Bishop Marcus Campbell, North Nashville pastor and youth advocate, dies at 49

Bishop Marcus Campbell, a North Nashville pastor and a leading advocate for at-risk youth, died on Saturday. He was 49.

At the time of his death, Campbell pastored two churches and co-led community organizations that help teenagers and young adults leave gangs and a life of crime. Inspired by his own difficult upbringing, Campbell’s service was born of his attentiveness to neighbors’ needs, said wife Stacy Campbell and community leaders.

“If he saw the need, he would feel the need. He didn’t want accolades, he didn’t want publicity, he just wanted the need to be fulfilled,” said Stacy Campbell in an interview. “By any means necessary.”

Bishop Marcus Campbell 2016 profile: Dealer-turned-minister makes saving Nashville's youth his mission

City leaders offered their condolences and reflected on Campbell’s legacy.

“Bishop was an unwavering source of light, love and leadership for the Nashville community,” said Nashville Mayor John Cooper said in a social media post. “He touched countless lives, inspiring us all to be better and work for the greater good.”

Campbell spent his early years in life living with his grandmother, right down the road from Mt. Carmel Missionary Baptist Church on Monroe Street. It would be the same church Campbell would later pastor, now called The Church at Mt. Carmel, though after a lengthy struggle with the law.

He dealt drugs as a teenager and at age 18 was arrested and served four years in prison. He continued his earlier habits after leaving prison and in 1997 had a near-death experience after ingesting a series of drugs. That moment would change his life, Campbell told The Tennessean in a 2016 article.

“I knew then that my time was up, that I had to change," Campbell told The Tennessean. "It was my Independence Day."

Campbell left Nashville and worked as a truck driver. He eventually returned home, where he received his ordination and became pastor of Mt. Carmel in 2006. Two years later, he founded Gentlemen and Not Gangsters (GANG).

GANG offers a 12-week diversion program for at-risk youth and former gang members. The nonprofit eventually partnered with the city and county's juvenile court to serve young men who came through the court’s Gang Resistance Intervention and Prevention (GRIP) program.

“We allowed them to be children,” said Stacy Campbell, who co-led GANG with her husband. “He used to always tell them ‘You can be your age and act your age. You don’t have to be 15 and act like you’re 27 and the head of the household.’”

Many young people came into GANG hardened but started to open up within a few weeks, Stacy Campbell said.

Likewise, Stacy Campbell said her husband of nearly eight years was the “greatest supporter” to her eight children.

“The things he chose to do when he was younger, he didn’t want our children to do that at all,” said Stacy Campbell.

Campbell sought other opportunities to serve the community, such as food and clothing drives. He was outspoken about gentrification in North Nashville and an advocate for reducing gun violence. He worked with the Metro Nashville Police Department for its gun retrieval program.

“Bishop Campbell had quite a following, and we are blessed that he saw ways for collaboration with the police department to help turn lives around,” MNPD Chief John Drake said in a statement.

Also, Campbell served as pastor of Second Baptist Church in Ashland City.

Services for Campbell are on Saturday. The location is to be determined.

Liam Adams covers religion for The Tennessean. Reach him at ladams@tennessean.com or on Twitter @liamsadams.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Bishop Marcus Campbell, Nashville pastor and advocate, dies at 49