From Pain to Praise: Steve Workman's 71 Years of Extraordinary Faithfulness

When Steve Workman tells people at 71 that he's not retired, he's "retired but refired," he means it. The Executive Director of what was Christian Community Outreach Ministries for 25 years now leads the "Barnabas Ministry" at Highland Baptist Church in Hickory, N.C. where prayer and Biblical encouragement for men and sometimes their wives too is shoe leather love in action. As a lay minister Steve says it has been an honor and a privilege to serve hundreds of men and their families over the years and co-labor with other community leaders as well in the love of Jesus Christ.

"I feel kind of like Moses," Steve says. "He had three 40-year seasons, and I've had almost two. Now that I'm 71, I'm closing in on finishing my second one." All glory and praise be to God.

But Steve's story doesn't begin with ministry success. It begins with pain that God would eventually transform into praise.

When Pain Becomes the Training Ground

Steve came to Christ at seven years old, but his teen years were marked by volatility and adversity. When he was 9 years old his mother had married a man whose anger and unresolved life issues created an unhealthy home environment. Yet even as a young believer, Steve sensed God's call to make a difference, — not just to survive, but a desire to see God show up and show out.

"The wild thing is, looking back, I knew that his pain was really from deep hurt and despair and he lacked a peace inside that only Jesus could provide. His first wife had died of cancer and he had two small kids," Steve recalls, that's hard for anyone. "I'm thankful God used me to really love on him and be kind to him, even in the middle of his brokenness."

That was one of the seasons that became Steve's "School of Hard Knocks" — the education he would later list on his ministry application when he applied for the position of Executive Director of Christian Community Outreach Ministries in September of 1999. For 27 years, he worked in the printing business, using it as a training ground to minister to various coworkers. But God, was preparing him for something more, much more.

The Power of One Simple Invitation

A major God moment came through obedience Steve didn't want to give. When his mentor Dwight Stone was invited to speak at a Christian Businessmen's Dinner, the Lord told Steve to take his stepfather Ray — the man who had been unkind to him for years.

"I said, 'Lord, I really don't want him in my car," Steve admits. The Holy Spirit said, "Look, you have to deal with your unforgiveness, and you take him. He's ready to be invited."

Steve called Ray and before he could finish the invitation, Ray said yes. God had prepared his heart. At the dinner, something shifted. On the drive home, Ray grew quiet, then finally spoke: "What that man was talking about, I don't have."

Would you like to receive Christ?" Steve asked. Ray said yes. "He's been knocking at my heart's door so loudly.

They were dining together when Ray opened his heart to Jesus — a perfect picture of Revelation 3:20, where Christ says He stands at the door and knocks, ready to come in and dine with those who hear His voice. Ray heard His voice that night say, "come".

Ray received Christ in the car that night. What followed was even more stunning: his entire family came to Christ one by one. Forty years after Ray's son Glenn had tried to kill Steve and his mother with a gun while drunk — leading to decades of separation — Glenn ran up to Steve at Ray's funeral and threw his arms around him.

"Ain't Jesus good?" Glenn shouted, hugging Steve so hard it took his breath. Glenn had become saved at some point in that 40 years and was now a brother in Christ, hallelujah!!!

"What the devil meant for bad, God turns around for His glory," Steve says, paraphrasing Genesis 50:20. "That's really the heartbeat of my testimony; grace upon grace has turned so many things around, for God's glory!

"But God" and a Clear Calling

A special year 1990, God brings Lynne Herndon into Steve's life. They met at church, became prayer friends after both ended three-year engagements the same month and went on a two-week mission trip to Manhattan Bible Church in New York City — where they had their first date!

On that trip, God led Steve to buy an ice cream bar with the last money he had and shared it with three young teenagers playing ball. He shared Psalm 34:8 — "Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in Him!— He introduced them to Jesus Christ over that ice cream bar.

When the pastor of the church that night asked who had been part of the teenagers being saved, Steve raised his hand. The pastor, Tom MaHarris, stopped mid-sentence and said, "Time out, time out. You're sharing, but I don't understand. We need an interpreter here" — because of Steve's Southern accent. The room erupted in laughter, creating what Steve calls "a love flow," and that night many of the kids and some youth leaders too, out of the 800 present, gave their lives to Christ.

