A Faith Servant: Steve Hopkins Retires after Fifty Years of Ministry
In the fall of 1975, a 19-year-old college student started his career in ministry at Forest Hill Baptist Church in Berlin, KY.
Over the next fifty years, Steve Hopkins became a pillar of Ohio Baptist life as a pastor and then a member of the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio staff.
On April 7, 2025, Hopkins will celebrate 50 years of ministry – 22 years in the pastorate and 28 years at SCBO – as well as his retirement from SCBO staff.
At Forest Hill BC, Hopkins got his feet wet, serving a small congregation of 25-35 people that met for Sunday school every week but only met for worship every other Sunday.
“Those people were so good,” he said. “They were so patient with me. For a 19-year-old college student, it was a good way for me to ease into it. I didn’t have to come up with a sermon each week.”
After graduating from college and starting seminary at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, Hopkins accepted the pastorate at Indian Fork Baptist Church, Bagdad, KY, in Shelby County.
“The church was a little bit larger there,” he said. “We were running 60-70, and maybe would hit 90-100 on a high attendance day.”
After his first year in seminary, Hopkins married his wife Denise and the two started life together. He juggled seminary classes and pastoring the church while Denise taught school.
“When we got married she got a job in Shepherd County, KY. So she was teaching there, and we were living in Louisville,” he reminisced. “She was going south for her teaching job, and I was going east for my pastoring. So those days were interesting, but they were good days.”
Hopkins came to Ohio in 1981 to serve as pastor at Woodsfield Baptist Church, Woodsfield. In 1983, he and Denise returned to Kentucky to serve First Baptist Church, Prestonsburg, until 1990 when they came to Ohio to minister at Whitehall Baptist Church, Columbus.
It was at Whitehall Baptist Church that Hopkins received a request from Dr. Jack Kwok, the new SCBO executive director, in the fall of 1996. A position on the SCBO staff had been vacated and Dr. Kwok wanted his help.
“Jack Kwok came to me and said, ‘Hey, this position is empty. I have an opportunity to shape it and form it however we want. Help me put together a new job description for this position,’ Hopkins said. “Dr. Kwok said, ‘What do you think our state needs most?’”
Hopkins says he didn’t have to think about it long because he knew what he needed most in his ministry.
“I said, ‘You know, I think we need somebody that can help us with leadership issues.’”
So he and Dr. Kwok worked together to develop a job description that focused on leadership with Sunday school and discipleship thrown in as well.
The day after the job description was approved by the SCBO Missions Council, Dr. Kwok invited Hopkins to lunch.
“If it was still there, I could take you to the Cooker restaurant on East Main Street and I could take you to the table if it was still there because it was a traumatic moment for me,” he said. “Dr. Kwok said, ‘I’m not telling you that you need to come do this, but I’m telling you, God’s told me to ask you to pray about coming to this position.’”
The request stopped Hopkins in his tracks.
“I said, ‘Wait a minute! Time out! We developed a position for what I need, not what I can do.’ And he said, ‘Well, you’re willing to learn, aren’t you?’”
For the next two months, Hopkins prayed and wrestled with his views about being on a state convention staff.
“To be honest with you, and I’ve confessed this to state staff, I didn’t have a very high opinion of state staff,” Hopkins admitted. “I kind of thought if you couldn’t pastor that’s where they put you and that was my opinion at the time, so I prayed about it. I even had one of those moments where I said, ‘God if this is what you’re doing, what terrible thing have I done?’ But I came to the point that I felt like God said to me, ‘Do you love pastoring more than you love me?’”
The question made him stop and think.
“I loved pastoring. I thought that’s all I ever really wanted to do was pastor and once I felt like God had called me to that, I didn’t want to do anything else, he said.”
After almost two months of wrestling with the decision, Hopkins felt the Lord tell him, “How about if I have you serve pastors for a while instead of being one?”
He finally reached a decision.
“I either had to do one of two things,” he said. “I had to throw out everything I knew about discerning the will of God, or I had to come on state staff.”
SCBO churches and pastors have benefitted from Hopkins’ choice for the last 28 years.
