Biography of Steve McKeown

The year was 1970. The tumultuous 60’s had been put in the record books but the effects of 60’s were being felt. The Beatles were leading a revolution involving illegal hallucinogenic drugs, “free sex” (facilitated by the development of “the pill”), and exploration into alternative spiritualism – eastern mysticism and the like. Traditional family values, which were firmly in place through the 50s, were disappearing. The civil rights movement was in full swing. The feminist movement was gaining ground. And, oh yeah, there was this “conflict” on the other side of the world in this little country no one had ever heard of called Viet Nam. Tens of thousands of American lives had been lost, young men were heading to Canada, and the fabric of our country was tearing apart. Anyone over 30 was considered to be the “Establishment” and was not to be trusted. A president had been shot; a civil rights leader, too; and 4 students protesting on a campus in Ohio were shot by a terrified and frustrated law enforcement. The air was filled with smoke … from anti-war riots, to draft cards, to bras, to the Watts area of Los Angeles things were on fire.

Our country was coming apart at the seams, but the sad thing was … the church (in general) was virtually silent. The churches that weren’t silent were mostly ineffective from my perspective. One would watch the evening news, read the paper, drive past protests in the streets and then walk into the church and walk into another world. The dress was different; the language was different’ and the content of most of the teachings had virtually nothing to do with what was really going on in the world.

It was in that context that my exposure to “church” began in earnest.

I was born in the mid-50’s and grew up in Cape Girardeau, MO completely unchurched. None of my family attended church during my upbringing that I can remember. My parents divorced when I was 12 and my father got custody of me (a rare occurrence in 1968) and I moved to Southern Illinois. Until that time, I had never read the Bible, did not know whom Moses was, whom Adam was, or even whom Jesus was. I had never heard the story of Noah and the ark, Joshua and Jericho, nor Jonah and the fish. I was completely ignorant of any scripture. Further, I was a hurt and emotionally shut down young man. My father remarried and I began attending church at the urging of my new stepmother. Our family moved to Herrin in 1970. I got my first job at Bailey’s Service Station and I began attending the First United Methodist Church.

However, I actually became involved in church life when a friend recruited me to be the drummer for a newly formed high school youth church choir at the First Christian Church of Herrin. I remember Mike Owen asking me if I would be willing to play drums for “Shalom” and my response was consistent with the answer any young, red-blooded, male, would answer whose hormones were starting to rage, “Are their girls there?” After an affirmative response from Mike I signed on … not even caring that I didn’t know what a “Shalom” was.

The youth choir was led by a young man and his wife who were visibly different from most other people that attended the church. Having not grown up in church, I didn’t exactly know what protocol was, but whatever it was, I quickly realized that John and Judy Webb, the new youth pastors, normally operated outside of the norm. In a time when our society was coming apart and the church seemed to be in another world, here comes this guy and his wife with whom I could identify. They wore blue jeans (extremely rare in church those days); John had long hair, a beard, and wore sandals (an anti-establishment statement to be sure); and they both spoke and prayed in normal English without the “thee’s” and the “thou’s”. John and Judy drove many people in the church crazy … especially the older folks in the church, which just caused the teens to love them all the more.

Even though I respected John and Judy, I witnessed a lot of hypocrisy in other Christian leaders and among others who called themselves Christians. Hence, I didn’t really want any part of the “God thing.” From time to time John would challenge me regarding my commitment to Christ to which I would reply, “John, please don’t try to get me to believe that just because the other kids have said some kind of a prayer and got wet in a baptistery - they are going to heaven and I am going to hell. Please go tell that to someone else because I don’t buy it.” Even though I was less than “loveable”, John and Judy loved me.