God was showing Steve what real ministry could look like: simple, relational, Spirit-led.

Back from N.Y. and God is on the move!

Wow, what a mission trip; one miracle after another! The greatest was witnessing many souls come to Christ in the city as we shared the good news of Jesus and also many kids and youth leaders as well who thought they were saved! Look out Church; here they come, fired up from the real fire within them...Jesus, alive and well, hallelujah!

Another fire was Steve and Lynne having encountered their 1st official date ordained by God through Steve's aunt Sara who Steve didn't know lived in N.Y. at the time! Steve says from that point he knew on the way home God was prompting him to ask Lynne to enter into an official 'courtship' with him. He prayed for courage to ask Lynne and God granted him a supernatural peace to do so! Once they got home he asked Lynne if she would honor God and him by starting into a serious relationship with him; a 'courtship' so as to honor God and one another? Lynne excitedly agreed and they prayed asking God to help them stay pure in His strength!

Three months pass and they pass the test and then one night while watching Andy Griffith at Lynne's house Steve hears the Holy Spirit strongly speak to him and say, "Ask Lynne to marry you, right now!" Steve gets on his knees and Lynne says, "Did you drop something?" Steve replies, "No, but I want to know if you will marry me?" Lynne couldn't speak and Steve says, "The Holy Spirit told me to make it official tomorrow"! Lynne replies, "What do you mean"? Steve said, "Wait and see, you'll find out tomorrow at your school!"

The next day Steve was granted permission to leave work 4 hours early (God's favor) to do just that; drive to Lynne's school and officially propose! This was not to be an ordinary proposal, but a God ordained supernatural one! The time was 2:20 pm and the date was Sept. 6th, 1990 when Steve marched into Jackie Meadows office at Wittenburg Elementary school, the school's secretary and requested to sing, "Love me tender" by Elvis Presley to ask Lynne to marry him. Mrs. Meadows smiled a big smile and asked Steve if he wanted just Lynne's room, or 'all call', Steve replied, "The whole world please"! Steve sang with all of his heart that day and Lynne said "Forever yes", once Steve got to her room after singing!!!

As they were embracing in the joy of Jesus a song came over the intercom entitled...Going to the chapel and we're going to get married! The name of their church at that time was Hickory Community Chapel! On December 29th, 1990 "God moved" to join together in Holy Matrimony 2 broken vessels to help them to become one strong clay pot useful for God almighty; hallelujah and amen!

***All praise be unto Him, King Jesus!

Team Jesus: A Marriage Built on Mission

Not long after Steve and Lynne married, "Lynne started praying" for a new career path for Steve; one that she had witnessed in N.Y. God's call on Steve's life! Steve totally knows God placed Lynne in his life to help him pursue that call! Steve also saw God's hand on Lynne"s life as well as an anointed educator; they were "team Jesus together", wholeheartedly supporting one another, till death do us part!

Nine years after Lynne started praying daily God led them to the Billy Graham Training Center called "The Cove" in Black Mountain, N.C. in July of 1999. While there Steve wrote out a prayer request to submit to the ministry in their prayer chapel. The prayer read as this...Take my life Lord, let it be, consecrated unto Thee; here am I Lord, send me!

It was 5:05 p.m. The facility had closed at 5:00, but the door stood open. Lynne asked Steve if he had submitted his prayer request and he said, "No, I forgot"! Lynne said, "Run, go put it in the prayer basket"! Steve ran back in and did as his faithful wife had reminded him to do. Then Steve walked back out, the door was shut behind him, no one was around! He thanked Lynne for remembering!

*One month later Steve attends a Promise Keepers conference in Charlotte, N.C. and on Friday the 13th, 1999 Steve received the call to full time vocational ministry...God answered Lynne's prayers!

"He opens up doors no man can open, and He closes doors," Steve says, referencing Revelation 3.

Two weeks later, Christian Community Outreach Ministries offered Steve the position of Executive Director, but Lynne wasn't sure yet. "You be praying for me that the Lord confirms it to me," she told him.

