Biography
Denominational Service: ABSC and SBC
While he was pastor at Gardendale, Steve was elected to serve for three years on the State Board of Missions for the Alabama Baptist State Convention (ABSC). His fellow Alabama pastors elected him to serve as president of the Pastors’ Conference for the ABSC in 1999.
He also had the privilege of serving with Dr. Adrian Rogers on a 15-member committee charged with revising The Baptist Faith and Message. The document, adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention in 2000, is the primary doctrinal statement for all SBC agencies, including its six seminaries and International Mission Board.
In 2004 Steve preached the keynote Convention Sermon at the Southern Baptist Convention meeting in Indianapolis. Then in 2005 he served as president of the SBC Pastors’ Conference held in Nashville, Tennessee. GFBC’s choir and orchestra led out in the congregational worship and praise. The program included many of Steve’s preaching heroes, including Don Miller, Roy Fish, Jerry Falwell, Johnny Hunt, and, of course, Adrian Rogers who closed out the final session.
Challenges: A Thorn in the Flesh
In his eighth year at Gardendale, Steve was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease called Myasthenia Gravis, which means “severe muscular weakness.” In 2000 his thymus gland was removed by a procedure similar to a heart bypass. He began taking medications to combat the illness, and today he is grateful that the Lord has allowed him to continue in ministry. After years of struggling with the disease, Steve says he wholeheartedly affirms the Apostle Paul’s statement of faith in 2 Corinthians 12:9: “And He has said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.’ Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.” Interestingly, the word for “weakness” in that verse is the Greek word, “asthenia,” the very same word used in Myasthenia Gravis!
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