OUr arlington neighbors: Pastor Steve King

Pastor Steve King is currently the Senior Pastor emeritus at Cherrydale Baptist Church and serves on our board for Arlington Bridge Builders. This is his story:

“I was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. I studied at the University of Georgia, which is where I met my lovely wife, Mae Belle. I then moved to Alabama to be on staff with Cru (Campus Crusade) at Auburn University. Shortly after that, I married my wife and together we moved to Oregon which is where I attended Seminary. When I moved to Arlington, I pastored a church called Cherrydale Baptist Church for 36 years. I am now serving as the Senior Pastor emeritus at Cherrydale since September 2019. 

My loves are the Lord, Mae Belle, my two precious sons, Joshua and Caleb, my daughter in law Naomi and my grandchild, Elise. I love hiking, fishing, and playing golf. I enjoy doing things around the house and fixing it up. I also enjoy writing and have written a published book this year called, “Beware the Slow Leaks”.

My first several years as a pastor were focused primarily on Cherrydale, but out of a burden I had while serving in the ministry, I believed that evangelicals should be friends and choose to reach their community together. It led me to create what is now known as the Band of Brothers, 30 years ago. We are a group of pastors who meet on a regular basis (now virtually) to pray for one another, share a word from the word and become aware of upcoming events to get involved in. Everyone leaves having been prayed for, loved on and heard. Many outreach partnerships were formed because of these friends, one of them being Arlington Bridge Builders.

As we long for our county leaders to serve and co-labor in Christ, several churches were able to connect through ABB. Our mission statement has really focused on South Arlington, specifically groups of people with greater needs. Fulfilling the purpose of building a bridge by taking the wealthier churches in Northern Arlington who want to serve, partner and learn alongside those in the southern part of the county. To not go in with “We have the resources, we have the answers” but rather, “We have a lot to learn from you and we’d like to partner with you and serve you.” Our job should only be to serve, not to come with an agenda. 

My hope is to one day see the whole community transformed. And what's so powerful about it is everytime that I have spoken about the Band of Brothers, Christians and non-Christians rejoice to hear about churches partnering together. People will start to believe Jesus is real when we learn to love each other.”

-Pastor Steve King, founder of Band of Brothers