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More teacher than preacher
Church of Christ isn't letting his age get in the way of what's important, namely his faith, his wife and his three children. "Most people are shocked that I'm 21 years old and I'm preaching," Morris said. "It's just out of the norm, I guess." Many people doubt his maturity and others question his knowledge, but Morris, effectively the youngest preacher in Clay County, believes he's exactly where God wants him to be. Like any preacher, Morris said he's still in the process of learning, but what sets him apart is his age. "Once people come and hear me I think that they can notice that there's a difference," he said. "I may be young but I use that to my advantage. I'm enthusiastic. I tend to bring a little bit of a different view." Early years
When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child - 1 Corinthians 12:11a Born in Dublin, Georgia on March 4, 1987 to Dennis and Marianne Morris, Steven grew up west of Dublin near the center of the state in Cochran. Being the son of a Church of Christ preacher was more of a burden than a blessing, Morris recalled. "The thing that helped me the most was also the thing that almost kept me from the church," he said. "When you're a preacher's child, you're expected to be steps above everyone else. A preacher is just a person. His children are just children." Morris said that everyone, his parents included, assumed that he would become a preacher. He remembered people asking him about preaching when he was three. Refusing to respect the authority of his parents, Morris described himself as rebellious, refusing to conform. "I went through a big stage when I didn't want anything to have to do with [the church]," he said. Seeing his father mistreated as a minister only further solidified his decision. When he turned 18, Morris realized that despite claiming to be a Christian, his life served as little evidence. Having barely touched his Bible in years, Morris signed up to teach a Bible class at his church so he would be forced to study. "When you're a preacher's son you're expected to know as much as he does at a very young age," he said. "And I just didn't." In addition to homeschooling with his sister, teaching classes at church filled up his schedule even more but the classes gradually became less of a selfmandated chore and more of an exciting duty. "I got to where I really enjoyed teaching," he said. "Some of the [elders] were kind of skeptical because I was 18 teaching a teenagers class." It was at this point that Morris realized that positive results could come from forcing himself into an unpleasant environment. With the workforce on his mind, the preacher's kid was employed at a Pizza Hut restaurant in Blue Ridge, Georgia where he soon worked upwards of 60 hours a week. Homeschooling strangled his passion for teaching, having limited his interaction with other people throughout his life. "It made it harder for me," he said. "Having to be very outspoken as a teacher, I was not all that used to dealing with people." Morris found that waiting tables and talking to strangers helped him to open up. "I still am very nervous," he said, "... Being a waiter helped." Being a waiter, however, didn't help his appetite for pizza. The company let employees have as much as they wanted. "I hate [pizza]," Morris emphasized. "When you come home smelling like it everyday for two years, you just get sick of it. I guess I was there for about a year when I decided that I detested pizza." Little did Morris know how much working at Pizza Hut would change his life. He was about to find out. Finding love Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. - 1 Corinthians 13:4 "I love 1 Corinthians, chapter 13. It's a chapter about love." The chapter is often used at weddings to express a model of the love between a husband and wife, Morris said. But it's not about that. The passage is about having the proper love for God, he said, which will lead us to a proper love for fellow man. "It's a chapter that just summarizes what you need to be as a Christian." Just as Morris was growing in his own faith, completing high school and leading more within his church, he was named manager at the Pizza Hut in Blue Ridge, Georgia. That was when his life changed. In charge of training new employees, he began teaching a young woman named Kimberly Taylor. Taylor, the mother of two children, a three-year old girl named Devan and a boy, not quite a year old, named Dominick, was in the midst of seeking a divorce. "We immediately became quick friends," he said. Morris not only taught Taylor the ropes of the restaurant business, but began playing an integral role in her guiding her spiritually. She was not a Christian at the time. By the end of the summer, Taylor had succeeded in securing her divorce and Morris was packing his bags to attend college. Despite the distance, the two friends vowed to stay in contact. In the December of 2005 Taylor was baptized as a sign of her fresh emergence into the Christian faith, marking a turnaround in her life. It wasn't long before the two began dating. "We gradually realized that it was more than just a friendship," Morris said. "We were in love." Taylor's youngest, Dominick, had just turned a year old and was already calling Morris "daddy." "It does seem rather sudden, but it was slightly more gradual than it seems," Morris said. The couple dated for a year and in that period Morris continually spent time with the children, involving them in nearly everything he did. "I fell in love with the children," he said. And he fell even more in love with their mother. In December of 2006 Steven and Kimberly announced their engagement, which surprised the parents. "It was a shock to them at first; they didn't realize we were as serious as we were," he said. When Morris' parents met Devan and Dominick their hearts melted as the prospect of having grandchildren. "My parents fell in love with the children," he said. In the summer of 2007, 24-yearold Taylor and 20-year-old Morris married. "Most of my friends have talked about how everything changes when the honeymoon is over, but ours hasn't ended," Morris said. "We've been married a year