church's sponsor of a Christian Mobile Dental Clinic that provides free dental care to the underprivileged, and the church's funding of The Vue, a ministry for college students located near the University of Memphis and accessible to students of other local colleges and universities. [7] The proclamation noted that on six workdays, 5,300 volunteers have contributed between 30,000-35,000 hours through yard work, painting, construction, and more to benefit 40 schools, two post-secondary schools, 44 churches, 55 family homes, 14 parks, nine city/government buildings, 16 hospitals, 47 ministries, and ten Memphis City School football fields. [7] The proclamation also noted that Bellevue Loves Memphis provided every city fire station with a copy of the movie Fireproof, assisted with the City of Memphis cleanup, and assisted with ten block parties. The document also recognized the church for hosting the Tennessee Technology Center's 2008–2009 graduation. [7] The church has also opened its facilities for city and county school in-service meetings and for city and county school graduation ceremonies.

Recognition

In April 2009, Dr. Gaines was honored with the "Open Door Award" by the April 4 foundation. [8] This was in recognition "His passion for evangelism (which) has galvanized his congregation to reach their city with the Gospel in unprecedented ways by meeting practical needs throughout Memphis."

Southern Baptist Convention

On March 10, 2016, Pastor Johnny Hunt of FBC Woodstock (Georgia) announced his intentions to nominate Dr. Steve Gaines for president of the Southern Baptist Convention. "When Steve Gaines shared his prayer journey he and [his wife] Donna had travelled, I was touched by his clear call to allow himself to be nominated", said Pastor Hunt in a news release. He later stated that he intended to nominate Pastor Gaines for the position at the annual SBC meeting in St. Louis. "With such a passionate desire for spiritual revival in our churches and nation, and knowing him to be a man of deep intense prayer, it brings joy to my heart to nominate Dr. Gaines" Pastor Hunt told the Baptist Press in his closing remarks. [9]

Handling of minister misconduct

On December 18, 2006, the church announced that a minister and staffer at the church for thirty-four years had been placed on leave with an investigation pending regarding a "moral failure", identified by Gaines and others as alleged child molestation in the 1980s. [10] The staffer reportedly counseled child molestation victims during his employment at Bellevue and was permitted to continue having contact with children at the church after the allegation was revealed to Gaines. [11] The next day, December 19, Gaines released a statement that acknowledged that he had been aware of the allegation since June 2006 but that he did not address it for several months because the staffer had been attending professional counseling and also because of confidentiality concerns and compassion for the staffer. [10] The same day, Michael Spradlin, who is president of Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary (located across the street from Bellevue's campus), told the Commercial Appeal that "[i]f a minister has first hand knowledge of allegations of child molestation and does nothing about it then that minister should resign." [10] [12] [13] On December 20, 2006, Gaines addressed several hundred members of his congregation, saying he would like to remain pastor at Bellevue. [14] [11] On January 28, 2007, a church committee released a report on the incident. The report noted that the victim (the former staffer's son) had personally come forward to Gaines along with a group of friends to reveal the abuse. [15] The report criticized Gaines for not immediately coming forward with the information related to the alleged abuse, either to the church or to authorities. No criminal charges were ever brought regarding the allegations' [16] [17]

In May 2022, Guidepost Solutions released an independent report stating that Gaines allegedly admitted that he "had delayed reporting a staff minister’s prior sexual abuse of a child of “heartfelt concern and compassion for th[e] minister,” while acknowledging that he should have “brought it to the attention of our church leadership immediately.” [18]

Books authored

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Baptist Convention</span> Christian denomination

The Southern Baptist Convention (SBC), alternatively the Great Commission Baptists (GCB), is an association of Baptist Christian churches based in the United States. It is the world's largest Baptist organization and the largest Protestant and second-largest Christian body in the United States. The SBC is a cooperation of fully autonomous, independent churches with commonly held essential beliefs that pool some resources for missions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary</span> Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, U.S.

The Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary is a Baptist theological institute in Fort Worth, Texas. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. It was established in 1908 and in 2005 was one of the largest seminaries in the world. It is accredited by the Association of Theological Schools in the United States and Canada, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, and the National Association of Schools of Music to award diplomas and bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Adrian Rogers</span> American pastor and author (1931–2005)

Adrian Pierce Rogers was an American Baptist pastor and conservative author. He served three terms as president of the Southern Baptist Convention.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bellevue Baptist Church</span> Church in Tennessee, United States

Bellevue Baptist Church is a Baptist megachurch in the Cordova area of Memphis, Tennessee, United States. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Bellevue was once the largest church in the Memphis area. Bellevue's goals are to "Love God, Love People, Share Jesus, and Make Disciples." The church's head pastor has been Steve Gaines since 2005.

