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Profile of
our Pastor
Love Goes a Long Way
What are the odds that a Grand Rapids man with a teaching certificate, awaiting a draft number for Vietnam, would end up in Houghton as a pastor? Even all the number crunching of a Michigan Tech student wouldn't have placed Dr. Stephen Wilson at Evangel Baptist Church because he had no intention of becoming a pastor.
Pastor Wilson (best known as Steve) doesn't try to explain probabilities, but says that God arranged the details and put a campus pastor from Michigan State University in his life to help him "grasp God's grace and transform Christianity from a set of rules to an understanding of the heart." And, that was a turning point that took him in a different direction than he would have planned.
Steve and Marcia arrived in Houghton during March 1975 on the back half of winter. In spite of a fresh nineteen-inch snowfall equipped with only a "regular" snow shovel, Steve still says "it was a winter wonderland, a storybook setting."
Besides a praiseworthy attitude, Steve has compassion for people and a sense of how to connect with students. "Tech students are impressive. They're sharp, have a strong character, and are very talented. It's a joy to study and communicate the Bible with students who choose to learn more about God."
Bobbi Sue Wood, mechanical engineer and mother, met Steve as an undergraduate. "My second Sunday at Evangel, Steve greeted me by name. I couldn't believe he remembered it. It made things more personal." Over the years Bobbi Sue has spent a lot of time with the Wilsons. "One thing I really appreciate is that they are honest about their feelings and open with their lives," she continues. "They are people with personal struggles, just like everyone else."
When Steve isn't talking about God, he's demonstrating God's love. If you polled the congregation (not all are students), a majority of hands would go up if you asked, "Who has Steve either helped move or helped paint their house?" He arrives at your door willing and smiling and leaves with sore muscles and/or speckled with the color you've carefully selected! Steve takes his inspiration from his desire to help lead Evangel, with God's help, to experience the "new commandment" in John 13:35--"By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another."
"I want to see this basic teaching of Jesus become a reality in peoples' lives," he says, "to see others become addicted to the experience of Christ's disciples--in love with Christ and with one another. It is my desire that they will then take this experience somewhere else and help make it happen in other churches, so that the world can know who Jesus is."
Going somewhere else is what happens a lot in a college town and is something that Steve and Marcia had to adjust to. However, it is rewarding to look at the congregation on a Sunday morning and see "former students bringing their sons and daughters to college."
At the other end of the spectrum of life, Steve shares his faith in his role as hospital chaplain. "It has made the reality of the Word more apparent because I'm dealing with life and death situations. Being in the hospital is a fragile, vulnerable time in people's lives.
"It's intimate. I consider it a privilege to minister in this way."
Who ministers to Steve? Among others, his family. Marcia and Steve have been married 27 years and if time measured goodness, they would be high off the charts. They have two children in college, Elisabeth and Peter.
Steve also finds diversion from the intensity of his calling in his hobbies. "So much of my work is intangible," Steve said. "That's why I really enjoy gardening. It's concrete." Other interests include bicycling and cross country skiing.
But his passion is reading and sharing the Scriptures. "I want people to know that the Bible is true and living, that there is no end to what can be discovered and learned. It's dynamic and exciting and I want people to see this and be pulled in to love the Word."
His favorite verse, if you really force him to pick one, is Romans 14:17-18 [1], calling it "a stethoscope" that God regularly puts against his heart. It helps him "recalibrate and know what God wants" him to be.
God says on earth "we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror, then we shall see face to face." [2] Steve looks forward to heaven. But, while on earth, this educator turned pastor will continue his work with faith, hope, and love.
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[1] "For the kingdom of God is not a matter of eating and drinking, but of righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, because anyone who serves Christ in this way is pleasing to God and approved by men." --Romans 14:17-18
[2] "Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love." --I Corinthians 13:12-13
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