Alumna Julie Stevens laughs when she remembers her academic performance toward the end of her time at Trevecca in the spring of 1992. “It was probably when I had my lowest GPA for that semester,” she admits.
But it was for a good reason. In addition to being a psychology student, she’d begun running a full-time outreach ministry for low-income kids near the University, serving as many as 600 children a week.
Stevens’ initiative was inspired by Phil Batten, a Nazarene pastor she’d known growing up. He founded Heaventrain, a bus ministry in Cleveland, Ohio, and Stevens hoped to do the same thing in Nashville.
Through her involvement interning with a local YMCA, Stevens arranged for the city to donate a bus that she helped transform into a puppet theater inside. The brightly-painted bus would travel around different neighborhoods, welcoming children inside for storytimes. Stevens focused on interweaving the gospel into what the kids were hearing. “We had church on that bus,” she recalls.
Her professors were understanding when Stevens was occasionally late for class, she says. Several of them served on the board of directors for her new ministry. “I was putting my education into practice, and they saw that,” she says.
Tim Green, professor of Old Testament theology and literature and now dean of the Millard Reed School of Theology and Christian Ministry, was one of several faculty members who nurtured Stevens’ vision for ministry and played a key role in deepening her faith.
“I was a shy kid growing up, and leaving my hometown of Marion, Ohio, to attend Trevecca was a huge step,” remembers Stevens. “I had Tim Green for a Christian life and ministry class. One of the first things he had us do was write our philosophy of life. I had only become a Christian at 16. Through that class, I began to sense God in an entirely new way. I came out of my shell and leaned into the Lord. It was a formative time.”
The foundation Stevens received at Trevecca—paired with a heart for missions that began to take shape in college when she participated in several summer Nazarene youth mission programs—paved the way for what would become a lifetime of community engagement at ministry work.
She went on to serve as director of campus ministries at Trevecca from 1996 to 1998, where she led students on mission trips around the world and helped them participate in ministry within the Nashville community. During that same time, she also engaged in pastoral service at Trevecca Community Church of the Nazarene before moving on to work in pastoral service at churches in Texas, California, Ohio and Kansas. She earned her master’s in religion from Trevecca in 2002.
She started two more Heaventrain bus and food ministries—first in Columbus, Ohio and later in Lenexa, Kansas. In Lexana she served as Heaventrain’s executive director from 2016 until 2023 while simultaneously working as pastor of children and community engagement at Central Church of the Nazarene. Through the years she also taught as an adjunct professor at Point Loma Nazarene University, Mount Vernon Nazarene University and MidAmerica Nazarene University.
About two years ago, Stevens was asked to preach at her Kansas church on a Sunday that was concluding a week of Vacation Bible School. As she delivered the sermon, she sensed a stirring unlike anything she’d previously experienced. Stevens eventually discerned the Holy Spirit calling her into a new role and a new season of life. Shortly after, she received an invitation to interview for the lead pastor position at Living Hope Church of the Nazarene in Centerville, Ohio.
After serving in children’s ministry for 31 years, she stepped into a new role as lead pastor at Living Hope in 2023.
“It’s been my rookie year,” she says lightheartedly. “I have so much more to learn.”
Yet in many ways, Stevens says her new role isn’t all that different from her time as a children’s pastor. “I’ve had many years of experience in pastoral care and in nurturing church members,” she says. “I was blessed in my journey to work with incredible pastors along the way—people who didn’t pigeonhole me because I was in children’s ministry.”
Stevens says her new congregation values her storytelling strengths and ability to break down Scripture in clear and digestible ways, especially those who are new Christians.
She also remains committed to emphasizing the need for Christians to serve their communities and bring the hope of the gospel to those who need it most, a calling that was cultivated at Trevecca more than three decades ago.
“All of us have a circle of influence, no matter our age or our job,” she says. “The Lord calls us to engage our world. I believe there’s a holy urgency to get outside the walls of the church—this is needed now more than ever. There are many people who’ve been disillusioned, hurt or intimidated. We have to be willing to meet them where they are. That’s my hope and prayer as a pastor.”
Julie Stevens is the recipient of Trevecca’s 2024 T-Award in ministry. This award recognizes Trevecca alumni who have devoted their lives to serving and ministering to others. The honor is presented each year to one minister.
