Pastor Steve Lee
Lead Pastor

As a former missionary doctor in Kenya, Steve directed a hospital, helped open an HIV/AIDS clinic and nursing school, and used medical outreach teams to pioneer work among unreached people. Yet none of that compares to what he experiences as a pastor now. “There’s something so unique about the life-sharing experience of the local church that other organizations can’t replicate,” he says. 

After five years serving as a missionary, Steve joined the Immanuel staff in 2009. His greatest joy is to see lives that are transformed by the power of the gospel. As lead pastor and the primary teaching pastor, his goal is to let the Bible speak for itself, highlight the gospel, and ask: “How does this message help us to put greater trust in God?
Steve was born in Korea and came to the U.S. when he was four, growing up in the North Suburbs, where he lives now with his wife Betty. They have five children (the eldest married):  Joy, Noelle, Luke, Bethany, and Judah. Steve loves to consume content that can allow him to keep his self-proclaimed “local expert” title :).  He’s an avid reader who’s especially been “mentored” by Dallas Willard and Eugene Peterson. Novels by other authors such as Ian McEwan and Kazuo Ishiguro can also be found on his coffee table [something like that]. Steve also enjoys listening to the podcasts This American Life, Freakonomics, and The Moth. He is an avid fan of cinema, enjoying a wide range of movies from current Hollywood blockbusters to classic works by Hitchcock and Fellini.

​Steve completed his undergraduate studies at the University of Illinois in Urbana- Champaign with a dual degree in psychology and anthropology, and his medical studies at the University of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria. After completing his residency in 1998, he worked as a primary care doctor while pursuing his Master of Divinity at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School (Deerfield, IL). He also served as acting lead pastor of Faith Alliance Bible Church (Des Plaines, IL) for six years until he left for the mission field in 2004.

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