'We will finish': Dr. Steve Euler retires from the pastorate at Grace Baptist Church after 37 years

Dr. Steve Euler preached his last sermon at Grace Baptist Church last week, but the longtime pastor, who grew the church from just a few families to several hundred, says he is hardly going away.

There is still much work to be done, he believes, "and we will finish." It's a phrase he uses often and one that defines his tenure at the East Brainerd church and its adjoining school.

"Oh, yes," says Kamilla Boerema, director of women's ministries, "he says that all the time, and he is going to finish. We've got a future. He won't sit around."

The fact that Euler has remained at Grace for 37 years is in part because of that mindset -- and because of what happened at the church he grew up in in central Indiana. Euler says it was a large and thriving church in its heyday but is now a parking lot.

When the pastor who had grown the church moved on, there was no long-term plan or anyone in place to continue its mission, Euler says. He has remained steadfast that Grace, and the many missions it has begun, would not see a similar fate.

"I want the ministry to finish strong," he says.

By finish he means to continue its mission work with inner-city families, prisoners here and elsewhere, students and parishioners.

"I've been mentoring men in the mornings," Euler says. "I teach world religions to our [high school] seniors. We've talked about beginning joint enrollment classes teaching history of religions and at one time even thought about teaching Greek. It has obvious uses in reading Scripture, but it also carries over with English.

"I rub shoulders with a lot of people."

That's a big part of Euler's personal mission in life and as a pastor. He has been teaching, with an emphasis on communication, since his career began. At the behest of his parents, he attended Moody Bible Institute upon graduating from Plainfield High School in Indiana. What was originally supposed to be just one year there turned into three.

He then earned a Bachelor of Arts in Greek at Butler University in Indianapolis before going to Dallas Theological Seminary, where he earned a master's in theology with an emphasis in Aramaic and Hebrew. He followed that with a master's degree in fine arts from Southern Methodist University. To complete his education, he received his Ph.D in communication from Ohio University.

In 1973 he came to Chattanooga to teach at Tennessee Temple University.

Grace Baptist Church Pastor Steve Euler is retiring after 37 years of service.

When he started as a full-time pastor at Grace in 1978, the church had 13 voting members. The little building sat out in the country on almost three acres at the corner of Shallowford and Jenkins roads. Hamilton Place mall would not open for another nine years.

Today, the church has almost 400 voting members, and the property includes a larger church and a K-12 school that opened in 1985.

Euler says his background in education was part of the drive to open the school, but it also was something church members needed.

"We felt there was a great need for child care, and not just in the traditional sense of that. Young families were not happy with where education was with the public [schools] or even Christian schools. It wasn't that those schools were doing things wrong. We just felt like we could do a better job."

All four Euler children attended Grace. Today, Katherine Fisher is a teacher, Elizabeth Dull is a nurse practitioner, Steven Jr. also is in medicine and Peter is in the Air Force.

"I think they would all say that attending school at Grace greatly influenced who they are today," Euler says.

Fred Holcombe has been the music minister at the church for 20 years and done other things like coach baseball at the school at various times as well. He says having someone like Euler at the helm for so long has meant a great deal to both institutions.

"It provides a lot of integrity," Holcombe says. "He's had a single vision and a real passion for Christian education."

Euler's replacement, Dr. Ben Graham, will preach his first sermon as new pastor tomorrow, Easter Sunday. He comes from the similarly sized 12th Street Baptist Church in Rainbow City, Ala. He says he is excited for the opportunity to take up the work Euler has begun.

"Dr. Euler had invested so much of his life and provided great stability, and the church expects that from its pastor and its staff," he says. "This is a long-term commitment, but it's also about following somebody who did excellent ministry for 37 years. He has laid an excellent foundation and I'm excited for the opportunity to build on that."

As for his future, Euler, an avid fisherman, says he wants to continue to be involved, "but I will wet a line."

Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.