Tribute to Steve Gaines

Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, went home to be with the Lord in March of this year. Steve and I are the same age and have known each other for forty years.

Only heaven in eternity will tell the full story of Steve Gaines’ impact on the Kingdom. And only eternity will tell the story of his wife, Donna Gaines’ role in that impact. They were a couple greatly used of God—an example in marriage, family, and ministry.

Steve was an example to us all in so many areas of the Christian life and ministry, including prayer, preaching, and evangelism. When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in 2020, Steve set up a weekly Zoom call where pastors from around Memphis would gather and pray for each other.

Steve was an encourager.

For the past 3 & 1/2 years when I was on campus at Mid-America Baptist Seminary on Sundays, I would attend Bellevue to listen to Steve preach. He always invited me into his study before the early service to pray for him, then wanted me to sit with him and Donna during the service. During those times, even when he was fighting cancer, he was more an encouragement to me than I was to him.

Steve Gaines was a faithful man. Faithful to the Lord. Faithful to the Word. Faithful to the church. Faithful to Donna. Faithful to his family. Faithful to ministry. When he crossed the threshold into the presence of his Savior, I have no doubt he heard those precious words: “Well done, good, and faithful servant!”

I shall always remember that time in England in the summer of 2016 just a few weeks after Steve had been elected president of the Southern Baptist Convention. A group of us were touring the famous Baptist missionary William Carey’s church. Steve preached in Carey’s church and concluded his sermon by washing our feet. The newly elected president of the SBC . . . washing our feet.

Such is his legacy.

I miss him already.

​David L. Allen