“Steve Hopkins has been and will continue to be a blessing to Ohio Baptists,” said Dr. Jeremy Westbrook, SCBO executive director. “He has the mind of a scholar, the heart of a shepherd, and the passion of a soul-winner. I, along with many others, are honored to call him friend.”
As Hopkins completes his ministry at SCBO, he’s taking the lessons he’s learned over the years and looking forward to how the Lord will use him next.
“I’m not really sure what’s next,” he said. “I’m not hanging up my cleats, but I’m not going to lace them up every day.”
He’s open to wherever the Lord leads him next but has an idea of what it might entail.
“I feel prayer will be at the heart of whatever’s next for me because that’s been a passion of mine for a lot of years.”
As for his legacy at SCBO and among Ohio Baptists, he has a clear picture of what he hopes he’s accomplished.
“I hope that 1 Corinthians 15:58, where Paul says, ‘Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord,’” he said. “That steadfastness. I’m not the flashiest guy out there. I’m not going to wow people, but I hope that I have been steadfast.”
As a high school student, Hopkins played football, and his picture was in the local newspaper. He was in his uniform in his stance and the caption read, “Blue Devil Stalwart.”
“I remember in high school thinking, ‘That’s the dumbest thing you could say about somebody,’” he recalled.
“What does that even mean?”
Hopkins’ mom cut out the picture, framed it and hung it.
“Every time I walked by that picture, I thought, ‘That’s dumb!’”
Fifty years later, he’s had a change of heart.
“In the last few years, God brought that back to my mind, and I finally went and did some research and looked at what ‘stalwart’ means,” he said.
He learned that “stal” is the word for a pillar that holds up a building, and the word “wart” means worthy.
“So, a worthy pillar of strength,” he said.
In recent years, Hopkins has prayed to be a worthy pillar of strength for his family, those he influenced through SCBO, and in retirement, those the Lord brings into his life.
“And from now on I want to help people find that spot where they can sense the non-anxious presence of God and hear from him,” he said. “That’s what I want to do. I want to clear out a spot so they can hear from him, and if they have heard from him, then my mission is complete.”
Editor’s Note: Breaking News – Steve Hopkins’s new mission is bringing him back to SCBO as the part-time Association and Prayer Catalyst. Farewell and Welcome Back, Steve!
Over the next fifty years, Steve Hopkins became a pillar of Ohio Baptist life as a pastor and then a member of the State Convention of Baptists in Ohio staff.
On April 7, 2025, Hopkins will celebrate 50 years of ministry – 22 years in the pastorate and 28 years at SCBO – as well as his retirement from SCBO staff.
At Forest Hill BC, Hopkins got his feet wet, serving a small congregation of 25-35 people that met for Sunday school every week but only met for worship every other Sunday.
“Those people were so good,” he said. “They were so patient with me. For a 19-year-old college student, it was a good way for me to ease into it. I didn’t have to come up with a sermon each week.”
After graduating from college and starting seminary at the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY, Hopkins accepted the pastorate at Indian Fork Baptist Church, Bagdad, KY, in Shelby County.
“The church was a little bit larger there,” he said. “We were running 60-70, and maybe would hit 90-100 on a high attendance day.”
After his first year in seminary, Hopkins married his wife Denise and the two started life together. He juggled seminary classes and pastoring the church while Denise taught school.
“When we got married she got a job in Shepherd County, KY. So she was teaching there, and we were living in Louisville,” he reminisced. “She was going south for her teaching job, and I was going east for my pastoring. So those days were interesting, but they were good days.”
Hopkins came to Ohio in 1981 to serve as pastor at Woodsfield Baptist Church, Woodsfield. In 1983, he and Denise returned to Kentucky to serve First Baptist Church, Prestonsburg, until 1990 when they came to Ohio to minister at Whitehall Baptist Church, Columbus.
It was at Whitehall Baptist Church that Hopkins received a request from Dr. Jack Kwok, the new SCBO executive director, in the fall of 1996. A position on the SCBO staff had been vacated and Dr. Kwok wanted his help.
“Jack Kwok came to me and said, ‘Hey, this position is empty. I have an opportunity to shape it and form it however we want. Help me put together a new job description for this position,’ Hopkins said. “Dr. Kwok said, ‘What do you think our state needs most?’”