The confirmation came at a drama called The Rapture in South Carolina. After the performance, a man from the play named Shay walked 100 yards through a crowd of 1,500 people, made a beeline for Steve and Lynne, and said, "May I talk to you guys for a minute? God told me to pray for you tonight"!

Shay goes on to say, "As I started to pray God gave me a word for you guys and the word is this...God knows where you've been and all you've been through, God has a new work for you, He is going to use every circumstance and everything you've been through for His glory, be patient; He's going to bless it!

Then Shay turned and walked away. Steve and Lynne wrote him a letter of thanks. It came back — Shay had left that night and couldn't be located...no forwarding address!

"We believe he was an angel sent by God to confirm to Lynne we were to accept the new position," Steve says. Three days later we told the board of directors of CCOM our story and they all said, "Welcome to your new ministry"!

Team Jesus: A Marriage Built on Mission...we march forward!

For 34 years, Steve and Lynne were what he calls "Team Jesus." Lynne was an educator, a prayer warrior, a faithful loving wife and eventually Steve's office manager at Christian Community Outreach Ministries when she retired in 2007 from a 31 year career in teaching 6th grade!  Together they served for 25 years, partnering with Dr. Iris Barrett in the outreach ministry — Steve working with men, Dr. Barrett with women. Dr. Barrett alone ministered to over 4,000 women during that time.

Their ministry approach is simple: be a community missionary. They believe every Christian is called to share Christ wherever they go, whether over an ice cream bar, or a friendly Jesus conversation of some kind with whoever He leads you to love on.

"Another word for that is also found in 2 Corinthians 5. It's called ambassador," Steve explains. "But a modern-day term could be, community missionary. Just share Christ wherever you go and let Him work in you to work through you! You'll be amazed at what He can do through a willing vessel"!

Through Spirit led ministry Steve says lives will be transformed! Multiple families were saved from divorce through the Barnabas Ministry just the past several months as men found new hope, freedom, and a path forward through His word! The ripple effect continues today through Brother Night gatherings and a men's lunch time ministry called Band of Brothers that has ministered to hundreds of men over 13 years.

Covenant Love in the Hardest Season

Then came the test that would define the depth of Steve and Lynne's vows.

In 2020, shortly after receiving a Covid vaccination, Lynne began showing signs of dementia. She had cared for three family members with the disease — her mother, aunt, and uncle years earlier — and now faced it herself. For the next five years, Steve walked with her through the valley, learning what it means to love in sickness and in health, for better or worse.

During Lynne's battle with dementia, Steve also fought his own: double ear cancer. Basal cell cancer on his left ear required removing part of the ear. Then cancer inside his right ear was misdiagnosed for three years. A five-hour Mohs surgery didn't get it all, requiring a specialist to go behind the ear and remove the remaining cancer.

Then, one night, as all appeared to be healing well, a blood vessel burst in Steve's right ear while he and Lynne watched The Andy Griffith Show. By the time he reached the emergency room, a large yellow beach towel was soaked solid red. Doctors worked four hours to stop the bleeding — and never had to give him a single transfusion.

"I shouldn't even be sitting here talking to you right now, but I am. " Steve says quietly.

God knew Lynne needed me! In the final month of Lynne's life, Steve cried out to God for one gift: fifteen minutes of time where she would remember him and he could thank her for being his wife.

The answer came in a nursing home room. Lynne, who hadn't recognized Steve in four years, looked up and said, "Steve, where have you been?" Right here with you sweetie, Steve replied.

Steve knelt beside her. "I prayed last night. I cried out to God to give me 15 minutes to tell you I love you and thank you for being my wife."

Lynne grabbed his coat, kissed him twice, and said what she always said: "I love you more."

Exactly 15 minutes later, she lay down and looked up at the ceiling. Two weeks later, on Steve's 70th birthday, the nurses said Lynne could no longer move or speak. As Steve started to pray, she reached up — something the nurses said was impossible — and grabbed his hand.

"The Lord said, 'It's okay. I'm going to totally heal her. I'm going to bring her home,'" Steve recalls. Lynne went to be with Jesus on January 25, 2025.

Refired, Not Retired...Soldering on for God's glory!

