Kris Steele juggles dual roles as preacher and Oklahoma House speaker with …
— Jeremiah 29:11
One of the most influential men in Oklahoma politics knows what it’s like to be vulnerable, at the mercy of others and in need of God’s resurrecting power.
You see, Kris Steele wasn’t expected to live to see his ninth birthday.
At dawn today, he will preach a message of hope at the Easter sunrise service at Shawnee’s Wesley United Methodist Church. Steele, an ordained Southern Baptist minister and speaker of the Oklahoma House of Representatives, knows of what he speaks.
He wants to tell the congregation about the plans the Lord has for His people and the importance of claiming all of God’s promises. He may even share stories from his past and his powerful testimony of God’s love and provision as he overcame seemingly insurmountable odds.
When Steele was 8 years old, a friend of his younger brother shot Steele at close range with a pellet gun as the youths played. The accident left Steele with an uneven gait because the left side of his body moves slower than his right side.
Steele, 37, said he accepted the aftereffects of his injury long ago.
He’s just grateful to be alive.
“My walk serves as a testimony to God’s power and His grace in my life,” Steele said recently.
When people ask why he walks differently, Steele said he’s quick to tell them.
“It’s a chance to share what God did and how he helped me through that time of my life.”
Life-altering shot
Steele, an Ardmore native, said the BB that changed his life forever entered his skull behind his right ear and traveled to his brain, where it lodged in his left frontal lobe.
He spent 10 days in a coma.
Doctors discussed trying to remove the BB from his brain but decided against it, fearing the attempt would do more harm than simply leaving the foreign object where it was.
Steele said his parents initially were told that he wouldn’t survive the ordeal.
Then doctors told them he would live but that he would never walk.
Finally, the worried couple were told that their young son might walk, but he would never be “normal” due to the damage to his brain.
“I guess they got one out of the three right,” Steele said, joking.
On a more serious note, Steele said the BB still is lodged in his brain.
But when he walked for the first time after the shooting, he just kept on walking.
Steele said he never let the accident or its effects stop him from doing what he wanted to do, and that faith and determination served him well when he decided to become a minister and later when he successfully ran for a seat in the Oklahoma Legislature.
“That was obviously a life-altering experience, and I will tell you it is a big part of my faith journey,” he said.
Steele’s family moved from Ardmore to Broken Bow when he was 13, and he graduated from high school there. He said that, through the years, he fell prey to some teasing and harassment as his injury set him apart as different from his peers.
“I went through plenty of it. Kids can be cruel,” he said.
However, Steele said those times were overshadowed by the many friends and family members who supported him growing up. He said those experiences also helped him develop an ability to empathize with others, particularly young people who have had to endure life challenges, and he has always wanted to help others reach their potential.
Ministry of teaching
That trait was one of the reasons he decided to attend Oklahoma Baptist University in Shawnee and pursue a ministry education career. Steele said he always knew he would be an educator, and he had wanted to join the ministry since he was 16. He said his mother, Kaye Steele Herrod, of Shawnee, is a former schoolteacher and his father, Mike Steele, of Jones, is a school superintendent, so a penchant for careers in education runs in the family.
While attending Southern Baptist-affiliated OBU, Steele learned about an opening for a youth pastor post at Wesley, where he now serves as associate minister. Steele talked it over with an OBU professor who encouraged him to pursue the job, even though it was affiliated with a different denomination.
Steele applied for the job and at 19 became the United Methodist church’s youth minister, serving in that capacity from 1993 to 1996. Steele said he graduated from OBU in 1996 with a bachelor’s degree in religion. He was ordained as a Baptist minister one year later.
Steele served as youth director and associate pastor at Heritage Church, a Baptist church in Shawnee, from 1996 to 1998. He took his first senior pastor’s position at Lakeview Baptist Church near Lake Thunderbird in 1998 and also taught at Tecumseh Alternative School.
Seeking public office
During his time at Lakeview, Steele and his wife, Kellie, began to talk about the next phase of his journey, he said.
The young preacher said just as he felt called to serve others through ministry, he felt led to offer his gifts and talents as a public servant. He wanted to run for the Oklahoma House of Representatives.
Kellie Steele, also an OBU graduate, is a licensed drug and alcohol counselor, and the couple have two daughters, Mackenzie, 8, and Madison, 6.
Steele, a Republican, said they prayed about the idea of him running for office and decided he should join the race for House District 76.
“More than anything, it was just the opportunity to help people and make a difference in someone’s life,” he said of his decision to run for the post. “I believe that God has a plan for each and every one of us, and I love the opportunity to assist in each one reaching their potential.”
Steele was elected to the House of Representatives in 2000. He said he had to resign as a public school teacher when he was elected because state law prohibits a person from serving on two state payrolls at the same time.
Steele said the staff at Lakeview, where he continued as senior pastor, was supportive of his legislative duty but eventually decided it wanted a full-time pastor rather than a bi-vocational minister. Steele said he returned to Wesley United Methodist in 2001 to take the associate minister’s position. He’s been there ever since.
As his life outside the political realm continued to flourish — he completed his master’s of education degree in 2006 (East Central University-Ada) — so did Steele’s career in the Legislature. He served District 26 for six terms. He is serving his last, due to term limits, through 2012.
His peers in the House elected him speaker of the House in January.
Helping people serve
Steele said the leadership role fits well with his desire to help people find their niche and purpose. He sees himself as a consensus builder.
Steele said his ministerial and political careers have not been at odds because of that. Part of his responsibility as associate minister is helping church members find the best way in which they can serve the church, he said.
At the same time, as leader of the House, Steele is responsible for making committee assignments for members of the House, moderating debate and making procedural rules. He also represents the House in ceremonial and other occasions.
“In the Legislature, part of what I do is match people’s unique gifts and areas of services with needs in the state,” he said. “I really enjoy working with people to solve problems in positive, productive ways.”
Steele said the similarities he sees in the two positions help him to do both. He said his role as a minister helps keep him grounded.
He said his interaction with people in the community as a minister comes to his aid when he is determining the fate of bills and actions in the Legislature.
“It’s possible that we could sit around a table at the Capitol and feel that we are solving a problem only to find that it’s not working in the real world,” he said. “I have an opportunity to meet up with people who are caught in real life situations. It reminds me of what is truly important.”
Steele said one strength of the church is the ability for people to come together, share ideas and disagree but still come out united, respecting each other and loving one another.
Within the Legislature, he thinks it’s important for legislators to respect each other and keep the people in mind as they work to make decisions based on the greater good.
“To paraphrase (the Bible), ‘Whatever we do, we should do it for the Lord,’” he said.
“I try to give it my best effort in a way that is pleasing to God.”
The Lord, Steele said, has a plan for believers. His own life is, perhaps, a testament to Jeremiah 29:11.
“If we can trust in Him and believe in Him, ultimately He will see us through the difficult and challenging times, and ultimately, we will be the stronger for it,” he said.