and I'm still as in love with her as the day we got married." On March 12, 2008 the two welcomed Diamond Morris to life as their third child in a brand new family. It's a lot of responsibility, he said. But he's up to the job. Learning on the way Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. - 1 Corinthians 13:12b In 2003, with just two years left in homeschool, Steven Morris traveled to Tennessee with his father to attend his dad's 20th class reunion at the Memphis School of Preaching. While he was at the reunion a friend had suggested that Morris become a teacher. The next year, a close friend of his decided to attend the school to become a pastor. "I thought it was ridiculous because he was just like me," Morris said. "We weren't bad people or anything, but [considering] the kind of things that we were interested in, most people would not have expected us to become ministers." Morris tried to talk his friend out of the decision, but the more he tried to convince him not to attend, the more convinced his friend became that he was on the right path. "I ended up enrolling," Morris admitted. When he arrived on campus ready for school in the fall of 2005, one of his first tasks was to sign a statement declaring that he would study four to six hours every day, every weekday, without fail. "It's a highly accelerated course," he said. "It's six years worth of school work in two years. That's how fast-paced things are." Students were given a different passage of scripture to memorize on every day of class. On the last day of his first quarter Morris found that he and a friend could recite 150 verses as well as the entire book of James and select chapters from Corinthians. Smaller congregations in western Tennessee and Arkansas often welcomed Morris and other students to preach at their pulpits because the churches were unable to fund a preacher on their own. That was when he first fell in love with preaching, but Morris never forfeited his passion to teach. "Still now as a preacher I enjoy teaching Bible class more than I do preaching," he said. "Don't get me wrong, I enjoy preaching, I love to do it, but teaching is just my passion. It's what I put most of my effort into." Preparing sermons for Sundays, developing a steady relationship and spending hours on memorization, research and study, Morris quickly became exhausted. In spring 2007 he graduated from the Memphis School of Preaching. Moving to mountains When I became a man, I put childish ways behind me. - 1 Corinthians 13:11b Steven Morris had never been to the mountains of North Carolina before. Compared to the hills of central Georgia and the city of Memphis, nothing was more foreign... or more welcoming. After completing school, Morris returned to Georgia to marry his sweetheart. Searching for work, Morris stumbled across a preacher in Mineral Bluff who told him that there was a Church of Christ congregation in a small North Carolina town named Hayesville that was in need of a pastor. Carl McLeod, the church's previous pastor who overcame his handicap of blindness to lead a congregation, served for 23 years at the pulpit. Since his death in 2006, the Hayesville Church of Christ had been visited by guest pastors nearly every Sunday. "When my wife and I got married I wasn't sure if it was the best financial decision [to become a preacher] because, unlike some denominational churches, a lot of Church of Christ congregations don't have a whole lot of money," he said. "Preachers for the Church of Christ are not known for making a lot of money." Despite his concerns, Morris visited the church in late August 2007 to get a feel for the church. He was so impressed that he ended up preaching the very next week. "The people where were very friendly, extremely friendly," he said. "I'm making no fortune here; there are other places I could have gone if I was just seeking to hit the jackpot. But I think, in a way, I did here." Morris said that because the people of the church were so loving, more loving than any other congregation he had ever seen, he decided then and there to stop looking for another church. Twice a month Morris made the trek to the church to deliver sermons until October. The congregation officially asked him to become their pastor. In June Morris relocated his growing family to Hayesville, a move, he said, that was not inexpensive. "The mountains are extremely different," he said. "[People] are more receptive up here to someone in a position such as mine." Morris said that the area where he grew up was just the opposite. "If you went to talk to people they just kind of turned you a deaf ear," he said. "Up here, even the people who aren't neccesarily interested in coming to the Hayesville Church of Christ will at least talk to me about it. [People] seem very spiritually-minded in this area, and I like that. Everyone's been at least polite enough to talk to me, and that's something I'm not used to." Even when he preached in Memphis, Morris said there was a completely different atmosphere. "It's hard to get anybody to talk to you without being hostile in Memphis," he said. The busy pace of daily lives and careers careened over any opportunity to talk to people there, ~ he said. Western North Carolina on the other hand is filled with friendly people in a much more relaxed atmosphere, who will take the time to talk and get to know you. Pastoring a flock If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. - 1 Corinthians 13:2 Settling into his new officeat the front of the church, Steven Morris makes sure he is dressed sharply with a sharp red tie and dark suit and a crisp haircut gelled just enough. He's young, but smart. Fresh, but clear. Ready, but roaring. With a coat draped over one shoulder, Morris looks at the sanctuary, eyes set on the spot where he will deliver another vibrant sermon in just a few more hours. "On Sundays we have a lot of visitors," he said. It's average to count on approximately 40 in attendance each time now. The number is higher than last year, but dramatically lower than the constant 70 that attended several years ago. "We're small, but we've grown," he followed. "Just since October we've already seen some growth. I think we've had 10 or 11 people who have