Biography
Ministry Begins: Ordination and First Pastorates
Steve was just 20 years old in the summer of 1978 when he served on a church staff for the first time. “I had long, curly hair and frayed bell-bottom jeans when I went to the interview with the search committee at First Baptist Church in Milan, Tennessee,” he said. “But the chemistry in that interview was electrifying, and they called me as their minister of youth. When they gave me my first paycheck I couldn’t believe they were paying me to tell people about Jesus.”
Former location of West Jackson Baptist Church where Steve served as Pastor from 1988 to 1991.
He served there for a little over two years before beginning studies at Southwestern Seminary. On July 27, 1980, Steve was ordained to the Gospel ministry at First Baptist Church, Dyersburg, where his beloved dad, a deacon at that church, was one of the men who laid hands on him during the ordination service.
Steve leading in Sunday Morning Worship at West Jackson Baptist Church in the Fall of 1988.
While a student at Southwestern Seminary, Steve thrived on opportunities to preach at Lake Shore Baptist Church in Lake Dallas, Texas where he was associate pastor/youth minister. When the pastor there resigned, Steve was asked to serve as the church’s interim pastor. Scarcely looking beyond the man in their own pulpit, the search committee called him as pastor six months later.
Lake Shore grew steadily during the next five years. An educational wing was added, and the entire church facility was renovated to accommodate the growth. Also, Lake Shore gave birth to a new church, Shady Shores Baptist Church, which was planted in Shady Shores, Texas during Steve’s tenure as pastor there.
After eight years in Texas, Steve and Donna returned to Jackson, Tennessee, in 1988 when Steve was called to be the pastor at West Jackson Baptist Church. Many people were saved and many joined the church during their three years there. Happy to be near both sets of parents, Steve and Donna thought they’d live in Jackson forever. God, however, had other plans.
Blessings: The Gaines Children
While serving in churches across Texas, Alabama, and Tennessee, God blessed the Gaines’ family with four children. Darrell Grant, was born in Fort Worth, Texas, on April 11, 1983, a few weeks before Steve became pastor at Lake Shore Baptist Church. In 2009, while working on his Ph.D. degree at Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Grant was called as pastor of Brushy Fork Baptist Church in Canaan, Indiana. He and his wife Melisa have a daughter, Alivia.
Lindsey Carol Gaines was born on November 22, 1986, in Fort Worth, Texas. A recent Union University graduate, she is married to Ryan Wingo, a Christian songwriter and worship leader at Bellevue Baptist Church.
Allison Kirby Gaines was born on September 1, 1989, in Memphis, Tennessee. She is a student at Union University. The youngest Gaines, Bethany Elise, is a high school student at Evangelical Christian School in Memphis. She was born in Birmingham, Alabama, on March 26, 1993.
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