I met my future spouse in that church youth group. After 2 years in the youth group at the ripe age of 16, we “happened” to sit next to each other on a bus trip to Oklahoma (nothing short of a miracle since we were definitely in different social circles). Darla Craft was in the “cheerleader, letter girl, queen’s court, and ‘boyfriend is co-captain of the undefeated football team’” end of the social continuum … and … let’s just say I was at the other end of the social scale. From the time we left town on a summer youth trip to Oklahoma, we talked virtually non-stop about “God things”. For some reason (divine, I’m sure), I trusted Darla, opened my heart to her and she shared faith with me in terms I could understand. Four days later I told my best friend I was going to marry Darla, and the day after that, John came with another challenge to make a decision for Christ. This time my response was different. I told John, “OK, I now believe there is a God and I believe He loves me. However, I’m not going to do this thing half way. I am going to clean my life up, break my bad habits, and then you have my word that I will make a commitment to make Jesus Christ the Lord of my life. When I do, there will be no turning back.” John very wisely responded, “Steve, if you could clean your life up, Jesus would have not had to go to the cross. If you are going to come to him, you should come just as you are, then allow him to clean you up.” My excuses were gone and I received Christ that day. August 11th, 1972 in the Kiamichi Mountains in Oklahoma and was summarily water baptized by Darla and John in a mountain stream. That single decision changed everything in my life. I was to come to the conclusion that the difference between “existence” and “life” is “love.” I.e., to not have loved is to not have lived. I began to live on that day.

While I was madly in love with God (and with Darla whom I married in 1976) I had no interest in formally “going into the ministry.” A very generous man from Eldorado, Dr. Elliott Partridge, evidently saw something in me and offered to cover all my financial expenses if I chose to go to Bible College. Well, actually he either saw something in me or was doing me a favor because he adored my Darla nearly like his own daughter. I quickly turned him down. I had NO INTENTION of ever being employed by the church. I loved God, it was just most of his followers I didn’t care much for … and I had even less respect for “preachers” and the organized church. This was the time of the Jesus Freak movement that was throwing a bolt into American Christendom. While I did not use drugs and have never taken even a sip of alcohol since committing my life to Christ in high school, I certainly identified more with the “freak” crowd.

Darla and I were married on August 21st, 1976. She graduated SIU as a Physical Therapist Assistant and went to work for Herrin Hospital while I finished up my degree in Commercial Graphic Design at SIU. During that time, we began attending a Bible study in the home of Ernie and Barb LeQuatte and eventually joined the church they were attending, the Christian Bookshelf Fellowship, which became Christian Life Center.

Upon graduation from SIU, I immediately went to work as the Art Director for WSIL-TV3, an ABC affiliate which was located in Harrisburg at the time. I did logo design, station graphics, and transitioned their traditional looking news set to a “newsroom” set. In addition, I began doing commercial production for clients in the region. After five years at WSIL-TV I took a position at WTCT-TV27, a Christian TV station, the day it went on the air in Marion. I served in virtually every production and engineering position within that organization. Garth Coonce, the founder and president of Tri-State Christian TV, taught me more about leadership than any single other individual in the world. He was intense and I liked that … I liked being around someone who pushed himself and demanded the best from everyone around him. I ultimately assumed the role as Assistant to the President for TCT in 1988. During those years, Darla and I began our family. Andrew Michael (Drew) came along in 1982, Dana Michelle in 1985 and Troy Daniel in 1987. I loved (and still do love) television production but I could sense a pull on my life towards a new direction.

In 1989 I left the television industry to assume the position of Youth Pastor / Administrator for my home church of Christian Life Center that my family and I had attended since 1978. In January of 1998, at the request of the elders, I assumed the lead pastor role and have served in that capacity since.

I am an extremely blessed man. I love my wife dearly. We will celebrate 33 years of marriage this August. She has worked for Williamson County Special Education since 1984. My son, Drew, after having served an internship in the White House and graduating from Washington University is employed as an actuary in St. Louis and is newly married. My daughter, Dana, graduated from Greenville College with a double major in early childhood development and elementary education. She maintained very close to a perfect 4 point GPA, was an officer the prestigious Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society, was a class officer, and is currently living in the Atlanta, GA area. Troy is a junior at Greenville majoring in Digital Media and singing with the campus choir. Both of my sons are Eagle scouts. However, far more important for me as a father, my children all know and serve God. Drew serves faithfully in St. Louis with various Christian organizations, one of the first items on Dana’s list after moving to Atlanta was finding a church with which she could fellowship, and Troy faithfully serves God as well at Greenville.

I love my wife; I love my family; and I love my church … you “CLCers” are the GREATEST!!! However, all of the blessings of my life go back to that summer day in 1972 when I opened my heart up to the love of God … and I genuinely pray that all who read this will do the same. It is a shame that some of the most profound statements of our time have been reduced to bumper sticker clichés, but they are no less true:

No Jesus, no peace … know Jesus, know peace
No Jesus, no purpose … know Jesus, know purpose
No Jesus, no love … know Jesus, know love.

And that is my prayer for you … to know Jesus.