New Orleans Baptist Theological Seminary (NOBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in New Orleans, Louisiana. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. Missions and evangelism are core focuses of the seminary.

L. Paige Patterson is an American Baptist former administrator. He served as president of Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina, from 1992 to 2003, as president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) from 1998 to 2000, and as the eighth president of the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas, from 2003 until his firing in 2018 over mishandling of a rape allegation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Southern Baptist Theological Seminary</span> Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, USA

The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (SBTS) is a Baptist theological institute in Louisville, Kentucky. It is affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention. The seminary was founded in 1859 in Greenville, South Carolina, where it was at first housed on the campus of Furman University. The seminary has been an innovator in theological education, establishing one of the first Ph.D. programs in religion in the year 1892. After being closed during the Civil War, it moved in 1877 to a newly built campus in downtown Louisville and moved to its current location in 1926 in the Crescent Hill neighborhood. In 1953, Southern became one of the few seminaries to offer a full, accredited degree course in church music. For more than fifty years Southern has been one of the world's largest theological seminaries, with an FTE enrollment of over 3,300 students in 2015.

Beginning in 1979, the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) experienced an intense struggle for control of the organization. Its initiators called it the conservative resurgence while its detractors labeled it the fundamentalist takeover. It was launched with the charge that the seminaries and denominational agencies were dominated by liberals. The movement was primarily aimed at reorienting the denomination away from a liberal trajectory.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Johnny Hunt</span> American minister

Johnny M. Hunt is an American evangelical Christian pastor, author, and who served as the president of the Southern Baptist Convention. He was also formerly senior pastor of First Baptist Church Woodstock, in Woodstock, Georgia. He was the first Native American president of the SBC. He previously served as the Senior Vice President of the Evangelism & Leadership division of the North American Mission Board—the church planting and domestic evangelism arm of the SBC—speaking nationally to church leaders and congregants about sharing the Christian Gospel.

Russell Hooper Dilday was an American pastor, educator, seminary president, and chancellor of the B.H. Carroll Theological Institute. He was best known for his tenure as president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary until his abrupt dismissal in 1994 during the Southern Baptist Convention conservative resurgence.

C. Barry McCarty is an American preacher and educator who has been associated with the Southern Baptist Convention and the Christian churches and churches of Christ. McCarty is a former president of Cincinnati Christian University. From January 2010 to June 2015 he was the senior pastor of Peachtree Christian Church, a Disciples of Christ congregation, in Atlanta, Georgia. In August 2015, his 30-year relationship with the SBC culminated in changing his church affiliation to Southern Baptist and accepting a call to the faculty of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth as professor of preaching and rhetoric. Now he is a Professor of Rhetoric & Communications at Truett-McConnell University in Cleveland, Georgia.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lee Rutland Scarborough</span> American pastor and academic (1870–1945)

Lee Rutland Scarborough (1870–1945) was an American Southern Baptist pastor, evangelist, denominational leader, and professor at the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS). He spent the first 16 years of his life on a ranch and became an adept cowboy. He attended later Baylor University, Yale University and The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He accepted the invitation of B. H. Carroll in 1908 to occupy the world's first academic chair of evangelism, "The Chair of Fire," at SWBTS, and chaired the seminary's department of evangelism. In February 1915, following the death of B. H. Carroll, he became president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He remained in both positions until 1942, during which time he also served a term as president of the Baptist General Convention of Texas (1929–32) and a term as president of the Southern Baptist Convention (1938–40).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ronnie Floyd</span> American pastor (born 1955)

Ronald Wayne Floyd is an American Baptist pastor, and a former Southern Baptist executive. Ronnie was the Senior Pastor of Cross Church, a Southern Baptist megachurch located in Northwest Arkansas, and served as the 61st president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2014-2016. He resigned his post as Senior Pastor in 2019 to become the full-time CEO of the Southern Baptist Executive Committee and run the day-to-day operations of the denomination. His resignation on October 14, 2021 coincided with mounting pressure in the wake of the SBC sexual abuse scandal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morris Chapman</span> American pastor (born 1940)

Morris H. Chapman was elected president and chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) Executive Committee on October 1, 1992. In September 2009 he announced that he would retire from this position effective September 30, 2010.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Frank Page (Southern Baptist)</span> American pastor (born 1952)

Frank S. Page was the president of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) from 2006 to 2008, and the president of the denomination's Executive Committee from 2010 to 2018. Page announced his resignation on March 27, 2018, admitting to "a personal failing" that involved a "morally inappropriate relationship." Frank Page pastored Pebble Creek Baptist Church in South Carolina from June 2019 to February 2024.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jeff Iorg</span>

Jeff P. Iorg is an American author, pastor, church planter, teacher, speaker, and current president of Gateway Seminary, an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention with five campuses located in the Western United States.