Hopkins says he didn’t have to think about it long because he knew what he needed most in his ministry.
“I said, ‘You know, I think we need somebody that can help us with leadership issues.’”
So he and Dr. Kwok worked together to develop a job description that focused on leadership with Sunday school and discipleship thrown in as well.
The day after the job description was approved by the SCBO Missions Council, Dr. Kwok invited Hopkins to lunch.
“If it was still there, I could take you to the Cooker restaurant on East Main Street and I could take you to the table if it was still there because it was a traumatic moment for me,” he said. “Dr. Kwok said, ‘I’m not telling you that you need to come do this, but I’m telling you, God’s told me to ask you to pray about coming to this position.’”
The request stopped Hopkins in his tracks.
“I said, ‘Wait a minute! Time out! We developed a position for what I need, not what I can do.’ And he said, ‘Well, you’re willing to learn, aren’t you?’”
For the next two months, Hopkins prayed and wrestled with his views about being on a state convention staff.
“To be honest with you, and I’ve confessed this to state staff, I didn’t have a very high opinion of state staff,” Hopkins admitted. “I kind of thought if you couldn’t pastor that’s where they put you and that was my opinion at the time, so I prayed about it. I even had one of those moments where I said, ‘God if this is what you’re doing, what terrible thing have I done?’ But I came to the point that I felt like God said to me, ‘Do you love pastoring more than you love me?’”
The question made him stop and think.
“I loved pastoring. I thought that’s all I ever really wanted to do was pastor and once I felt like God had called me to that, I didn’t want to do anything else, he said.”
After almost two months of wrestling with the decision, Hopkins felt the Lord tell him, “How about if I have you serve pastors for a while instead of being one?”
He finally reached a decision.
“I either had to do one of two things,” he said. “I had to throw out everything I knew about discerning the will of God, or I had to come on state staff.”
SCBO churches and pastors have benefitted from Hopkins’ choice for the last 28 years.
“Steve Hopkins has been and will continue to be a blessing to Ohio Baptists,” said Dr. Jeremy Westbrook, SCBO executive director. “He has the mind of a scholar, the heart of a shepherd, and the passion of a soul-winner. I, along with many others, are honored to call him friend.”
As Hopkins completes his ministry at SCBO, he’s taking the lessons he’s learned over the years and looking forward to how the Lord will use him next.
“I’m not really sure what’s next,” he said. “I’m not hanging up my cleats, but I’m not going to lace them up every day.”
He’s open to wherever the Lord leads him next but has an idea of what it might entail.
“I feel prayer will be at the heart of whatever’s next for me because that’s been a passion of mine for a lot of years.”
As for his legacy at SCBO and among Ohio Baptists, he has a clear picture of what he hopes he’s accomplished.
“I hope that 1 Corinthians 15:58, where Paul says, ‘Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord,’” he said. “That steadfastness. I’m not the flashiest guy out there. I’m not going to wow people, but I hope that I have been steadfast.”
As a high school student, Hopkins played football, and his picture was in the local newspaper. He was in his uniform in his stance and the caption read, “Blue Devil Stalwart.”
“I remember in high school thinking, ‘That’s the dumbest thing you could say about somebody,’” he recalled.
“What does that even mean?”
Hopkins’ mom cut out the picture, framed it and hung it.
“Every time I walked by that picture, I thought, ‘That’s dumb!’”
Fifty years later, he’s had a change of heart.
“In the last few years, God brought that back to my mind, and I finally went and did some research and looked at what ‘stalwart’ means,” he said.
He learned that “stal” is the word for a pillar that holds up a building, and the word “wart” means worthy.
“So, a worthy pillar of strength,” he said.
In recent years, Hopkins has prayed to be a worthy pillar of strength for his family, those he influenced through SCBO, and in retirement, those the Lord brings into his life.
“And from now on I want to help people find that spot where they can sense the non-anxious presence of God and hear from him,” he said. “That’s what I want to do. I want to clear out a spot so they can hear from him, and if they have heard from him, then my mission is complete.”
Editor’s Note: Breaking News – Steve Hopkins’s new mission is bringing him back to SCBO as the part-time Association and Prayer Catalyst. Farewell and Welcome Back, Steve!
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