INDIANAPOLIS — The 2024 SBC Pastors Conference ended just like it started: With a pastor from the Tennessee Baptist Convention in the pulpit.
Steve Gaines, senior pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church in Cordova and a former SBC president, preached the conference’s final sermon on Monday night. Roughly 24 hours earlier, the two-day event opened with a message from Bartholomew Orr, senior pastor of Brown Missionary Baptist Church, which is located in Southaven, Miss., but is a TBC church.
Also representing the TBC was Adam Dooley, senior pastor of Englewood Baptist Church, Jackson, who delivered one of the sermons during the Tuesday afternoon session.
The three TBC representatives were part of an 11-pastor lineup at this year’s Pastors Conference. The event, which serves as the lead-in event for the SBC annual meeting, had the theme “Faithful: Pursuing Your Mission.”
Gaines, who is undergoing cancer treatment after being diagnosed with kidney cancer in November of 2023, closed out the conference with a sermon entitled the “Seven Statements of Jesus from the Cross.”
Gaines
Gaines said the first statement from Jesus was a message of forgiveness. Gaines encouraged the conference attendees to model their behavior after Jesus by forgiving those who have committed wrongs against us. “Forgiveness sets you free,” Gaines said, “and you are free indeed.”
The second statement from the cross was a message of salvation, Gaines said, referring to the thief who cried out to Jesus and was told that “today, you will be with me in paradise.”
Gaines said the message of provision was Jesus’ third statement from cross, with Jesus telling John to look after his mother, Mary.
The fourth statement from the cross, Gaines said, was the message of separation, when Jesus asked the question, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” This is the moment when God laid the inequity of all sinners — past, present and future — on Jesus.
The fifth statement was a message of humanity, Gaines said, when Jesus asked for a drink of water, and the sixth statement was a message of completion, when Jesus cried out, “It is finished.”
Lastly, Gaines said, the seventh and final statement from the cross was the message of commitment, Gaines said, referring to when Jesus proclaimed, “Father, into your hands I commit my spirit.”
Gaines then closed his message by singing the song, “I should have been crucified.” B&R Note: After telling his congregation about his cancer diagnosis in November of last year, Gaines told them in December that the cancer had spread to his lungs. But in March, he shared that the cancer polyps in his lungs and the cancer in his rib were gone, according to his latest PET scan. The cancer in his kidney has also “gone down significantly,” he said at the time.