Herman Paul Pressler III was an American politician and judge who was a justice of the Texas 14th Circuit Court of Appeals in his native Houston, Texas. Pressler was a key figure in the conservative resurgence of the Southern Baptist Convention, which he initiated in 1978. He was accused of sexual misconduct or assault by at least seven men, some of whom were underage at the time of the alleged activity.

Adam W. Greenway is an American pastor, theologian and religious leader. He served as the 9th president of Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary (SWBTS) in Fort Worth, Texas from 2019 to 2022. He was the youngest president in the history of the seminary, being installed at 41 years old. Simultaneous with his role as president, he served as a Professor of Evangelism and Apologetics. A report release by the school in June 2023 concluded that Greenway misspent seminary funds during his tenure.

Harry Edward (Ed) Litton Jr. is an American evangelical pastor who was the president of the Southern Baptist Convention, elected in June 2021. He also serves as the senior pastor of Redemption Church in Saraland, Alabama.

References

  1. ↑ "Gaines recounts presidential decision". Baptist Press. June 15, 2016. Retrieved June 16, 2016.
  2. 1 2 Bellevue.org Archived June 18, 2009, at the Wayback Machine ,Bellevue Baptist Church Website, Accessed November 20, 2009.
  3. ↑ Roach, David (March 9, 2016). "Steve Gaines to be SBC president nominee". Baptist Press. Retrieved March 12, 2016.
  4. ↑ Denman, Barbara (June 14, 2017). "Gaines reelected as SBC President, leads diverse slate of officers". Baptist Press.
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Pastor Walks Humbly at Bellevue", The Commercial Appeal, September 11, 2005.
  6. ↑ Bonnie Pritchett (October 22, 2010). "Ft. Worth church produced Baptist leaders". Texan Online. Southern Baptist Texan. Archived from the original on August 30, 2017. Retrieved July 5, 2011.
  7. 1 2 3 4 5 Bellevue Loves Memphis Archived June 17, 2010, at the Wayback Machine , Richardson, Cyndi; Adams, Paul (historian), Bellevue Baptist Church website.
  8. ↑ The Open Door Award, Dr. Steve Gaines [ permanent dead link ]
  9. ↑ "Steve Gaines to be SBC president nominee". Baptist Press. March 9, 2016. Retrieved March 10, 2016.
  10. 1 2 3 "'People losing trust' in Bellevue pastor, seminary leader says", by James Dowd, The Commercial Appeal, December 20, 2006. Accessed December 21, 2006.
  11. 1 2 "Controversy simmers at Bellevue; Gaines tells congregation he will stay" Archived June 28, 2010, at the Wayback Machine , by Anna Marie Hartman and Brooke Sanders, WMC-TV
  12. ↑ "Seminary head hears Gaines reaction", by Yolanda Jones, The Commercial Appeal, December 23, 2006. Accessed December 23, 2006.
  13. ↑ "Embattled Bellevue Baptist faces new conflict: 'moral failure' allegations", by Hannah Elliott, Associated Baptist Press, December 21, 2006
  14. ↑ "Gaines wants to remain at Bellevue", by Jody Callahan, The Commercial Appeal, December 21, 2006. Accessed December 21, 2006.
  15. ↑ "Bellevue report: Assistant pastor guilty of sex abuse against son", by ABPNews, January 29, 2007
  16. ↑ "Bellevue details 'moral failure'", by James Dowd, The Commercial Appeal, January 29, 2007. Accessed January 29, 2007.
  17. ↑ "Bellevue 'ill-prepared' for child molestation, report states" Archived January 10, 2009, at the Wayback Machine , by Tim Ellsworth, Baptist Press, January 29, 2007
  18. ↑ "Report of the Independent Investigation: The Southern Baptist Convention Executive Committee's Response to Sexual Abuse Allegations and an Audit of the Procedures and Actions of the Credentials Committee" (PDF).
Religious titles
Preceded by
Adrian Rogers
 Senior Pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church
2005–present		Incumbent
Preceded by President of the Southern Baptist Convention
2016–2018		Succeeded by
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.