Steve Fuller's Story

Fuller HG - Fuller Home Group

I grew up in a warm, secure home with a dad and mom who loved Jesus.  We read Bible stories, went backpacking, prayed together, body-surfed together, memorized verses, and went to church.  But when I turned 17, I found that I was empty.   

The problem was that I had been going to church and doing the Christian thing without a heart connection to Jesus himself.  I was a pretty good kid, but I had been seeking my joy in surfing and girls and water polo and popularity, not in the person of Jesus.  That’s why I was empty – because anything besides Jesus will ultimately leave us empty and disillusioned. 

But the summer before my senior year in high school, God changed my heart.  For the first time I owned up to the truth of Jesus.  I saw that He was God, and came to the earth so we could see who God is.  I saw that Jesus had died on the Cross, rose from the dead, went up to heaven, and that He can be known today.  I saw that He was full of love and power and forgiveness and mercy.   

I also saw that I had been rebelling against Him (in a religious sort of way).  But I understood that His death on the Cross could change me and forgive me.  And as a result I wanted to know Jesus more than I wanted anything else. 

So I repented of my sins and started trusting Jesus.  As I set my heart on trusting Jesus, knowing Jesus, depending on Jesus – my emptiness and disillusion left.  Jesus filled and satisfied my heart with Himself.  And I was changed. 

I loved talking to Jesus – and would go on walks around my neighborhood so I could spend time with Jesus.  I loved reading the Bible – and meeting Jesus in those truths.  And I loved hanging out with followers of Jesus, and helping people come to know Jesus. 

In fact, I loved this so much that I knew Jesus was calling me to make this my life’s work.  Which is why I am now a pastor.  But that’s jumping ahead. 

After high school I went to Westmont College in Santa Barbara, and then transferred to UCSB.  It was during this time that I met Jan Votaw (now Jan Fuller) who is God’s second greatest gift to me.  I graduated with a degree in Philosophy, married Jan, and then went to Fuller Theological Seminary.

We were involved in a couple of different churches, and then in 1989 God called us to move to San Jose to help people come to know Jesus and start a church – which is how Mercy Hill Church got started. 

Jan and I have been married 33 years and have two gifted and loving children -- Anna (25) and Brad (23).

Jan teaches fourth-grade two days a week at Pioneer Family Academy, and leads the women’s ministry at Mercy Hill Church.  She likes Bed and Breakfasts, the Monterey area, and Typhoo tea.  I am the teaching elder at Mercy Hill Church.  I love mountain bike rides in the Santa Teresa hills, reading John Owen and Jonathan Edwards, and surfing my long-board at Pleasure Point.

Here's my blog -- LivingByFaithBlog.com