Fifteen months after Lynne's homegoing, Steve's pace hasn't slowed. If anything, it's intensified and his new "team Jesus is at work for The King"!

Team Jesus (Alan White and other brothers and sisters in Christ) and the Barnabas Ministry sends daily scripture to over hundreds of people and is on track to reach thousands in the love of Jesus! Brother Night gatherings continue, giving men and (now women, on the 2nd Tuesday of every month) a place to share their testimonies over a meal and real fellowship; Band of Brothers meets every Tuesday — a group that started 13 years ago to encourage a pastor in depression @ 1st and has now ministered to hundreds of men and their families. Steve also mentors various men through appointments, meeting them early in the morning, late at night, or over meals as the Holy Spirit directs...soul time ministry!

His newest ministry is called Triage Village, currently in his home, a place where men healing from divorce or loss of a spouse can find refuge and restoration, one man at a time! He hopes to build a tiny home duplex to house more men, soon!

Let's pray for Steve because he has other aspirations as well and even just purchased a laptop computer to start writing! He told me he has 3 books in 'the crock pot of his heart and mind'; slow cooking. "But God" has recently turned up the heat! So, let's get ready to eat!

The joy of his life and main "Team Jesus partner, his daughter Amber is Founder and CEO (Chief encouragement officer) of White Butterfly Mission. The Ministry focuses on youth awareness, advocacy, and prevention surrounding Substance Use Disorder in so many special, amazing ways! Her calling was birthed from the death of her own precious Madison over eight years ago.

"What the devil meant for bad, God turns around for His glory," Steve says again, his voice steady. "Genesis 50:20 is really the heartbeat of "our testimonies"; mine, Lynne's, Amber's, Jody's (her husband), and Jaydon, her amazing son!

The Legacy of a Community Missionary

Steve indeed has a 'love legacy' to pass on! He accredits so much of the growth in Christ in his life due to being raised and loved well by his mom (Kaye Swanson) who loved Jesus, hjs precious grandmother (Lillie) as well and many aunts...and so many Godly mentors along the way like Larry and Deedy Ferguson, Dr. Reid Zentner and Dr. Iris Barrett and countless others! There were also numerous pastors/evangelists, Bible teachers, Godly friends and prayer warriors most of all; not to mention his greatest encouragers being his beautiful bride Lynne and his precious and amazingly gifted daughter Amber! Steve says, I am so "eternally grateful" for every God given relationship, mind blowing!

*I live now to honor them, but my Lord Jesus most of all!

Steve's favorite scripture is Hebrews 10:23-25, which he calls the heartbeat of all he does: "Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful. And let us consider how to stir one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another so much the more as we see the Day approaching."

That's the invitation Steve extends to every leader, every professional, every believer who wonders if their story matters: Don't forsake assembling. Don't hold back your testimony (Revelation 12:11)! Stir one another to love and good deeds, be the hands and feet of Jesus!

"We don't hear enough testimony in church," Steve says. "We're changing that. We're letting men know, prepare your testimony and share it with your neighbors, but also come and share it at a restaurant with guys you don't know yet. When you come together and testify, that stirs your fire."

Steve is living proof that pain becomes praise 'when' surrendered to God. Then, the School of Hard Knocks produces opportunity after opportunity for the Holy Spirit to convict and transform lives through Jesus! 'Then' covenant love endures through dementia, cancer, loss, and grief. 'Then' a community missionary with an ice cream bar can change make a difference!

I feel like Caleb," Steve says. "Remember Caleb got a fresh anointing in his 80s! Well, I believe God's giving me mine in my 70s. I'm so humbled to be His son and His servant!

At 71, Steve Workman isn't winding down. He's just getting started on his third 40-year season early; refired, not retired, and ready to see what God will do next! All praise be unto our God!!!

What about you? What pain is God waiting to turn into praise in your life? What testimony are you holding back that could stir someone else's fire? What if you became a community missionary this week

— sharing Christ over coffee, over a meal, in the ordinary moments where eternity breaks through?

Steve would tell you: Don't wait. Just show up. Let God work. You'll be amazed at what He will do in and through you in a short amount of time, if and as you let Him, Amen?