Dr. Jay Strother, the senior pastor of Brentwood Baptist Church in Tennessee, has announced he’ll be needing an extended break from ministry after being diagnosed with stomach cancer.
Pastor Strother and his wife, Tanya, are raising five children, and he has been leading Brentwood since 2023 when the church marked its 50th anniversary. The multi-campus church is attended by roughly 6,500 people on the outskirts of Nashville.
In a message to the church, he states, “I’m writing to share personally how God is working in my life during a season that requires your prayers and support.”
The 50-year-old pastor says he has been processing his shocking cancer diagnosis over the past two months as his medical team is still working to assess next steps.
“My posture through this waiting period has been to hold onto Matthew 6:33-34: Seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all of these things will be provided for you. Therefore, don’t worry about tomorrow, because tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own. By God’s grace, I’ve been taking it a day at a time and a step at a time,” he says.
Doctors first discovered a large mass in his right abdominal area back in December, and medical testing revealed it to be a malignant tumor.
“Like many of you who have dealt with medical issues, the answers have not come as quickly or been as clear as I would have liked. There are additional complexities to my condition for which we’re still awaiting results. I have no doubt that God has placed me in the hands of a well-trained medical team, but they’ve been honest that the road ahead will not be easy. The treatment plan hasn’t been finalized, but at some point in the near future, it’s almost certain that I’ll have to step away from ministry for a time for treatment, major surgery, and an extended recovery.”
The church reports that Strother expects to receive his official diagnosis and treatment plan on March 3, including specific information to finalize the path forward regarding treatment, surgery, and recovery.
He’s asking for prayer as the top priority.
“First, pray! Pray for my health and healing, pray for my wife and kids, pray for the doctors that they’ll have Spirit-led wisdom. Please pray that I’ll be a good witness to them. Pray for our staff and leadership teams. Pray that, if this is spiritual warfare, the enemy be stopped and that God get all the glory,” he writes.
He also encourages churchgoers to remain steadfast in pursuing God’s Word and to stay on track with the Gospel mission.
“Peter tells us that suffering means we’re not abandoned by God, but proof we’ve been called by God (2:21). Our God is good, even when everything doesn’t feel good to us. Whatever you are facing, I pray that God’s Word will continue to give all of us both truth and strength.”
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“Last, but certainly not least, never forget that in any trial, Christ is the main character, not the diagnosis, not the cancer, not the treatment. It’s Christ who ‘bore our sins in his body on the tree so that, having died to sins, we might live for righteousness. By his wounds you have been healed’ (2:24). I believe in that promise,” he declares.
