The pastor search committee at Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova, Tennessee, has unanimously recommended that Ben Mandrell, president and CEO of Lifeway Christian Resources, become the church’s next senior pastor. Mandrell will preach in view of a call on July 13. The congregation will vote on the committee’s choice after a 10 a.m. service.
If affirmed by the congregation, Mandrell will fill the role vacated by Steve Gaines, who announced in September 2024 his plans to transition into an itinerant preaching ministry. Gaines, who followed Adrian Rogers, has served at Bellevue since 2005.
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Mandrell, 48, has been leading Lifeway since August 2019. During his tenure, Mandrell led the organization through a global pandemic, the move to a new building in Brentwood, and four consecutive years of financial growth since the COVID-19 pandemic.
Initial steps
To this end, Carroll said the board plans to begin the initial steps to search for a successor right away. He asked Southern Baptists to be in prayer for the search committee and for the future leader of Lifeway. Members of the search committee will be named before Lifeway’s board meeting scheduled for Aug. 25–26.
Prior to Lifeway, Mandrell served as lead pastor of Storyline Fellowship in Arvada, Colorado. He and his family moved to the Denver area in 2014 to plant Storyline Fellowship in partnership with the North American Mission Board and First Baptist Church Orlando. The church launched in February 2015 with 250 people and grew to 1,600 in weekly attendance in just four years.
Before planting Storyline Fellowship, Mandrell served as senior pastor of Englewood Baptist Church in Jackson, Tennessee, from 2006–2013 during which time he led the church to grow from 1,800 to 2,600 in weekly attendance.
A native of Tampico, Illinois, Mandrell graduated from Anderson (Indiana) University in 1998. He also holds a master of divinity degree from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, Kentucky, and a doctor of ministry degree from Union University.
Mandrell and his wife, Lynley, have been married 23 years. The couple has four children.
EDITOR’S NOTE — Carol Pipes is director of communications at Lifeway. Noah Sidhom is groups pastor at Bellevue Baptist Church.
