Memphis's leading arminian to retire

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jfschultz

Puritan Board Junior
From the Comercial Appeal.

[b:aa6a8d1060]Bellevue pastor to retire
Rogers gives his 6-month notice[/b:aa6a8d1060]
By Kevin McKenzie

Rev. Adrian Rogers, pastor of Bellevue Baptist Church, said Sunday that in six months he will retire as pastor of Shelby County's largest church.

Rogers made the announcement on his 73rd birthday during an evening worship service.

"He said tonight that he was announcing his retirement; that he would continue to pastor for six months," said Mark Dougharty, Bellevue Baptist's associate pastor, reached later at his home.

Rogers, whose home telephone number is unlisted, could not be reached for comment.

Dougharty said a press conference is planned for today.

Rogers told the congregation that during the six months he continues to lead the church, a search committee would look for his successor, Dougharty said.

With more than 28,000 members, Bellevue Baptist is among the biggest Southern Baptist congregations in the nation.

Rogers told those at the service that he plans to pursue other activities.

Those include continuing a worldwide radio and television ministry called "Love Worth Finding," and producing a training institute for pastors.

Rogers also plans to serve as an interim professor at Mid-America Baptist Theological Seminary, Dougharty said.

Rogers, born in West Palm Beach, Fla., was preaching in Merritt Island, Fla., when a Bellevue Baptist pulpit committee chose him to pastor the Memphis church in 1972.

He was only the third pastor of the church since 1927.

Under his leadership, the congregation flourished and moved from Midtown to its 377-acre, paid-for campus in Cordova. The church traces its roots back to a one-room chapel called the Bellevue Avenue Baptist Church, founded in 1903.

Rogers also assumed a leadership role in the Southern Baptist Convention, where he was elected president in 1979, 1986 and 1987.
The church's Internet Web site - bellevue.org - notes that he is "credited with leading the denomination back to its historic roots of biblical inerrancy."

Rogers suffered a heart attack in January 2002, but told The Commercial Appeal for a May 2003 article that his health was good and that at that time he had no plans to retire.

Rogers and his wife, Joyce, have four grown children.
 
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