Steve is the Senior Adult Pastor and has served First Baptist Church of Jacksonville in various pastoral positions since 1996.
He and his wife, Laurie, have two adult children, Caleb and Sarah. Born in Hollywood, CA, Steve was adopted after birth and raised in Dyersburg, TN. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Church Music Performance from Arkansas State University in 1983 and completed post-graduate work in the field of Christian Education. He became certified by the Association of Certified Biblical Counselors in 2017, earned a specialization in addictions counseling in 2021, and a specialization in marriage counseling in 2022.
Steve came to faith in Christ at the age of 21 after spending years as an unregenerate church member. Since then, he has served churches in Arkansas, Tennessee, and Florida. He leads our Senior Adult Ministry and ministers to those in hospitals, hospice, and with bereavement needs. He also oversees our church’s prison and substance abuse ministries and provides biblical counseling to all he meets. Steve counsels married couples and those struggling with life-dominating sins.
He claims Galatians 2:20-21 as his life verses: “I have been crucified with Christ; and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died for nothing.”
(904) 366-1377