started coming since October that weren't here before." Morris hopes that his three young children, who sit with their mother in the pew every Sunday, will inspire younger parents with children to feel comfortable in the church. "I'm not far out of my teens myself, so I'm hoping that that might appeal to the teenagers," he said. "I hope to bring some youth in here and I'm trying to get some activities started that will keep them busy once they get here." Morris knows that his arrival at the church will take some getting used to. There's an age difference of thirty years between him and the church's former pastor, who had died in 2006. "This church needed some direction and someone to help them grow. They wanted to grow," he said. "I felt that I could... give them a little zeal and maybe a little push here and there." Morris said he's proud of what the congregation has accomplished so far. "I give each person [seven] business cards a week. And every day thoughout the week they talk to one person and hand them a card." The idea is just one of the suggestions he has carried out on his mission for a growing church. "Most of the people here are retired but that doesn't mean they've stopped working. They were waiting for something to do and they've jumped at the opportunity." Joining the Hayesville Church of Christ was a smooth transition for his family, Morris said. "It was beautiful." The Hayesville congregation is one of three in the county of the Church of Christ denomination. Morris said that he intends to meet with the preachers from the branches in Shooting Creek, Fires Creek and Warne. Morris spends his mornings in his church office, usually returning home in the early afternoon to spend time with his wife and family. During the first half of the week he concentrates on preparing lessons and classes and devotes time to studying. In the second half of the week Morris makes an outreach to the community, conducting Bible studies around the county and meeting with people. Morris said he looks to his father, who is an active minister at the Eastside Church of Christ in Eastside, Georgia, for advice at times. "His experience in preaching is longer than my life has been," Morris said. "[Churches always] want a 30 year old man with 40 years of experience.... Although I'm new to being a preacher, I'm not inexperienced." Morris eventually wants to remodel parts the interior of the church building, a sanctuary resting above a five-classroom basement with a narrow hallway and styrofoam ceilings. He envisions an age where classrooms now filled with one or two youth are brimming, children building replicas of the Ark of the Covenant or the Tabernacle with teachers. Young people will learn about the lives of normal people during Bible times, understanding the reactions of citizens and garnering a deeper appreciation for truth. "I want to try to put [young people] in the shoes of these people so it really comes to life for them." The church is usually busy, offering three Bible studies and three services every week. An average of $1,100 is collected in offering plates every week, barely enough to support missionaries in India that the church has provided for and to pay Morris' salary so that he can support a family of five. The pay, he knows, is not the best he could be getting, but he said he'd rather be nowhere else, doing nothing else. "I'm very comfortable with what I do. I know that I know the truth." From this day forward And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love. - 1 Corinthians 13:13 "It just seems like that society as a whole is drifting further and further away from really caring all that much about the spiritual," Steven Morris said, gazing at a shelf of tracts at the back of his sanctuary. The challenge of recruiting souls to attend the Hayesville Church of Christ is two-fold, he said. People in this region either already attend a church or have no desire to. Morris stated that his arrival at the church he now pastors was undoubtedly a departure from the traditional. "It's not what they're used to," he said, adding optimistically: "And not in a bad way. Most of them tend to like it." Preaching at a church will never replace his love to teach, he said, outlining his longer-term plans. "I intend to try to get a job as a substitute teacher here in Hayesville," he said. Hoping to build relationships with the parents of school-age children, Morris wants to build influence and encourage local families. Eventually substituting will no longer be enough to fill the void. "I still intend to be a history teacher. I've taken a break from my education because...I knew that having an infant would be extremely time consuming," he said. "I love every minute of it, but I knew how much [it] was going to take." Next year Morris plans to take online courses in Bible and history from Freed-Hardeman University, an institution in Henderson, Tennessee where his sister is planning to attend in the fall. His diploma from Freed-Hardeman will bring Morris closer to his goal of teaching both Bible and history classes on a college campus. Online courses will be another load for Morris on top of balancing his work and family, but he said his wife has always been by his side. "She has been an amazing companion in every way," he said. "She just became a Christian but she's grown at an amazing speed. She's a great help to me and a lot of times helps me to with things I fail to see." His wife helps out teaching a ladies class at the Church of Christ for now, working with other women in the congregation to teach lessons. Morris manages to keep his sense of humor throughout everything he juggles. "I was a very sarcastic person from the beginning and I try not to let that show through too much in my preaching," he said. "Paul the apostle was a sarcastic person, so I guess it's not all that harmful." With a shrug he continued, "I'm an outspoken person by nature but I just was not used to dealing with the public. Being polite is a whole lot different from being sarcastic!" At 21 years of age Steven Morris stands committed to his beliefs, his church and his family, living a life he never envisioned just five years earlier.
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