A labor of love: 'Preacher Steve' left a legacy worthy of our thanks

Nov. 23—TRIAD — Thanksgiving was always one of Preacher Steve's favorite days of the year.

Maybe it was the gratitude the former outlaw biker felt in his own heart, thankful that his God had saved him from a life of unrighteousness. After all, before he spent the last half of his life preaching about heaven, Preacher Steve was hell on wheels.

More likely, though, Steve Ervin — better known as "Preacher Steve," the longtime public face of His Laboring Few Ministries — loved Thanksgiving because it allowed him to do two of his favorite things: Serve the needy and tell them about Jesus.

"The ministry went on 365 days a year, but he especially loved Thanksgiving because he enjoyed seeing people get help," says Steve's wife, Carolyn. "He loved being a part of that."

Today, though, for the first time since His Laboring Few Ministries began serving Thanksgiving meals to the less fortunate in 1992, Preacher Steve — the long-haired, long-bearded, liberally tattooed founder of the ministry — won't be there for the traditional giveaway. Ervin died on Nov. 4, at the age of 76.

While Ervin's absence will certainly be noticeable at the ministry's Thanksgiving meal today, it will be even more noticeable within the ministry he gave so much of his life to.

"There's nobody that will ever fill those boots," Carolyn says softly as she admires a photo of her late husband.

Steve's son, Carlos Ervin, agrees.

"The ministry has not stopped just because my daddy has gone on to see Jesus," he says. "But as far as somebody replacing my dad, that's not gonna happen. It'll take more than one person to do the jobs that he was doing."

Earlier this week, Carolyn and Carlos sat in Carolyn's Archdale home and reminisced about the remarkable life journey of Preacher Steve and what a blessing he was not only to them, but to the greater High Point community.

Steve, a Winston-Salem native, fell in with the wrong crowd early pretty early in life. Then he joined the Outlaws motorcycle club in Lexington and fully embraced the not-so-holy biker lifestyle and all it encompassed.

"I was his old lady," Carolyn says. "We lived together, so it was rock 'n' roll — we rode motorcycles and lived that whole lifestyle."

Carlos, Steve's son from a previous relationship, also remembers witnessing his father's wild side.

"I know that if my daddy would've continued the life he was living, he wouldn't have made it to be 76 years old," Carlos says.

Everything changed on Feb. 13, 1987, the day Steve and Carolyn accepted Jesus together in their home, where they'd been living together for about five years. They didn't even know how to pray, Carolyn says, but they knew their prayers had been answered.

They got married a few months later and initially settled at Harkers Island on the North Carolina coast. They "played church" there, Carolyn says, but Steve didn't fit in with the coat-and-tie crowd. Instead, they began hanging out at motorcycle rallies, and Steve found his niche ministering to fellow bikers, the homeless, wayward veterans, prostitutes and the like. That led to the creation, in 1990, of His Laboring Few, which takes its name from a Bible verse that states "the harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few."

Two years later, the Ervins were back in the Triad, where His Laboring Few blossomed. Occupying the old John Wesley Camp property on Eastchester Drive, the ministry became a reliable resource for broken men and women, providing them with food, clothing, shelter, drug and alcohol rehabilitation programs, spiritual guidance and more. The Thanksgiving giveaway and a similar event on Christmas became holiday traditions that have served thousands of people year after year.

"The first Thanksgiving we did it, I cooked 50 turkeys, and it was just amazing to us the people that came then," Carolyn recalls. "But it got up to where we were cooking more than 200 turkeys for Thanksgiving, and for Christmas, too."

As with all of His Laboring Few's good works, it takes a village to make those Thanksgiving and Christmas meals happen, but Preacher Steve always seemed to be in the forefront, serving or preaching or praying or whatever needed to be done.

And he was never embarrassed by his tattoos, his long hair or, most of all, his Jesus. He routinely wore clothing which, while still conforming to the biker style of apparel, proclaimed his Christian faith proudly. A large, silver cross frequently dangled from a chain around his neck.

"Do you know Jesus?" he would ask boldly. "Do you know him?"

Like any ministry, His Laboring Few has had its ups and downs, but nothing can compare to what happened to the ministry — and, specifically, to Preacher Steve — 10 years ago.

In July 2013, Steve was struck in the forehead by a hard-hit softball, triggering severe memory loss. He recovered physically — still able to drive a car, ride his motorcycle and work in his leather shop — but he didn't know who he was, didn't recognize Carolyn or other family members, and had no memory of the ministry he'd founded. He couldn't even remember who God and Jesus were.

The amnesia was a blow not only to Preacher Steve, but also to the ministry, which had relied on his charisma and leadership for so long. With its leader unable to visit churches and promote His Laboring Few, the ministry suffered, but survived.

Amazingly, even though Steve's memory never returned, he resumed preaching after a couple of years — evidence that what was no longer in his head was still in his heart.

He also played an active role in the ministry again. Had he not gotten sick and died, he surely would've been at His Laboring Few's Southside Mission today, serving the needy and telling them about Jesus.

The end came unexpectedly for Preacher Steve. Despite winning a long battle against throat and neck cancer, he had grown progressively weaker and then contracted pneumonia. Everyone had thought the cancer would kill him, but he died cancer-free — it was the pneumonia that got him.

"He preached till the day he passed, because he was talking to the doctor about Jesus in the hospital," Carlos remembers. "He never stopped preaching."

On the day he was buried, family and friends held a memorial motorcycle ride from Preacher Steve's leather shop in Thomasville to His Laboring Few's Harvest Camp property in Trinity. After a church service there with preaching and singing, that's where Steve was buried, characteristically wearing jeans, boots and a His Laboring Few T-shirt.

Appropriately, one of Preacher Steve's final wishes centered on the ministry he'd cared about so deeply. As he lay in his hospital bed at High Point Medical Center, his son asked him, "What do you want to happen with the ministry after you're gone, Daddy?"

"I want it to keep going," Steve replied. "It's not about me — it's never been about me. It's all about Jesus."

Carlos smiles at the memory.

"So we're gonna do our best to keep things going," he says softly. "That's what Daddy wanted."

That begins with today's Thanksgiving giveaway, when family and friends will do what Preacher Steve always did — serve the needy and tell them about Jesus.

What better way — and what better day — for them to say thank you?

Thanksgiving meal His Laboring Few Ministries will be providing Thanksgiving meals for the needy today, from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., at the ministry's Southside Mission, located at 2025-5E S. College Drive. Guests can eat at the mission or get a to-go plate, but no meals will be delivered this year. For people wanting to support the ministry, there's a PayPal link on its Facebook page. Go to Facebook.com and search for "His Laboring Few Ministries."

jtomlin@hpenews.com — 336-888-3579