Summer 2009 | Volume 67, No. 4

Steve Gaines

by Benjamin Hawkins

On the morning of May 17, 2009, Steve Gaines, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tenn., opened his Bible to Ephesians 3:14-21.

“The apostle Paul was a prayer warrior,” Gaines said. “He was many things. He was a scholar. … He was a great preacher. … He was also a wonderful missionary and an evangelist. … But I believe the greatest part of his life, and really the secret of Paul’s life, was this: He walked with God in prayer.”

Gaines paused, and a hush filled the room. Of course, this could only be expected since he was alone. Looking up, he did not see a spacious auditorium, but only walls, shelves, and, to his right, a glowing exit sign suspended above a print of da Vinci’s The Last Supper.

Ever since 2005, when Gaines succeeded Adrian Rogers as Bellevue’s pastor, he has often entered a small room to preach. He testifies that this Sunday-morning practice helps him “solidify” the message in his heart and mind. “It is simply to make you a better communicator,” he says, “so that, when you get up there, you are looking at the people to whom you are talking.”

Gaines was born in Corinth, Miss., and he came to Christ as a 7-year-old at the First Baptist Church of Dyersburg, Tenn. He surrendered to the ministry as a college student.

In 1980, Gaines married his wife, Donna, and they moved to Fort Worth, Texas, where he began his Master of Divinity degree. During his final year, he was selected to preach for Southwestern’s Senior Preaching Week. After graduating with his master’s in 1984, he entered Southwestern’s Ph.D. program and graduated with a major in preaching in 1991.

“My professors loved the Lord, the Bible, God’s people, and lost people,” Gaines says. “They instilled a passion in me to thoroughly study God’s Word before ever stepping into a pulpit to proclaim His truth.”

According to Gaines, a preacher’s success depends greatly on his private practice, not only in sermon preparation, but also in prayer.

“Make prayer the priority of your life and preaching the priority of your ministry,” he says. In the third chapter of Mark’s Gospel, he explains, Jesus called his disciples to be with Him. Only then did he send them out to preach and cast out demons.

“You better not try to preach until you’ve been with Jesus,” Gaines says. With a smile, he adds, “You sure better not try to cast out a demon until you’ve been with Jesus. …

“Prayer is like breathing. You have to learn to breathe. You have to learn to talk with God before you talk for God.

As it was for the apostle Paul, the secret to any preacher’s life is prayer. If he is faithful in prayer, Gaines says, his other tasks “will fall in line.”

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