Steve Gaines — former pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tennessee, and Gardendale First Baptist Church — died March 20. He was 68.
Gaines stepped into the pastorate of Bellevue Baptist in 2005 following the retirement of well-known pastor and author Adrian Rogers. Gaines served there until 2025, when he moved to itinerant ministry after battling cancer for about a year and a half.
At the time of Gaines’ cancer diagnosis in fall 2023, Rick Lance, executive director of the Alabama Baptist State Board of Missions, shared, “I, along with many Alabama Baptists, are praying for pastor Steve Gaines and his family. He is much beloved by us and we are praying for the best of God’s blessings on him and his family during this important time of need.”
‘Our lives will never be the same’
Bellevue announced March 11 that Gaines had been placed on hospice care, and Gardendale FBC called for prayer for God’s “comforting presence, sustaining grace and divine peace” in a Facebook post the same day.
“Bro. Steve and Donna served the Lord faithfully at GFBC for 14 years (1991-2005),” the post read. “Our lives will never be the same because of their anointed ministry!”
During his time at Gardendale FBC, Gaines led the congregation from a membership of 4,000 to 8,500. More than 3,500 were baptized, and the budget grew from $2 million in 1991 to $9 million in 2005. He said choosing to leave the church for Bellevue was “the hardest thing we’ve ever done” but that God “kept laying it on our hearts.”
While at Bellevue, Gaines served as SBC president from 2016 to 2018. He was named Southern Baptist Theological Seminary’s Herschel H. Hobbs Visiting Professor of Christian Preaching in 2017. He also served on the SBC Committee on Nominations and as chairman of the SBC Resolutions Committee.
Early in his ministry, he served as pastor of West Jackson Baptist Church in Tennessee; pastor, associate pastor and youth pastor of Lake Shore Baptist Church in Lake Dallas, Texas; and youth pastor of First Baptist Church Milan, Tennessee.
Born in Mississippi and raised in Tennessee, Gaines played football at the University of Tennessee at Martin on a full scholarship. He began attending Fellowship of Christian Athletes at UTM and gave up his scholarship to transfer to Union University, a Christian college in Jackson, Tennessee, where he graduated in 1979. In October 1977, he was licensed to the gospel ministry.
He held a master of divinity degree from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. While there, he was awarded the H.C. Brown Jr. Preaching Award for “Outstanding Achievement in the Study and Practice of Preaching” and the W. Fred Swank Evangelism Award. He also finished his doctoral studies at Southwestern.
Gaines is survived by his wife, Donna; four children; and many grandchildren.
Brent Taylor Funeral Directors announced the celebration of life service for Gaines will be held at Bellevue Baptist Church on Sunday, March 22, at 6 p.m. Visitation will take place from 4 to 6 p.m. The family will conduct a private burial.
