“The most rewarding part of my ministry is hearing the testimony of a changed life— someone who’s been impacted by Christ,” said Colonial’s Senior Pastor Stephen Davey. “Just knowing someone is walking with, or has accepted, or is growing in Christ . . . that’s what matters.”

Pastor Davey spends 20 to 30 hours each week studying for the sermons he preaches on Sundays. “Studying is both frustrating and fulfilling. I love learning what the text really means, but I also have a hard time sitting still! The hours of study are a challenge, but the joy in teaching and then hearing that God used the message to encourage, enlighten, shape and convict somebody’s life makes it worth the time and effort.”  

In addition to his responsibilities as teaching elder of Colonial, Dr. Davey also serves as president of Shepherds Theological Seminary where he enjoys teaching Pastoral Theology. He challenges his students to understand: “The call to ministry is a call to obscurity . . . many pastors never get that right.”  He encourages students to recognize that time spent in private study and prayer makes for authentic, effective public ministry. “We have so many pastors and leaders expounding on life and illustrating with scripture  . . . we need men to return to expounding the scriptures and illustrating with life,” said Pastor Davey.

Often Pastor Davey hears of lives encouraged and changed beyond those in the Colonial family. Through his radio teaching ministry, Wisdom for the Heart (WFTH), his sermons are now heard by people all over the US and in many other parts of the world. WFTH, now translated into Spanish, can be heard in Latin America on nearly 100 radio stations, reaching a potential listening audience of 73 million people.  The internet is also expanding the reach of his sola scriptura pulpit ministry. Every month 60,000 sermons are downloaded by people in more than 35 countries around the world—a number that continues to climb. 

About ten years ago, during a mission trip to several countries in Africa, Pastor Davey was burdened by the lack of resources available to local pastors. Many had only two or three books from which to prepare sermons. “This gave me the idea of putting sermons [heard by these pastors on WFTH] into transcript form to be downloaded for free. Since then, WFTH has made all sermon transcripts available for download at no cost,” he said.

Pastor Davey accepted Christ when he was six. Later, when he was 17, he fully surrendered his life to Christ. He was baptized by his father in a Holiday Inn swimming pool. At the time, Colonial Baptist Church (the original CBC located in Virginia), where his dad was pastor, met in a school and they had no real baptismal—so the pool had to serve for baptisms.

In the late ‘80s, when the Lord led Stephen and his wife Marsha (and their 5-month-old twin boys) to start a church in Cary, he named the new church Colonial Baptist. The reason? He’s always liked the Colonial Williamsburg style of architecture. When people realize that his dad was also pastor of a Colonial Baptist Church, Stephen smiles and tells them that it’s a family franchise— and, for $25.00 they too can have one!

Pastor Davey had a number of odd jobs to help work his way through seminary. He cleaned bathrooms and vacuumed carpet at the seminary where he earned his first degree. He also taught piano lessons and tuned pianos to add to the family finances earned primarily by Marsha’s steady income, which put him through two master’s degree programs. 

With the many demands of being Colonial’s Senior Pastor, Shepherds Seminary’s President, and Wisdom for the Heart’s principal Bible Teacher and President, it could be difficult to make time for fun. Though his teaching preparation requires many hours reading, Pastor Davey also likes to read for personal enjoyment. His favorite author of fiction is Colonial’s own Tim Downs— murder-mystery author of the Bug Man series. He also loves biographies of men used by the Lord throughout history. He’s currently reading about Samuel Rutherford, Puritan pastor and theologian.

Pastor Davey also enjoys making coffee for his wife or surprising her with a DU… destination unknown. Recent DU’s have included surprise trips to the beach and a concert. Their children are always welcome on DU’s—whoever happens to be home at the time can tag along! “Truth be told, neither one of us likes to travel all that much,” said Pastor Davey. “Our idea of fun is nothing on the schedule and a quiet evening at home.”