J. Stephen Conn collection

J. Stephen Conn was born January 26, 1945, in Leadwood, Missouri. His parents are Dr. Charles W. Conn, originally from Atlanta, Georgia, and Edna Minor Conn, originally from Decatur, Alabama. Stephen is the 3rd child of 12 children. He spent most of his childhood in Cleveland, Tennessee, where he was educated in public schools and attended Lee College. He was formerly married to Patricia Miller Conn, a native of Augusta, Georgia. They have three sons: Gregory, Christopher, and Jeremy. He married Karen L. Conn in 2002.

Ordained in the Church of God, Conn pastored his first church in 1966. In 1977, he became the founder and pastor of Maranatha Fellowship Church in Augusta, Georgia, a church which grew to more than 600 members.

As a writer, Conn has published over 300 articles in a wide variety of regional and national periodicals. He was also a regular editorial columnist for the Augusta Chronicle and the Augusta Herald. He has written five books.

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From the bio prepared for his political campaign: Conn has been involved in extensive community service, incuding multiple youth ministries, the Lions Club, Boy Scouts of America, Community Action Council, and Parent-Teacher Organizations. He served as president of the Greater Augusta Clergy Association. He also served on the national Board of Governors of the American Coalition for Traditional Values (ACTV) and served as the Chairman of ACTV for the 10th congressional district of Georgia.

Because of his involvement in conservative political issues, President Ronald Reagan invited Conn to Washington twice. There he met with the President and key White House officials concerning the preservation and resoration of America's traditional values.

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From "Growing Up Pentecostal": J. Stephen Conn is an ordained Protestant minister who has spent 45 years in Christian service. He became a born-again Christian at the age of 7 and started preaching at age 16. Stephen's unique journey includes planting twelve new churches and serving as a pastor in three different Evangelical church bodies: Church of God, Assemblies of God and Southern Baptist. He has also been a guest speaker in 500 local churches, representing more than a dozen different denominations. He is the author of five books and has also published more than 300 articles, which have appeared in a large variety of both secular and Christian periodicals. For 15 years he was a syndicated editorial page columnist, appearing in 60 newspapers throughout the United States.

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From "Jesus Never Called Anyone a Sinner": J. Stephen Conn comes from a long line of Scots-Irish storytellers. He grew up in a Holiness/Pentecostal preacher’s home, the third of twelve children, in Cleveland, Tennessee. Stephen received Jesus Christ as his Savior at the age of seven and answered the call to preach at the age of 16 – delivering his first sermon that same afternoon in Beckley, West Virginia. He traveled throughout North America as a teenage evangelist. In more than sixty years of full-time Christian service, his ministry has taken him to all 50 states in the United States which helped him reach a life goal of visiting all 3,142 counties and county-equivalents that comprise those states. He has also travelled to more than 90 countries of the world.

Stephen is best known as a church planter and pastor, who established and built twelve congregations through the United States. The majority of those are still doing well today. His unique journey has included serving as an ordained minister and pastor in three different Evangelical church bodies: Church of God, Assemblies of God, and Southern Baptist. When asked if he ever had trouble remembering where he was preaching his answer was, “I only preach the Bible, not denominational doctrines.”

He is the author of seven books and more than 300 articles which have appeared in a wide variety of both secular and Christian periodicals. He also created a syndicated column which, at its peak, appeared weekly on the editorial pages of more than 80 newspapers nationwide.

After his semi-retirement in 2018, Conn served as a cruise ship chaplain preaching the gospel while traveling the world.

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Books by J. Stephen Conn:

Damascus Appointment (with Jerry Rutkin), 1976

Run with the Vision (with Lester Sumrall), 1995 1st Ed., 2003 Updated Ed.

Miracles Don't Just Happen with Lester Sumrall), 1986

Jesus Never Called Anyone a Sinner, 1989 1st Ed., 2022 Expanded Ed.

Growing Up Pentecostal, 2006

The Devil Called Collect, 2008

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References: Conn, J. Stephen. Growing Up Pentecostal. Xulon Press, 2006. Conn, J. Stephen. Jesus Never Called Anyone a Sinner. Expanded edition. Columbus, GA: Brentwood Christian Press, 2022.