Steve Gaines, Former SBC President and Bellevue Pastor, Enters Hospice Care
A well-known Tennessee pastor who led one of the state’s largest churches and once served as president of the Southern Baptist Convention has entered hospice care.
Former Bellevue Baptist Church pastor Steve Gaines entered hospice care in recent days following a battle with cancer, according to a letter to the congregation from current pastor Ben Mandrell, who said the family had requested prayer.
Gaines served as pastor of the church from 2005 to 2025 and as president of the Southern Baptist Convention from 2016 to 2018. He succeeded Adrian Rogers at Bellevue.
Gaines announced in 2023 that he had been diagnosed with kidney cancer.
“What [the Gaines family] have specifically requested is prayer,” Mandrell wrote, according to Baptist Press. “Please join us in faithfully praying for Steve, for Donna, and for their entire family – that the Lord would surround them with His peace, comfort, and strength.”
Gaines is 68. He is the author or co-author of Share Jesus Like It Matters, Pray Like It Matters, When God Comes to Church, and Morning Manna, a devotional.
“Bro. Steve has faithfully served the Lord and shepherded so many people through the years,” Mandrell wrote. “He’s been a great pastor, mentor, and friend. Let’s honor him and his family by lifting them up before the Lord.”
Gaines revealed in the fall of 2023 that he had been diagnosed with kidney cancer and was beginning treatments. Weeks later, he said that his cancer had spread to his lungs and added he was set to undergo chemotherapy and receive several new treatments. He was treated at M.D. Anderson Cancer Center in Houston is a nationally renowned cancer treatment hospital.
In 2024, Gaines said his health had improved following treatments that reduced the cancer “significantly.” In September of that year, he announced he was transitioning out of pastoral ministry at Bellevue and was beginning a new itinerant preaching ministry. He stayed on until Mandrell was named the church’s new pastor.
Gaines preached his final regular sermon at Bellevue last September.
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Pastor Steve Gaines Reveals His Cancer Has Spread to His Lungs: ‘Please Continue to Pray'
Photo Credit: ©RNS/Steve Gaines Facebook/Bellevue Baptist Church
Michael Foust has covered the intersection of faith and news for 20 years. His stories have appeared in Baptist Press, Christianity Today, The Christian Post, the Leaf-Chronicle, the Toronto Star and the Knoxville News-Sentinel.
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Originally published March 13, 2026.
