Bellevue Baptist Church in Tennessee has elected Lifeway Christian Resources CEO Ben Mandrell to replace former Southern Baptist Convention President Steve Gaines as its senior pastor.
The megachurch voted Sunday to elect Mandrell, 48, as its new lead pastor, months after Gaines, 67, announced that he was stepping down to pursue itinerant preaching.
After Mandrell preached before Bellevue Baptist on Sunday, he and his family left the sanctuary so that the congregation could vote on whether he should be their new senior pastor.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.
Pastor Search Committee Chairman Chad Hall asked the church members to stand if they approved of the committee’s recommendation of Mandrell.
In response, nearly all of the people present in the sanctuary stood up, showcasing a clear majority in favor of Mandrell becoming Bellevue Baptist’s new senior pastor.
Mandrell has served as the head of Lifeway since 2019, overseeing the organization’s relocation to Brentwood, Tennessee, and its subsequent years of financial growth, particularly since the COVID-19 pandemic. He has pastored churches in Colorado and Tennessee. Mandrell and his wife, Lynley, married in 2001 and have four children.
The Lifeway Board of Trustees plans to take the initial steps in the search for Mandrell’s successor “right away,” said board chair James Carroll. Members of the search committee will be named before Lifeway’s board meeting in late August.
The church’s business meeting also resolved to bestow the title of “pastor emeritus” on Gaines, with Gaines jokingly telling Mandrell, “You’re the first pastor I’ve had in 42 years.”
Gaines, who had served as SBC president for two terms from 2016-2018 and had led Bellevue since 2005, announced in November 2023 that he had been diagnosed with kidney cancer.
“We got some great doctors; we’ve got the best doctor,” Gaines stated in 2023. “I just want to tell you, firsthand, OK? Didn’t want you to hear it for somebody else. Wanted to tell you straight up.”
Last September, Gaines told the congregation that he was stepping down as senior pastor to focus on itinerant preaching, clarifying that this resignation was not for health reasons.
“My treatments are going well. I received a good PET scan report this last week, but regardless of what tests show, my faith is in the Lord and in His Word where he has told me from Psalm 118: 17, ‘I will not die,” Gaines said. “Now I’m going to die one of these days, but not from this.”
Last week, The Baptist Press reported that Bellevue was seriously considering Mandrell as their new senior pastor, with a congregational vote slated for the following Sunday.
“The pastor search committee’s only goal during the past eight months was to seek the man God had already chosen to lead our church,” said Chad Hall in a statement reported by BP, SBC’s news organ.
“Through much prayer and unity, we unanimously believe God clearly revealed Ben Mandrell as that man.”
