On May 10, 2006, Deacons Richard Emerson and Mark Sharpe met with Dr. Steve Gaines and Jeff Arnold to discuss concerns that were being raised by membership and staff.  The purpose of the information being provided today is a result of many members wanting the truth once and for all.

In July 2005 the Chairman of the Bellevue Pastor Search Committee, Chuck Taylor announced that Dr. Steve Gaines would become our new Pastor.

Steve Gaines preached his first message as the Senior Pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church on Sept. 11, 2005. At that time, most people believe that Steve was well received by the congregation and to becoming our new Pastor.

As the next weeks and months rolled by we began to have a “check in our spirit” about our new Pastor. We continued to pray for Steve Gaines that God would give him strength and discernment to preach the word of God as Galatians 5:25 says.

We began to meet with certain lay leaders to discuss the concerns about our new Pastor and current leadership. This all fell upon deaf ears to our church leadership. Even as we voiced that unless there are some changes made, our new Pastor may be set-up for failure.

In May of 2006, we asked to meet with Steve Gaines to share what God had laid upon our hearts. Although we are Deacons, our Pastor would not meet with us alone without Jeff L. Arnold. As a result, God put it upon our hearts to have our wives stand with us as prayer partners.

We met with our Pastor for several hours and shared in love how God has burdened our hearts and that is what we want to share with you today.

Since that time, many things have been said about the meeting on May 2006 with Steve and Jeff. There are still many people making statements about what was said during that meeting that are not correct.

During the last several months, some church leaders have asked us to please set the record straight about what was said during the meeting. The meeting ended with Jeff Arnold acknowledging that we did the right thing by coming today and he believes that we were led by the spirit.

As a result of much Godly counsel and prayer, we are making the transcript of this meeting available for you to read.  It is our hope and prayer that this will help set the record straight about this meeting once and for all.

Richard Emerson
 

The meeting transcribed (go here)